Abusing the Australian Landscape
This writing has been published on the Cobar Age and the Nyngan Observer web site. It was also published in The Cobar Weekly.
Abusing the Australian Landscape belongs to the following groups:
Australian Landmarks and IconsAs we were driving along the Barrier Highway from Nyngan to Cobar, I was perturbed to see mile after mile of discarded beer bottles by the roadside.
I didn’t stop to photograph the bottles – I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to portray Australia in this way, so the motivation to stop the car was nil.
However, while driving along, I quietly pondered the motivation of the people who did toss their empties out the window.
To me, the Australian landscape is beautiful. When I see such wanton littering, I feel the people who have littered are in a sense abusing the land and its people. It’s a spiritual feeling because the landscape is a part of us all.
Without the land we are nothing. It’s the land we must respect and we must do it as one. It’s our home that’s girt by sea – the lucky country.
Lindsay Knowles
This is something Robbie and I noticed as well and made a comment. What is wrong with people. It is without a doubt the worse road I have seen for rubbish.
Lois Romer
i have never been on that road, but i just took my dog for a walk in my neighbourhood and found three stubbies tossed onto the naturestrip. how hard is it to find a bin.
JeffStockton
I reckon it is everywhere Darren as i noticed on a recent shoot, walking down Victoria Pass in the Blue Mountains of N.S.W. I must have walked near 2 KM’s & seen 20-30 stubbies along with
other assorted rubbish,it really is a disgrace.Put it on the floor of your car till you come across a
garbo
ShaneBooth
Yes it amazes me that people can take so much stuff into the bush, but cannot take in home again. Makes me sick.
Tony Fallon
Blimey people are pretty damm thoughtless and dumb sometimes. What you wont see so much of too is the plastic stuff that gets blown into the bush and causes untold damage to wildlife. Some of the papers in the UK have been running pages of pictures of this sort of damage worldwide from land to river to ocean. Its not a pretty sight :(
Gregory John O...
Empty beer bottles are nothing compared to the destruction of Port Phillip Bay, that has been authorised by the government. Count the rest
jack01
You take it in you take it out . thats how it should be ..
Chanel2
Couldn’t agree more Darren, how people can just throw their rubbish into such a beautiful environment and have no guilt about it…....just blows my mind.
Mark Ingram
Hi Darren
I just picked up a copy of the Cobar Weekly (a weekly newspaper) and found this article published on page 8
Congrats
hollys1wedding
yeah my daughter (10) is a crusader I think when we go to the beach or local park you can bet that she will pick up any rubbish she sees and most of the time the bin is not that far or she will hold it till she does find one I only hope everyone can encourage this in ourselves and our chilodren and try to get a balance and hope that the litterers wake up and take responsibility for themselves!!!!!! good work putting the subject out there!!
STRINGER
DONT WORRY ABOUT THE BOTTLES DARREN….
THE POSSUMS WILL GET EM’
POSSUMS LOVE EM’
Robert Elliott
Travelled that road a number of times and am in complete agreement with what you say, but it could win the tidy road award if it was compared to the Stuart Highway up through the heart of the territory. I do a fair bit of bush regeneration work in the Royal National Park and am amazed at the amount of crap you find in the wilderness areas. I used to wonder what the people who dump it were thinking, but have realized they have nothing to think with.
Darren Stones replied
Thanks for your thoughts, Robert. Heartbreaking, isn’t it? And to think our own people continue to litter in areas where there are few inhabitants. Very ordinary behaviour to say the least.
Congratulations on your regeneration work.
Cheers.