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wisdom
Margaret Thorsborne, 81, environmental activist
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I’ve been concerned with nature since I was very young – my parents both served in World War I and wanted to help heal the world after seeing so much death and devastation. I started my conservation work in the early 1960s, after forming a branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. In the 1970s, my husband Arthur [who passed away in 1991] and I moved to North Queensland and purchased over 20 hectares of land near Cardwell, the gateway to Hinchinbrook Island. We later decided to sell it all to the Edmund Kennedy National Park on the condition we could still live there. I still have the cheque for $1! The happiness it gives me to know this piece of land will be safe forever is indescribable. The biggest environmental disaster I’ve had to face was the development of Port Hinchinbrook in 1997. Every day, 20 of us would go and sit in the mangroves of Hinchinbrook Channel because they couldn’t be cleared if members of the public were present. I was removed quite a few times but I’d say, “See you later,” to the policeman, then go back in another way. I stood in front of bulldozers many times – it’s amazing when you put your hand on the blade of a bulldozer and it stops. I don’t like being old, but I guess that’s one of the advantages – no one wants to hurt a little old lady. We should all do something to protect the environment, no matter what our age. What we do today will affect the future.
Margaret Thorsborne is patron of the Thorsborne Trust, established for her late husband. She’s received many awards for her work, including the Queensland Natural History Award and Wet Tropics Cassowary Award, and has had species of flora and fauna named after her.
Article published June 2008.
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 We should all do something to protect the environment, no matter what our age |
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