The continent of Australia is the focus of this book.
Over the last 40 000 years this island was home to at least 1200 generations of humankind. We have calculated that approximately 360 000 000 Australians have lived out their lives on this continent as hunter-gathers.
That is a staggering number of Australians.
From their cultural legacy, we know that the lives of the first Australians were full and rich. We also now know that their coming was not without impact. Aboriginal Australians changed the face of Australia with their use of fire.
Then came the new Australians, the agriculturalists from Europe, and they wrought change of a different kind. Today we can appreciate that the last 5 generations of Australians have changed the face of our home more dramatically than all those who went before. Our imprints upon the land are spread over the continent and are clearly visible from space.
In 1992, Australia has the highest population growth rate of any country in the developed world. We are all part of enormous change and it is difficult to see the long term benefits. Bigger is not necessarily better, nor is quantity more desirable than quality. There is no prize for seeing how many people can be supported on this continent at any one time.
There is no prize but there are limits to growth. Our arrival at those limits will be both unpleasant and irreversible.
No matter where you live or what you do, the well-being of the land that you see before you will determine your future. This land is the fundamental resource you enjoy because it feeds and clothes you, and can enrich your life. If you take the Long View of Life and use this resource with wisdom and care, then it will support you and all your descendants forever, just as it did for the first Australians. As a nation we must rapidly adopt this View because while we have great technological ability to generate change, we appear to lack the wisdom to control that change.
We dedicate this book to those readers who have the courage and the conviction to take the Long View of Life.
Dean Graetz
Rohan Fisher
Murray Wilson.
