John Büsst

A rich biography of artist-turned-environmental campaigner John Bu¨ sst. Known to his enemies as ' The Bingil Bay Bastard' , John Bu¨ sst, a Bendigo-born Melbourne bohemian artist, moved to tropical Bedarra Island in North Queensland and underwent an extraordinary transformation to become one of Australia' s most successful conservationists. In the 1960s and early 70s Bu¨ sst led campaigns to protect two of Australia' s most important and endangered environments — saving lowland rainforests from destruction and the Great Barrier Reef from reckless resource mining for oil, gas, cement and fertiliser. A plan Bu¨ sst likened to ' bulldozing the Taj Mahal to make road gravel' . Along the way Bu¨ sst obtained the active support of five current or future prime ministers — Holt, Whitlam, Gorton, Hawke and Fraser. This inspiring biography, from award-winning historian Iain McCalman, is a timely reminder that the passionate commitment of ordinary citizens is crucial to achieving truly transformative environmental change.