Ju-Juen Chew
"The Forest is the Mother of the River".
I came across these words, attributed to an English forester Charles (sic) Lane-Poole who was in Western Australia at the time advising the authorities on forestry issues. This was in the early 1920's. These eight words, from almost a century ago, capture poetically the profound interrelationship between forest and river, between water and soil. They remind me of Earth's interweaving cycles of air, water, life, rocks and soil, that work hard to keep our beautiful planet healthy and alive.
I live in at Reefton, on the edge of the water catchment surrounded by forests that are bursting with life. I often walk with deep gratitude beside a healthy fast flowing creek that spills into a young Yarra not far from my home. But the threat of development-destruction are ever present and everywhere.. We cannot have a healthy river without healthy forests, just as we cannot have healthy humans on a sick planet.
Personal details.
Wendy Chew, writer and educator, with particular interest in how we humans relate to the other-than-human world. Wendy thought up the idea for the quilt square.
Her daughter Ju-Yuen Chew - artist and illustrator - came up with the actual design, and carried out the work! Ju-Yuen lives in Thornbury, not very far from the Yarra River in its inner city phase.
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