takayna - the Tarkine

Nestled in the North-West of Tasmania is the second largest expanse of rainforest in the world. Think about that for a minute, then ask yourself if you think we should be logging and mining this area?!

Unlike many places in the world the Tarkine remains as a hidden treasure and a forgotten wilderness. This expanse of uninterrupted 477,000 hectares of Tarkine wilderness holds ancient relics both plants and animals dating back millennia. Not only is it home to the largest temperate rainforest in Australia and second in the world, but is alive with unique creatures and habitats not found anywhere else.

takayna / Tarkine is one of Australia’s richest Aboriginal cultural landscapes. Along the takayna coast is the National Heritage listed Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape, with globally significant Aboriginal cultural values, including the greatest number, diversity and density of Aboriginal hut sites in Australia. Extensive scatters of stone artefacts, huge middens containing shells and bones of marsupials and seals, rock shelters, human burial grounds and petroglyphs of geometric forms all add to the rich Aboriginal cultural heritage of takayna / Tarkine.

This is Australia’s largest wilderness dominated by rainforest. Such largely undisturbed extensive tracts of cool temperate rainforest are extremely rare worldwide. A living example of one of the most primitive vegetation formations on Earth. Providing a unique window into our planet’s ancient past, the cool temperate rainforests in takayna were once widespread across the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.

Some of the best-preserved plant fossil sites in the world, dating back 65 million years. Magnesite karst systems of caves and pinnacles considered internationally rare.

I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time in this special place with my Son Albie, Brother Sam who is a painter/drawer and other local photographers. During our visits we experienced remote and diverse locations, each as spectacular as the other. We visited, Arthur River, Julius River, Lake Chisholm, Sarah Anne Rocks and The Pieman River at Corinna. The trip with my son was extremely memorable as it was his first camping experience, together we witnessed places that took our breath away by their beauty, age and heritage. I hope he cherishes this memory as much as I do and is able to take his children to the same places.

I just cant believe that we still have to fight to save these wilderness regions.