Fires, Farms and Forests is an environmental and cultural account of the changes in the landscape of Surrey Hills, a unique tract of land in north-west Tasmania, ranging from the last ice age to the present day.
The author covers how the native grasslands were created using fire; the introduction of European farming; the search for valuable minerals; the construction of what is claimed to be the world’s longest wooden tramway; unique hunting for fur in the short, mandated open season during winter; the genesis of the pulp and paper industry in Tasmania and the development of Australia’s largest industrial-scale eucalypt plantation estate; and an account of one of the most isolated towns in Tasmania that existed for 87 years and suddenly disappeared.
Hardcover
Published 2020
277-pages
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