Two hundred years ago Australia, the world's smallest continent, was all wilderness. Its people lived in wilderness. They were part of it. Australia was the same as it had been ten thousand years ago when, before the advent of agriculture and industry, the whole world was wilderness and everyone lived in wilderness. Now only a few small patches of this vast Australia remain wild and unchanged. Two thirds or more of the country's original forests have been axed and nearly all of the remaining forests are earmarked for chipboard, paper bags or newspaper stock. All but a couple of Australia's great rivers are dammed, silted or polluted. Cities, farms and factories cover the most fertile areas. The air most people breathe carries car fumes, chemicals and the dust of overgrazed, arid inland plains. So the destiny of Australia's last wild places is in our hands. And it will not be easy. Though we are starting so late, the first step to saving our wild heritage is knowing about it. This book is about wild and wonderful places which typify the diverse natural heritage of our nation. It brings home the extraordinary beauty of some of the country's last wild places -- places which most Australians do not yet know exist. - Foreword.