But in 1975, a national marine park was declared over the Great Barrier Reef, banning oil, gas and mining. <\/p>\n
The reef had been saved \u2013 for a time. Fifty years later, the Barrier Reef, like coral reefs across the globe, faces the far larger<\/a> threat of climate change. <\/p>\n It can be easy to look back at history and think what happened was inevitable. But events could very easily have gone down a different path. <\/p>\n The 19th century naturalist William Saville-Kent did pioneering research on the Great Barrier Reef. How could an immense reef system be vulnerable?<\/p>\n In 1908, the author Edmund Banfield<\/a> imagined a future where his tropical home, Dunk Island, and neighbouring islands would form part of a \u201cgreat insular national park<\/a>\u201d. Ornithologists and nature writers such as Banfield successfully lobbied to protect many of the reef\u2019s islands to save birds from hunters. <\/p>\n To protect the Barrier Reef\u2019s seabirds from hunters, naturalists focused on their island homes. Pictured: large flocks of terns on Michaelmas Cay in the 1930s. Early in the 20th century, turtles were routinely butchered and their meat canned and sent abroad. By the 1950s, public outcry<\/a> over their treatment and falling numbers prompted governments to severely limit their exploitation.<\/p>\n In 1956, park rangers proposed<\/a> a national park across the Whitsunday Islands or an even larger area to protect reefs from tourists. Reef-walking and coral-collecting were popular, but rangers and conservationists feared the reef might be loved to death<\/a>. Authorities restricted shell and coral collecting, but the national park idea went nowhere. <\/p>\n As tourist numbers grew, island rangers and scientists became concerned about the damage done to coral and shells. Pictured: a brochure for a reef walking tour. Naturalists and scientists had long known the Great Barrier Reef faced natural threats. In 1925, the naturalist E. H. Rainford observed<\/a> a \u201cscene of the utmost desolation\u201d after floodwaters covered Whitsunday reefs with silt: <\/p>\n the corals dead, broken to pieces and blackened by decay; the clam shells For many, a corals capacity to survive in such conditions was part of their beauty. But in 1960, a new threat emerged \u2013 the first recorded crown-of-thorns outbreak. These large coral-eating starfish devastated popular tourist reefs near Cairns. <\/p>\n It shocked people into seeing the entire reef as vulnerable. The future director of the National Museum of Australia, Don McMichael, called for<\/a> \u201cserious thinking\u201d about the reef\u2019s future.<\/p>\n The first documented crown of thorns outbreak drove concern about the fate of the reef. A reef in need of saving<\/p>\n In 1967, cane growers in Cairns applied to mine lime<\/a> from Ellison Reef off Mission Beach. <\/p>\n Outraged, the local artist John Busst<\/a> began organising to stop it. His determination would earn him the sobriquet of the \u201cBingil Bay Bastard<\/a>\u201d. Poet-turned-environmentalist Judith Wright<\/a>, forester Len Webb, and the Queensland Littoral Society<\/a> soon joined. <\/p>\n Their Save the Reef campaign succeeded in stopping the lime mining \u2013 only to find oil and gas drilling posed a new threat. <\/p>\n Their expanded campaign caught the Queensland government flat-footed. <\/p>\n A 1968 cabinet report<\/a> noted the government was \u201cnot well informed\u201d over how much damage the reef could tolerate and had failed to \u201csilence or satisfy the vociferous objections of absolute conservationists\u201d. <\/p>\n Later in 1968, Joh Bjelke-Petersen became the new Queensland premier \u2013 a title he would hold for nearly 20 years. Neither he or his deputy, mining minister Ron Camm, had any sympathy for those campaigning to Save the Reef. In fact, Bjelke-Petersen<\/a> had shares in mining companies with leases over the reef.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, some reef scientists from the Great Barrier Reef Committee<\/a>, an influential research group, endorsed the idea of \u201ccontrolled exploitation\u201d of the reef \u2013 including mineral and petroleum resources. This position ruptured relationships between conservationists and scientists.<\/p>\n Oil and gas companies were poised to conduct test drilling in several parts of the Great Barrier Reef. This map was submitted as part of Exhibit 80 to the Royal Commission. Meanwhile, the federal government was under increasing pressure from conservationists and the public to stop oil and gas drilling. <\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t clear, though, which tier of government had sovereignty over the reef and its resources. Conservationists believed the federal government had exclusive rights under a United Nations convention<\/a> on territorial waters. But the Liberal Prime Minister, John Gorton, was unwilling to test the notion. <\/p>\n As the first major reef drilling operations loomed in January 1970, Queensland\u2019s trade union council announced a \u201cblack ban\u201d on any ships or rigs used for reef oil exploration. The two companies affected, Ampol and Japex, stopped preparations and called for an inquiry. <\/p>\n In the 1920s, scientists drilled coral cores (pictured) from Michaelmas Cay, off Cairns, to learn more about the reef. Between 1959 and 1967 three wells were dug along the reef in search of oil. Buoyed by public support and positive media coverage, the Gorton government persuaded Queensland to stop all reef drilling pending a joint royal commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n Turtles were long seen as easy sources of meat. They were slaughtered and their meat canned. In the 1950s, their numbers dwindled and public backlash stopped the trade. A state park \u2013 or national?<\/p>\n In May 1970, the royal commission began its marathon hearings into petroleum drilling on the reef. Prominent figures such as the first Reserve Bank governor H. C. \u201cNugget\u201d Coombs gave statements, alongside scientists, mining experts and conservationists. <\/p>\n Coombs told commission members they were \u201cmaking a judgement [\u2026] on behalf of the community as a whole\u201d, while marine biologist Patricia Mather, the secretary of the Great Barrier Reef Committee (now the Australian Coral Reef Society), drafted and tabled legislation for a possible Barrier Reef Act. <\/p>\n It would take four years for the Royal Commission to deliver its report<\/a>. <\/p>\n During this time, Australia elected its first Labor government in 23 years. The new Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, had big changes planned. <\/p>\n In 1973, the Whitlam government introduced laws asserting Commonwealth control over Australia\u2019s \u201csubmerged lands\u201d. It would mean Canberra controlled the Great Barrier Reef\u2019s oil reserves. Queensland and the other five state governments promptly took the matter to the High Court. <\/p>\n In the meantime, the federal government began drafting reef protection laws \u2013 based on the submission by marine biologist Patricia Mather.<\/p>\n The Royal Commission handed down its report on oil drilling on 1 November 1974. Of the three members, two accepted some drilling could occur. But the chair, Gordon Wallace<\/a>, recommended against any oil drilling at all. <\/p>\n Armed with the chair\u2019s recommendation, Whitlam reached out to Bjelke-Petersen to seek Queensland\u2019s cooperation to protect the reef. But the premier was focused on creating a series of state marine parks which would couple oil, gas and mineral mining with stronger protections. <\/p>\n In a Whitlam pressed on. In November 1974, he told The Australian Queensland was being run by \u201cenvironmental vandals\u201d. The laws were to: <\/p>\n protect an irreplaceable part of Australia\u2019s natural heritage.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Whitlam announced oil drilling would be banned on the reef before the High Court ruled in favour of the Federal Government. This clipping is from November 26 1974. In May 1975, the Whitlam government introduced the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Bill to parliament, where it became law. No mining or oil and gas drilling would be permitted. <\/p>\n On November 11, 1975, the Whitlam government was dismissed. The next month, Malcolm Fraser\u2019s Liberal Party was elected. Not long after that, the High Court ruled in favour of federal control of submerged lands. <\/p>\n In the \u201cspirit of cooperation\u201d, Bjelke-Petersen reached out to the new prime minister to gauge his thinking on the reef. <\/p>\n Fraser told him the federal government would push on with its marine park laws \u2013 and that there would be no oil and gas extraction or mining in the marine park.<\/p>\n Hard-won protection \u2013 for a time<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to be impressed by the scale of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: 344,000 square kilometres \u2013 larger than Victoria \u2013 3,000 coral reefs and more than 1,000 islands. But it is the scale of life which enraptures. Above and below the churning ocean and in the blistering sun, it hums with absolute splendour and wonder.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Unfortunately, \u201csaving\u201d the reef doesn\u2019t just have to be done once. All coral reefs face human threats: fishing, coastal development and declining water quality. But these pale compared to the big one \u2013 climate change<\/a>. As intense marine heatwaves multiply, coral bleaches over large areas and can die. <\/p>\n In the 1960s, conservationists fought hard to stop oil and gas on the reef. Their campaign eventually succeeded. But the reef couldn\u2019t escape<\/a> the damage done by the oil and gas extracted and burned everywhere else. Saving the reef is going to be even harder this time round.<\/p>\n![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-88uatx.jpg\")
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\n The Great Barrier Reef of Australia; its products and potentialities\/William Saville Kent<\/a><\/p>\n![\"large](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-1m27oa.jpg\")
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\n North Queensland Photographic Collection, James Cook University, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n![\"historic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-1f6rxe.jpg\")
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\n North Queensland Photographic Collection, James Cook University, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n
\ngaping wide and empty [\u2026] a scene with hardly any life in it.<\/p>\n![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250902-56-w25qxg.jpg\")
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\n National Archives of Australia<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n![\"map](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-656wow.jpg\")
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\n National Library of Australia, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-21fi2x.jpg\")
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\n Charles Hedley\/Great Barrier Reef Committee Report, Volume II, 1928<\/a><\/p>\n![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250827-56-tohns0.jpg\")
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\n North Queensland Photographic Collection, James Cook University, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n
\nletter to Whitlam<\/a>, Bjelke-Petersen described the prime minister\u2019s actions as \u201cimpulsive\u201d and asked him to wait for the High Court decision. He stated his government did not wish to be associated with unconstitutional matters and expected Whitlam would \u201ctake a similar responsible attitude\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/file-20250828-76-im50uw.jpg\")
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\n The Australian<\/p>\n