The Little Desert in western Victoria, lying south of the Western Highway that links Melbourne and Adelaide, was the subject of an intensive grassroots-led lobbying campaign in the late 1960s against a proposal to clear its native bushland for agriculture. A browse through newspaper archives of the period surprises one even now at the breadth and depth of the opposition to the government’s plans. Libby Robins’ book Defending The Little Desert: The Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia of 1998 tells the story.
Kaniva Flower Show 1973 – flyer.
The earliest leaflet for the new Park, enlarged from the Kiata Lowan Sanctuary, 1971
Various leaflets by the National Parks Service – birds, the Mallee-Fowl, tourist guides.
Nature trail guides to the Kiata and Pomponderoo trails.
A flyer announcing a ceremony in 2006 to honour long-time Ranger Keith Hateley.
A landmark report The Need for Reservations in Desert Settlement resulting from a conference held in Nhill in 1964 is more than just one of the earliest salvos in the debates over land use in the Little Desert; it includes accounts of the contemporary views of district people and also includes appendices with lists of flora and fauna, even though there have been amendments subsequently.
A leaflet describing the Friends of the Little Desert by the late and lamented Les Smith of Heatherdale is a testament to the public-spiritedness of the conservation-minded people centred around the Blackburn and District Tree Preservation Society. (See also the post on land-owning cooperatives for reference to another of the BDTPS’s initiatives).