WILDLIFE WARRIORS: IT'S TIME
- JOHN WILLIAMSON:
The Album Launch
Wednesday November 22nd, 2006 at WatersEdge at Pier One, Walsh Bay.

"...How y' going everybody. Thanks heaps for turning up.

I guess by now you know that today we are launching a new song that I hope will encourage Aussies to really take a look at what we've got. And I've got to say that it was the late Steve Irwin that has given me this opportunity to state how I really feel about the continuing loss of the amazing nature of Australia.

While Steve's love of birds and animals was always at the forefront of his TV shows I know he was as frightened as I about losing more habitat. That's why he and Terri purchased 80,000 acres of bush in central Queensland as well as in other parts of Australia and around the world. Terri said to me "You know, John, in Queensland it is an island amongst cultivation and cleared grazing land!"

This "rings a bell" with me as I have been aware since the 60's what was being lost as I was part of it. (More of that in a minute).

My wife, Mary Kay and I have bought a much smaller parcel near the Gold Coast for the same purpose that is; to keep it in tact. Be loving caretakers.

Bob Brown's Bush Heritage Fund is doing what it can all around Australia - but a new awareness, I believe, needs to be encouraged if we are going to save what past generations have taken for granted.

If sometimes it is about saving remnants of our bush only at least that's better than losing it altogether.

Australia has many hundreds of districts that include flora and fauna unique to themselves. Unique to the world.

So when Steve Irwin died his tragic death our wildlife lost it's greatest warrior. And on the evening of his memorial service I was stirred to write a song called "WILDLIFE WARRIORS: IT'S TIME". Not so much to sing about Steve, but to remind people what his message was. And it is directly in line with what has driven my song writing for 36 years. That is; the amazing and inspirational diversity of nature that I am privileged to experience as an Australian. In fact, the first song I ever wrote, "OLD MAN EMU", in 1970, mentions the wedge-tailed eagle, galahs, cockatoos, albatross, the thrush, native ducks, kookaburra, budgerigars and of course, our coat of arms heroes; the emu and kangaroo.

Many Aussies think they are doing the right thing planting "natives" from anywhere in Australia, but this can cause a problem, for instance; Cootamundra Wattle can spread into the rainforest where it doesn't belong etc...I think we should be much more careful to preserve the uniqueness of each district. It has taken thousands and thousands of years for trees and shrubs to find their own niche in particular soils and climate. Botanists are aware of this, but I think we all should become more aware of the differences.

My love and obsession of the bush started in a little wheat farmer's town called Quambatook, in the Mallee district in Northern Victoria. "Quambatook" means "resting place beside a river". We lived in the town just a stone throw away from the little Avoca river, full of redfin and home to many water birds; dab chicks, coots, musk ducks, tom tits, red-legged stilts, reed warbler and on and on... My craft teacher at school encouraged me to join the Gould League of Bird Lovers. My mate, and I, collected birds eggs (the rule was to take one only out of the nest) and I guess that taught me even back then in the 50's that our wildlife needed to be protected.

As far as habitat was concerned I was aware of Mallee trees, Swamp Box, River Gums and Bulloak Pine, but that was about all I noticed.

I had one year in the Mallee out of school and at 19 years of age in 1965 we sold up "lock, stock and barrel" and moved to North West New South Wales to Croppa Creek (near Moree) where farming was still expanding. Dad and Mum wanted to give all their 5 boys a chance to have a farm.

That was the first time in my life I became aware of how diverse our bush is. There was nothing at Croppa Creek the same as Quambatook except the Red River Gums. In fact, I immediately counted 38 different native trees on our first farm, and most of it was under cultivation.

Initially, I was mainly interested in soil and the trees told us where the richest soil was. Belah trees meant deep black soil. Brigalow and Wilga on lighter soil. The combination of all three is pure gold. So, as you can imagine there is next to no substantial stands of this beautiful bush left in the North West of New South Wales. And, with the coming of cotton irrigation farms the devastation has been heart breaking to me.

Farmers can't really be blamed for this in the 60's and 70's as the Government actually gave us a 100% tax deduction on all money spent on clearing.

We left about 10% untouched mainly because something deep down inside made me uncomfortable. We were destroying the habitat for red-tailed black cockatoos, red-winged parrots, and the rare bridle-nailed tailed wallaby just to name a few species. And I still feel guilty that we ploughed up the beautiful natural Mitchell grass along the creek causing terrible soil erosion in the next flood. Farmers, of course, are smarter these days. Conservation was a relatively new concept back then.

So, "guilt", I guess is part of my obsession. But, as I have seen more of Australia than most, and with a caring eye, I have seen the same kind of devastation happen everywhere. So much so that I believe any remnants of habitat left nowadays should be regarded as sacred. People have been saying to me for thirty years, "There's got to be a balance". Well just fly low over our farming districts and you'll see that the scales were tipped against our bush many years ago.

I would love to encourage every school in every district to make a project of discovering what is unique about their original bushland, collect seeds etc. and create botanical gardens. I'm sure there are farmers that would come on side.

To make my fear more understandable; I performed recently at a hotel resort in N.S.W. where there is at least a dozen really old bottle trees growing. They were transplanted from farms in central Queensland. I was most impressed at first. Apparently, farmers in Queensland can sell their bottle trees for a lot of money. The value is relative to the size of the girth of the tree. Then it dawned on me... Does this mean that Queenslanders can sell all their bottle trees to the highest bidder to tree zoos all over the place? Does this mean that in the future there will be no bottle tree district in Queensland? I sincerely hope there is someone like me in that area protesting. Once again we must preserve and protect our diversity. Do you really want our country to look the same everywhere?

So this is where I'm coming from. I hope I find like souls in the media who feel as I do and help to make a difference. Our generation will not be looked on favourably if we don't leave stands of every kind of habitat in its pristine state. We have already lost a lot.

So, YES ...WILDLIFE WARRIORS IT'S TIME .... To get angry and do something about it.

We don't really own this land, we pay for the privilege to take care of it for our grandchildren's children.

IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP AND STOP DESTROYING THE VERY THING THAT MAKES AUSTRALIA A PARADISE TO LIVE IN. ..."

Pictured above: John addresses the audience of media, plus winners of a Radio 2UE competition who attended the launch. CLICK HERE for more info, full lyrics and sound samples from the WILDLIFE WARRIORS: IT'S TIME album... It's expected the CD will raise tens of thousands of dollars to support Wildlife Warriors. Click Here to purchase...