These books are incredibly formative and they've almost sort of, not dictated, but they've formed some of the stones in the river of life that I've bumped along amongst
- Lauriston Muirhead
Lauriston Muirhead probably would always have loved the outdoors, but a series of childhood books certainly had an influence.
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A founding member and chair of Wodonga and Albury Toward Climate Health, Mr Muirhead grew up with the works of Canadian author and scouting pioneer Ernest Thompson Seton.
"They were very much Boy's Own, they told you how to live in the wild, how to track animals," he said.
"It's so well-written that when they learn how to make fire, I could copy it and make fire."
Mr Muirhead, now 60, then lived in London but often visited Wales, a location that complemented books encouraging independence and self-sufficiency.
"That was my wild North American woods, but it was in the middle of Wales," he said.
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"I could leave home after breakfast and as long as I was home before dark, the day was my own, so I could roam the woods, the valleys and the moors.
"These books are incredibly formative and they've almost sort of, not dictated, but they've formed some of the stones in the river of life that I've bumped along amongst."
Now settled in Table Top with wife Katherine, the environmental health officer brought his beloved books with him to Australia, as well as mementos like the archery long bow he made.
His early independent streak continued; a young Mr Muirhead created his own survival kit and, aged 13, was allowed to ride his bicycle alone for three days from London to Wales.
"With no mobile phones, no helmets," he said.
"All this set me up to survive. I think we're going through a phase where it's very difficult to know how to bring up boys.
"A question now is how do we usefully make use of that energy that boys have, that exploratory risk-taking behaviour that so often can take boys down a difficult path."
Another guiding factor for Mr Muirhead came in 1975 when he, then aged 16, examined and discussed one particular scientific exhibit.
"This display, in a matter of about four panels, incredibly clearly outlined human induced climate change," he said.
"And from that day I started saying to people, have you heard about this thing about climate change, we're converting a lot of the stored carbon under the ground into atmospheric carbon and that's very good at heating up the planet."
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Mr Muirhead remains a great believer in science as "a fairly stable form of truth".
"I don't pretend to know much about the climate," he said.
"But scientists who do the observations, the research, the experiments, they are the ones we need to listen to."