The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/australia/page/7)
[Around the World is a monthly weekend column. It features different Pagan and Heathen writers from outside the U.S.A. bringing varied perspectives to The Wild Hunt. Today we introduce Cosette Paneque, a blogger and Priestess in the Georgian Wicca Tradition, who lives in Melbourne, Australia.]
Greetings from Down Under! I’m an immigrant twice. The first time, I emigrated from Cuba to Miami in 1980.
Two years ago a North Carolina newspaper published a Letter to the Editor that read:
My problem with the Pagan or Wiccan groups is in whether they qualify as a religion. Most religions in the world espouse doing good. We see food pantries, homeless shelters, free clinics and hospitals started and manned by religious entities….I’ve never seen a Pagan hospital or food pantry or homeless shelter. I would call Pagans evil, but maybe I could more easily support that they have no socially redeeming value. – J. Bromley
At that time I created a solid list of “good works” that served to demonstrate Pagan involvement in tremendous acts of service. Some of these projects were Pagan community specific (i.e. Operation Circle Care) and some served the larger population (i.e. Doctors Without Borders). I’d like to resurrect this topic and share the stories of two Pagans who engage in dynamic acts of service that benefit far more than just themselves. Here are two different men on two different continents who have both made a passionate commitment to protecting the Earth and its vital resources.
South of the Australian mainland lies the island-state of Tasmania; an island recognized for its remarkable natural bounty. Over 40% of the island is currently covered in protected park lands and natural preserves. In the North West corner of Tasmania is a remote area called the Tarkine, named for the Tarkiner Aborigines who once called it home. Within its 447, 000 hectares (about 180,000 acres), the Tarkine contains the largest single tract of undisturbed temperate rainforest in Australia and one of the largest in the world. These old-growth forests have remained virtually undisturbed since the existence of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent and are home to an unknown number of native flora and fauna, such as the Eucalypt forest, and rare animal species, such as the endangered Tasmanian devil.