Natural forests

Opening the exhibition Natural Forests in Bermagui, I paid tribute to the photographers whose images are included: ‘In  the nineteenth century, colonists looked upon the forest as a place of melancholy and as a limitless resource. Yet, even in the 1870s, when Nicholas Caire took his camera through the forests of Gippsland, where he photographed ancient and giant trees, there were voices of concern being raised that the forest was not a limitless resource. This was the beginning of the urge to conserve and the preservation of forests through national parks.

‘Those colonists could no more have imagined  the devastating  effect of industrialisation on the forest than they could imagine it on the battlefield.

‘The deep appreciation of the beauty of the forest is demonstrated in all of the photographers who have come together to make this exhibition.

‘These photographers celebrate the forest, from the microscopic to the panoramic; they reveal the immense variety of landscapes, micro-climates and intimate places of the region; they honour the ancient and continuing Aboriginal connections to these places. 

‘Together, they let the forest make a powerful statement for its preservation.’

A selection of images from the exhibition can be found on the website of the South East Region Conservation Alliance Inc. (SERCA).