John Wamsley

{{Short description|Australian environmentalist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}

{{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}}

John Wamsley (born 1938) is an Australian environmentalist. He was the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year for 2003. Wamsley is known for his attempt to set up a network of wildlife sanctuaries across Australia.{{cite web|title=John Wamsley - Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year 2003 |work=Minister for the Environment and Heritage Media Releases |publisher=Department of the Environment & Water Resources|date=2004-07-14 |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/env/2003/mr31may303.html |accessdate=2007-08-29 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929134524/http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/env/2003/mr31may303.html |archivedate=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}

Wamsley was born in Ourimbah, New South Wales in 1938. His passion for Australian wildlife was born when the seven-year-old Wamsley's family moved to a 67 hectare bushland block at Niagara Park. At age sixteen Wamsley became a trainee metallurgist with BHP. Dissatisfied with the job he became a labourer at BHP's Newcastle Steelworks and worked a second job renovating run down houses. By age 23 Wamsley was a millionaire. Approximately two years later Wamsley enrolled at the University of Newcastle. The thirty-year-old Wamsley graduated with a PhD in Mathematics and moved to Flinders University to lecture.{{cite web|last=Radford|first=Leigh|title=John Wamsley|website=ABC Rural|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|url=http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/legends/stories/7_1.htm|accessdate=2015-10-08}} His doctoral thesis from the University of Queensland, at only 70 pages, is among the shortest theses in the library.{{cite web|title=The Deficiency of Finite Groups|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=4837456&jid=BAZ&volumeId=1&issueId=01&aid=4837452}}

June 1969 saw the purchase of a dairy farm at Mylor, South Australia, that was to become Wamsley's first sanctuary, Warrawong. Wamsley eradicated all feral plants and animals from the sanctuary and erected a surrounding fence to preserve the sanctuary's feral free state. Wamsley entered the public eye when he attended a tourism awards ceremony wearing a hat made from the pelt of a dead feral cat. The ensuing controversy led to a change in the law, allowing feral cats to be legally killed.{{cite web|last=Adams|first=Prue|title=Wamsley walks away from Earth Sanctuaries|website=Landline|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/landline/old-site/content/2005/s1330004.htm|date=2005-03-27|accessdate=2018-12-28}}

With the view to duplicating the success of the Warrawong wildlife sanctuary in South Australia, Earth Sanctuaries Limited (ESL) was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2000.Paull, John (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/65035733/Ecosystem_Restoration_The_Bold_Experiment_for_Rewilding_Australia "Ecosystem Restoration: The Bold Experiment for Rewilding Australia"], International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS) Newsletter, Q4(1):5.1-5.4. At its peak, ESL had 11 prospective sanctuaries in three states accounting for 100,000 hectares. ESL was successful in some rewilding and ecosystem restoration projects. By pioneering feral-proof fencing, native Australian animals were successfully re-introduced where they were locally extinct. However, the company was not financially successful. ESL was wound up and delisted in 2005.{{Cite web |last=Emmett |first=Patrick |date=2005-03-25 |title=Cat hat man runs out of lives? |url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2005/s1327820.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195916/http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2005/s1327820.htm |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date= |website=Stateline}} The sanctuaries were sold, and some remain in operation, including Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre{{Cite web |last=Kizilos |first=Katherine |date=2007-02-28 |title=The ark at Little River |url=https://www.theage.com.au/technology/the-ark-at-little-river-20070228-ge4bfa.html |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=The Age|language=en}} and several managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.{{Cite web |date=2002 |title=A Win for Australian Conservation: Australian Wildlife Conservancy to Acquire Sanctuaries from Earth Sanctuaries Ltd |url=http://www.australianwildlife.org/field-updates/2002/a-win-for-australian-conservation-australian-wildlife-conservancy-to-acquire-sanctuaries-from-earth-sanctuaries-ltd.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824045308/http://www.australianwildlife.org/field-updates/2002/a-win-for-australian-conservation-australian-wildlife-conservancy-to-acquire-sanctuaries-from-earth-sanctuaries-ltd.aspx |archive-date=24 August 2014 |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Australian Wildlife Conservancy |url-status=live }} ESL was the world's first publicly listed company whose business was conservation.{{Cite book |last=Wamsley |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGILEAAAQBAJ |title=A Vanishing Kind: A Memoir of Dr John Wamsley in Conversations |last2=Davey |first2=Stephen L. |date=2020-10-29 |publisher=Balboa Press |isbn=978-1-5043-2295-9 |language=en}}