1. The Environment
For many thousands of years, Aboriginal people lived in harmony with the unique Australian environment.
When Europeans arrived, they had a different way of dealing with the land.
There was no understanding of words such as ‘environment’, ‘conservation’ or ‘sustainability’.
Settlers hunted the wildlife for food, cleared the land and used its resources (such as water) without any concern for long term effects.

2. The Environment
This way of thinking continued while Australia, along with the rest of the world became more industrialized.
For over 200 years, Australians grew and lived in Australia, with little regard to how their everyday actions would impact upon the environment.
This has been true at government, business and individual levels.

3. The Environment
Deforestation: Clearing the land to build homes and farms has been a common practise in Australia.
It was not understood how trees protected the land against erosion and provided homes for Australia’s precious wildlife.
The cycle effects of an ecosystem that you learn about in school were not understood.

4. The Environment
Drought: Europeans had little idea of how to deal with the very different conditions of the Australian environment. Crops that would grow well in England where it rains a lot did not suit Australian conditions and it wasn’t understood that water is a precious resource that needs to be managed.

5. The Environment
Everyday Consumerism: People drive cars, we use plastic, electricity, water, gas, petrol and other ‘consumables’. While today, we realize the need to use these resources responsibly, that hasn’t always been so in Australia’s past. The past 30 years have seen great changes in the way Australians use and dispose of ‘consumables’.

6. The Environment
Mining: Mining has helped make Australia a very wealthy country. Coal, gold, silver, iron ore, zinc and uranium have been discovered in great volumes and industrial and scientific invention has enabled mining companies to extract the precious metals from the ground efficiently.
Faced with making huge amounts of money, companies did not place great priority on the long term consequences of their mining practises.

7. The Environment
Global Warming: carbon emissions from the world’s pollution has been building up over time.
Already a country affected by drought, Australia will be greatly impacted by global warming.
However until relatively recently, the world had no knowledge of this and when scientists started to tell governments and companies, many didn’t really want to know because it would mean a lot of change to how things were done and be very expensive.

8. The Environment
However the nature of humans is that we learn from our mistakes. The same industrial and scientific discovery that has lead to pollution in the world has also lead to a greater understanding of what it is doing to our world.
By the 1980s, Australians began to realize how important the environment was and that steps were needed to learn how to protect it.

9. The Environment
The first big ‘environmental issue’ that occurred in Australia was in Tasmania. The state government planned to use the Franklin River to build a dam and a hydro-electric plant to provide cheap electricity for industry (and therefore, more jobs). But the Franklin River and the country surrounding it was the last of Tasmania’s untouched wilderness. The river ran through one of the world’s most beautiful wilderness areas. Damming it would drown 2000 year old trees and destroy the habitat of thousands of plant and animal species.

10. The Environment
Lead by the Wilderness Society, thousands of Australians mounted a campaign to save the Franklin and finally in 1983, the Federal Government stepped in and stopped the dam from happening.
Also in the 1980s there were widespread protests against uranium mining, due to the dangerousness of the waste products and the fact that uranium was used by other countries for making nuclear weapons.

11. The Environment
In 1989, a leading world yachtsman Ian Kiernan, organised the first Clean Up Day, involving people and beginning with Sydney Harbour. This has become a world wide event since then and every year, a regular national clean up occurs. About ½ a million people take part in Australia alone.
People were beginning to realize the impact the way they lived was having on our world.

12. The Environment Environmental issues became important in the 1990s.
The ‘Greens’ political party was formed .
State and federal governments have worked toward reducing the release of dangerous gases into the air that contribute to global warming. (eg. CFC cans)
Laws have been made to protect environmental areas at risk and to repair damaged areas through projects such as tree planting.
Other laws gave strict regulations for companies aimed at protecting the environment.
City councils introduced recycling.

13. The Environment
Now, everyone in Australia is aware of the environment and the contributions each of us can make to protecting our land and our earth.
Words such as ‘environment’, ‘conservation’ and ‘sustainability’ are taught in schools.
When decisions are made by communities, governments, companies and individuals, we consider what impact our decisions will have upon our world.

14. The Environment
In 100 years time, there may be school children learning how the environment became one of the most important issues of this century and how we made not only our country, but our world a better place, by taking steps to protect it.
You’re a part of living history, right now.