Book launch: John Blay 'Wild Nature'

Image courtesy New South Books Australia.

Author and naturalist John Blay is a longtime friend of the ANU School of Art & Design and has been an important contributor to our Balawan and Bundian Way programs.

 

We are pleased to invite you to the virtual launch of John's new book, the third part in the forests trilogy, Wild Nature.

 

John will be introduced by Professor Denise Ferris, Head of School, ANU School of Art & Design and joined by esteemed guests Uncle Ossie Cruse and Professor Mark McKenna, Department of History, University of Sydney.

 

Wild Nature

An epic journey of discovery into the heart of a vast and contested Australian wilderness. John Blay laces up his walking boots and goes bush to explore Australia's rugged south east forests – stretching from Canberra to the coast and on to Wilsons Promontory – in a great circle from his one-time home near Bermagui.

In Wild Nature, the bestselling author of On Track charts the forests' shared history, their natural history, the forest wars, the establishment of the South East Forests National Park and the threats that continue to dog their existence, including devastating bushfires. Along the way Blay asks the big questions. What do we really know about these wild forests? How did the forests come to be the way they are? What is the importance of wild nature to our civilisation?

 

Purchase a signed copy of 'Wild Nature' here:

https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/wild-nature/

 

Speaker bios

 

JOHN BLAY

John Blay, writer and naturalist, was born at Parramatta in 1944 and has written extensively about the bush and its people in prose, drama and poetry. During an epic bushwalk in 1982, he discovered a new species of wattle in the Brogo wilderness. Growing to over 30 metres, the species was named Acacia blayana in his honour. He has served as a national Arts & Reviews Editor and has published photographs and stories in magazines like Good Weekend. He continues his work in the SE Forests and writes about the region’s natural history.

 

After 2001, he has been involved in researching the Bundian Way in association with local Aboriginal communities and as the Bundian Way Project Officer for Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council. His extensive researches and bushwalks whilst investigating the important traditional route, resulted in its official recognition and NSW Heritage listing in 2012.

 

His prize-winning sculptures have been shown in Sydney, Bermagui, Jindabyne and Delegate. A selection of his photographs was exhibited in Sydney in November 2004 and feature in an ongoing exhibition in Delegate at the Bundian Way Aboriginal Art Gallery (2012-18).

 

UNCLE OSSIE CRUSE

Uncle Ossie Cruse MBE AM, is an Aboriginal Elder and Pastor whose service to Aboriginal peoples, social justice, spiritual welfare, health and land rights in particular, has been acknowledged with numerous awards including an MBE and the Order of Australia. He was recently made a Fellow of the University of Wollongong.

 

PROFESSOR MARK MCKENNA

Mark McKenna is Professor of History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of several prize-winning books, including Looking for Blackfellas’ Point: An Australian History of Place, which won the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction and Book of the Year in the 2003 NSW Premier's Literary Awards; and An Eye for Eternity, The Life of Manning Clark, winner of many awards including the 2012 Prime Minister’s Prize for Non Fiction. McKenna’s most recent book, From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, won the NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize. His essays and articles have been widely published in Australia and overseas.

 

Updated:  17 August 2020/Responsible Officer:  Head of School/Page Contact:  CASS Marketing & Communications