Summary

This item is one of our 50 Treasures: Celebrating 50 years of James Cook University.

Thomas Bristow answers the question 'Why is this significant?'

The Movement for Responsible Coastal Development (MRCD) was the first incorporated environmental organisation in Mission Beach, north Queensland.¹ Founded in 1990, success first came with a $3k grant from the Department of Environment and Heritage.

Ben Trupperbäumer provided visionary images and symbols communicating the movement's purpose for the bi-monthly newsletters and annual general reports distributed to all members, councillors, politicians, media outlets, like-minded community groups and scientific bodies. Frontispieces are embellished with naturalistic icons from woodblocks of ebony, gidgee, and sandalwood. Poetic titles articulate the inherent wisdom of the movement, including, 'Breaking (the) Ice', 'Return to the Beginning', and 'A Sense of Belonging'. The combination of geophysical image and text provides a spirited and cohesive aesthetic.

Readers are witnesses to political engagement processes driven by the fusion of scientific literacy and artistic vision. A glance at any one of the eight newsletters leads the reader to advance notification of workshops and conservation conferences alongside criticism, letters, cartoons, habitat descriptions, science reports, hyper-local journalism ('village views') and details of submissions to community groups, government bodies, heritage agencies and political parties. The newsletters provide summaries of community-based contributions to state governance (for example, to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Coastal Protection, the World Heritage Unit, the Department of Lands) and to meetings of minutes with Federal Ministers (as with the December 1990 meeting between MRCD and Bob Brown MP, Federal Minister for Transport). Often positive and exacting, news items and reports record such successes as the forcing of government to refuse Crown Land lease extensions and the re-inclusion of Crown Land into reserves or environmental parks. MRCD's rigorous lobbying for bylaws and special zoning areas helped to protect the internationally significant ecosystems of the Wet Tropics bioregion.

MRCD members were connected to John Büsst and Judith Wright, who are among the most important Australian activists of the twentieth century, renowned for protecting Queensland's coastal communities, and paving the way for the UNESCO World Heritage status that was later conferred on reef and rainforest systems. Inspiring artists and scientists alike, this item evidences the ways local groups can engage with Australia's malleable political mechanisms.