Peter Schouten Taree Australia Day Ambassador
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00:00 In a moment of contemplation while standing by the creek, I became aware of the different
00:05 shades of blue in the sky as the sun was rising.
00:09 The fresh cool air, the sound of water tumbling over rocks, the distant bellowing of a neighbour's
00:15 cow, the melodious call of a shrike thrush and the maniacal cackle of a dollar bird.
00:21 For me, that moment in time exemplified the richness and diversity of nature to be found
00:28 in the Manning, hours of ground orchids can be seen pushing through the grass.
00:32 For me, the Manning is not just beautiful beaches and countryside, it is the sum of
00:36 those ever-changing experiences and observations.
00:40 That is why I am grateful to call the Manning my home.
00:44 In stark contrast to this, I grew up in an environment of concrete, asphalt and car exhaust,
00:51 just off Parramatta Road in Petersham, Sydney.
00:55 In such an environment, as a kid, I was lucky to see a blade of grass, so to satisfy my
01:00 craving for the natural world, I found solace in books.
01:05 This allowed me to disappear into a fantasy world where I could dive with whales, burrow
01:09 with an aardvark or marvel at a herd of stegosaurus on a Jurassic flood plain.
01:15 My school days were, unfortunately, not very happy ones.
01:19 The syllabus at that time offered me nothing in the two topics I was most interested in,
01:24 fossil history and art.
01:27 And so I set about educating myself in both of these fields.
01:31 My professional career as an illustrator began when I was taken under the wings of Professor
01:36 Michael Archer at the School of Zoology at the University of New South Wales.
01:41 I was employed as a fossil preparator and I soon realised that I spent more time illustrating
01:45 fossils than extracting them from rock.
01:48 But that was okay, as it gave me a grounding in animal anatomy and morphology.
01:55 Mike was very taken with my illustrations and encouraged me to publish them as a book,
02:00 which was the start of my career in book production.
02:03 I was also fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with many exemplary people, such as
02:07 Tim Flannery, with whom I have collaborated on many books and is still a close friend.
02:17 The theme for Australia Day this year is reflect, respect and celebrate.
02:23 As a paleo artist, reflecting on the past is something I do as second nature.
02:29 If I pick up a rock, I ponder about how it was formed.
02:33 If I look at a line of hills from my window, I wonder about the tectonic processes that
02:37 pushed up that land.
02:39 If I hear the shriek of a black cockatoo, I think of the dinosaur antecedents of birds.
02:46 My occupation usually makes me think in terms of deep time.
02:49 However, today I would like to reflect upon a much more recent period.
02:54 I, along with many others in our valley, directly experienced the devastation of the bushfires
03:00 of 2019.
03:02 In Boban, where I live, a third of our homes were destroyed, along with our local school.
03:11 At that time, I was a newly elected president of the hall, the only communal public building
03:17 in Boban, and I was thrown in at the deep end.
03:22 Our hall became an operations centre for emergency services during the fires and then a recovery
03:27 and resource centre in the aftermath.
03:31 Donations poured in from all over the country, so much so that we were waist deep in them.
03:35 However, in the face of such adversity, I realised that another reason I am so grateful
03:40 to be resident of Mani, and that is the sense of community.
03:47 People from all over the valley came to assist.
03:49 Even locals, traumatised and having lost everything, would show up every day to lend a hand.
03:57 It was like seeing a beacon of light in a very dark place.
04:01 I am so grateful to be an Australian.
04:03 I hold great respect for this land and all its peoples.
04:06 We live in a society which is as layered and diverse as the continent itself.
04:11 From the arrival of the first of our First Nations peoples some 65,000 years ago, practically
04:16 yesterday, if, like me, you think as a paleontologist, to those who have only recently called Australia
04:22 home, we are fortunate to live in a country where difference and diversity are viewed
04:27 as an asset and not as a threat to social cohesion.
04:31 We are a vibrant country that welcomes people from all over the world, absorbing elements
04:36 of other cultures into our broader social framework.
04:39 This ensures that our Australian culture is never stagnant and is continually enriched
04:43 and enlivened.
04:46 We should celebrate the fact that, after 4 billion years of evolution, we are still here.
04:51 The habitable zone of this planet is tissue thin and tenuously supports a rich and diverse
04:56 biosphere.
04:57 With a population of over 7.8 billion, our species now dominates that biosphere.
05:03 So for the sake of ourselves and all our sibling species, let's not trash it because we have
05:08 nowhere else to go.
05:10 Thank you and enjoy the rest of Australia.
05:12 [APPLAUSE]