Terania Creek and the Forging of Modern Environmental Activism

by Vanessa Bible

Overview

This book tells the story of Terania Creek – the world’s first direct action blockade in defence of a forest, occurring in Australia in 1979. Contrary to claims that the Australian counterculture was a mere imitation of overseas models, the Australian movement, coalescing with a home-grown environment movement, came of age at Terania Creek. After five years of ‘polite’ campaigning failed to stop the logging of ancient Gondwanan rainforest, an organic and spontaneous blockade erupted that would see the forging of a number of ingenious blockading techniques and strategies. The activist repertoire developed at Terania Creek has since echoed across the country, and across the Earth. This book draws on extensive oral history interviews as well as photographs taken of the protest in 1979; such rich source material brings the story to life. Terania Creek and the Forging of Modern Environmental Activism will therefore appeal to both a scholarly audience as well as activists, practitioners, and counterculturalists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319704708
Publisher:	Palgrave Pivot
Publication date:	01/09/2018
Series:	Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Vanessa Bible is an Honorary Associate and Adjunct Lecturer in History and Peace Studies at the University of New England, Australia. As both an academic and an activist, Vanessa’s research interests lie within the environmental humanities and include environmental peace, environmental advocacy, and Australian environmental history, with a specific focus on counterculture and activism.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction.- 2 Australian Counterculture.- 3 The Terania Native Forest Action Group.- 4 The Blockade.- 5 The Spirit of Terania.- 6 Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

This book increases our understanding of collective activism and the history of the Australian environmental movement and goes a long way to explain how a small patch of rainforest was able to survive the threat posed by bulldozers.” (Margaret Cook, Australian Historical Studies, Vol. 49 (4), 2018)

From the Publisher