Round Table

ROUNDTABLE

Having a seat at the table is the first step of making decisions. In the spirit of the town hall, this feature table provides a gathering point over which debates can rage. At such a fine scale, the material is important in communicating the ideals of the research. In this case, the immediacy and urgency of the problems in Toolangi are expressed through the form of a rotting body of a felled Eucalyptus regnans (Mountain Ash). But this also exhibits the great wealth of biodiversity that these trees hold for the forest. The decaying stag yields life anew. As ferns sprout and lichens discolour the bark, antechinus hunt insect larvae in the hollows.

As long as their cheques clear, I don’t care. Least it’s a nice site.

Woodchip from Maryvale Paper Mill retains soil moisture, suppresses weeds Recently fallen E. regnans log half buried in trench

150 years ago:

Logging begins in the Central Highlands

350 years ago:

E. regnans begins growth on banks of Kalatha Creek

10 years ago:

Coupe cleared, with legacy tree retained

1 year ago:

E. regnans fails due to topsoil erosion

‘Outdoor Parliament’ pfft. I reckon these greenies need to get off the grass

450mm high log sections recovered from clearfell coupe

Formalising the Toolangi Forest Parliament’s working committee and including new publics The growing collinade ensures the forest is never far from the topic at hand

It’d have to be tested in the High Court - but I dare say we could be the first If they can give legal personhood to a river, do you reckon the government could do it for the forest?

Yeah righto... the forestry workers association wouldn’t be thrilled

I’m telling you bro I saw a quoll here last night

Learning reciprocity: The log returns hundreds of years of nutrients to the soil, allowing the nearby ring of trees to transact and grow their biomass

As the soil develops, forest species become established, rebalancing the space’s prescribed purpose

Humans’ survival as a species depends upon adapting ourselves and our... settlements in new, life-sustaining ways, shaping contexts that acknowledge connections to air, earth, water, life and to each other, and that help us feel and understand these connections, landscapes that are functional, sustainable, meaningful, and artful” Spin, 1998

CONCLUSIONS OF THE CIVIC APPROACH

This approach to mediating the forest conflict promoted a civil dialogue between community groups, external activists and forestry industry workers and officials. At three scales, it tested whether the toolkit of contemporary landscape architecture practice could be reframed to enable debates about forest policy to take place in the public eye, instead of in council chambers and industry offices. The civil approach found that successful democratic assemblies have taken a variety of forms not preferred in the Australian colonial context. It tested viable components from each, analysed their effect on power dynamics and then proposed a design that activated these in a civic square.