Community & Business
1 November, 2023
Book showcases beauty of nature
A BOOK showcasing Australian and world tropics' most beautiful bird and a love story straight from a movie has been well received in the natural history and conservation community, selling hundreds of copies across the region.
A Wild Romance by Topaz’s Cliff and Dawn Frith OAMs, is a 400 page book with over 200 colourful photographs, telling the tale of a nature-loving couple on a coral atoll near Madagascar 50 years ago and immediately fell in love.
Together, they worked to discover and share the wonders of the world, publishing over 150 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and over 15 illustrated books.
Since A Wild Romance was released, Cliff said he had received a highly encouraging response, and he hoped the book would help readers appreciate the importance of wildlife conservation.
“The response to date has been highly encouraging and flattering, with people expressing interest and pleasure in both the text and photographs of the volume,” he said.
“Our sincere hope is that the book will hopefully encourage people to appreciate and relate to nature and thus come to value and protect it.
“It would also especially thrill us to think that it might stimulate and encourage young people to consider working in some field of biology, zoology, environment, or conservation, and perhaps birds (ornithology) in particular.”
During the recent launch of the book in Atherton, Dawn was unable to attend as she has Alzheimer’s disease. It was tough for Cliff, but he said he was grateful for the support of those who attended the launch and the staff at the Tablelands Regional Gallery.
“The book launch at the Tableland Regional Gallery in Atherton, thanks to all of the fine staff and volunteers there, was a great success, with some 120 people enjoying a fine, supportive and family-like atmosphere, which meant very much to me in the extremely difficult circumstance of my dear wife Dawn’s absence,” he said.
Cliff is now in the process of writing a major natural history book about Australian Birds, carrying his and Dawn’s legacy into the next generation.
