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FIRST WORD We look back so we can look forward THIS is a very significant edition of Wildlife Australia magazine. It celebrates our 60th year of publication – every consecutive quarter, every year, uninterrupted – in print since 1963. Wildlife Australia magazine started out as more than simply a good idea. It was a well-considered concept drawn from the real-world experiences of four people who were leaders in their fields: a poet, an artist, a zookeeper-scientist and a publisher. Judith Wright, Kathleen MacArthur, David Fleay and Brian Clouston. They were smart people. They all wanted to create a magazine to help amass and communicate knowledge about Australian wildlife and the very apparent – by the 1960s – threats to many species’ survival. In common, the four founders each had a passion for Australian wildlife and its conservation. Uncommonly, perhaps, they used their differences of experience to help forge a broad-based, principled magazine. Clear principles were what set the magazine apart – it had a distinct purpose – to inform, educate and entertain readers interested in wildlife and conservation. Wildlife conservation is a national and collaborative endeavour. Those who guided Wildlife Australia magazine through 60 years were not only aware of this, they were alert to it. What began as a Queensland magazine soon lifted its gaze nationally and then even further afield. From day one, Wildlife Australia magazine has followed and translated science relating to wildlife conservation. Some of it has been cutting-edge and appeared in Wildlife Australia well before it made the mass media. This is why scientific names are included throughout the articles, as a reminder that the content of Wildlife Australia is all backed up by scientific fact. We hope this retrospective of our magazine’s first edition is a powerful reminder of what is vitally important for wildlife conservation success: knowledge, followed by well-considered action.