Fern Hookers
“Spoils from the Bush" Australasian Sketcher Wednesday 16 January 1884, page 3
Hobartians loved the mountain’s ferns and flowers, especially its waratahs. When occasion—such as a dance hall demanded decoration—people went up the mountain and came back with fresh decorations—free. This was a tradition, it showed appreciation. But others from the 1860 onward saw it differently.
With axes, tomahawks and inflammable gun-wads, by ‘wanton’, ‘barbaric’, ‘ruthless’, ‘foolish and absurd destruction’, ‘robbery’ and ‘disgraceful vandalism’; the mountain—with its beautiful ornaments, its lovely forests, instead of ‘some of the best and romantic scenery in the World’ and ‘a paradise to botanists and a joy forever’—had (some complained) in parts, come to resemble ‘a battlefield.’
For fifty years, people complained in anguish that not only were the great giants, the Blue Gums, being decimated, but everything else of beauty too: the ferns and the flowers, were being ripped out. It was not only brutal, it was so selfishly greedy and short-sighted.
Those who protested wrote to their local newspapers to implore their fellow citizens and they wrote to their city councillors demanding action. The council passed by-laws, but the destruction continued. In 1906 a large portion of the eastern face of the mountain was made into a ‘National Park’ and the removal of a single fern or flower was prohibited, but fifty years later the Reserves Committee of the Hobart City Council was still dealing with commercial exploitation. From at least 1860 to almost 1960, the same desperate complaint is made.
“Mr. Woods … at the Springs … has bestowed to the public but a view of some of the best romantic & picturesque scenery in the World & many of the most beautiful indigenous plants & shrubs in the Colony. The latter, I am sorry to say have been … destroyed & in many … I must say most wantonly. … I should much like to see a stop put to such foolish & absurd destruction”
“It was admitted that the destruction of these beautiful ornaments of the mountain gorges was carried on in the most wanton and barbarous manner. To afford a display for a single evening, instead of only taking the fronds, entire trunks, the growth of many years, were ruthlessly cut down, and thus by degrees whole valleys had been robbed of their beauty, and turned into unsightly wastes. A great public injury was in fact being done, as the mountain was fast losing one of its greatest attractions.”
“Troops of boys, armed with tomahawks and guns, are everywhere to be met with in holiday time, lighting fires, chopping down saplings, or setting fire to the forest by the use of inflammable gun-wads, &c., besides other depredations, including the destruction of ferns, which, if persisted in, must inevitably create a great dearth of these plants in course of time, to the detriment of the Reserve.
The great advantages possessed by this grand recreation-ground, its nearness to the city, and other natural beauties, should make the proper care and supervision of a place so eminently suited to the wants of a large and ever increasing city the first care of its citizens, and more particularly in a place like Hobart, which is famed all over the world for the natural beauty of its surroundings; and I think I may safely say Mount Wellington—its timbered slopes and gullies—occupy a leading if not the chief position among such surroundings, and hence should be jealously guarded from acts of disgraceful vandalism now so common. ”
“Ah, thought I, were I a millionaire this vandalism should be stopped. I would buy out the interests of this company, and protect the mountain, and give it to the people for all time. I would appoint rangers, who should admit all visitors on the simple condition of their committing no wanton destruction. Imagine what a possession this mountain and these lovely forests would be to the citizens of Hobart, a paradise to the botanist, the lover of nature, and the ubiquitous tourist; in fact, a joy for ever. ”
Hobart Tribute 1878
“But too often there is a ruthless destruction of beautiful plants, and, in some cases, one regrets to notice, wanton damage is done. Just at present, the white clematis, one of the most beautiful of our native flowers, is in full blossom on the slopes of Mount Wellington, around the Huts, and elsewhere. This flower fades so quickly when plucked that it is almost a pity to pick it at all, but it is nothing less than an outrage when, as has been the case lately, masses of clematis have been torn down and then left to wither on the track or in the bush. ”
“I wish to protest against the destruction of the bush that is taking place there. At the back of the church (Fern Tree) the trees have been ruthlessly felled, and the whole hill has lost its beauty, and resembles a battlefield, and exposes the “Bower” to the first bush fire in the vicinity. Then, further up near the Springs track, Pillinger-drive, there is as bad a state of affairs–trees felled and left, others with portion of trunk removed, the tops and leaves left near the track, so that the first lighted match would cause a disastrous fire. I contend that none of the vigorous trees should be removed. By all means use proper discretion, and take out the old and decayed timber; but it seems that the whole question of the preservation of the mountain is a dead letter and nobody’s business. There are evidences of great neglect and want of care all over the reserve, and if this destruction of trees is allowed to continue, before long Mt. Wellington will be as bare as Mt. Nelson.”
“It is important to maintain the principle that no commercial use shall be made of a reserve which has been especially set aside for the protection of native flora and fauna.”