Author: Iain McCalman
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
Reviewed by Anne Dickson and NPA Environmental Book Club
Iain McCalman, in ‘John Büsst: Bohemian artist and saviour of reef and rainforest’, engagingly narrates the life of a man whose artistic sensibility and creative exploitation of science and politics led to a successful collaborative crusade to protect wet tropics rainforest in Djiru Country, North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef. The title of this book hints at a story in two parts. Büsst’s artistic creativity and craftsman skills were honed during his time living in artist communities outside Melbourne and in Bedarra Island off the Queensland coast near Tully. Then, after falling in love with the flourishing but threatened natural environment of North Queensland, Büsst spent the later part of his life successfully campaigning to protect rainforest and reef ecosystems.
Born into an establishment Bendigo family, Büsst was educated at boarding school (where he met his lifelong friend and future Prime Minister, Harold Holt) and Melbourne University, but dropped out in 1930 to follow a bohemian artist lifestyle, taking art classes in Melbourne and then moving to Montsalvat, an artist collective in Eltham outside Melbourne. It was here that Büsst developed not only his artistic skills but also his craftsman skills as he played a key role in building the Montsalvat accommodation. In 1940 Büsst moved to Queensland – first to Bedarra, where he developed a fascination for the tropical flora and fauna; and in 1957 Büsst moved to Bingal Bay on the mainland near Mission Beach. Once again, he used his craftsman skills to build a home (now heritage listed) at Nimmy Rise overlooking the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef.
By this time, Büsst had married Alison Shaw Fitchett, introduced Harold and Zara Holt to the wonders of tropical Queensland, and become friends with the forester/ecologist Len Webb. These relationships and the later collaboration with poet Judith Wright became fundamental to the protection of the rainforest and reef. During the 1960s the extremely biodiverse reef and rainforest ecosystems in North Queensland were in peril from Army testing of explosive weapons and the defoliant Agent Orange; sugar cane plantation expansion; coral mining for fertiliser; and reef drilling for oil and gas. Increasingly aware of the social, ecological and aesthetic implications, Büsst poured his energy into campaigning. He made strategic use of petitions, letters, media, political contacts, student activists, scientific surveys, alliances with conservation groups and unions, inquiries, and legal challenges. Büsst creatively, persistently and collaboratively forced the agenda to protect these precious natural areas.
As is typical of environmental campaigns, Büsst experienced many setbacks. Rather than give into frustration, he energetically continued to search for new opportunities to push the agenda forward until ill health finally started to slow him down. He died in 1972 and sadly did not see the 1975 High Court decision that the reef was Commonwealth rather than State territory. Following this decision, legislation was passed to create the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. In 1981, the reef gained World Heritage listing and the rainforest was declared World Heritage in 1988.
McCalman is an accomplished biographer whose engaging prose shows us an eccentric man of great energy and determination. In accounting for Büsst’s advocacy, he also presents us with a comprehensive education in what it takes to succeed in environmental campaigns. That we have large areas of reef and wet tropics rainforest protected is the remarkable legacy of this conservationist whose Bingal Bay memorial plaque by Judith Wright reads:
‘In memory of John H Busst died 5-4-1971 artist and lover of beauty who fought that man and nature might survive’.