marion-chapman

Marion Chapman

Marion lives near the coast of Southern Victoria in Australia.

Marions says: This is the link to my work through my artists association Wildlife Art Society of Australasia

The love of nature enriches our lives and the price of that is an obligation. If those who say they love nature are not the ones who stand up and fight for its protection, who will?

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Click here for a link to the new Barrier Ranges, Broken Hill and Silverton page

click on all thumbnails below for larger images

	We helped re-establish this remnant wetland, the Bald Hills Wetland Reserve in the 1980's. It's success as a refuge for wildlife, primarily wetland birds; as an educational tool for young people and as an experience as a wild-place surpassed all expectations. If constructed, turbines would be visible and audible from every part of the reserve.
	My acrylic on canvas painting titled "Tresses at Bald Hills'' is a portrait of a water-loving rush, its beautiful rufous fronds rippling in the breeze. At least five turbines would be visible towering into the sky above. The farming community, the local council and naturalists have been fighting this proposal tooth and nail for almost a decade. It is the most controversial windfarm in Australia because of its predicted impact on endangered and migratory wildlife. The proponents of the wind industry the world over are vandals, prepared to trash the most treasured places.
	We live along the coastal strip of the southern most part of the Australian mainland. Many of the subjects for my paintings are observed on walks along the beach. The albatross attracted my attention because of the absolute contrast between the dead and the living. Here the sand burying the contorted body with head thrown back and the angular extremes of wings collapsed like a broken umbrella, where out to sea the joyful, exquisite grace of the living birds skimming the waves.
	"Floating in Colour", "Bull Kelp at the Edge of the Sea" and "Seaweed Smorgasbord" are part of an ongoing series called "Time and Tide", which draws its inspiration also from the waters edge. The cool waters along our coastal strip are some of the richest in the world for algae and their beauty and diversity provide me as an artist with an endless supply of subjects. "Floating in Colour" reveals the luminescence of the buoyancy floats which hold a plant of brown algae up toward the sunlight.
	"Bull Kelp at the Edge of the Sea" revels in the wonderful folds and rolls of this marine plant cast up after stormy weather. The widely despised Victorian government has plans to build the largest desalination plant in the Southern hemisphere close by. The environmental impact assessment and planning process for this desal. plant was a charade as it is for wind farms.
	"Seaweed Smorgasbord" was accepted for exhibition in the prestigious Waterhouse exhibition in 2008.
	The "Great Egret" captures a moment from one of those superb calm days when no turbine blade turns.
	"The Kangaroo Paw" painting resulted from a brief trip to see the wildflowers of West Australia. We only scratched the surface and will have to return.

The Bald Hills Wetland Reserve. Southern Vctoria,
and the proposed Bald Hills Wind Farm

View The proposed Bald Hills Wind Farm in Southern Australia in a larger map

Mitsui & Co Ltd of Japan are the new owners of the proposed Bald Hills Wind Farm:
this is a link to their website

Below are some photographs Marion has sent us of the area, including the Wetland
Reserve and Arch Rock (see map).
There are now (October 15th 2009) some extra photographs
added here today.

Scroll down further for paintings of birds that will be at risk when the turbines are built.

Koala	Arch Rock bat caves	Autumn fungi	Dragon fly on water lily
Purple Flag	Main wetland	Black swans arriving	Sun Orchid
Pea flower	Eucalyptus flowers	Central wetland	Flame Robin
Wetland Flora	Swamp Walaby	Banksias	Goanna

Birds at the Bald Hills site

There are over 280 species of birds in South Gippsland and many of these are found at Bald Hills or migrate through the area. Mitsui & Co Ltd of Japan has acquired the rights to construct the wind farm but we understand no final decision to proceed has yet been made.
The project was purchased because Mitsui believed it had widespread support but nothing could have been further from the truth. We are hopeful that Mitsui will respect its obligation to protect species listed in treaties between Australia and Japan and decide not to proceed with the project

	The Orange-bellied Parrot is a Nationally Endangered species with less than 200 birds left in the wild, making it one of the rarest birds in the world. As a result this species is protected by National and State legislation and in a treaty with Japan. This parrot is recorded in habitats each side of the Bald Hills wind farm and connecting flights would take it through the wind farm site. As a result of a contrivance by the wind farm developer, and a media campaign showing contempt for protection of this species, the wind farm was given approval to proceed acknowledging that this species would be at risk. The Nationally Endangered Swift Parrot, the longest migrating parrot in the world, passes through the wind farm on migration between Tasmania and the mainland. The wind farm developers have approval to kill this species.
	The Wedge-tailed Eagle is an iconic Australia eagle of up to 2.5 metre wing span that is closely related to the Golden Eagle. The wind farm company has unconditional approval to kill Wedge-tailed Eagles along with the many other raptors at risk. Two pairs of White-bellied Sea-eagles nest either side of the wind farm site. They are listed in a treaty between Australia and China as migratory and warranting protection, however the wind farm developer has been given approval including the right to kill this species.
	The White-throated Needletail migrates between Asia and Australia each year and is protected by international treaties for the protection of migratory birds between Australia and Japan and Australia and China. The Bald Hills wind farm company acknowledged that at least 28 of these swifts would be killed each year and the company has been given unconditional approval by the government, in clear breach of the treaties, to kill this species. Many other birds protected by international treaties are also threatened by this wind farm as it provides a 9 kilometre line of turbines across the movement path of migratory birds.

Finally:

Other paintings by Marion that were shown earlier on this website

	The Brolga is a magnificent species of crane which throws grass into the air as it leaps, the whole group joining in this joyful dance. The menacing shadow is self explanatory. Marion says that the Victorian government has approved a number of windfarms within the Brolga's territory. This work was exhibited in 2006 at the Bird Observation and Conservation of Australia gallery.
	A raft of bubbles flowing across the surface of a rock-pool. The rock-pool has a seaweed called Neptune's Necklace growing inside. Each bubble contains a distorted cameo of the plant below.
back	The painting of this exquisite Brolga feather was inspired by the deafening silence by bird organisations everywhere on the continued slaughter of birds by wind turbines. In Victoria, the grasslands, water holding depressions and wonderfully pock-marked volcanic outcrops of western Victoria are habitat for the once widespread Brolga and provide the backdrop for this feather. Around the four side edges of the canvas, printed in white on yellow are the words - No wind factories for Macarthur, Tuke, Waubra, Lexton, Lal Lal, Elain, Mt. Mercer, Stockyard Hill, Stony Rises, Glenthompson, Mt. Gellibrand, Nerrin Nerrin, Stoneleigh. Of the twenty or so proposals for wind factories in western Vic. thirteen are within the known range of the Brolga. In other countries Crane are victims of wind turbines and there is no reason to suggest that Australian Crane will not suffer the same fate The painting was on show at the "Brilliant Birds" exhibition, July 2007 at the Wildlife Art Society's exhibition at the Bird Observation and Conservation of Australia Gallery.