Tarkine

The Tarkine is a large wilderness area in the far north-west of Tasmania. It is the largest remaining temperate rainforest area in Australia and one of the largest in the world.

Location

The exact demarcation of this area has yet to be finalized but is bounded roughly by the Southern Ocean to the West, the Arthur River to the north, the Pieman River to the south, and the Murchison Highway to the east. This wilderness covers approximately 3,800 km². The area can be accessed from several points with the most convenient being from the township of Wynyard which has an interstate airport and sealed roads accessing the area.

Landscape

The Tarkine contains pristine rainforest about 1,800 km² and eucalypt forest about 400 km², a number of wild rivers, exposed mountains, magnesite cave systems and extensive coastal heathlands. There are also large sand dune areas extending several kilometres inland. Some of these contain ancient Aboriginal middens. The main rainforest tree species are Myrtle Beech and Southern Sassafras; in the understory Soft Tree Fern is very conspicuous.

Archaeology

The Australian Heritage Commission describes the Tarkine as "one of the world's great archaeological regions" with over 1000 aboriginal sites. Remnants of European exploration and use of the area can also be found.

Historical and Political Developments

The name “Tarkine” was coined by conservationist groups in the 1980s who mounted a sustained campaign in response to the perceived threats of logging, mining and grazing in the area. They based the term on the “Tarkiners;” a coastal Aboriginal tribe who had inhabited the area for 30,000 years prior to being ‘rounded up’ in the early 19th Century by the government of the day. The campaign to protect the area had its beginning in the 1960s. A formal conservation proposal was put forward by the then Circular Head Mayor Horace (Jim) Lane, who proposed a Norfolk Range National Park.

From the late 1990s onwards, the area came under increasing national and international scrutiny as had been the case with earlier environmental cases such as the Franklin River in Tasmania and the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland. The case for protecting the Tarkine was significantly advanced with the Federal Government’s Forestry Package in 2005. Although this suggests that part of the Tarkine will be protected, without being granted National Park status it effectively remains under threat. Neither conservationist nor Aboriginal groups were consulted in the creation of this package but it had been based on a report that had advised that logging of old growth myrtle beech was uneconomic. The button grass plains areas had likewise been regarded as unsuitable for plantation.

Conservationist groups like [http://www.wilderness.org.au The Wilderness Society] and [http://www.tarkine.org/ The Tarkine National Coalition] have stated that they will continue to lobby for the area to be declared a World Heritage Area and National Park. In the meantime the area has begun to attract considerable interest for its potential for ecotourism.

Links

* [http://www.lysisfilms.com/tascollection.htm Lysis Films] - QuickTime Video of Tarkine
* [http://www.landscapesofthesoul.com/tarkine.htm Landscapes of the Soul] - Tarkine photos and prose
* [http://www.greenleft.org.au/1997/265/17517 Road to Nowhere] A review of the video Manifestations, about protests that took place in the Tarkine in 1994/95.
* [http://www.tarkine.com.au Tarkine.com.au] Insidious threat.