Book Review: by Valerie Lewis
I first read the script of Elaine’s book while on holiday in Sydney and found myself having to read out passages of it to friends who could hardly believe what they were hearing. A fun park on Mount Coolum? Development on the Marcus Dunes?
While it sounds incredible today, these and other disasters almost happened, except for the efforts of our Sunshine Coast’s eco-activists — those indomitable pioneers of the environment movement who tirelessly fought to preserve our green heritage.
Green Legends is written in a charming personal style by environmentalist and former Maroochy Shire councillor, Elaine Green who was herself actively involved and so is speaking from experience.
Through her eyes we re-live the cronyism of the Bjelke-Petersen days of white-shoed atrocities and we share in the wins and the losses of the continual campaigns to reject unwanted and inappropriate development. Our precious wetlands, dunes, wallum, wildlife corridors, waterways and forests were and still are constantly under threat, and it is largely due to the watchfulness, diligence and just plain hard work of community groups and dedicated individuals as described in Green Legends that our Sunshine Coast has not become a repeat of the Gold Coast.
Green Legends also delights with many photographs of the coast as it once was, which will amaze recent residents, and with photo collages of activists past and present. I found it all a riveting read from Stan Tutt’s evocative and metaphoric imagining at the beginning, through the history of the local environment movement, and in particular following the stories of the campaigns, our ‘green legends.’
It is a timely reminder that these stories continue on today with the chronic push to increase our population at the expense of our native habitat. We can draw hope and courage from the green legends described and perhaps be inspired to not ever become complacent, but to maintain our vigilant watch and to continue to support our community groups that act on our behalf.
I highly recommend Green Legends to all residents of the Sunshine Coast and to anyone contemplating living here.
Green Legends is published by the Sunshine Coast Environment Council and was officially launched at the the Coolum Civic Centre on September 15.
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