Re-enchanting conservation work: Reflections on the Australian experience

The Australian nature conservation movement is effectively entering its sec ond century of existence and this transition has prompted a degree of refle ction about the strategies used hitherto. After going through boom years - as part of a broader environmental movement - from the 1970s until the earl y 1990s, a more difficult political environment in the second half of the 1 990s has sparked a semi-public discussion about priorities and future strat egies. This article argues that the debate about future conservation strate gies needs to tackle two important legacies that have become increasingly p roblematic: a lingering 'frontier mentality' that fosters a separation betw een people and 'pristine nature'; and a heavy reliance on scientific expert ise and rational arguments for conservation. This dual legacy has blinded t he movement to the aesthetic appeal of the romantic philosophical tradition in ecology and the importance of sensuous, embodied experiences of the 'mo re than human' world. In rethinking the legacy of the romantic philosopher Henry David Thoreau, the article argues for a shift of emphasis from wilder ness to wildness in order to bring conservation home to more people. It sug gests that we can learn from the ability of Australian Aborigines to listen to the land in order to 'sing up' the stories that are embedded in landsca pes. Learning to read and create landscape stories provides creative ways o f building more affective bonds between people and the land. Nonrational ap proaches to nature conservation can help to re-enchant conservation 'work'.