John Busst

Trade Paperback

Bohemian artist and saviour of reef and rainforest

A rich biography of artist-turned-environmental campaigner John Bu sst.

Award-winning historian Iain McCalman reveals the little-known story of influential Australian conservationist, John Bu sst. Known to his enemies as The Bingal Bay Bastard , Bu sst, a Bendigo-born Melbourne bohemian artist, transformed into a brilliant conservationist who, in the 1960s and early 70s, led campaigns to protect two of Australia s most important and endangered environments. The first saved Australia s endangered lowland rainforests and led to the subsequent UNESCO World Heritage Listing of our Wet Tropics Rainforest Area. The second stopped Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen s attempt to mine 80 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef for oil, gas and limestone fertiliser. A plan Bu sst likened to bulldozing the Taj Mahal to make road gravel . Instead, the victory led to the UNESCO World Heritage Listing of the Great Barrier Reef as the most important marine system in the world . Sadly, both face renewed threat today.