First Edition. SCARCE. Near Fine copy except for 2 very small nicks to edge of dustjacket. Conservation of natural resources. pp. 211 Colour photographs.

(2017) An ardent environmental campaigner and photographer who campaigned to save Tasmania’s Gordon and Franklin rivers has died doing what he loved — exploring Australia’s wild places.

Tributes are flowing for Les Southwell, a Melbourne engineer who first came to Tasmania in the 1960s before campaigning in the 1980s to save the rivers from being dammed.

Mr Southwell was 88.

“Les Southwell, a Melbourne engineer, was one of the most remarkable wilderness walkers in Tasmania in the high age of wild country adventure last century,” former Greens leader Bob Brown said.

“He first came to Tasmania in the early 1960s and, via the original Lake Pedder, walked to Federation Peak, the most remote mountain in Australia.

“Consequently, in scores more trips, he bush-bashed into other remote places including Pokana Cirque, Lake Curley, the Denison Range and Gordon Splits.

“Les was a vigorous advocate for saving the Franklin and Gordon rivers from damming.”

His 1983 book, The Mountains of Paradise: the Wilderness of Southwest Tasmania, is regarded as a classic of Australian wilderness photography.

“His depictions of Lake Pedder National Park are now national treasures. Until the end, Les was a crusty advocate for restoring Lake Pedder,” Dr Brown said.

Victorian environmentalist Karen Alexander, OA, said Mr Southwell was dedicated to conservation — from the Lake Pedder campaign to Fraser Island and the Franklin.

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