John Büsst: Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest

Award-winning historian Iain McCalman reveals the little-known story of influential Australian conservationist, John Bu] sst. Known to his enemies as ’ The Bingal Bay Bastard’, Bu] sst, a Bendigo-born Melbourne bohemian artist, transformed into a brilliant conservationist who, in the 1960s and early 70s, led campaigns to protect two of Australia’s most important and endangered environments. The first saved Australia’s endangered lowland rainforests and led to the subsequent UNESCO World Heritage Listing of our Wet Tropics Rainforest Area. The second stopped Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s attempt to mine 80 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef for oil, gas and limestone fertiliser. A plan Bu] sst likened to ’ bulldozing the Taj Mahal to make road gravel’ . Instead, the victory led to the UNESCO World Heritage Listing of the Great Barrier Reef as ’ the most important marine system in the world’ . Sadly, both face renewed threat today.

Iain McCalman is a highly respected and awardwinning professor of history and the humanities (now emeritus) at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. He has published numerous books. The Reef - A Passionate History, from Captain Cook to Climate Change, was published in Australia and the USA. He is codirector at the Sydney Environment Institute.