Suzie Zent

by Anthony Amis

In the mid-1990s I found myself for the first time venturing into the daunting Strzelecki Ranges, two hours drive south-east of Melbourne. I was there at the invitation of members of the newly-formed Friends of Gippsland Bush who were attempting to stop Amcor clearing 2,000 hectares of bushland. Amcor and their predecessor APM had a long history in the region dating back to the 1930's when the Maryvale pulp mill (still Australia's largest paper mill) was first established.

My main memories of this first visit included witnessing pine logging on Jeeralang Creek and meeting local campaigners Susie Zent and Theo Morsink. Little did we know that 10 years later Susie and I would still be meeting up, working out ways to move forward with one of Australia's most challenging forest campaigns.

Susie lives near Yinnar in the northern Strzeleckis with her partner Peter in the heart of the plantation nightmare. She is not your average 'greenie'. She is middle-aged, swears like a trooper, is half incapacitated due to many illnesses but is a brilliant strategist and a tireless campaigner. Susie had been employed as a teacher in Collingwood and Morwell. That was until she suffered a mystery illness in 1982.

Susie first became aware of a medical practitioner who would eventually diagnose her disease by reading a copy of Chain Reaction in 1982. Her disease was caused by viral meningitis and diagnosed as chronic fatigue with multiple chemical sensitivities – a debilitating disease of the central nervous system which impacts on the whole body.

Friends of Gippsland Bush (FoGB) acted as the vanguard of resistance to Amcor's plans to wipe out 2,000 hectares of bush in 1996. Amcor totally underestimated the resolve and tenacity of the local campaign, which eventually stopped logging in 1,700 hectares. FoGB not only had to face a hostile company but they also had to endure personal attacks from other conservationists (see <www.hancock.forests.org.au/docs/06oct.htm>.)

During this time Susie embarked on what was probably one of her most ambitious ideas, to map the unknown rainforests of the Strzeleckis. Elaina Fraser (a local mother of three and school teacher), had since the mid-1990s been working relentlessly on weekends and school holidays mapping the Cool Temperate Rainforests of the Strzeleckis. Susie insisted on participating in a very difficult and time-consuming journey which formed the basis of the areas identified as the Cores and Links in the 'Strzelecki Ranges Biodiversity Study' (Biosis Research 2001).

Despite the leaches, painful joints, obvious health problems, and a host of other issues, these women achieved amazing results, managing to catalogue and map at least 80% of what rainforest was out there.

From late 1997, Susie was also involved in monitoring logging operations in her region (often with myself), a task which often involves a lot of walking including negotiating fallen trees and thick bush.

In October 1998, the Kennett Victorian government sold the logging rights to the Strzeleckis for 99 years. The buyer was Hancock Victorian Plantations, a subsidiary of the giant US insurance company John Hancock Financial Services. These logging rights included possible access to all the native vegetation and rainforest within the Strzeleckis, which technically the company could log due to the lax wording of the Victorian Plantations Corporation Act and licences. Only by walking the country could anyone really know what was out there. Lucky for us, Elaina and Susie were already doing this.

The Cores and Links Reserve was officially launched by the Victorian government in October 2006 after difficult negotiations with Hancock Victorian Plantations and Victorian government departments. Without the tireless work of Elaina and Susie, this reserve would never have been made a reality.

For more information see: <www.hancock.forests.org.au> and
<www.australianpaper.forests.org.au>

For information and to support Friends of Gippsland Bush, contact: Susie Zent, c/- Churchill Post Office, Churchill, Victoria, 3842.

Originally published in Chain Reaction magzine, #99, March 2007