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The following is an extract from Ellis
Troughton's "Furred Animals of Australia", first published in
1941, and to Ellis we are deeply grateful.
This was written for the Australian Museum Magazine in 1936, two years
before the 150th anniversary of colonisation, and was prompted
by the evidence of the appalling waste of flora and fauna that was evident
even at that point in our history.
It bears the hallmarks of an early stage in the trend to the realisation that our
native flora and fauna were not inexhaustible, and we must also remember that
these
words were written at a time of great abundance compared to what exists
today!
I
Believe That:
Because the Australian continent fostered all the fascinating furred
animals, birds, and flowers that awaited the coming of civilisation, our
land must remain their everlasting sanctuary.
Because the forests and trees supply food and shelter for the birds, and
the unique marsupials like the Koala, such forests should not be destroyed
without adequate reason and due replacement.
Wild flowers should be gathered only with that appreciative care due to
living things of exquisite scent and beauty.
The nests of birds, built with
such patient devotion, should never be destroyed in thoughtless curiosity;
that their eggs should be left to bring forth lovely feathered songsters;
and that the rifling of their homes is no less a crime than is theft from
our own.
Enjoyment of the living plants and animals will provide a more lasting and
universal source of pleasure and education than collecting their remains,
save in the cause of science, and for exhibitions which increase knowledge
and the love of nature.
We should not destroy living things that are harmless to us, as we hope to
avoid harmful things to ourselves; that even harmful creatures should be
controlled with due regard for their zoological heritage and right to
survive.
Any wholesale sacrificing of
native animals for monetary gain, in a country so rich in resources of
grain, stock, and minerals, is a confession of incompetence and wasteful
greed, unworthy of the Australian Commonwealth.
Because ancient Australian isolation evolved the gentlest and least
harmful host of furred animals the world has ever known, they must be
conserved with benevolent care and receive adequate sanctuary for their
future survival, subject only to the vital economic needs of man.
The above is reprinted to epitomize the urgent
need for a sympathetic, unselfish, and constructive approach to the
problem of providing adequate protection, sanctuaries, and national parks
to avert the approaching extinction of many more of the ancient
inhabitants of our adopted land.
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