Growing Hopes for a Green Sweep

Sitting on the front verandah of his modest weatherboard cottage in the sun, looking out over a blaze of daffodils, describing in his even, unhurried voice the eating habits of crows and the swallows' nests under the eaves, Bob Brown is in his element. After buying this spectacularly beautiful piece of land at Liffey, in central Tasmania, in 1973, Brown lived here for a decade, choosing to do without phone or hot water, cooking in pots on the open fire, and cycling 100 km every weekend to work shifts as a general practitioner in Launceston.

Back then, after...