Denis Walls | Guest Contributor
Peter Hitchcock – Defender of Forests. His story protecting tall eucalypts and rainforests.
Edited by Lorraine Cairnes and Dr John Benson.
Every Tuesday morning on the regular Cairns Botanic Gardens Bird Walk the group stops to admire the Rainbow Gum (Eucalyptus deglupta) on Collins Avenue. It was the emblematic tree of Peter Hitchcock, first Executive Director of the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) from 1991 to 1996, who died in 2019. He saw the tree as book-ending the geographical distribution of the tall eucalypts from the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) in the south of Australia to the Rainbow Gum as the only eucalypt which grows naturally in the northern hemisphere up to 9 degrees north of the Equator and is a highly unusual, fast growing, true rainforest eucalypt species.
Peter was hopeful his tall eucalypts book would be published before his death, but it was not to be. Fortunately, Lorraine Cairnes and John Benson have taken on the onerous task of piecing Peter’s writings together with the support of Peter’s wife, Liana, and the publishing skills of Steven Nowakowski and his partner Nettie at Nettie O Design. What we have is a fine tribute to Peter’s long dedication to the protection of Australia’s tall eucalypts.
We learn in the early chapters of his conversion from a forester (1967–70), whose remit was basically logging, into someone who grew to be highly sceptical of the destructive practices of the industry. He carried his mapping skills, his love of forests and his attention to detail into the part of his life on which the book is largely written – from 1970 to 1991 – the period of Peter’s life dedicated to protecting tall eucalypts and rainforest in New South Wales and Tasmania. Thousands of hectares of forest in both States are now World Heritage thanks to Peter.
Seeking a new challenge, Peter arrived in Cairns to become the first Executive Director of the newly established WTMA (1991–97). He had to work everything out from scratch, but his personality and character were well equipped for it. He was always polite and calm under pressure which was extraordinary given much of the negativity he had to face.
Peter always held strong and, sometimes, controversial views on fire management both in Far North Queensland and down south. He was very critical of many of the human-induced fire regimes he encountered. In the Wet Tropics he stated:
“Local scientific opinion has promoted the idea that the tall eucalypt forests [aka wet sclerophyll] are actually threatened by rainforest, providing the basis for …. extraordinary management intervention. …. The reality is that the frequent artificial burning is much more of a threat to the tall eucalypt forest ecosystem than the rainforest. [This practice] deserves to be more widely debated before there is ongoing commitment to burning in this small remnant of wet tall eucalypt forest.” (pp.102/3)
Of course, Peter recognised the importance of fire in the propagation of tall eucalypt forests but took the long view on nature’s role in managing them in their 350–to–400-year life cycle through, for example, lightning strikes. He was fascinated by “….relict old growth tall eucalypt rainforest in high rainfall areas of the subtropics” in the Hunter and Bellinger valleys which had shown no sign of fire for hundreds of years. He argued that “in a huge dry continent like Australia where fire and human disturbance is almost everywhere, old growth eucalypt (rain) forests devoid of any sign of fire are like oases in a vast desert. They are to be treasured while they still exist.” (p. 76). He referred to these forests as Long Unburned (Eucalypt) Forest (LUF). He went on: “Sadly, there are some forest managers now who will do anything to apply fire to such areas in the bizarre belief that there is something wrong unless a eucalypt forest is burned like every other piece of eucalypt forest on the continent. One size must fit all!” (p. 76). He was philosophical about eucalypts in a closed rainforest canopy. “Only in extreme weather and fire conditions would fire be likely to enter pure rainforest, and then only be incremental erosion of the edge of the rainforest. If there is no fire the rainforest wins the war.” (p. 77)
Peter was prescient in writing: “These long-unburned forests in south eastern Australia are likely the product of one or more catastrophic fire events prior to European settlement of Australia: bookmarks of a past climatic event. And, looking at the climate change predictions, we can expect to be visited again by the climate and weather conditions that gave rise to these relict old growth forests.” (p. 77). Peter died in May 2019 and massive bushfires later that year showed how wise those opinions were. Exceptionally hot fires burned into forest areas in Tasmania and New South Wales that had not previously been breached since the arrival of Europeans to these shores.
Peter left WTMA in 1997 and for the next 20 years I worked closely with him on a number of local projects and issues, between all the international work he did with Old Cassowary Consulting. He always impressed with his strategic thinking, lucid writing and spoken articulacy as well as his human warmth and unremitting optimism. I still miss him. He was that rare, and now largely non-existent, public servant who was active and engaged in the community sphere and unafraid of voicing controversial and, yes, political opinions that effect progressive change in society.
This book is a fine testament to Peter’s many attributes and the wonderful legacy he has bequeathed to the nation.
Denis Walls
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