The BioBlitz has attracted interest from an unexpected quarter.   The Fraser Coast RATs (Regional Artists and Tutors) are are keen to cover the BioBlitz as a community-based arts projects,   A representative of the group describes their plans: “Members of this award winning contemporary artists group have multi discipline art practices and a common goal to engage the public with regionally based arts projects. We work closely with Fraser Coast community organisations on projects as diverse as ‘Art in empty shopfronts’ to community Street Art commissioned by Fraser Coast Council.”

“The BioBlitz project as a perfect opportunity to engage the public with the FIDO project by creating a series of contemporary artworks and videos inspired by sketches and drawings produced during the BioBlitz project.”

“The series of works produced would be curated for exhibition, possibly at Fraser Island, Hervey Bay Regional Gallery or the Sunshine Coast University. The series would then be offered for a touring exhibition throughout Queensland Regional Art Galleries.”

If the RATS project goes ahead, it will be contributing to another Fraser Island World Heritage value — aesthetics.  Fraser Island (K’Gari) has inspired some of Australia’s leading visual artists (Sydney Nolan) writers (Patrick White) and composers (Peter Sculthorpe).  It is not therefore surprising that that when Fraser Island was inscribed on the World Heritage list it was because it met Criteria vii, “to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;”   That is why FIDO lays great emphasis on this value at every opportunity.  It is the principal reason for choosing Dr Martin Buzzacott to be the Keynote speaker at the 7th biennial Fraser Island conference scheduled for 17 August next year, to mark 25 years since Fraser Island’s World Heritage listing.