Worth Fighting For

For countless generations, takayna was home to the Tarkiner people. An ancient mossy rainforest set between the tannin-stained waters of the Arthur and Pieman Rivers, it is a remnant of supercontinent Gondwana, which broke up 180 million years ago, before songbirds evolved. It was here that the Tarkiner people survived the harshness of the last glacial age, sheltering along the coast. With the coming of the Europeans to Tasmania, it became a place of suffering, brutality and false promises. For years, Aboriginal Tasmanians have fought to protect its ancient cultural sites from accidental and wilful destruction by off-road vehicles.

Takayna remains a refuge for slow-growing species such as the Huon pine, which can thicken by just one millimetre a year. Some were saplings at the time of the Roman Empire. Quirky threatened species also inhabit these forests, such as the Tassie devil and the Tasmanian masked owl.

There is, however, a new threat facing takayna. Chinese state-owned mining giant MMG is arguing that its 85-year-old zinc, copper, and lead mine at Rosebery needs to replace its current tailings dam that lies just outside takayna with a new tailings dam that lies takayna. The proposal involves clearing up to 285ha (think roughly 285 rugby fields) of forest, including ancient rainforest, and the construction of a 3.5km pipeline, to enable 25