The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based,
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its vision is to "transform Australia into a society that protects, respects and connects with the natural world that sustains us."
It is a community-based organisation with a philosophy of non-violence and
consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making or consensus process (often abbreviated to ''consensus'') are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the aim, or requirement, of acceptance by all. The focus on e ...
. While the Wilderness Society is a politically unaligned group, it actively engages the community to lobby politicians and parties.
The Wilderness Society comprises a number of separately incorporated organisations and has Campaign Centres located in all Australian capital cities (except Darwin and Canberra) and a number of regional centres.
History
The Wilderness Society was formed initially as the
Tasmanian Wilderness Society (TWS) and was transition from the
South West Tasmania Action Committee
South West Tasmania Action Committee was a group started after the flooding of the lake in South West Tasmania known as Lake Pedder to create the Gordon Dam catchment.
It developed into an Australia wide organisation.
In 1976 it evolved into the ...
.
The group was originally established in 1976 from the members of the
Lake Pedder Action Committee and the Southwest Tasmania Action Committee Along with the
United Tasmania Group
The United Tasmania Group (UTG) is generally acknowledged as the world's first Green party to contest elections. The party was formed on 23 March 1972, during a meeting of the Lake Pedder Action Committee (LPAC) at the Hobart Town Hall in order ...
, they had protested against the earlier flooding of
Lake Pedder. The group already had established interstate branches as the South West Tasmania Action Committee (in NSW branch the word "Action" was not included), so it was already a nationwide organisation. Significantly, all but four of the twenty-three people attending the inaugural meeting of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society in 1976 were members of the United Tasmania Group.
Following the success of the campaign against the
Franklin Dam, and the national approach being more important due to other issues interstate, it became known as The Wilderness Society.
In the year 2005, Tasmanian forestry business
Gunns brought a litigation case against the group in the Melbourne Supreme Court, in a case dubbed the "Gunns 20", claiming that the activities of environmental activists had damaged Gunns' profits. Gunns claimed $3.5 million from the Wilderness Society, but in March 2009, Gunns was ordered to pay the Wilderness Society $350,000 in damages and to cease the action.
Campaigns
The Wilderness Society spent considerable energy in its first decades of existence arguing that wilderness was a specific quality in parts of Australia's environment that was vital to preserve for future generations. The political response in most states of Australia is that there are now wilderness inventories and acknowledgement of areas of wilderness.
The Wilderness Society's campaigns have included:
* the Franklin river
* stopping logging in
old growth forest
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
s
* preventing destruction of endangered species habitats;
* protecting
Queensland's Wild Rivers and
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...
;
* nationwide campaign to
mitigate the effects of climate change keep fossil fuels in the ground;
* the Kimberley Campaign; as part of its long-running campaign against a proposal to industrialise the
James Price Point headland near
Broome, the organisation presented a concert on 5 October 2012. The concert featured performances from The
John Butler Trio,
Clare Bowditch and
Missy Higgins
Melissa Morrison Higgins (born 19 August 1983), known professionally as Missy Higgins, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her Australian number-one albums are ''The Sound of White'' (2004), ''On a Clear Night'' (2007) and ''The Ol ...
, and a speech by the former leader of the
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and ...
and former TWS director,
Dr Bob Brown.
* since 2018 they have been focused on New Nature Laws - campaigning for strong, national nature laws and an independent watchdog agency to enforce these
Funding
Traditionally fundraising was performed through The Wilderness Society Shops. The shops were particularly popular for their calendars and posters by photographers such as
Peter Dombrovskis and
Olegas Truchanas, and were also central locations for the public to make donations and for members to meet.
Since the rise of the internet, fundraising has increasingly become centralised around internet based activities, such as the TWS website, online store and extensive
email lists, although it also still contacts supporters through regular
postal communications as well.
The Wilderness Society now raises funds through a number of sources, mainly donations, including advocacy gifts and gifts in
wills (bequests), subscriptions from members, grants, sales of merchandise, and interest and other investment income.
For the 2020 financial year the Society specifically had a total income of $12,160,560.
The majority of this is raised through donations (88%), bequests (3.9%), members subscriptions and merchandise (1%) and from events (1%). In 2020 the Wilderness Society also received $643,000 in COVID-19 relief subsidies. For the same year total expenses were $10,201,241.
Political involvement
The inaugural director of The Wilderness Society was
Kevin Kiernan, followed by
Norm Sanders, who was later elected to the seat of Denison in the Tasmanian Parliament in
1980 for the
Australian Democrats. He was Australia's first parliamentarian to be elected on an environmental platform.
Dr. Bob Brown, became the director of The Wilderness Society in 1978, and with him the group increased their influence on Tasmanian politics. Brown was elected to the
Tasmanian parliament in 1983 to fill the vacancy left when Norm Sanders resigned his seat, and with the group of fellow conservationists elected subsequently, he went on to become part of the political party known as the
Tasmanian Greens. Bob Brown was later elected to represent Tasmania and the
Greens
Greens may refer to:
*Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc.
Politics Supranational
* Green politics
* Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics
* Global Greens
* Europ ...
in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
in the
Federal parliament.
While The Wilderness Society has worked with the Australian Greens on certain campaigns, it is not affiliated with them or any other political party, as a politically unaligned
environmental non-government organisation.
Wilderness Journal
The society publishes th
Wilderness Journal which covers a wide variety of stories about nature and people. Topics include the communities and forests of
East Gippsland, a photo diary by
Ben Baker (photographer)
Ben Baker is an Australian and American portrait photographer based in New York City. He is well known for Iconic portraits of the world's most powerful people, most notably Presidents, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump.
Early life
Ben was born ...
of a road trip through bushfire damaged regions, a story about
Marina DeBris
Marina DeBris is the name used by an Australian-based artist whose work focuses on reusing trash to raise awareness of ocean and beach pollution. DeBris uses trash washed up from the beach to create trashion, 'fish tanks', decorative art and ot ...
and the ugly beauty of our trash, attempts to restore the giant kelp forests of
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, and a journey into
Mirning Country, the coast and waters of the Great Australian Bight.
References
Further reading
*Gee, H and Fenton, J. (Eds) (1978) ''
The South West Book – A Tasmanian Wilderness'' Melbourne, Australian Conservation Foundation.
* Lines, William J. (2006) ''Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage'' St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006.
*Neilson, D. (1975) ''South West Tasmania – A land of the Wild''. Adelaide. Rigby.
External links
The Wilderness Society official websiteThe Wilderness JournalHistory and Key Successes of the Wilderness Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilderness Society
Environmental organisations based in Australia
Nature conservation organisations based in Australia
Wilderness
South West Tasmania
Environment of Tasmania
Tasmanian Wilderness Society
1983 establishments in Australia