Helen GeePrint Page

The plaque commemorates conservationist and author Helen Gee (1950-2012). 

Helen Gee was born in Launceston on 9 November 1950, and spent her childhood at Westbury.  

Helen was widely recognised as one of the leading conservationists in Tasmania and had been an activist since the campaign to save Lake Pedder from 1967 to 1972.  She was a founding member of the Wilderness Society and was the Convenor of the Lake Pedder Restoration Committee.  Helen was a campaign officer for the Tasmanian National Parks Association, a Convenor of the South East Forest Protection Group, a Councillor with the Australian Conservation Foundation, and member of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Consultative Committee.

Helen was involved with many environmental struggles and was a crucial contributor to the declaration of the Douglas-Apsley National Park in 1989.  She spear-headed campaigns to gain broader recognition of the biodiversity significance of Tasmania's dry eucalypt forests on the east coast in particular the Wielangta Forest of South East Tasmania.

Helen compiled and edited a number of books which have documented the struggles to conserve Tasmania's natural heritage including The South West Book: a Tasmanian wilderness (1978), The Franklin: Tasmania's last wild river (1978) and For the forests: a history of the Tasmanian forest campaigns (2001).

In 2003, Helen was a part of the group of conservationists and historians involved in the discovery of the Recherche Bay gardens which were established by the d'Entrecasteaux expedition in May 1792.

Helen's editorial endeavours include the Rivers of Verse: A Tasmanian Journey 1800-2004 (2004) and Ronnie: Tasmanian Songman (2009).  Despite this impressive record of activity, Helen also managed to spend decades assisting her partner Bob on their east coast grazing property where they raised two children.  Helen died on 19 December 2012.

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