First Day ... September ...

First Day … September …

By Editor

Posted on 31 August 2017

*Pic: Matt Newton’s stark picture of a clearfell …

First Day of the Month … and as it is so close to first-day, a celebration of the pulp mill protests is surely appropriate. Tassietimes has dug into its archive to produce the following … Karin’s shots were taken mostly in 2011. If your ‘toon, piccie, isn’t properly attributed write to [email protected]

Matt Newton’s ( http://www.matthewnewton.com.au/ ) reflects …

Tasmania is an extraordinary land, one that many hoped might become, in the words of the legendary landscape photographer Olegas Truchanas, “a shining beacon in a dull, uniform and largely artificial world”.

Its remoteness, its wildness, its unique natural world – all seemed to offer the possibility of a prosperous and good future to a state that had for a century been the poorest in the Australian Commonwealth.

Instead, over the past three decades Tasmania has mortgaged its future to the woodchipping industry, which was dominated by one company: Gunns Ltd.

After 14 years of bitter division, protests, legal and boardroom stoushes and the demise of a major listed company, the Gunns Ltd Tasmanian pulp mill is finally dead.

The $2.5 billion project — first hatched in 2003 — was consigned to history last night (Wed) by Gunns’s receivers, Korda Mentha, who confirmed the pulp mill permit effectively expires today with no buyers to hand.

Pic: Stephanie Taylor