The Colong Foundation, the successor to Myles Dunphy’s National Parks and Primitive Areas Council, is Australia’s longest-serving community advocate for wilderness. Its proposal for a Wilderness Act was accepted in 1987. The Colong Foundation monitors NSW wilderness areas, identifies threats and formulates site specific protection remedies. There are now 2,087,240 ha of wilderness in NSW, however many beautiful and environmentally highly significant wilderness areas are not protected, such in the Macleay Gorges, Pilliga and Bebo on the north west slopes, the Deua Valley on the South Coast, and the Mount Tabletop and the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains.
The Colong Foundation for Wilderness has had a long and successful history. From 1968 to 1975 it was the fighting force that prevented limestone mining and pine plantations in the southern Blue Mountains. The Foundation not only played a leading role in realising Myles Dunphy’s plan for a Greater Blue Mountains National Park, it pushed for its World Heritage listing, as well as the reservation of a Border Ranges National Park. It has initiated successful campaigns for the protection of two million hectares of wilderness.
The realisation of Myles Dunphy’s vision of a comprehensive system of national parks with protected wilderness areas remains the primary objective of the Colong Foundation.
