book review – National Parks Association of NSW

Book Review The First Astronomers

Posted by NPA NSWon August 31, 2026August 31, 2026in Spring 2026Leave a comment

The First Astronomers: How Indigenous Elders read the stars.

By Duane Hamacher with Elders and Knowledge Holders. Published by Allen & Unwin 2022

Review by Anne Dickson, NPA Environmental Book Club

Duane Hamacher, an Astrophysicist, embraced an opportunity to learn from and collaborate with First Nations Elders and Star Knowledge Holders Ghillar Michael Anderson, Ron Day, Segar Passi, Alo Tapim, David Bosun and the late John Barsa, and the result is The First Astronomers. This collaboration enlightens the reader through new knowledge, awakens new ways of knowing the familiar sky and for me, rekindled memories of past star gazing experiences.

Book Review: Is a River Alive?

Posted by NPA NSWon June 1, 2026June 1, 2026in Winter 2026Leave a comment

Author: Robert Macfarlane. Review by Anthony, NPA Environmental Book Club

I think most of us have a river (or creek) that lies deep within us, in our memories, with sounds, sights and smells to connect us to that past. For me, it is of the creek on the family property, a walk down from the homestead, across paddocks with very large bulls, or skittish sheep, pitted by the billabongs of water courses past, and through barbed wire fences to a creek that had cut its way deep into the soil.

Book Review: John Büsst: Bohemian artist and saviour of reef and rainforest

Posted by NPA NSWon February 24, 2026February 26, 2026in Autumn 2026Leave a comment

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.

Book Review: The Life and Times of the Murray Cod

Posted by NPA NSWon February 24, 2026February 26, 2026in Autumn 2026Leave a comment

Author: Paul Humphries. With contributions by Katherine Doyle, Cameron G. Mc Gregor and Minda W. Murray. Illustrations by W. Howard Brandenburg
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing 2023
Reviewed by: Ricki Nash, NPA Environmental Book Club

About the Author: Associate Professor Paul Humphries is a River and Fish Ecologist based with the Gulbali Institute at Charles Sturt University (Albury-Wodonga). His work and research spans 40 years focusing on the early life cycles of freshwater fish, river ecology and flows, with a particular interest in historical ecology associated with the Murray-Darling Basin.

Book Review: Deep Water – the world in the ocean

Posted by NPA NSWon December 1, 2025December 1, 2025in Summer 2025Leave a comment

Author: James Bradley. Published by Hamish Hamilton in 2024

Review by Graham Kelly of NPA’s Environmental Book Group

Bradley is a Sydney writer of fiction and science non-fiction and is also a prize-winning critic. He brings his vast research and expressive skills to this wide-ranging set of views of the ocean. The book describes its multiple layers and ecology, the nature and lives of its inhabitants, and major contemporary topics relating to their health and future. Historical narratives are frequently used to explain how we have arrived at current situations and to inform the future. Current research and activities aimed at mitigating the effects of adverse future changes are often included to express hope for the future.

Book Review: Kosciuszko: the Man Behind the Mountain

Posted by NPA NSWon August 1, 2025September 1, 2025in Spring 2025Leave a comment

Author: Anthony Sharwood

Review by Anne Reeves

This book was discussed by the Club on 28 April 2025

Kościuszko never set foot on the Australian continent. The mountain was named in 1840, long after his death, by Polish explorer Paul Strzelecki (1797-1873), in honour of his national hero, Tadeusz Kościuszko. Most Australian’s probably know little about him, so journalist and author Anthony Sharwood has done us a service in investigating the man and his times. Kościuszko was a truly significant engineer and political leader, involved in the American Revolution, and independence struggles in Poland. But how appropriate is the use of his name for our highest mountain?