Goolengook
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, located near Orbost in the far eastern corner of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. It contains a number of forest types including a rare warm temperate/cool temperate "Overlap Rainforest".
Goolengook is approximately 90 km² of forest. Some of the forest has been logged but there is over 20 km² of mature and old growth forest
Old growth forest
An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
remaining. Some of the best stands of temperate rainforest for this part of Australia occur there.
It is the traditional land of the Bidawal Aboriginal people.
Goolengook was the centrepiece of a campaign to protect all of the regions old growth and high conservation value forests during the Regional Forest Agreement process established by the State and Federal Governments. It is one of many contentious sites for logging in the region, as well as a focal point for community opposition to logging old growth forest in Victoria. Goolengook was also the site of Australia's longest running forest blockade, which ran from 1997 to 2002. Many arrests were made during forest protests and blockades in Goolengook.
In 2006 the State Government suspended logging while an independent (but government appointed) assessment was initiated to determine if it should be added to the Victorian Conservation Reserve System.
After ten years of campaigning the protection of Goolengook, the Victorian State election
Victorian state election, 2006
An election for the 56th Parliament of Victoria took place on Saturday, 25 November 2006. Just over 3 million Victorians registered to vote elected 88 members to the Legislative Assembly and, for the first time, 40 members to the Legislative Council under a proportional representation system...
of November 2006 saw the Australian Labor party returned, with a promise to protect the Goolengook block within a new National Park.
Ecology
It is home to several endangered speciesEndangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
such as the Long-footed Potoroo
Long-footed Potoroo
The Long-footed Potoroo is a species of potoroo found in southeastern Australia, in a small area around the coastal border between New South Wales and Victoria. It was discovered in 1967 when an adult male was caught in a dog trap in the forest southwest of Bonang, Victoria...
, Sooty Owl and Spot-tailed Quoll. Goolengook area is one of a limited number of critical sites for the conservation of threatened treeferns – specifically Slender Tree-fern Cyathea cunninghamii and Skirted Tree-fern Cyathea X marcescens. This is due in large part to the general infrequency of prescribed fire and wildfire within the forest block and the low levels of logging disturbance across the upper Goolengook River catchment.
External links
- GECO - Goongerah Environment Centre
- A 2002 website about the Goolengook forest blockade
- Goolengook: One of the World's Greatest Old Growth Forests Threatened, The Wilderness SocietyThe Wilderness Society (United States)The Wilderness Society is an American organization that is dedicated to protecting America's wilderness. It was formed in 1935 and currently has over 300,000 members and supporters.-Founding:The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935...
, 22 April 2002