Birds Queensland has found itself in a spot of bother over moves by its
president, Mike West, to rehabilitate the controversial Queensland
naturalist, John Young.
Mike has boasted in a letter to one Birds Queensland member that the group
under his leadership had "left the door open'' for John because other
birding groups had shunned him. Birds Queensland paid for John to fly from
north Queensland to be its guest of honour at its 40th anniversary dinner.
Now, Birds Queensland has devoted a whole page of its current newsletter to
an editorial article written by John Young's company which praises John's
birding abilities and promotes his commercial interests; this was a
"thankyou" for John's attendance at the dinner.
Readers in this forum will recall the furore that surrounded John's claim to
have discovered a new species of fig-parrot. When birding and photographic
experts cast doubt on the authenticity of photographs which John claimed
were of this new species, John declined the opportunity to have them
independently examined. John also promised to send material from a nest of
this new species for DNA analysis by a museum, but none was sent.
As a result of this and other controversies involving John - including his
hotly disputed claim to have rediscovered the Paradise Parrot - the
management committee of Birds Queensland is sharply divided over Mike's
moves to embrace him. A Birds Queensland vice-president and several
councillors have voiced concerns. As a life member of Birds Queensland and a
former councillor and editor of its journal, I have told Mike that I will be
ending by 40-year association with the group as a result. For his part, Mike
believes that John has been the victim of the ornithological
"intelligentsia'' and a few interstate birding gurus with personal axes to
grind. Mike's supporters on the council argue that John is the subject of
scorn because some birders are jealous of his prowess in the field. Whatever
the merits of various arguments, John is back in the birding news.
Greg Roberts
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