White Beech – The Rain Forest Years
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley December 13, 2013
Author Germaine Greer
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ISBN: 978-1-4066-4671-1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
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Website: http://www.bloomsbury.com
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When Germaine Greer was sixty two she bought a forest: she was not sure why she bought a forest other than she did, because at the time there did not seem to be any alternative. The forest is located at the place called Cave Creek, 102 kilometres from Coolangatta and backing onto what is today known as the World heritage site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. Back then it was called the Central Eastern Rainforests Reserve Area.
Her much embattled forest was to take her on a journey she never imagined she would ever take, giving to her more than she ever imagined. Once she accepted the challenge of restoring her particular part of the rainforest she set about the task with great gusto, getting it wrong more often that getting it right.
Over the years as the first new shoots of the native bush began to re-emerge, long buried in a sea of lantana and other introduced scrub, native birds long gone from the area began to return and the animals began to not only return to the area, but flourish, she was able to receive back more than she would ever give, from a land that was re-emerging onto a healthy flourishing forest once again.
In addressing the issues of bio-diversity, re-forestation, as well as government mandate relating to a wide range of environmental issues she has issued a wake-up call to us all to respect and revere that which we have left to us in its untouched state.
Greer has also issued the challenge that everyone can do their bit towards the environment. As she points out inaccessible scrubbed land comes cheap and can be restored. If you are at a crossroads in your life, as she was, the suggestion could be inferred that entering into a rehabilitation program with the land and likeminded individuals can only be of benefit to everyone.
This is not just a look at how she and likeminded peoples restored a rainforest, it also address the broader based issue of conservation and reforestation in all the many guises adopted by modern political agenda.
Enlightening, informative, challenging and well researched, as you would expect from Germaine Greer, it is also a documentation of her journey towards healing of self as well as healing her little part of the world.
Today, her Cave Creek Rainforest Rehabilitation project has grown into Trust now run and maintained by Friends of Gondwana Rainforest and she is in the process of creating a not-for-profit company to maintain the work which has been done and is yet to be done.
A huge, but well worthwhile read.