The Great Smog of London made the British act on air pollution. Experts say the case holds lessons for Tasmania

Australia Broadcast Center

10-08-2025

The Great Smog of London spurred William Wood to action after arriving in Tasmania.
He was only 10 years old when smoke from coal burning cloaked the English capital and killed thousands in the winter of 1952.
But it left a strong impression on the young Dr Wood, who grew up on a farm in Northamptonshire.
"You'd see these photographs where you couldn't actually see a power pole in front of you. You couldn't drive a car," he said.
The crisis finally prompted the British government to ban coal use for home heating, eventually leading to dramatic improvements in air quality.
Dr Wood contemplated this public policy success story after moving to Tasmania in the early 1990s and learning of terrible air pollution from wood heaters across its valley regions.
With concerns about air pollution surfacing once again, he believes more could still be done to address the longstanding problem.
Despite Tasmania's clean, green reputation, air quality plummets across many valley regions during winter, as the landscape and weather traps smoke, which is largely emitted by residential wood heaters.
But when Dr Wood first started as an environmental scientist for Tasmania's then-Environment and Land Management Department in 1990, the problem was far worse.
Neither could James Markos, who started work as a respiratory physician at Launceston General Hospital around the same time.
"I was not [previously] aware of just how much fog and smog there was," he said.
"It was just amazing."
Dr Wood and Dr Markos were both members of the 16-person working group set up to investigate air pollution, environmental health and respiratory diseases in 1991.
Their 100-plus-page report, published in 1996, linked wood heaters to air pollution and increasing respiratory disease, and called for "all possible measures" to address the issue "as a matter of urgency".
Dr Wood said the cause then gained momentum, leading to media campaigns, brochure drops and even lessons about wood heater use in schools.
From 2001-2013 the federal government and the Launceston City Council funded a wood heater buyback program.
"The public awareness and these incentives did reduce pollution," Mr Markos said.
In 2013, researchers found air pollution dropped significantly in Launceston between 1994 and 2007, saving lives.
But Dr Markos worries interest in air quality is waning.
He put it down to cost of living, suggesting more people were reverting back to wood heaters if they had a cheap supply of timber, to save on electricity.
"[But that comes at] a cost to the community, the health cost, and that's what is not being factored in at the moment," he said.
Dr Wood believed population and education also played a role.
"There are probably more people here now and I think people have forgotten probably how to use the wood heaters," he said.
John Innis, an air quality specialist with Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority, said air pollution had been higher this year.
But he said that was partly driven by the weather, pointing out a windy winter in 2016 swept much of the pollution away, whereas this year had been calmer and colder.
He said some parts of Launceston were more affected by smoke than others, noting wood heater use was higher in outer areas, and a single, poorly used wood heater could have a profound impact on local air quality.
Air pollution causes cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness and cancer, with the World Health Organization estimating it led to 4.2 million deaths globally in 2019.
But it usually stems from multiple sources — including industry, traffic, large populations and energy production — making it difficult for many cities to tackle.
Launceston is a different story.
It is three and a half hours' drive from Kennaook/Cape Grim, an area famous for having the cleanest air in the world.
During summer, Launceston's air quality is excellent.
Dr Markos said its winter air pollution was almost entirely due to wood heaters, along with climate and topography. This makes finding solutions for the problem easier.
Other countries, like New Zealand, have restrictions on wood heater use and the ACT plans to phase them out by 2045.
But the idea has faced fierce opposition in Tasmania.
During the recent state election campaign, both major parties ruled out a wood heater ban.
The Launceston City Council plans to deliver a new Clean Air Strategy before next winter, after years of delays.
But the council's chief executive, Sam Johnson, said he expected air quality to remain an issue into the future.
Dr Wood suggested other public policies would yield results, like subsidies for home insulation and heat pumps, and education programs on wood heater use.
"They need to be quite holistic in their view," he said.
"Helping people to put insulation into their houses as a number one, I think, is really important."
Dr Markos suggested a tax on wood heaters would be effective.
He said a wood heater ban would not be his first choice, but believed it would be necessary if air pollution levels were still high by 2030.
"If it's been 35 years and we're still not getting there, then sometimes you've got to bite the bullet and do something more radical," he said.