Two nature-lovers from Victoria have captured the soundscape of Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.
Sarah Koshak 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.
“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.
Vast areas of the region are open heathlands and buttongrass plains. “The play of light and clouds on these endless plains is mesmerising,” says Sarah Koschak, following her tour of the Tarkine. “And they are equally precious from a biological viewpoint.”Sarah and her partner Andrew Skeoch toured the Tarkine to record a soundscape of the rainforest. The results are available for free through the pair’s business, Listening Earth.The Tarkine is home to countless sacred Aboriginal sites, as well as hundreds of native species, including the endangered Tasmanian devil.The Tarkine region, in north-west Tasmania, is home to the largest temperate rainforest in the Southern Hemisphere.Cascading boughs of ancient myrtle are draped with mosses and epiphytes.Tree ferns thrive under the shade of giant myrtle trees. Fossil records have dated myrtles, beech and tree ferns back to the time of the dinosaurs. “It is easy to imagine encountering a watchful dinosaur padding through this deep, evergreen world,” says Sarah.Among the rainforests are river valleys and wild uplands.In 2010, the Tarkine’s conservation status lapsed and World Heritage nomination for the region went unsupported. Conservationists have expressed fear for the region following the announcement of 10 proposed mine sites within its borders.Sarah and Andrew hope their soundscape recordings will help to raise awareness for what they see as a precious and threatened wilderness.“Buttongrass plains are as precious as the rainforest, home to just as much diversity, if not more,” Sarah says. Among the dense ground cover are rare plants and animals, including the last population of Tasmanian devils not yet affected by the deadly devil facial tumour disease (DFTD).Man ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) create their own canopy at ground level, and can grow up to 15m high.Tree fern buttresses and fallen logs can make parts of the forest difficult for human access.Early morning on the Lindsay River.A close up image of the tiny seed head of a button grass (Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus).Tea-tree flowers (Leptospermum scoparium).Dew on a bottlebrush flower (Callistemon pallidus).Native sedges cling to the banks of the Lindsay River.The Tarkine spring chorus begins with the song of the pink robin (Petroica rodinogaster).Endemic to Tasmania, the tiny scrubtit (Acanthornis magnus) is often seen flitting among the ground ferns.A male golden whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) in full breeding plumage.
