We have just been notified by IP Australia, the Australian Government’s official registry of intellectual property (that is, governing Australian trademarks, patents and designs, etc. by home grown Australians) that The Habitat Advocate branded logo (image above) has just been legally registered in Australia.
So, we’re pretty happy with this, just quietly. That’s why we’re happily informing the whole Planet! 🙂
A moment of indulgent reflection, if one may…
Well, it’s been a while for us.
Steven John Ridd is the founder of The Habitat Advocate, an environmental conservation advocacy website, championing the cause of the rights of native habitat.
Born in Melbourne, then having travelled on sabbatical, and then having relocated from renting in expensive eastern Sydney’s Randwick out to regional Katoomba in the natural Blue Mountains in 2001, I first registered the business name ‘The Habitat Advocate‘ with the then NSW Department of Fair Trading at Parramatta and the domain habitatadvocate.com.au together back on 10th May 2006. A date close to my heart.
I have used the motto for The Habitat Advocate publicly since 2001, and the logo since 2006.
I felt I needed to protect both; this is especially since recently on Google, the use of the word ‘habitat’ and the term ‘habitat advocate’ have become popularised terms used by unrelated others for other purposes. May be they just liked the concept. I did back in 2001 before the trend, because of its genuine natural meaning that was understandable to many, rather than use more highfalutin scientific terms like ‘ecology‘.
So, I commissioned this particular image to be painted by professional wildlife artist, Lyn Naismith, back in 2006 and I invaluably hold her original artwork.
I conceived and designed the logo to be of Australia’s most threatened endemic top order predator in the ecological food chain, the Tigerquoll. I wanted to convey the message of the ongoing threats to native habitat. So, I felt it necessary that the logo image convey reality of being threatened, rearing up on a dead tree branch with nowhere to retreat in its native habitat.
Ecologically, if top order predator communities subsist healthily, then that is a positive signal that the broader localised ecology is healthy as well. That is why we chose the Tigerquoll symbolically.
And we prefer the name Tigerquoll rather than the more lame academic descriptive term of ‘Spotted Tailed Quoll’. That is, we wouldn’t suggest anyone try to pick up and cuddle a Tigerquoll without being ripped to shreds. It’s just like we wouldn’t suggest anyone try to pick up and cuddle an Australian native Brush-tailed Possum with is strong sharp claws and territorialness. Tigerquolls eat Brushtailed Possums for breakfast, if you know what I mean.
So, I sincerely thank Lyn for reading my sentiments in this respect exactly, to her credit.
Bureaucratic wheels turn slowly, but now I own the image as a registered logo. There is one held in captivity in Healesville Sanctuary, but since it is nocturnal, no visitors get to see it in its enclosure by day, and the sanctuary is closed by night. Crazy idea that.
A brief insight into ‘The Friends of Katoomba Falls Creek Valley Inc.’ and their efforts to protect a special place.
“Gain a short, little known insight into a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens who came together led by the late Neil Stuart to become guardians of a very special natural valley in the Upper Blue Mountains. Learn about the wealth of stories, how over 26 years locals cared for the valley’s integrity, how volunteers committed to half a lifetime of unpaid bushcare, made and sold jam at street stalls to raise funds, and fought a council Goliath. Be shocked by the truth of what really happened in 1957 and the lifetime trauma to what was once an harmonious yet socially marginalised community subsisting on Katoomba’s fringe.
This is of living contemporary social history. This is a controversial expose into one group’s community volunteerism, activism, environmentalism and nimbyism and social justice – thousands of hours given up to save ‘Katoomba Falls Creek Valley’, known by some as ‘The Gully’, known by others as ‘Catalina Raceway’.
This is very much an Australian story, a microcosm of Australian history and pre-history – one locally as rich as it is beautiful yet very sad. It has impacted upon dozens of locals, old families and their ancestors. It is a story about respecting the natural, anthropological and community values of one valley. Recent history became complex, protracted and nasty – involving displacement, forced eviction, invasion, desecration, secret deals, politics, animosities, divide-and-conquer manipulation, empty political promises, conflicting interests, threats and designs by influential millions, the various meetings, many plans of development (some silly), token consultation, one of metaphorically trying to herd cats and twenty six years of community emotional snakes and ladders.
Katoomba Falls
This presentation was delivered by a former member of ‘The Friends’ yesterday at Hobby Reach, Wentworth Falls, the home of the Blue Mountains Historical Society Inc.
For those who attended and requested the reading of the poem…
Amongst other worthy places, there are two that are special and worth a visit when exploring the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales. Walk the ‘Wonga Walk’ (5.4km) beneath the rainforest canopy in Dorrigo National Park and stroll through the counterculture village of Nimbin calling into the Nimbin Environment Centre.
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Dorrigo Plateau Country
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Perhaps the tallest remaining rainforest trees survive in the natural ecology and splendour in Dorrigo National Park, part of originally Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal Country, and currently one of eight groups of World Heritage protected areas in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia..
The village of Nimbin is many miles from Dorrigo, but that doesn’t matter. Nimbin’s spirit is similar from that gained on the rainforest walk.
Perhaps one of the most respectful and communicative messages of any community in Australia is that of Nimbin’s, which draws upon the values of local Aboriginal elders, and shared by Nimbin’s close-knit local mix:
“We belong this country
We look after this country
Don’t do wrong around here this country
We don’t harm this country here
We belong to it this country”
~ Bundjulung Elders.
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The Nimbin Environment Centre is a voluntary non-profit organisation. It’s website reads: our history is rooted in the successful battles which saved Terania Creek and The NightCap Forest. We are very conscious of our continuous role as custodians of this land, hand in hand with its first people: The Bundjalung nation. We receive no funding from State or Federal Governments. This empowers us to be fearless in our work to defend, protect, preserve and enhance the environment.
We read this and reflect upon our crews visit in October 2013, and upon the subsequent town fire of the 13th August 2014 which tragically struck at the heart of Nimbin.
We remember and preserve some memories for those who have contributed to the Magic of Nimbin since the Aquarius Festival of 1973 which has since celebrated the hope of ‘Counter Culture’.
We offer the following images of a Nimbin morning taken by our editor paying an overnight visit to Nimbin 23rd – 24th October 2013. All images are copyright free in the public domain as we consider appropriate. Nimbin sets an example of community respect to the world. For each image click to enlarge.
<< I am so honoured to have been asked to be with you here today and would like to thank the Custodians and Keepers of this country, both past and present, for the privilege, of welcoming you, this morning.
I extend, a very special welcome to all the Elders with us today, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
Becoming welcomed to country, is not just saying “welcome to the country of the Wonnarua, Tharawal, Gandangara, Wiradjuri, Gomilaroi, Bandjalung, worimi and leaving it at that.
It’s about wanting our welcomed people to at least, at some time in their lives, experience some of the many important cultural aspects of our countries, which have survived.
Our languages, our songs, dances, stories, foods, kinships, arts and histories.
It’s about shedding ourselves of all of those negative generalisations, stereotypes and guilt, which some of us, may still have for each other.
It’s about wanting welcomed peoples, to get to know us, in all our positive ways.
History tells us that our peoples went through some very terrible times, with some legacies of those times, still yet to be addressed, positively.
It’s about non Indigenous Australia’s sincere recognition,that this whole country was already under custodianship, respected and nurtured by people, before the advent of British rule.
It’s about seeing each other as equals, and commemorating the positive developments of this country, which we have all shared in, as being Australians together.
My peoples have merged and interacted with the new people who came to our lands since Invasion times started in 1788 and will continue to do so.
We now speak your English, wear your attire, do your dances, play your sports, eat your foods, sing your songs and know your stories and histories.
There are also non Indigenous people who speak our languages, sing our songs, eat our foods and know our stories and histories.
We have integrated into your many religious, political, social and sporting, organisations and in doing so, became one of this countries most integrative groups.
Our women married into the first Irish, Anglo and Celtic stock, plus those groups which came here under the many immigration policies this country has had, especially after the 1940s.
We are all Australians today, aren’t we?
Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Gadigal Clan of the Eora Nation whose land this function is now on, to sincerely welcome you in their language, the language of this country.
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Boodyeri Mulinawul! Good Morning!
Dyinalyungs, Mullabos, Guragalungalyungs, Guragalyungs Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys.
Gurigarang tali ngia niya bidya mulinawul Glad to see you here this morning
Dali dingaladi bamal marana Yura Warrane Eora This is the land of the original peoples of Sydney, the Eora.
Garigarang walama wugul kamaru May your stay here be fruitful and safe and your departure, in peace.
Yanu Yanu. Bye Bye’. >>
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[Source: ‘Welcome to Country’, Aboriginal speech delivered at the start of the 2013 Masters Interpretation Workshop, Thursday, November 21, 2013, by James Wilson-Miller, Curator, Koori Arts, History & Design, Design & Society, Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, Sydney, NSW 2007 Australia]
“It brings people and ideas together for the conservation of Australia’s natural places through science, law, design and the community.”
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The Habitat Advocate’s first video (one small step for Habitat.. Mankind better lookout!)
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American film director, Tom Shadyac, has created a documentary film entitled ‘I AM: the shift is about to hit the fan’‘, which asks some of today’s most profound thinkers, two questions – What’s wrong with our world, and what can we do about it? This moving, inspiring film is about reconnecting with Nature and with others and indeed with ‘Reality‘. It has won the Audience Choice Award and the Student Choice Award at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride Colorado, where it premiered in February 2011:
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