It was sad to hear of the recent passing of Haydn Washington. I attended his funeral service yesterday, and it was an uplifting celebration of his life and his achievements. Haydn was not one of my close friends, but he was a person I respected enormously.
His service to conservation was immense. He was a key member of the Colo Committee during the successful campaign for a large Northern Blue Mountains National Park. This was in the late 1970’s. The Colo Committee was one of a number of conservation and bushwalker groups campaigning for this outcome, and it played a very important role. It was this campaign that led to the reservation of Wollemi National Park.
Haydn and the Colo Committee later played the key roll in the early campaign for a Gardens of Stone National Park. It was Haydn and other members of the Colo Committee that came up with the name “Gardens of Stone” – which is perfect to describe this amazing landscape. Haydn also was active in key positions within the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Nature Conservation Council and the Colong Foundation For Wilderness. He campaigned for the protection of rainforest and other wild lands all his adult life.
In his professional life, Haydn was a CSIRO ecologist. He was also a bushwalker, an author, an academic and a published poet. He was often living on his property, remote on Nullo Mountain, surrounded by Wollemi National Park. His residence there was a small “castle” – he had built from the local basalt rocks (see it in the background in the photo above).
Back in the early 1980’s – we had both served on the National Parks Advisory Committee for Wollemi National Park.
I think the last time I met Haydn was when our bushwalking group called in to see him at his Nullo Mountain castle. I can remember his enthusiasm when he told us about a new plant he had found in the area.
Haydn will be missed by his many friends, but to all the others he never met who visit Wollemi or Gardens of Stone, they should cherish his vision and applaud his achievements.
Here is some of Haydn’s wisdom, from the back of his funeral service program –
Listen …
The land is calling
Teaching in joy.
Respect …
Something older
Larger and wiser.
Celebrate …
This wild engaging
Ecstatic world.
Heal …
Where you can,
In whatever way.
Love …
Unfold outwards
In enchanted communion.Bless all
With the Five
Words of Healing.