Wild Nature: Walking Australia’s South East Forests

An epic journey of discovery into the heart of a vast and contested Australian wilderness. In Wild Nature John Blay laces up his walking boots and goes bush to explore Australia’s rugged southeast forests - stretching from Canberra to the coast and on to Wilsons Promontory - in a great circle from his home in Bermagui. In this compelling book, the bestselling author of On Track charts the forests’ natural history, their Indigenous history and the first European incursions, the forest wars, the establishment of the South East Forests National Park, and the threats that continue to face their existence, including devastating bushfires. Along the way Blay asks the big questions. What do we really know about these wild forests? How did the forests come to be the way they are? What is the importance of wild nature to our civilisation? ‘This is a beautiful and enchanting book. John Blay is a superb walking companion - a naturalist, historian and philosopher whose writing glows with wit, wisdom and wonder. I savoured every word and relished every step. Wild Nature is a journal of meditation, observation and exploration, and a delicate natural and human history of the south east forests. What is nature, and how do we value it today? How did we save these special places and how might we lose them? Pick up this book and set foot in another world, a wild one nested within our own.’ - Tom Griffiths