The French Agent is set in France and Australia in 1946. The story in France is about a secret service agent on the trail of a war criminal. The story in Australia is about the country coming to grips with the aftermath of the war, including the return of traumatised servicemen and women and the massive migration into the country of displaced people from Europe.

Wildlife habitat was wantonly destroyed, and entire koala colonies died as a result

Diana White is a pioneering landscape designer based in Sydney. Along with innovative architect, Harry Scott, she tries to convince the NSW government to develop Sydney as the city with ‘the most beautiful suburbs in the world’ – by which she means suburbs of housing appropriate to the landscape and climate and where much of the native vegetation is retained. Unfortunately, in real life, that opportunity was lost when the city’s population expanded due to migration and land originally set aside to be a ‘greenbelt’ for Sydney was cleared to build cookie-cutter houses and soulless suburbs. Wildlife habitat was wantonly destroyed, and entire koala colonies died as a result. The koala colony that Diana and Harry try to save in the book is in Blacktown.

After the 2019/2020 bushfires there was an outpouring of grief among Australians for all our precious wildlife that was lost

As much as we are supposed to learn from past mistakes, we continue that destruction today even though some of the new Sydney suburbs – due to heat islands and unsuitable housing design – may no longer be liveable within the next couple of decades.

In NSW alone 23 football fields of koala habitat are bulldozed every day.

For the past twenty years, I have been aware of the plight of the last colony of koalas left in Sydney in Campbelltown. (For more information about them go to the Facebook page of ‘Help Save the Wildlife and Bushland in Campbelltown’). I cannot believe that to this day the koalas are still under threat from development and poor provision being made for them to cross highways and other new infrastructure. Their travel corridors are constantly under threat from developers. After the 2019/2020 bushfires there was an outpouring of grief among Australians for all our precious wildlife that was lost. But the truth is, our lifestyle choices have been killing them in the millions for years. As a wildlife volunteer I was a firsthand witness to this horror. Their skulls are crushed when their tree homes fall, their babies die when chainsaws cut through them, without their habitat and food sources they starve to death or are killed by predators. Why don’t people don’t cry for them in those circumstances? In NSW alone 23 football fields of koala habitat are bulldozed every day. In a single year in QLD 92,718 hectares of habitat was destroyed. Why? 80% was bulldozed to make room for cattle raised for meat consumption.

Part of the problem I believe is a complete disconnection from nature

In Sweden, houses are built for the climate and to be energy efficient. Building materials must have a lifespan of at least 100 years. In Australia, the types of housing we continue to build are unsuitable for our climate and the materials used and the quality of construction is below par with a mere requirement of a seven-year lifespan. And even though our iconic koala has been in danger of extinction for a number of years now, Australia remains among the worst eleven countries for deforestation and has the highest rate of wildlife extinctions of any other place in the world.

Part of the problem I believe is a complete disconnection from nature. We see ourselves as being sustained by shopping malls and chain stores rather than by the forests that allow us to breathe. We see ourselves as apex predators, given dominion over all living things, instead of members of a fragile and intricate ecosystem. Far more than fluffy, cute creatures, our wildlife plays an important part in keeping our forests alive by carrying seeds in their droppings and pollen on their fur and feathers as they move from tree to tree. Without forests we will die. Without our wildlife we will die. That is 100 percent certain. It’s time to change our thinking.

Want to help? wwf.org.au/koalas-forever/

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