We protect what we love

FRIDAY 27.01. 23.

Good morning and happy Friday.

Yesterday, January 26, was a national public holiday in Australia, commemorating the founding of the new British colony of NSW. However, it is far from a day marking the birth of a new country. Aboriginal people had been living on this continent for around 50,000-65,000 years by that point, and Torres Strait Islander peoples had been settled in the islands of the Torres Srait and the Cape York Peninsula for at least 2,500 years. In fact, Australian Aboriginal cultures are recognised as one of the oldest surviving cultures in the world.

To many First Nations people, January 26 marks a day of commemoration and deep loss, following the beginning of mass genocide and dispossession of land and rights. It marks the loss of their sovereign rights to their land, loss of family and the loss of the right to practice culture. It's why January 26 is increasingly being recognised as 'Day of Mourning', 'Survival Day' and 'Invasion Day'.

I find social media to be an effective way to learn from our First Nations people, and also pass my learnings on to my network of family and friends so that meaningful conversations about our country's history can take place. I think one of the most confronting posts that I saw yesterday was @broadsheet_syd, which accurately reflected my early learnings of January 26. In school - a Catholic All-Girl's school - I was not taught that there were brave Aboriginal warriors who fought and died for their country in Frontier Wars. Instead, in year 8 history, I learned that the land belonged to one and that January 26 is a day to be celebrated. I've since had to undergo a process of unlearning entrenched beliefs, and then educating myself on what actually unfolded (a process that I continue to do through conversation and research). I can't help but wonder how much progress would be made if the correct lessons were taught in school to begin with.

Sunrise over Pilk Purriyn

Yesterday, Hilary went along to a dawn truth-telling event on Wadawurrung Country, in Toruqay, Victoria. Over 2000 people came out for this event, overlooking sea country, as we waited for the Pilk Prriyn (sunrise in Wadawurrung language). It was a privilege to hear first-hand the language, traditions and subsequent pain and dispossession experienced by First Nations people who have been caring for Country in this area for tens of thousands of years. It is promising to see similar events right across our continent, and lots of allies heading along to listen, learn and commit to doing better to recognise, celebrate and respect our First Nations people.

This week's newsletter...

In this week's newsletter FWP Project Manager, Will, writes about the wonders of the Illawarra Escarpment, which the Illawarra community fights hard to protect. This is the first of a series of articles that will feature in the newsletter, as the Illawarra Escarpment is a haven for trail runners, hikers and general outdoor enthusiasts, and we want to advocate for its importance.

We also highlight some key conversations that took place in Trail Chat #9 yesterday with Peyton Thomas - from the innate connection runners have with the environment; juggling PhD study, full-time work and professional running; the impacts of climate change on her experience in the sport and how everyone is a scientist. We loved this chat, and can't wait to share it with you.

Finally, before you get to all this goodness, we'd like to do one final friendly reminder that orders for the Pilliga teeshirt and/or postcards close on Wednesday 1st February (that's next week). You can purchase these via Raisley.

THE ILLAWARRA ESCARPMENT: A WONDER AND HAVEN FOR TRAIL RUNNERS

Written by Chris Williams

Running around beautiful palms on Mount Kembla ring trail, Dharawal country

Situated an hour south of Sydney, on the lands of the Dharawal people, the escarpment has been over 200 million years in formation. Its sandstone cliffs look out over the ocean and it features varying ecological communities including eucalypt forests, subtropical rainforests and temperate rainforests. The Illawarra Flame Trees, Moreton Bay Figs and Red Cedars - just to name a few trees - are simply spectacular. It has a deep connection with Aboriginal history; two of its mountains - Mount Kembla and Mount Keira - feature prominently in many creation stories.

There’s long been a tension between development and industry on the one hand, and protection of the escarpment as a wild place, on the other. Recent colonial history has seen the city of Wollongong and its surrounds grow and develop around extractive and environmentally damaging industries. From the logging of ancient Red Cedar trees to extensive mining of the coal seams running under the escarpment. Neglect and mismanagement has also allowed invasive animals and weeds to thrive.

But for every threat to the escarpment’s well-being, the Illawarra community has an impressive history of fighting to protect this wild place. From campaigns to limit damage from coal mining and other inappropriate development, to groups organising for better land management, access and protection of cultural heritage. Those who live and spend time in the escarpment are fiercely protective. It’s vital to their health, both mental and physical.

Misty morning on Mount Kembla, Dharawal country

At For Wild Places, we want to support and help amplify the work already being done to protect the Illawarra escarpment. FWP exists to make trail running a meaningful expression of environmental activism so that together, each of us can help our wild places survive and thrive. We are trail runners with a purpose, and we aim to build communities around that purpose.

Over the next few months, we’ll be featuring the escarpment in a range of newsletter articles. We’ll talk about the experience of running in it and how it makes you feel. We’ll look at the issue of public access and the restrictions and challenges facing the community. And we’ll report on the threats still faced by the escarpment and the campaigns and people fighting to protect and preserve this wonderful wild place.

TRAIL CHAT #9

with Peyton Thomas

Source.

The FWP team hosted trail chat #9 (almost double digits - woo hoo) with Boulder-based athlete, environmental advocate and marine biologist, Peyton Thomas.

Peyton started her trail running career as a collegiate athlete, and fell in love with trail running when training for cross country. However, not realising that trail running was actually a sport, didn't pursue it immediately. It was later, after the penny dropped, that she took up trail running professionally.

In the words of Peyton, "running is one of my favourite ways to enjoy nature and see different places and landscapes. I love the idea of human-powered movement and an innate connection you have when running through different places."

Peyton loves the reciprocity of running, and how we're all so deeply connected to the environment. When we breathe out, the surrounding plants and trees absorb our carbon dioxide, and running is one of the best ways to see the actual feedback you have with the environment. Given how innate we are with the environment, should we not care more about the places we run, work and live in?

Peyton believes that "everyone is a scientist", and expanded on this more in our chat. You see, science is a very intimidating term for a lot of people, but you don't actually need a formal qualification to be a scientist. Science is about observing the world around you, and we're all constantly informing out decisions from the observations of the world around us. This feeds so nicely into climate change and environmental advocacy, because everyone is observing and experiencing the impacts, and they are all varied and valid, so they should all be brought to the table.

For the second year in a row, Peyton was a 'mentor' for @footprintsrunning - a running camp focused on creating solutions to the climate crisis based on individual 'mentee' passions (which is now coming to Australia)

When asked about how she balances her PhD (which she's now completed), full-time career as a marine biologist and being a professional, she admits that she's not doing a very good job (Elanor's note: it's actually nice to hear this, as Instagram makes it look so easy for so many athletes, so I certainly appreciated this honesty).

Finally, since we're a trail-running NFP that loves sports activism, we had to ask about how climate change is impacting her training. She states that she's seen first-hand a lot of climate impacts.

Peyton used to live in North Carolina on the trajectory of a hurricane path. These have very tangible impacts - not just in how hard-hit the communities are, but in their frequency. Hurricanes are also increasing in duration, meaning that they drop more rain and there is more associated flooding. In addition, communities that live in these areas aren't as affluent, and there is a lot of infrastructure damage, so the impacts of climate change are being felt harder by those who have less capacity to rebuild. These storms also decimate trail systems by debris, meaning that you can't even find the trail.

These conversations took place in the first 15 minutes, and there is still so much more that we covered, from Peyton's experience in the Footprints camp, to her ability to deal with injury and adversity. If you're keen to hear more, you can watch the trail chat here.

⛰️ 👟 🙌🏽

That's it for this week, folks!

Thank you for your ongoing support; we can't wait to continue the journey and see what this year brings! As always, THANK YOU for taking the time, for wild places.

Elanor, Will & the For Wild Places team

CHECK US OUT ON INSTAGRAM

UPCOMING EVENTS

01/02 Pilliga Tee & Postcard orders close | order now

11/02 Trail First Aid Course, Arthurs Seat | register

25/02 takyana Trail, Waratah, Tasmania | register



We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This email was compiled on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.