Optimism. Defiance. Compassion.

Co-founder of the Wilderness Society, environmentalist, writer (and so much more) Bob Brown’s new book Defiance: Stories from Nature and Its Defenders is a call to action for nature. A series of stories about activists who have inspired Bob, he shares his own musings on nature’s beauty and what motivates him to keep protecting and defending the planet. 

Interview by Lily Weinberg following an excerpt from Geraldine Brooks' foreword from Defiance.

"This book is a powerful reminder that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice only if brave people make the effort to bend it.

"Slavery didn’t abolish itself. The whales of the southern oceans swim free not because commercial whaling companies suddenly grasped the magnificence of biodiversity, and we don’t have the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area because the Hydro Electric Commission unexpectedly grasped the flawed economics of dams.

"Defiant people made those things happen. People who sacrificed their time and their freedom, who risked jail, injury and sometimes death.

"As a writer, it encourages me that words have the power to intimidate jailers, oppressors, those who ravage this planet for greed, and the prevaricating politicians who refuse to look beyond the next election cycle.

"I met Bob Brown in 1980. I’d been a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for about a year, and I’d gone to the Regent Theatre on George Street to hear the young doctor from Tasmania give an impassioned talk about the Franklin River. He was a different kind of environmental activist: a policeman’s son from Trunkey Creek in rural New South Wales, wearing a suit and a conservative haircut, his passion paired with respect for others and a sense of humour. He seemed to be able to get on with everyone, even those who disagreed with him. That’s why he was able to draw such a wide range of people to his cause. My 62-year-old mother had never been to a demonstration, but she took up a No Dams sign and marched. Defiance is contagious.

"There is so much at stake. The work is urgent. The time is now."
—Excerpt from the foreword by Geraldine Brooks 

Lily Weinberg: Why did you need to write this after your book Optimism?

Bob Brown: Well, I've got three things you aim for in life. One is optimism. The second thing is defiance, and the third thing is compassion.  I don't need to write about compassion. 

The world is in a tail spin down because the planet doesn't have the resources to support the greed of 8 billion humans wanting more and more and more. Greed, that's the force that's ruling the world at the moment, and it needs to be defied. 

And so I wanted to put together some stories about people who are defying the odds. Most people recognise that we do need to take action, but they don't take action. 
And getting more people taking action is what's required to change the way the world's currently failing to work successfully. I think the book is aimed at getting people who feel distressed about the environment, but don't know what to do. Don’t get depressed, take action. 


LW: What is defiance without compassion?

BB: Defiance really, in our case, means standing up for the planet against the ruling powers that are destroying it, and that takes courage. It doesn't take wisdom because it's pretty obvious what's happening. But it does take courage, and it takes compassion and an ability to think about coming generations and our fellow creatures on this planet. 


You do need compassion to understand where human beings are, where we succeed and where we fail, but the big failure at the moment is that the world is being ruled by people who don't have compassion, who don't have empathy, who don't feel for other people and for our fellow creatures. 


Corporations and the ruling class don't have time for compassion. They don't have time for which you can't put a dollar sign on. Like love, beauty, nature, and indeed compassion. All those things are priceless, and therefore have no value in a materialist society bound by the need for growth economics. It’s absurd that you can keep taking more from the planet, a finite planet, without consequences. 


LW: Where do you get your optimism from in the face of the climate and extinction crises? 

BB: People coming up to me and saying, “Why are you optimistic? How can you keep going with the burden of knowing what's happening to the forest?” And my answer to that is… well this book. The book is not meant to confront people. It's meant to say: here's a manual, have a look at this, and see if you feel more like taking action afterwards. 


The only thing that's going to bring in that truly sustainable relationship between humans and the planet is activism. But you don't get active by being depressed and knocked out by the astonishingly bad news.
You get active because you can see that there is another option.

In 1982, it looked completely hopeless for the Franklin to be saved. But the Wilderness Society nationally, galvanised. It took on the blockade, got the Franklin presented to people on their colour TV screens, all around the country and indeed overseas. That motivated millions of people, including so many who changed their vote to bring in a different government with a policy of saving the Franklin. 

So what looked totally lost, 18 months later, was saved. Now saving the planet is a much bigger task. But people know what the score is and would sensibly get behind a plan, a global plan to bring us back into line with what the planet can provide us.

LW: Has defiance changed over the years?

BB: The thing that's changed is the corporations have got weak politicians to bring in laws. Laws that penalise peaceful protests, and threaten people with jail sentences and criminal records in a way that wasn't there when the Wilderness Society was undertaking the Franklin blockade. There were people who were worried about whether they'd have a criminal record or not, but they didn't. There was just a trespass charge, but it didn't have a jail sentence attached to it, a $100 fine maybe.

But these days, there's real potential for being jailed, and we've seen a couple of peaceful forest activists jailed for three months in Tasmania in the last 12 months or so. And increasing penalties because the Labor Party and the coalition are passing laws to penalise peaceful protesters at the behest of the big corporations. 

They know they can't win the environmental argument, so they've got to get rid of the protestors instead. And it has a chilling effect. So it means that people are less inclined to risk having a criminal record, for example. 

That's the world we live in, and the only answer to that is millions more people becoming active in the interests of those who come after us. 

LW: Defiance has themes of joy and rebellion intertwined throughout it, can you tell us more about that? 

BB: Yes, I often use the Emma Goldman quotes from Chicago 100 years ago, “I don't want your revolution if I can't dance.” 
It's very, very important that people allow themselves time to have fun, to laugh at the situation they're in, as well as to be deadly serious about it. If you're deadly serious with no let up, you can burn out very rapidly. 

We have to remember what we're trying to protect, which is pretty spectacular and joyous in itself. Nature is just a bundle of endless joy for humanity. Being able to work with this planet instead of off it opens up its endless opportunities for our human intellect to flourish into the future.

And what a joy it is being alive and aware in this sensational universe. 

Ultimately, there's going to be a big showdown, as humanity faces much more traumatic effects from environmental degradation and not least climate change and species of extinction.
If we're going to take it on, we have to look after ourselves, and that's where being able to take time out to enjoy life, even with the burden of knowing the circumstances we're in and we've brought upon ourselves. 

LW: When you’re not feeling defiant, what inspires you?

BB: We're particularly lucky here in Australia. If you're in Sydney, you can be in the Blue Mountains within an hour or two. If you're in Melbourne, you can be in the great forests and mountains of Central Victoria, where there should be, of course, the Great Forest National Park. It’s the same with all the big cities in Australia. 
We've got nature in our backyards. 

I say to activists go out and take your tent and spend the night under the stars every few months to reinvigorate the reality of the nature that we're fighting for.

I just think we shouldn't fall for the idea that it's all too late. It's too desperate. There's nothing we can do about it. 
Yes, there is a lot we can do about it, but in the middle of all that, go and find a beautiful place. 

And above all, take your kids out into nature each weekend. Take them to the beach, take them to the forest, take them to the mountains. Get them to leave their tablets at home and enjoy nature and renew your own connection with nature while you're at it. Because to deprive children of that is like depriving children of music or really good food. It's taking away a human right that they have, and that is to grow up understanding nature and just feeling the joy of being with nature instead of being fearful of it. 

In fact, here is an open invitation for people to visit Oura Oura, if they're ever in Tasmania,  and have a look at what a beautiful place it is and feel a bit inspired like I have been by the nature of the place. 


Bob Brown's nature book recommendations:

Chris Bell's Traces confirms his place as one of the world's finest nature photographers. This limited edition portfolio of superb close-ups and details of nature caps Chris Bell's lifetime devotion to Australia's wild places. 

Tasmanian Greens MP, Tabatha Badger lifts the veil off the lost life story of Tasmania's forgotten bushwalker, photographer, scientist and social worker Florence Perrin with never-before published photographs. This beautifully written biography, Wildflowers, Weeds and Wilderness, restores Perrin's remarkable career, not least her bushwalking adventures deep into the wilds of Tasmania's remote mountain wilderness.

'I’m going home to Liffey to sit by the river and read a book!’ Excerpt from Defiance:

In 1985, The most decorated US marine from the Vietnam War, Colonel David Hackworth, grabbed me by the lapels at a meeting to protest logging.

He abraded me with ‘Bob Brown, you’ve got to get past this forest issue. Ronald Reagan has just been re-elected. He’s mad and liable to blow up the planet.’

Reagan had gained headlines in 1984 by joking about pressing the presidential red button for nuclear attack on Russia.

‘David,’ I said, ‘if that’s the case, I’m going home to Liffey to sit by the river and read a book!’

We must assume there is time to turn humankind around. Sure, whole species are going to extinction and hundreds of people are dying from the impact of the climate crisis each day. Yet we would be wise to aim at winning the war for the world, not every skirmish. Don’t let anxiety trip you up on the path to action. Angst at the surmised imminence of Earth’s destruction isn’t helpful.

That’s a big ask for anyone’s equanimity. But, with action in mind, also take time to dance, to love and be loved, to visit and to entertain, to clap and perform, to buy and sell, to ponder and decide, to give and take, to commit, to care and be cared for.

Or to read a book by the river.

Take time to enjoy this remarkable planet.

Defiance: Stories from Nature and Its Defenders; Bob Brown, Black Inc, 2025. 
Photographs from the book courtesy of the publisher. 
Our deep appreciation, as always, to Bob Brown.

Blak Douglas on Art and Storytelling

The artist shares his work When in drought, ship out (above) and the method behind his extraordinary landscapes.

Words by Blak Douglas. Photographs by Katherine Cordwell. 

There are typically four distinct metaphors that set the template for my compositions in landscape painting. 

Firstly, a large sun and occasionally moon which represent Grandfather and Grandmother spirits. 

Second is the big blue sky carrying seven bands referencing the Seven Sisters Dreaming story which traverses the breadth of the continent. Then either my signature flat bottomed clouds or in this case, vapour trails forming a 'hashtag'.

Next, an arid landscape designed to remind us of the imminent threats of the warming of the planet.

Fourth being a road or track with a vanishing point in the distance. This signifies either an uncertain future or uncertain past for First Nations peoples. Finally, a literal message via a sign or figurative element. In this case, a 'no drinking' sign confronts a flock of Spoon Billed birds alienated from their natural wetland habitat. Perched upon stylised dead trees within a desecrated landscape, some of the trees taking the shape of a letter 'Y' begging the question (why?)

I write this having just celebrated my mid career survey exhibition 'The Halfway Line' at Penrith Regional Gallery. 

We are adding the finishing touches to the accompanying book, which is due for launch in the coming months.

For enquiries about Blak Douglas' artwork please contact Julian Edwards. 

To see more of Katherine's work: Instagram and explore her Artist Series Website, an ongoing body of work celebrating significant artists, documenting their process and personality behind the scenes. 

Keep an eye on Blak Douglas' Instagram for information about his upcoming book, Halfway Line. 

With appreciation to Blak Douglas and Katherine Cordwell for their generosity and this beautiful, illuminating story.

A treeful of blossoms explodes in the sky

Author Hilary Bell and illustrator Antonia Pesenti give a behind the scenes look into the making of a brand new classic, Hello Cocky.

Words Hilary Bell, pictures Antonia Pesenti

There’s a book by journalist Janet Malcolm called Forty-One False Starts, in which she reveals her multiple attempts to write an essay about a painter. It’s about the complexities of the artistic process: How do you know where to start? when to end? what to show and what to tell? The work the reader finally sees appears to have emerged fully formed from the artist’s head, well defined and confident. What we don’t get to see is the months, often years, and sometimes decades of scribblings and scratchings, wrong turns and dead-ends, despair and resolve, the untold hours spent hacking away.

 A picture book seems like a particularly good demonstration of this because it looks so simple. ‘Hello Cocky’ is a case in point. Each spread seems like the only possible choice: with Antonia’s bold illustrations in primary colours and my four-line verses, one per page, you’d be forgiven for assuming it was a straightforward (and quick) undertaking. In fact, from first conversation to publication the project took six years. Along the way, we created and abandoned countless versions. After five years we finally arrived at the concept, approach, tone and structure. Once we had these, we were on our way.

What were we searching for all that time? The truest way to communicate what makes cockatoos so extraordinary. They’re curious and inventive. They have the intelligence of a young child. They play for the fun of it – it’s not a stretch to say they have a sense of humour. And they’re stunningly beautiful, a pleasure to draw and to write about. Cockies are also resilient and adaptive, useful qualities in this fast-changing world, as well as reassuring to young readers. Between the lines, we wanted to convey the preciousness of these wild creatures. Significantly, the book begins and ends with a nest in the hollow of a tree, and so the reality hovers throughout: if we want to protect these birds, we need to preserve their homes.

Artists can take inspiration from the cockatoo’s spirit too: if the forty-first attempt isn’t right, maybe the forty-second will be.

Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti's previous collaborations are the picture books Alphabetical Sydney, Numerical Street, and Summer Time, all published by NewSouth.

Antonia is currently exploring river landscapes - in an artwork commission for the new paediatric spaces of Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital. Hilary’s playwriting workshop, A Play in Two Days, is at Writing NSW on October 25/26. 

Hello Cocky: A stickybeak at the cockatoo; Hilary Bell, Antonia Pesenti; published by Scribble, 2025. 

Thank you to Hilary and Antonia for their beautiful work and ongoing generosity. 

The stories we tell and how we tell them, matters.

Writer Sophie Cunningham on how she found hope in the face of environmental catastrophe by doing what she could to help—by simply doing what she was good at.    

In the week between Christmas and New Year 2019 I was camping with friends near Bright, Victoria. Enough has been said, and written, about the bushfires of 2019-2020 for it to be clear enough what happened next. I was particularly distressed about East Gippsland. Cape Conron, the beach where I'd been taken camping when I was a small child had helped form me, in some essential way. The thought of it burning broke my heart. That horror summer was traumatic and I found myself thinking a lot about what I could do about the devastating impact bushfire was having on south-east Australia’s forests and wildlife. 

What could I do? I was only a writer, after all, and felt dubious that words could make a difference or that stories could help the situation. A friend who’d been camping with me over those days, Susannah Chambers, happened to be a children’s book publisher at Albert Street books, and she was having the same thoughts as me. Whatever doubts we had we also believed that people can make the most impact by doing something they’re good at, and care about. For us, that was stories and words. Books. It was Susannah who found an article about the mother and son duo, Tippy and Jellybean, Koalas who'd suffered burns and smoke inhalation when fires had raced through forest growing between Bairnsdale and Gelantipy. 

Have you ever thought of writing a book for children, Susannah asked me? I hadn’t, but at her suggestion I gave it a shot, and within six months the two of us, along with illustrator Anil Tortop, had produced a picture book for kids that raised about $20,000 for the Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund.

The idea of a children’s book series based on environmental disasters seems counter intuitive, I know, but Tippy and Jellybean was followed two years later by Flipper and Finnegan: The True Story of How Tiny Jumpers Saved Little Penguins (2022). Flipper and Finnegan was based on an oil spill which had affected the little penguins of Millowl/Phillip Island in 2001. That spill had been followed by a viral knitting campaign which helped save the lives of hundreds of penguins in the affected colony. In August of this year we published Mango and Hopscotch: The Inspiring Story of a Brave Kangaroo and her Joey Rescued from Floodwaters, based on the Lismore floods of 2022.  

Now, when Book Week comes around, I’m sent photos of children dressed as koalas and penguins. I receive letters from grateful parents and grandparents. I’ve also read the books to children in my own life. One of the things I’m struck by is that kids are engaged by the intensity of what the koalas, penguins and kangaroos are going through but don’t struggle, like adults do, with a hopeful framing of events. The idea of a mother and son team (Tippy and Jellybean), two friends who get separated from their parents (Flipper and Finnegan) or a mother teaching her joey to swim (Mango and Hopscotch) has been their focus. It’s also been important to them (and indeed to us) to show adults doing what they can to help the wildlife in difficult times: the vets, the carers, the emergency rescue workers, the people who live close by to an affected area and are doing what they can to help at the same time as managing their own losses. 

We put a lot of thought into what difficult details to share while illuminating the bravery these events bring out in humans and animals. We framed the challenges as a series of adventures. Adults reading the books sometimes cry, they tell me, but their children don’t. I’ve been struck time and time again by the resilience of kids, and the importance of their growing up to understand that actions can make a difference. Which is all to say that writing about landscape, our fauna, and the importance of community has been a profound experience for me—far more so than writing more ‘adult’ or ‘literary’ titles. The stories we tell and how we tell them, matters.

Sophie Cunningham and Anil Tortop's children's titles are published by Albert Street Books, an imprint of Allen & Unwin. 

Sophie Cunningham is the author of ten books, including City of Trees. She is currently working on a book about eucalyptus, a memoir, and a novel, 'The Whole Earth Catalogue'. Her next book for children, 'The Platypus of Christmas Creek', will be published next year. 

With appreciation to Sophie for sharing the story behind these inspiring tales. 

For the past 31 years, the Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children’s Literature has recognised books that grow a love of nature in young people. Selected prints from our 2025 Karajia and Environment Awards for Children's Literature shortlists are available for sale here, to raise vital funds for our work to protect nature.