All of us at the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Haydn Washington. Haydn was Research Manager for the Institute for a period of time and since the Institute’s inception has been a pivotal collaborator. He co-facilitated a workshop on varied perceptions of ‘wilderness’ with a focus on Indigenous perspectives, and later joined our teaching team in the Master of Environmental Management at the University of NSW, where he expanded his work in academia. Haydn was a person who felt deeply and passionately in his tireless work to protect the natural world and his presence is sorely missed.