Camp Florentine as Tasmanian Forest Icon

Trashed … flashback to the arson attack against Camp Floz

“it’s interesting to see how a cultural environment gets built on the back of love for a natural environment” “Jack” (activist)

The stillness and tranquillity of the tall dank forest is sharply broken by the rough whir of chainsaws and logging machinery across the newly-gravelled road. Waking in my damp sleeping bag with one tarp as roof and another as floor, I am saddened by the harsh juxtaposition of close wren-chatter and the distant noise of machinery. I am lying amongst the trees and fernery down Timbs Track and outside, on the Gordon River Road, dozens of police officers have gathered hastily to police the day’s protest activity.

I became familiar with southern Tasmania’s “Camp Florentine”, in the Upper Florentine Valley in 2007, a year prior to beginning my PhD which explores military metaphors in relation to the discourse of the Tasmanian forests dispute. Camp Florentine is situated just off the Gordon River Road, which leads to the impoundment below which lies Lake Pedder. For a map of the area and a self-drive guide see

http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/upper-florentine-self-drive-guide.

Camp Florentine was erected in 2006. During that year, the Derwent Forest Alliance (DFA), The Wilderness Society (TWS) and independent activists worked to prevent roading and logging near Timbs Track. The DFA established the forest tree-sit “the Lungs of the Land” in October of that year, whilst TWS established the World Heritage Watchtower, another tree-sit. Independent activists established the camp shelter which became known to many as “Camp Flozza”.

Throughout its six years, the blockade has accommodated an array of cultures and nationalities. Its activists, the people of Still Wild Still Threatened, have trained many in campaigning and practical direct action skills, such as tree-climbing. It has experienced hundreds of visitors and has encouraged people to take up residency in the State.

I interviewed 11 activists engaged with Camp Florentine for my research, and am coming to understand the camp as a cultural icon; an iconic place.

A cultural icon represents a concept, place, or event with great significance to a wide social group. Cultural icons may be national, regional or related to a city and they can be mobilising symbols at each of those levels. I suggest that Camp Florentine is recognised by both the Tasmanian conservation community and the larger populace as a place that signifies the conservation movement’s tradition of non-violent direct action (NVDA) and community opposition to environmentally damaging practices. I consider both Lake Pedder and the Franklin River to be similarly iconic places.

During 2009 particularly, Camp Florentine was a place of high energy and emotion. A “snapshot” of the activity is provided by Still Wild Still Threatened (SWST):

January 2009, the blockade was busted for the second time by 65 police and Forestry Tasmania workers. Again there were 16 arrests in the first 3 days and after the tunnel and dragons and winter shack were removed the machines came in and carved a massive scar a further 3km into the pristine valley, to be a logging road. After 11 days of continuous actions to try and slow down further road construction and logging the machines were taken away and we started rebuilding on the road again (http://www.stillwildstillthreatened.org/camp-florentine/about-camp, 2012).

Though some logging and roading has taken place in these majestic old-growth forests, SWST has succeeded in iconifying the blockade and I believe the future protection of the Florentine forests will be due, in great part, to this organisation.

I write this is because, whilst erecting tree-sits, monopoles and shelters, conducting 24-hour watches and maintaining the camp fire, the group was, predominantly, involved in a highly successful campaign of community outreach.

The 2009 Walk Against Warming, jointly organised by SWST, TWS, Environment Tasmania (ET), Sustainable Living Tasmania, Cool Pool Tas and Climate Action Hobart, was one of several events that drew hundreds of ordinary people into the forest to affirm their desire for High Conservation Value (HCV) forest protection and climate change mitigation.

The iconification of Camp Florentine is best described by the blockaders. One, who calls himself “Jack” says, “we iconified a piece of forest … with limited help from well-resourced organizations on a few occasions we did get 500-1000 people out into the bush, which hasn’t happened for quite awhile and to me it reaffirmed that people do care about those areas and people can at least fulfil that campaign objective; to iconify an area and get people to understand where it is and why it’s important”.

Another activist, who I shall call “Karl”, explains why that area was able to become representative of the greater Tasmanian forests dispute: “it was quite a unique situation at Camp Florentine because it’s not an isolated area – it’s on a main road accessible to the whole populace; even people with disabilities. So instead of Camp Florentine being just a small cog in the wheel of forest protection it became quite a focal point of its own so much so that it’s now become an iconic area”. The accessibility of the camp meant that the media was able, and likely, to attend protest actions.

To understand how the blockade has become iconic, it is necessary to look at how it has changed over its 6 years. One activist believes it has gone from being “a frontline action to a community outpost”. The camp has gone from being totally functional to having a stronger focus on aesthetics. This change has followed changes in state politics and forest harvesting priorities. The most obvious aesthetic change is the absence of the car “dragons”. “Karl” explains: “there would have been no question of removing those structures if there was a question of removal [bust] of the camp at any time, which there was before”.

Most importantly, Camp Florentine is a place that anyone can visit, at anytime, and be welcomed and educated. A short walk along the logging road shows the devastation wrought by clear felling whilst a chat with one of the activists at camp educates visitors on the recent history, conservation networks and political situation pertaining to HCV forest conservation in Tasmania.

The history of Camp Florentine re-affirms the lengths to which ordinary people are willing to go to protect the precious places within the Tasmanian landscape.

An activist I’ll call “Cookie” explains: “people all over the world will know about the Upper Florentine because of the blockade … it represents a whole lot of forests”.