After World War Two, a growing appreciation of the Australian landscape and an emerging conservation movement led millions of people to become involved in campaigns to protect our wild and special places. From the Little Desert campaign in Victoria in the late 1960s and the Franklin campaign in the ‘80s, to the efforts to protect the rainforests of the Wet Tropics and the wonderful landscapes of K’gari/Fraser Island, millions of hectares have been granted conservation status and protected for generations to come.
Wild Magazine, and its readers, have played a key role in securing many of these wins.
Once a campaign was won, however, we often thought the battle was over. There was an assumption that the relevant parks service would have sufficient funds to manage these new conservation reserves; sadly, that was far from the reality. But the direct threats—be they mining, logging, cattle grazing or other activities—were removed
