Peter Schouten Taree Australia Day Ambassador

Manning River Times

Transcript

00:00 In a moment of contemplation while standing by the creek, I became aware of the different

00:05 shades of blue in the sky as the sun was rising.

00:09 The fresh cool air, the sound of water tumbling over rocks, the distant bellowing of a neighbour's

00:15 cow, the melodious call of a shrike thrush and the maniacal cackle of a dollar bird.

00:21 For me, that moment in time exemplified the richness and diversity of nature to be found

00:28 in the Manning, hours of ground orchids can be seen pushing through the grass.

00:32 For me, the Manning is not just beautiful beaches and countryside, it is the sum of

00:36 those ever-changing experiences and observations.

00:40 That is why I am grateful to call the Manning my home.

00:44 In stark contrast to this, I grew up in an environment of concrete, asphalt and car exhaust,

00:51 just off Parramatta Road in Petersham, Sydney.

00:55 In such an environment, as a kid, I was lucky to see a blade of grass, so to satisfy my

01:00 craving for the natural world, I found solace in books.

01:05 This allowed me to disappear into a fantasy world where I could dive with whales, burrow

01:09 with an aardvark or marvel at a herd of stegosaurus on a Jurassic flood plain.

01:15 My school days were, unfortunately, not very happy ones.

01:19 The syllabus at that time offered me nothing in the two topics I was most interested in,

01:24 fossil history and art.

01:27 And so I set about educating myself in both of these fields.

01:31 My professional career as an illustrator began when I was taken under the wings of Professor

01:36 Michael Archer at the School of Zoology at the University of New South Wales.

01:41 I was employed as a fossil preparator and I soon realised that I spent more time illustrating

01:45 fossils than extracting them from rock.

01:48 But that was okay, as it gave me a grounding in animal anatomy and morphology.

01:55 Mike was very taken with my illustrations and encouraged me to publish them as a book,

02:00 which was the start of my career in book production.

02:03 I was also fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with many exemplary people, such as

02:07 Tim Flannery, with whom I have collaborated on many books and is still a close friend.

02:17 The theme for Australia Day this year is reflect, respect and celebrate.

02:23 As a paleo artist, reflecting on the past is something I do as second nature.

02:29 If I pick up a rock, I ponder about how it was formed.

02:33 If I look at a line of hills from my window, I wonder about the tectonic processes that

02:37 pushed up that land.

02:39 If I hear the shriek of a black cockatoo, I think of the dinosaur antecedents of birds.

02:46 My occupation usually makes me think in terms of deep time.

02:49 However, today I would like to reflect upon a much more recent period.

02:54 I, along with many others in our valley, directly experienced the devastation of the bushfires

03:00 of 2019.

03:02 In Boban, where I live, a third of our homes were destroyed, along with our local school.

03:11 At that time, I was a newly elected president of the hall, the only communal public building

03:17 in Boban, and I was thrown in at the deep end.

03:22 Our hall became an operations centre for emergency services during the fires and then a recovery

03:27 and resource centre in the aftermath.

03:31 Donations poured in from all over the country, so much so that we were waist deep in them.

03:35 However, in the face of such adversity, I realised that another reason I am so grateful

03:40 to be resident of Mani, and that is the sense of community.

03:47 People from all over the valley came to assist.

03:49 Even locals, traumatised and having lost everything, would show up every day to lend a hand.

03:57 It was like seeing a beacon of light in a very dark place.

04:01 I am so grateful to be an Australian.

04:03 I hold great respect for this land and all its peoples.

04:06 We live in a society which is as layered and diverse as the continent itself.

04:11 From the arrival of the first of our First Nations peoples some 65,000 years ago, practically

04:16 yesterday, if, like me, you think as a paleontologist, to those who have only recently called Australia

04:22 home, we are fortunate to live in a country where difference and diversity are viewed

04:27 as an asset and not as a threat to social cohesion.

04:31 We are a vibrant country that welcomes people from all over the world, absorbing elements

04:36 of other cultures into our broader social framework.

04:39 This ensures that our Australian culture is never stagnant and is continually enriched

04:43 and enlivened.

04:46 We should celebrate the fact that, after 4 billion years of evolution, we are still here.

04:51 The habitable zone of this planet is tissue thin and tenuously supports a rich and diverse

04:56 biosphere.

04:57 With a population of over 7.8 billion, our species now dominates that biosphere.

05:03 So for the sake of ourselves and all our sibling species, let's not trash it because we have

05:08 nowhere else to go.

05:10 Thank you and enjoy the rest of Australia.

05:12 [APPLAUSE]

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