INSIGHTS INTO THE REFINEMENT OF QUEENSLAND’S NATIONAL PARK PROTECTION

By Margaret Moorhouse
Syd Curtis (1928-2016) was a committed proponent of the Cardinal Principle of national park management. His principled thinking was important in establishing a representative basis for selection of new national parks. He had initiated this approach after moving from forestry work to the Forestry Department’s national park section, in 1963.​
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The Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service (QNPWS) was not founded until 1975. Syd was QNPWS Director of Management and Operations and later (1992) Assistant Director (Policy and Legislation), retiring in 1988.

'Newspaws' March 1988 with Margaret Thorsborne's handwritten remarks.

The following is an excerpt from a 1989 letter from newly-retired Syd, published in an underground ex-employee QNPWS newspaper “Feral Cat”. The newsletter’s feline logo was a take on the QNPWS logo:

​"When I joined the Department of Forestry in 1946 on the advice of Dr. (later Professor) D.A. Herbert head of the University's Botany Department who predicted that a time would come when the Department  would use graduate staff on National Park administration, a public service career was something in which one could take pride, and the National Park concept was one of mankind's finest ideals. The latter is still true. And if Queensland changes its government to one that understands and respects the Westminster system of democracy, the  public service too may rise above its present problems, and again serve the wider community and not merely the political ends of the favoured few. Hang in there, you dedicated National Parks staff, you've got something tremendously important to fight for.  And you seem to have a strong ally in one Herbert F. Cat"!

​Margaret Thorsborne held Syd in the highest regard – see article  (above left) published in “Newspaws” in March 1988, with Margaret’s handwritten remarks.
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​When “Feral Cat” arrived in Queensland from the Northern Territory, I witnessed the excitement with which it was rushed to the (government) office photocopy machine for delivery to QNPWS and EPA officers; prompting the occasional upper management witch-hunt.

Margaret Thorsborne AO 1927 - 2018. Photo Liz Downs

"National Park concept was one of mankind's finest ideals" Syd Curtis

​In the early 90s Queensland moved towards elements of the Western system of democracy Syd referred to above; including public consultation.

​There began a program of vastly improved environmental protection, as illustrated in a letter (see following) from the Hon. Henry Palaszczuk MP (father of Queensland’s present Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk) to Margaret Thorsborne (now A.O., deceased 2018), just after the introduction of the first-ever Queensland Vegetation Management Act (1999): 

“That legislation was passed by Parliament in late 1999. It is intended to ensure that all remnant vegetation is sustainably managed and protected, while still allowing economic development.
“Some relevant policy criteria within that legislation and which will address your concerns include:

• Vegetated buffers of at least fifty metres where possible around wetlands, lakes or springs;
• Placement and width of riparian buffers to enhance wildlife habitat, stream bank stability and the filtering capacity for sediments and nutrients. These buffers are to be 200 metres each side of rivers, 100m each side for creeks and fifty metres each side of waterways in most areas;
• Viable networks of habitat to be maintained. Where possible, vegetation is to be maintained in twenty hectares or greater clumps and strips; and
• No clearing of areas of high conservation value.”

Syd’s hopes would seem to have been supported – until the latter years of the Bligh government, when a serious decline overtook environmental protection, democracy (meaningful consultation), and the professionalism of the public service.“Feral Cat” played an important role in this general movement and in keeping up the morale of those QNPWS officers who were dedicated to the cardinal principle of national park management.
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The first draft of the Hinchinbrook Island National Park Management Plan (HINPMP) was prepared in 1991, in consultation with Margaret Thorsborne. ASH holds a copy of the HINP_walking_track_draft. bearing Margaret’s handwritten remarks.  In 1992 the first Nature Conservation Act was gazetted, enshrining the Cardinal Principle.

The Palaszczuk government has amended the Nature Conservation Act (NCA) to quote the Cardinal Principle (CP) in the Object of the Act, unalloyed by business purposes, but has ensured that other clauses allow the CP to be overridden; paving the way (possibly literally) for mass tours and infrastructure. The first targets are national parks with walking trails: Hinchinbrook Island’s Thorsborne Trail (Townsville), Cooloola Great Walk (Sunshine Coast) and the Whitsunday Island Trail.
 
Feral Cat is needed again.​​

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Download 1989 Nov 1 - Syd Curtis  - Feral Cat

Download Hinchinbrook Island National Park (HINP) draft ​for consultation 1991, edits by Margaret Thorsborne"

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