Andrew Darby

Andrew Darby is the Hobart correspondent for Fairfax Media. His focus is on Australia's interests south of 40 Degrees South - Tasmania, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. He is the author of the internationally published Harpoon: Into the Heart of Whaling.

A scene from The Cove. It depicts dolphin hunting in Japan and has been shown there only once. But its Oscar win may change that.

Oscar and the dolphins: Coming to a Japanese cinema?

Andrew Darby Oscar buzz can generate bums on seats like little else. Which is why the best documentary win by The Cove will knit brows in Tokyo.

Outfoxing the foxes: A pesky question

Andrew Darby Australia's most destructive feral predator, the fox, first stepped aboard the country's marsupial ark, Tasmania, in 1998.

Hoon's rule for Tasmania's economy

Andrew Darby For the past 18 years the road past our house near Hobart shuts for an afternoon so a mainly amateur field of more than 100 can race their hot cars in time trials on what is called "the Longley...

Bridge over troubled indigenous waters

Andrew Darby Somehow it comes as no surprise this Australia Day that a struggle over Aboriginal heritage involves crossing the Jordan River.

China flags its Antarctic intent

Andrew Darby Watch out for the polar panda. China has just stamped a giant footprint on Antarctica. With the same strength it apparently flexed in the Copenhagen climate talks, Beijing has steamrolled the...

Japanese harpoon whaling talks

Andrew Darby The first harpoon of this year's whaling season has been fired, and it was shot by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

Let us now praise famous women...from Tasmania

Andrew Darby A long, long way from her birthplace, a Tasmanian woman, elegant in a chic gown, bows to a Scandinavian monarch before accepting the applause of a glittering reception.

Taswegians fail to stem the marauding hordes

Andrew Darby The jig is up. It was good while it worked, but now for Tasmanians it's over. For years the Brer Rabbit principle kept the numbers of mainland refugees down.

Losing the plot as the forests keep falling

Andrew Darby Although only the grey-haired remember, there was a time when no one fought over trees in Tasmania.

Braving the googlies to bring politics to the people

Andrew Darby Out here in the sticks, it's time to thank big city taxpayers for the travelling show that is the Rudd Government's community cabinet.

Losing our way in fight to save the albatross

Andrew Darby Among wildlife memories I count myself lucky to have, one of the sharpest is of wandering albatross.

Who's responsible when you've had too much?

Andrew Darby So just when is it safe to blame someone else for what you do after you drink?

Labor in Tasmania on a road to nowhere

Andrew Darby Until recently the Tarkine didn't even exist. In a Tasmanian terra nullius, governments refused to use a word to remember the local Aboriginal people in a wilderness with Australia's largest...

Sewage a big stinker in Antarctica

Andrew Darby ANTARCTICA, the most pristine continent on Earth, has a dirty secret. Human waste is being dumped there as governments turn a blind eye to normal standards.