Joan's story

Joan Anderson, Friend of the Bush

Photo by Wayne Lawler / Ecopix

“I visited South Esk Pine Reserve just the once, in 2004. I remember those lovely, South Esk pine trees hanging over the river. I suppose eventually the river feeds out into the sea, near the Freycinet coastline. It’s such a lovely little place.

It’s the kind of place where my daughter would have been very comfortable. Rosslyn loved the east coast of Tasmania. She died when she was nineteen, in a rafting accident on the Denison River, while taking part in the Franklin campaign. They were taking photographs of the damage that had already been done to the forests.

	Apsley River at South Esk Pine Reserve. Photo: Wayne Lawler

She died protecting what she loved, what she believed in. It was everything to her. The idea just came to us, to offer a memorial gift to Bush Heritage, to buy the reserve in Rossy’s memory and save it forever.

We just decided that was what we ought to do. It’s a continuing, living thing that will be there for future generations. That’s what she would have wanted.

Rosslyn had been studying environmental science in Armidale, New South Wales, but she decided to transfer to university in Tasmania, so she could be totally dedicated to keeping the Franklin flowing free.

I used to get letters, really great letters from her, about how many tiger snakes she had seen that day and where they had to sleep, and how wet it was. It was worrying for a mother to hear that.

The world is a worse place without her. I would have been interested to see how far she could have gone, working to protect what she believed in. She would have been a formidable protector of the environment.

“I support all sorts of conservation organisations, but Bush Heritage was the only one buying pieces of land. They have the experience to know what land to buy and how to look after it. We were comfortable trusting in Bush Heritage.”

I hope to get back there to the reserve one of these days. But I don’t need to go there to know what a special place it is. Just the fact that it’s there is very special to me. It gives me a sense of peace, of satisfaction. It’s the perfect way to remember Rossy.”