ECOLOGICA – NEW EYE ON LIFE

The low rocky escarpments of the Grey Range would have become an all-too familiar sight for while his ailing party were ‘imprisoned’ by waterless desert at Depot Glen in north-western for six months in 1845. Photo: Jen Silcock

Illuminating the dawn of pastoralism

Ecologist Jen Silcock shows how the journals of early European explorers can help us understand

ecological change in inland eastern . Charles Sturt’s expedition suffered many travails in the Simpson Desert, a region he described as looking like ‘the entrance to hell’. The conditions he described as ‘nothing ideal’ included a fierce gale and heat that broke his thermometer. Photo: Jen Silcock

‘The peculiar mode of Australian exploration seemed to be to launch nobly into the unknown, ... go blind from sandy-blight, and then die of hunger, thirst, snakebite, native spears, or all four.’ Robert Hughes, 2006, Things I Didn’t Know

remember a sticky afternoon in a country classroom. The fans But the journals of these explorers have much to offer beyond whirred ineffectually overhead as my grade 4 class clumsily the anecdotal and the quirky, the mysterious and the macabre. Iplotted the routes of Hume and Hovell, Blaxland, Lawson They recorded the country, plants, animals and people of and Wentworth, Sturt, Mitchell and Stuart on our traced maps of inland Australia just prior to the rapid and all-encompassing Australia. I was bored and hot, and didn’t much care when the Blue wave of pastoral settlement. There were just 20 years between Mountains were crossed or precisely where a long-dead, bearded Edward John Eyre’s 1840 expedition to ’s salt man walked across my map. lakes – the first to enter the arid zone – and the arrival of the This is how most Australians are introduced to the men we call first pastoralists. Within the next 30 years, the pastoral frontier The Explorers – as a blur of dry facts and squiggles on maps. If, enveloped nearly all of inland eastern Australia. after this unpromising beginning, you are later inspired to pick up Because so few records predate this momentous watershed and a book on Australian exploration, you find their stories not so dull. so few places have been left unaffected by pastoralism, debates Popular articles and books emphasise their myriad quirks and the continue to be had about how much the landscape has changed ordeals they faced. Tales of folly, hardship and heartbreak dominate: and what has caused it. The musty journals of the explorers Hume and Hovell arguing over a frying pan, Sturt lugging a boat could have great relevance for contemporary ecologists and land over 2000 kilometres of waterless desert and Horrocks being shot by managers, for they provide a window onto pre-pastoral Australia; his camel. The torturous deaths of Burke and Wills on the Cooper a land before sheep and cattle, fences and bores, foxes and cats. have become enshrined in folklore, and the final resting place of The challenge is how to accurately interpret the often fragmentary Leichhardt’s party, ‘out where the dead men lie’, has been a source and ambiguous record of those travellers in a strange land. of national intrigue for 160 years.

wildlife-australia.org | Wildlife Australia | 9 Major Thomas Mitchell was charmed by the streams ‘Travelling along the bank of this stream, and hills of this part of the country, now in the we found it flowing, and full of sparkling Salvator Rosa section of Carnarvon National Park. water…The hills overhanging it surpassed Photo: Robert Ashdown any I had ever seen in picturesque outline.’

Major Thomas Mitchell, naming Salvator Rosa, July 1846

Travels with explorers as I tucked into a camp-oven stew, I would reflect on the often Twelve years after that afternoon in the classroom, I found bizarre, sometimes disgusting, but always bland explorer diets. myself working in the Grey Range of south-west . Ernest Giles’s party survived on nothing but dried horse meat for At night, lying on a creaky shearer’s stretcher, I worked my weeks on end in Central Australia, while Landsborough gave his way through Charles Sturt’s 1844–5 Narrative of an Expedition into men a ‘treat’ of cold rice with jam on Sundays. Central Australia. He explored the Grey Range further south but At times, especially on long, sun-dazzled trips, I felt like I was many of his descriptions fitted what I saw when I glanced up getting to know these long-dead men. Most were matter-of-fact from my transects: distant blue hills hazy over the mulga scrub, scribes who gave brief descriptions of the country, peppered with solidifying into barren stony slopes as I got closer. I wondered occasional flourishes of emotion. The utilitarian Landsborough how much this country had changed since Sturt saw it. It felt was moved to exclaim with uncharacteristic emotion, ‘I love wild and remote, but was the bare rocky ground beneath my tape these trees!’, when walking through a weeping myall (Acacia measure natural, or a legacy of 150 years of exposure to the hard pendula) woodland. In contrast, Sturt blended long-winded hooves and hungry mouths of sheep and cattle? melodrama with classic British understatement, noting while Sturt’s journal got me hooked and I started to enjoy the lying scurvy-ravaged and vomiting, his thermometer having company of various explorers on my own inland journeys. just cracked in the Simpson Desert heat, that ‘this really was Walking through the Simpson Desert I read ’s nothing ideal’. And when the twisted trees were illuminated by 1876 journal and Charles Winnecke’s 1884 surveyor’s report, my campfire, it was easy to be beguiled by Mitchell’s romantic while our pack camels munched around my swag. Major Thomas and literary descriptions of the hills, grasslands, waterholes and Mitchell and Edmund Kennedy were my companions on a string people he encountered. of seemingly interminable trips into the brigalow, mulga and Tracking the explorers poplar box forests of southern Queensland. The hundreds of transects and many hours driving between sites – and many But these journals became much more than campfire diversions more hopelessly stuck in gullies or in shearing sheds listening for me. Various researchers had used the explorer record to to drought-breaking rains – gave me plenty of time to reflect on examine changes in vegetation structure and fire regimes, and their observations. And on a verandah in Longreach, overlooking to reconstruct the historical distributions of animals. Martin the line of trees that mark the Thomson River, I read the Denny, a venerable elder of the rangelands, consulted the New descriptions of , who trekked the same South Wales explorer record in detail to investigate changes in floodplain 150 years ago. flora and fauna. But few had studied the rich exploration history of western Queensland. In 2009 Rod Fensham, a botanist at It wasn’t just the observations of country that interested me. the Queensland Herbarium and long-time explorer enthusiast, I derived a certain smug comfort from the tribulations of these received funding from the South Australian Arid Lands Natural men. Thirsty and tired on a spinifex plain, I knew that the car Resource Management Board to collate historical information was nearby and the chances of being forced to drink my own about the Lake Eyre Basin. Toby Piddocke and I traced the routes urine, like Kennedy’s hapless second-in-charge Turner in 1848, of 14 explorers from 12 expeditions, spanning the period 1844 to were slim. And while it wasn’t exactly pleasant digging a car from 1919. We used a combination of Google Earth imagery, modern the top of a fiery sand dune at midday, I had the words of Sturt topographic maps, directions, bearings and landmarks noted to remind me that others had survived far worse. Sometimes

10 | Wildlife Australia | SUMMER 2014 ‘The country we saw on this journey was so bad that I did not wonder at its not being stocked … where it is not thickly wooded with thick mulga scrub, which chiefly prevails, it is grassed with Triodia.’ William Landsborough, southeast of Charleville, 1862

Much of the description in explorers’ journals is focused on the country’s potential for pastoralism. The open and thinly wooded downs of central Queensland (around Blackall and Longreach) Photo: Denis Binnion greatly impressed them. Photo: Jen Silcock

by the explorers, and maps prepared by cartographers or the signs of the ‘numerous rock wallabies’ Hodgkinson saw in a explorers themselves. ‘picturesque sandstone gorge’ west of Boulia a few days later. We assigned geographic coordinates as accurately as possible This record is outside the known range of the three inland to all explorer observations relevant to five main themes: people, species of rock wallaby, but is most likely to refer to the purple- fire, vegetation, fauna and water. Our final spreadsheet contained necked rock wallaby. These records are significant extensions 4200 observations made over almost 20,000 km travelled by of the former known range of both species. Sturt also recorded the explorers, spanning the seven critical decades from 1840 to numerous species now rare or extinct in the region, including 1910, when pastoral settlement of the inland closely followed yellow-footed rock wallabies, stick-nest rats and greater bilbies. exploration. This was a far cry from my grade four scribblings, The journals contain some of the only observations of medium- and allowed us to compare the explorers’ observations with the sized mammals prior to the wave of catastrophic extinctions that current landscape. swept across inland Australia shortly after pastoral settlement. Testing hypotheses of landscape change Vegetation thickening? Driving across the sweeping plains of the Channel Country In an oft-quoted passage, Major Thomas Mitchell ruminated or the sandy deserts beyond, it is easy to imagine that the that ‘Fire, grass, kangaroos, and human inhabitants, seem all landscape has changed little since the time of the explorers. dependent on each other for existence in Australia; for any one You can drive for miles without seeing a fenceline, let alone a of these being wanting, the others could no longer continue’. mob of cattle. There are no cultivated fields or ringbarked trees. This quote has been used to support the generalisation that The silence is palpable. But the shift to European management Aboriginal burning maintained grassy open savannas, which have of these landscapes and others in the Australian rangelands is ‘thickened up’ since pastoral settlement due to overgrazing and thought to have resulted in dramatic changes and widespread reduced fire frequency. The woody thickening narrative is often degradation over the past 150 years. We have used our database touted as accepted wisdom by land managers and scientists in of explorer observations to test prevailing scientific paradigms the mulga country of southern Queensland and northern New about landscape change. These include the loss of medium- South Wales. sized mammals, changes in vegetation structure, the role of fire Edmund Kennedy followed the from its and the abundance of native herbivores. The last three are the headwaters to south of present-day Cunnamulla in November subject of much debate and relevant for contemporary 1847, while William Landsborough entered the mulga country land management. from the north-west in May 1862. Both journals paint a picture of thick mulga forests interspersed with grassy woodland, open Loss of mammals? flats along the rivers and cypress pine sand ridges. Of their 45 Some examples of change since the explorers’ journeys are references to vegetation structure north of Wyandra, 19 refer to unambiguous. The desert kangaroo-rats (Caloprymnus campestris) ‘scrub’ or ‘thick forest’ and 14 to ‘open forest’ or ‘thinly wooded’ casually noted by Hodgkinson building their nests along the areas. Kennedy had difficulty traversing some sections, and at Mulligan River north-east of Birdsville in August 1876 are now one point, 25km north of present-day Charleville, he found the extinct, the last recorded sighting described vividly by biologist mulga ‘too thick to penetrate’. Landsborough, with his ever- HH Finlayson east of Lake Eyre in 1935. Similarly, there are no keen eye for pastoral opportunity, lamented the inferior nature

wildlife-australia.org | Wildlife Australia | 11 Explorers’ journals show that macropods were much rarer in the semi-arid zone than they are today. This group (near Alpha in central Queensland) would have been an uncommon sight for explorers. Photo: Bruce Thomson

‘Two Kangaroos were shot today. They are the first we have observed on the journey.’ Edmund Kennedy north-east of Charleville, seven months into a journey north, 1847 A plague of roos? It is often argued that larger macropods (red kangaroos, eastern greys, western greys and wallaroos) have increased of much of the mulga country. His journal is dominated by in number and range since pastoral settlement due to descriptions of ‘scrub…consisting of mulga with few other artificial sources of water, dingo control and vegetation trees’. South-east of Charleville, he considered the country changes associated with livestock. However, some groups ‘so bad that I did not wonder at its not being stocked… dispute these claims and say that current levels of Where it is not thickly wooded with mulga scrub, which chiefly macropod harvesting are too high because kangaroos used prevails, it is grassed with Triodia’. In the face of these vivid to be more prevalent. descriptions, the prevailing myth that most of the mulga was Interpreting kangaroo density from the explorer record is open savannah at the time of European settlement is difficult fraught, because the absence of records does not confirm an to believe. Landsborough’s general comment on the nature absence of animals. However, explorers did mention kangaroos of the mulga country is informative: ‘The country was thinly where they were abundant and they were often actively sought wooded in some places and scrubby at others’. as an important source of fresh meat. Mitchell’s journal suggests that kangaroos were plentiful in areas of central- Country in flames? southern Queensland outside the semi-arid zone (more than 500 The common assertion that Aboriginal people were regularly millimetres mean annual rainfall). The plains east of Tambo were burning in semi-arid areas is also not supported by the ‘heavily imprinted with the feet of kangaroos’. However, for the explorer record. There are four references to Aboriginal people semi-arid region (250–500 millimetres), the journals of Mitchell, burning Mitchell grass, but all on the northern and eastern Kennedy, Gregory, Landsborough and Walker do not contain a edge of the semi-arid zone. Thomas Mitchell noted a grass fire single mention of macropods along the – an area in central Queensland, writing that ‘the extensive burning by where they are now in extremely high densities. Kennedy’s 1847 the natives, a work of considerable labour, was performed in observation north-east of Charleville, after the party had been dry weather’ (13 September 1846), suggesting that even prior travelling for almost two months, is revealing: ‘Two Kangaroos to the introduction of domestic livestock, biomass was only were shot today. They are the first we have observed on the sufficient to support large fires during dry windy spells and journey’. Some months later his second-in-charge Turner went probably after good seasons. hunting each afternoon along the Barcoo for much-needed John McKinlay recorded ‘Blackfellows burning grass…the meat. One afternoon he was chastised by the hungry men for first bushfire we have seen’ at the end of April 1862, when not bringing back a litter of dingo pups he stumbled upon in the northern Mitchell grasslands, nearing the end of his for roasting on the campfire, but nowhere does he mention seven-month journey from South Australia. There are no seeing a macropod! references to fire in over 600 kilometres travelled through Overall, the explorer record suggests that kangaroo mulga forest, including during early summer when spinifex densities were patchy in arid areas (less than 250 millimetres in the same area was being burnt, and just four references in mean annual rainfall), as they are today, with population booms 2790 kilometres of Mitchell grasslands traversed. during times of above-average rainfall, and abundant in some

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Landsborough expressed his appreciation of weeping myall (Acacia pendula) with uncharacteristic emotion. In a more utilitarian fashion characteristic of his journal, he added, ‘besides, it is characteristic of the best pastoral country’. These myall trees shown are on Carwell Station, an 8000 hectare conservation agriculture property recently sold by NSW’s Nature Conservation Trust (see nct.org.au for conservation properties for sale). Photo: Scott Hartvigsen

areas with more than 500 millimetres annual rainfall. The paucity ‘I love these trees; their foliage is so of kangaroo observations in the explorer record across most of beautiful, and the wood when cut has the semi-arid zone suggests that populations of macropods, a fine aromatic smell.’ especially grey kangaroos and wallaroos, have burgeoned since William Landsborough, 1862 pastoral settlement. The explorers’ records open a window onto pre-pastoral Australia: a land inhabitants seeming ‘all dependent on each other’ is widely quoted to imply that most of Australia was regularly burnt, but before sheep and cattle, fences and is contradicted by the very few references he makes to fire in bores, foxes and cats. the 2000 kilometres he travelled through Queensland. Some interpretations will remain murky, lost in the haze of Enhancing interpretations time, distance and language. It is difficult to infer absences and quantify descriptions by travellers who had more pressing The explorer record offers rare insights into pre-pastoral concerns than faithfully recording every glimpsed animal or tree landscapes. For inland eastern Australia, it suggests there has stem density. But as they are often the first and only written been little change in broad vegetation structure. Fires were records of pre-pastoral landscapes, we can learn much by infrequent and mostly restricted to higher-rainfall grasslands accurately geo-referencing multiple journals across a region, and spinifex-dominated ecosystems. Macropods were relatively carefully interpreting their descriptions and comparing them to uncommon in semi-arid areas, where they are abundant today. current landscapes. They offer unique, tantalising and sometimes These conclusions challenge some prevailing dogmas, and graphic views of a recently vanished country. should contribute to debates about rangeland management, including land clearing policies, fire management and harvesting READING: Silcock J, Piddocke R, Fensham R. 2013. Illuminating the dawn of of native species. pastoralism: evaluating the record of European explorers to inform landscape change. Building a composite picture based on numerous explorer Biological Conservation 159:321–331. records across a region is much more powerful than using a single journal. The low numbers of kangaroos in the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Geo-referencing was funded by South Australian Arid Lands Barcoo River area is corroborated by five explorers, while the NRM. Toby Piddocke painstakingly geo-referenced eight of the journals, while Rod prevalence of thick mulga vegetation is verified by two, 20 years Fensham provided the impetus for this project and inspiration and ideas throughout. apart. It is also important to consider the language used by each explorer in describing country, and the prevailing seasonal JEN SILCOCK has lived and worked in western Queensland for the past conditions. Plucking quotes from the journals can result in ten years. She recently submitted her PhD thesis at the University of them being taken out of context; it is all too easy to find a Queensland examining ecological change in inland eastern Australia since quote for every occasion and to support any position. Mitchell’s pastoral settlement, using a combination of historical sources, grazing quote (page 11) about fire, grass, kangaroos, and human exclosures and rare plant surveys.

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