After the f ires

IN RECENT weeks I’ve been leafing through some old editions of AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC to identify articles to include in a celebratory book of the best stories from the past 30 years, which we’ll be publishing later this year. It’s been an enjoyable process and it’s encouraging to note that we’ve explored just about every corner of this vast continent, but still have plenty of places left to discover. What has also become clear is that we’ve been drawn to some regions more than others, and, in particular, this applies to Tasmania.

It’s been disproportionately represented in the pages of this journal over time, and with good reason, given that this smallest of states boasts some of the country’s greatest natural treasures.

Earlier this year, those unique and special environments were put under extraordinary pressure as wildfires tore through the fragile ecosystems of the Wilderness World Heritage Area. It remains to be seen if the affected areas will ever recover, especially given that the problems are linked to climate change, but Tassie’s special qualities continue to inspire us and we’re delighted to showcase the island in this issue. We discover that there’s more to Mt Field National Park than the ever popular Russell Falls (page 64), and also visit the region around Cradle Mountain, to find that – despite the damage wrought by January’s bushfires – the Overland Track is still very much open for business (page 114).

It’s that time of year when we start the search for the heroes of Australian conservation to be honoured at our annual Australian Geographic

Society Awards, and we welcome your nominations. Please visit www.australiangeographic.com.au/society/ to contribute suggestions.We look forward to celebrating ordinary Australians doing extraordinary things for the benefit of our natural world.

And save the date for the big event itself – Thursday 27 October at the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. We’ll be telling you more about how you can attend the gala dinner in the next issue.

I look forward to hearing from you.