Rohan Lloyd

Peter Harrison/Getty

September 2, 2025

Half a century ago, the Great Barrier Reef was to be drilled for oil. It was saved – for a time

Rohan Lloyd, James Cook University

In the late 1960s, oil and gas companies began exploring the Great Barrier Reef for oil. It took campaigners, unionists and a royal commission to protect the reef.

John Busst ‘s self portrait, painted on Bedarra island. Photo: Liz Gallie. Portrait and photo gifted by Margaret Thorsbourne AO to Friends of Ninney Rise, Bingil Bay.

June 18, 2024

Bohemian, artist, conservationist: breathing humanity into the man who fought to protect Queensland’s rainforest and reef

Rohan Lloyd, James Cook University

Born into a wealthy family, John Büsst left Melbourne for north Queensland where he campaigned against planned oil and gas exploration of the reef in the 1960s. His story was little known, until now.

Successive governments have seen the Great Barrier Reef not just as a scientific wonder, but as a channel to further economic development. Superjoseph/Shutterstock.com

August 21, 2018

Politicised science on the Great Barrier Reef? It’s been that way for more than a century

Rohan Lloyd, James Cook University

The $444 million awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has been criticised as a politically calculated move. But governments have been asking what the reef can do for them ever since colonial times.

Don’t write it off just yet. american_rugbier/Flickr

October 18, 2016

Death on the Great Barrier Reef: how dead coral went from economic resource to conservation symbol

Rohan Lloyd, James Cook University

Once upon a time dead coral was something to be celebrated on the Great Barrier Reef.

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Half a century ago, the Great Barrier Reef was to be drilled for oil. It was saved – for a time

Bohemian, artist, conservationist: breathing humanity into the man who fought to protect Queensland’s rainforest and reef

Politicised science on the Great Barrier Reef? It’s been that way for more than a century

Death on the Great Barrier Reef: how dead coral went from economic resource to conservation symbol

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