Vicky Laurie’s passion for the Kimberley became very evident as she introduced our audience to aspects of remote areas that a very few would get the chance to view – with the aid of a light plane and a helicopter! So much easier to spot new and rare flora and land in places where man may never have trodden. Matt and Russell Barrett, also devout ‘Kimberleyists’, were of great assistance with Vickie’s field work as were around 100 other experts from all areas who contributed to the impressive book, The Kimberley − Australia’s Last Great Wilderness, the culmination of her efforts to bring to the world the wonders of this amazing region. Her study commenced at Broome and then northwards to the remote northern tip, east to the N.T. border, down to the arid interior then back to the coast and newly explored islands. The explorations have revealed a unique promise of many new discoveries, and indeed many new flora, fauna and fungi discoveries have already been made.

Threats to much of the wetter parts of the Kimberley include the usual ferals such as cats and now the cane toads plus wildfires and cattle. Mining (for bauxite) is now coming into the picture. Mornington station has removed all the cattle and cut fires, and the wildflowers and wildlife are coming back. Normality is returning. Man’s intervention is not always to the detriment of wildlife as witnessed at Parry Lagoons, artificial but beautiful with its colourful blue and purple waterlilies and thousands of water birds. The Lagoons were once used as a fattening stop-over for cattle en route to the slaughter yards at Wyndham and as such were absolutely trashed underfoot. Thankfully, it has now been listed under the Ramsar Convention. Finally we were given an overview of the wonders to be seen across the top-end, with winning shots of Gouldian Finches, an estimated 2 million Oriental Pratincoles feeding on agricultural pasture lands – on grasshoppers!, a Striped Faced Dunnart, and frogs and reptiles along with breath taking pictures of the countryside, many of them taken from the air. A great credit to Vicky and the wonderful team which contributed advice, photographs and knowledge generally to the in-depth compilation of The Kimberley.

Kevn Griffiths