GALLERY: Sights and sounds of the Tarkine

By Amy Middleton March 28, 2013
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Two nature-lovers from Victoria have captured the soundscape of Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.

SARAH KOSCHAK AND HER partner, Andrew Skeoch, have been recording nature for 20 years.

It’s a venture driven solely by passion, in which the pair capture the sounds of natural settings from Africa to Indian, Europe to the Americas, Australia, and deep into the jungles of the Pacific islands, creating CDs and downloadable files to transport listerners from their homes to a soundscape far away.

The recordings are available through an online store, but many are free and are accessible through the couple’s website, Listening Earth.

“Nature recordings are our way of sharing a passion and love,” says Sarah. But her desire to record the soundscape of the Tarkine region – a wild system of rainforest and lush native wilderness in Tasmania’s north-west – was motivated by something more pressing.

LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS OF THE TARKINE

“The Tarkine region contains the largest expanse of temperate rainforest in the southern hemisphere,” says Sarah. “It is a wilderness under threat from mining and logging, and this wilderness is too precious to lose.”

Largest temperate rainforest in the Southern Hemisphere

The Tarkine, which covers around 4,500 km², is home to rare temperate rainforests and a plethora of native wildlife, including the endangered Tasmanian devil.

The region also encompasses a significant number of sacred Aboriginal sites.

There have been several attempts to add the region to the World Heritage List, interspersed with discussions regarding its potential status as a national park. These campaigns are led in part by conservationists who share Andrew and Sarah’s fears for the region’s longevity.

“We made soundscape recordings and photographs in the hope of contributing to the efforts to raise awareness, and to assist in communicating how precious this wild place is,” says Sarah.

LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS OF THE TARKINE

Download the album of Tarkine sounds here.

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