Intergenerational

So who comes to Windgrove to partake in its natural beauty and restive charm?

Disembarking from the bus are 50 people from the states of New South Wales and Victoria; here in Tasmania and Windgrove (last Friday) as part of a tour organised by the Australian Garden History Society. These people are mostly 40 years of age and above (way above).

The bottom photo, from a weekend visit by Heidi Douglas and Paul Oosting on either side of my camera shy partner, Sally, are people of a much younger generation.

Between the two groups, are there generational clashes or do they share some things in common? Being at Windgrove certainly gives them a bonding of sorts. But beyond that, what I hope is that all of them are motivated enough in their concern for the earth that they will use whatever skills and talents they have to speak out for the care of the earth. Either that, or use their financial resources to fund others to speak for them.

I enjoyed guiding the Garden History society around as they were truly knowledgeable, inquisitive and understanding about the environment. Who knows on what side of the political fence they stood? What I can infer, though, is that they would want the environment and, especially, Tasmania’s natural heritage, to be protected from unscrupulous development. Wood chips; no way. Pulp mill; no way.

Heidi is being sued by the southern hemisphere’s largest timber company, Gunns, because of a documentary film she made about the woodchip industry in Tasmania. Paul heads up the Wilderness Society’s anti-pulp mill task force. For little earned money, both have invested much of their time and emotional energy for the sake of us all. We, of the baby boomer and older generations, owe them much gratitude for carrying the activist banner we might have dropped behind as weariness, pessimism and a touch of cynicism crept into our lives.

Sally’s painted stone mandala is an engagement present. Like the older generations before them, one thing Paul and Heidi will be honouring is the tradition of getting married.

Now, if only someone in the bus tour or elsewhere would help with Heidi’s legal costs.