In this issue

You can read a lot of words by Grace Heathcote in this issue – she has written the first two features in the magazine. Both are about the Tasmanian devil, but the stories couldn’t be more different. Both may elicit a tear, but for opposite reasons. Most of us have heard about devil facial tumour disease, but few of us know the extent of the scientific work being carried on to study and combat it. Grace Heathcote knows – she spent 10 days in the Cradle Mountain snow helping disease ecologist Dr Rodrigo Hamede on one of the DFTS field trips he has been making four times a year since 2006.
On that trip, Heathcote saw devils at their most vulnerable. Most of us know them better as confident and happy in idyllic sanctuary environments. But did you know the extent to which they can bond with humans? Our second devil story is a special story indeed.

I‘m not sure whether Donald Knowler is a newspaperman who writes about birds, or a bird watcher and writer who supports himself with a newspaper job, but it his journalistic skills which show through in a book he has written called Riding the Devil’s Highway. Tasmania is the roadkill capital of the world. The book explains why, in thoroughly researched and compellingly written style, and we are happy to publish, in Knowler’s own words, this synopsis of the book.

Peter Grant and Steve Roden are two of Tasmania’s most inveterate bush walkers, but in this issue we show a different side of both, one riding an electric bicycle from Hobart to Devonport – the long way, via the east coast – and one with camera in hand showing his considerable photographic skills for this issue’s Portfolio.

No issue of Tasmania 40°South would be complete without a look into history, and we have two great stories. Jonno Blood takes a rail journey on a ghost train and Fiona Stocker dredges up a story from the Tamar mud.

Forty South Tasmania Magazine Description:

Tasmania has been described as the world's best-kept secret, but it's not our fault - we have been telling the world about Tasmania for over 20 years. Forty South Tasmania has been described as a lifestyle magazine with brains. It offers three things: interesting features about Australia's island state, good writing and stunning photography. The magazine is a household name in Tasmania, but also has many subscribers elsewhere - people who have visited this beautiful place and now read the magazine for a regular reminder of an extraordinary experience. Forty South Tasmania offers feature stories, and stunning photography, about Tasmanian places and people, tourism, history and lifestyle, and regular columns on Tasmanian food, wine, arts and culture.