The Global Rescue Station, Styx Valley, Tasmania
But first, a little background on the tree-sit know as the
Rescue Station .... on April 7, 2004 the Global Rescue Station in
Tasmania's threatened Styx Valley finally came down from its 65m
high perch in one of the world's tallest hardwood trees,
affectionately known as "Gandalf's staff". The project was a joint
effort between The Wilderness Society (Australia) and Greenpeace to
protect the area from logging.
Activists from around the world inhabited the tree from anywhere
between a couple of days to five months to raise public awareness
of the forest's plight. They must have done something right because
the Rescue Station residents had thousands of visitors including
singers, politicians and international media.
There was also a diverse and colourful protest held on March
13th with close to 15,000 enthusiastic participants marching
through Hobart, Tasmania. Now that the Rescue Station has come down
it is hoped that a clear message has been sent to parliament and
that the same fervent feeling will show up in the ballot boxes
during Australia's elections later this year.
Tim Georgeson's aim was to document both the defiance and spirit
of protestors and campaigners as well as the devastation of
old-growth forest that is already being logged, not to mention
woodchipped, poisoned and firebombed.
Here you can hear Tim talk about his experiences, from eating
scrambled eggs 65 metres above the ground to being chased by a
"metal spider", as well as see some of his powerful photos.
Listen to Tim talk about his adventures (mp3, 7min36secs,
1.14MB).
View Tim's photos as a slideshow.
Read weblogs, listen
to singers and find background information on the project.
Do your bit:
Help save the Styx Valley by pressuring the Japanese buyers of the wood chips.
The Global Rescue Station in the Styx Valley, Tasmania,
Australia. The station was over 65m above the ground so Tim had to
overcome his fear of heights to take this shot!
Beautiful dense forest surrounds the station.
Below the Rescue Station was the base camp - home of email, late
night chats and scrambled-egg production facilities.
A dead wombat lies on a nearby road at the edge of the forest.
Once the forests are cut down they are also poisoned to prevent
wildlife destroying the plantation regrowth.
Part of the colourful and diverse crowd at the March 13th
protest. The crowd was reportedly 15,000 strong and as you can see,
had young and old in attendance.
The base of a huge ancient tree which has been cut down - these
trees can be up to 40 feet in diameter.
Scene of forest destruction with untouched Tasmanian forest
close by.
Thanks to Tim for the great photos and making time to tell us about his experiences of the destruction of the forest.