By Fred Baker | Water — Facts, issues, problems and solutions is not an easy book — but then water isn’t easy to understand. In fact, it’s downright weird.
Geologist David Leaman says if you want to understand how liquids behave, don’t study water.
The scope of the book is limited mostly to Tasmania, which is not noted in as suffering much of a water problem. Actually, it suffers from almost all the problems driving the catastrophe on the mainland and, given its small size, Tasmania is an ideal case study because of its geological and hydrological variety. It’s the Australian canary, warning us of dangers before we can smell them.
New research has shown that an endangered species of worm is thriving after last year’s bushfires on Tasmania’s east coast. The Giant Velvet Worm found exclusively in Eastern Tasmania is hundreds of millions of years old and lives in decaying logs.
The powerful Tourism Industry Council Tasmania has entered the pulp-mill debate and criticised Gunns boss John Gay over his lack of respect for Tamar Valley tourism operators. The TICT advised Mr Gay to stop making “trite” public comments and start listening to legitimate concerns.
Seagulls gorging themselves on greasy junk food in Hobart are so fat it is affecting their reproduction. University of Tasmania researcher Heidi Auman has found that silver gulls feeding on fatty scraps being thrown to them from seaside cafes has caused them to become obese.
In 2003, the Devonport Regional Gallery established a commission program that sought to provide emerging Tasmanian artists with the support to develop a solo exhibition. Hobart-based Richard Wastell was the first artist invited to participate in the program.
Not far from here was the outcome — an exhibition of paintings that capture the essence of the Tasmanian wilderness, its extraordinary beauty and also its vulnerability and the desecration wrought upon it by man.
The exhibition was shown at the Devonport Regional Gallery, and then the Bett Gallery Hobart, in March 2005. It was a sell-out.
And a tribute to the young Richard Wastell’s determination to live by his art once he had graduated with a degree in Fine Arts (Honours) from the University of Tasmania in 1996. As Jane Stewart, director of the Devonport Regional Gallery wrote, after his recent exhibition in Sydney and enthusiastic national reviews, he is now getting the recognition he deserves.
thisTasmania.com is Tasmania's Journal of Discovery — a celebration of Australia's wonderful island state.
Volume 2 Number 4
October — December 2009
ISSN: 1834-4364
Our Mountain
Our webcam, courtesy of Hobart's Rose Bay High School, is updated every 10 minutes — day and night. Click here to see a larger image
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Stanton Bed and Breakfast
The magnificent convict-built country manor, Stanton, is situated on 16 acres of pasture and orchards, in the heart of the historical and beautiful Derwent Valley.
Red Tag Trout Tours
Roger Butler guides flyfishers, from all over the world, who share a common goal: getting a wild brown trout to hand.
Cobbers: mates on a mission
We've been looking at the future and it isn't working. But we can fix it, one blog at a time.
By Fred Baker | Water — Facts, issues, problems and solutions is not an easy book — but then water isn’t easy to understand. In fact, it’s downright weird. 
