Contribution
Historical reports of quolls in Victoria’s south-west
Robert L Wallis
Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Federation University Australia PO Box 663, Ballarat, Victoria 3353. Correspondence:
Abstract The Eastern QuollDasyurus viverrinus is now extinct on mainland Australia, but was once common in south- western Victoria. It was persecuted by landholders for its predation of poultry, but also suffered dramatic declines in population through an unknown disease from about 140 years ago. Eastern Quolls were also con- sidered significant predators of young European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. The Spot-tailed Quoll D. macu- latus was historically widespread though uncommon in south-western Victoria, but now is confined there to only a couple of sites. (The Victorian Naturalist 138(3), 2021, 78–85) Keywords: quolls, south-western Victoria, historical reports Introduction Quolls are the largest, native, carnivorous marsupials on the Australian mainland. Three species are known from Victoria (Menkhorst 1995). The Eastern Quoll Dasyurus viverrinus (Fig. 1), now absent from the state, and the larg- er Spot-tailed or Tiger Quoll D. maculatus (Fig. 2) have been the most numerous. A third spe- cies, the Western Quoll D. geoffroii (Fig. 3), was collected during the Blandowski expedition in 1857, along the banks of the Murray River near Mildura (Wakefield 1966). This species is now confined to the south-western corner of West- ern Australia, a massive decline in its range Fig. 2. Spot-tailed or Tiger Quoll Dasyurus macu- since European settlement (Menkhorst 1995). latus. Image taken from Gould J (1974) Australian Quolls are very attractive marsupials, about marsupials and monotremes, p. 111. the size of a Cat Felis catus—in fact Eastern Quolls were commonly called ‘native cats’ and
Fig. 1. Eastern Quoll Dasyurus viverrinus showing Fig. 3. Western Quoll Dasyurus geoffroii. Image the two colour forms. Image taken from Gould J taken from Gould J (1974) Australian marsupials and (1974) Australian marsupials and monotremes, p. 113. monotremes, p. 115.
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Fig. 4. Map of Victoria, showing main sites mentioned in text.
Spot-tailed Quolls were called ‘tiger cats’ by Quolls in Victoria today early settlers (Peacock and Abbott 2013). Ab- The Spot-tailed Quoll was once widespread in bott’s (2013) extensive searches of historical southern and eastern Victoria, but is now con- sources found over 400 Aboriginal names for fined to the Eastern Highlands, East Gippsland, Australian quoll species and recommended the Otway Ranges and Budj-Bim National Park adoption of Chuditch (D. geoffroii), Bindjulang (Menkhorst 1995). In 2013, one was photo- (D. maculatus) and Luaner (D. viverrinus) as graphed in the Grampians, which is good news vernaculars instead of Western, Spot-tailed and indeed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Eastern Quolls. [ABC] 2013). The south-eastern Australian Quolls were once quite common in a wide mainland population is classified as Endan- range of habitats in Victoria (except for the gered, by both the Victorian (2013, Fig. 4); and Mallee), but their numbers suffered dramati- Commonwealth Government (2020). cally in the late 1800s and early 1900s, probably The Eastern Quoll was once widespread as a result of disease that also affected several across Victoria and in some locations occurred other marsupial species (Menkhorst 1995; Ford in high numbers, but by the late 1950s it had 2014; Peacock and Abbott 2014). become extinct in this state. Seebeck (1984) Here, I present historical reports of quolls in noted that, even by 1923, it was found in only south-western Victoria, many hitherto unre- three Victorian sites: Alvie-Dreeite on the east ported in modern times. The reports were ob- bank of Lake Corangamite, Studley Park in tained from old newspaper and other reports. Melbourne and Gelantipy in East Gippsland. I also document descriptions of the species’ It is considered Endangered by the Common- predatory interactions with Domestic Chickens wealth (Australian Government undated). Gallus gallus domesticus and European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. Quolls in Victoria’s south-west Samuel Hannaford described marsupials he encountered while working in Warrnambool Vol 138 (3) 2021 79 Contribution from 1854 and recorded these in his delightful Were there any other historical records of little book (Hannaford 1860), which describes quolls in the region? Seebeck (1984) tells of an the natural history of the sea and riverbanks of interesting find of nine mummified carcasses of Melbourne, Warrnambool and Geelong. The quolls under the woolshed floor of a property marsupials mentioned inhabiting the Hop- at Darlington in 1980. The woolshed had been kins River banks, south of the Hopkins Falls built in 1855 and the property owner had no in Warrnambool, include ‘flying squirrels’ idea when the quolls might have died. Seebeck [gliders, probably Sugar Glider Petaurus brevi- (1984: 41) dryly notes ‘perhaps there are many ceps], ‘opossums’ (possums), wombats, Koalas such caches of Eastern Quoll remains beneath Phascolarctos cinereus and the ‘Long-snouted Western District buildings—it would certainly Bandicoot Perameles nasuta’ (Long-nosed Ban- be worth the search.’ dicoot). Closer to the sea, Hannaford noted Bennett (1990) reported on two residents of ‘herds of Wallabies frequent this neighbour- the south-west recalling native cats (believed to hood’ and ‘the tracks of the Native Cat are eve- be Eastern Quolls) around 1920 at Framling- rywhere conspicuous’ (Hannaford 1860: 115). ham Forest and Terang Lake. Old newspapers are an excellent source of in- Atlas of Living Australia (2021b) records of formation on natural history. Peacock and Ab- the Spot-tailed Quoll in the south-west are bott (2013) searched for items about native cats more numerous. Thus, in 1970, a D. maculatus or quolls and their interactions with Rabbits in was found 32 km north of Port Fairy, on the Australia. A report in 1856 stated: ‘Found five Hamilton Road and presented to the Museum chickens killed this morning. I suppose by the of Victoria. Similarly, in 1964 the Museum re- wild cats.’ (McCorkell 1967: 26). Peacock and ceived a specimen found at Bessiebelle, and Abbott (2013) believe the species to which this another in 1967 from 16 km SW of Macarthur. referred was the Eastern Quoll. The site was a In 1966, a Spot-tailed Quoll was found 12.8 km farm in Yangery, 8 km west of Warrnambool. west of Heywood, near Deadwood Swamp. In 1856, a writer also recorded native cats in North Warrnambool in what was then Dooley’s Just how common were quolls? paddock, along with the ‘destructive parrot, and Most early reports suggested quolls (especially kangaroo [and] the valueless wombat opossum’ the Eastern Quoll) were very common in the (Anon 1856 p. 3). south-west. Rolls (1969) tells of an 1867 sport- The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) (2021a) ing magazine article reporting that 622 native records one ‘sub-fossil’ record (bones) of D. cats were shot at Barwon Park, Winchelsea in viverrinus in Warrnambool, just north of Mc- 1866. Earlier, in the 1850s, some 600 were shot Meekin Rd in what is now the industrial estate. in one night around Wando Vale, north of Cas- The record was from January 1900 and is the terton (Nelson 1968). only record for either quoll species in War- Seebeck (1984: 40) reported on information rnambool. The ALA (2021a, b) also has records, provided by a correspondent in 1934 to the supposedly provided by Andrew Bennett, of then Fisheries and Game Department about historic sightings of both Eastern Quolls and the abundance of quolls in the Warrnambool area: Spot-tailed Quolls near Woolsthorpe from … 55 years ago I was offered a bonus of ½d a 1840. This was based on Bennett (1982) in scalp … to trap these native cats … but I caught which the author cited James Dawson, a squat- so many that the contract was ended. ter who settled at Kangatong station near In 1886, the Warrnambool Standard carried Hawkesdale (Dawson 1881). The local Aborigi- a note under the heading ‘Ellerslie News’ that nes called the Eastern Quoll ‘Dasyure, brown the district was overrun with native cats (Anon and spotted native cat’ and the Spot-tailed 1886a). Quoll ‘Dasyure, tiger cat’ (Bennett, 1982: 232) They were also common in parts of the Wim- and both species then lived in the Hawkesdale mera. It was reported in 1895 that the Horsham area. The next report of Eastern Quoll closest to Police Court was told by a rabbit trapper that Warrnambool in the Atlas is in the Stony Rises, ‘He saw a few burrows and some fresh tracks of in 1931 (ALA 2021a). rabbits and others of native cats, with which it 80 The Victorian Naturalist Contribution was infested.’ (Anon 1895: 3). In the Stony Ris- the pests. There were two varieties in colour, es, Cromelin (1886: 31) noted native cats ‘could but they were actually the one breed ... Native cats, like the wallaby, died out in hundreds be found under every stone.’ from some disease that broke out among them. The Spot-tailed Quoll, however, seemed less Many people said that the laying of poison for numerous and less likely to take poultry, but the rabbits was the cause, but they died before lasted in the south-west longer than the East- poison laying became general. So much for the native cat, whose, botanical [sic] name was ern Quoll. In western Victoria its current dis- Daysure or Dasyure, which I have seen spelled tribution is confined to the Otway Ranges, the both ways. There was also another and larger Grampians and Budj-Bim National Park. variety known as the Tiger Cat. He was about three times the size of his smaller brethren, and Quolls and Domestic Chickens it took a really strong dog to kill one of them, There are many newspaper reports of large but they were never very numerous. numbers of quolls and how they preyed on In the Naringal area some 10 km east of War- Domestic Chickens in the south-west. Most ar- rnambool, Goldstraw (1937) recalled fowls be- ticles concern the Eastern Quoll. For example, ing attacked by ‘tiger’ or ‘native cats’ during the correspondent BEC (1944: 3) reported in his night in the 1890s. regular ‘Nature Notes’ column in the Portland In South Dreeite (east of Lake Corangamite), Guardian: also, it had been noted that native cats were J.C. FitzGerald writes: Your notes on playing havoc with soldier settlers’ fowls and native cats takes my memory back a long way. chickens (Anon 1926). In 1934 a writer in the I haven’t seen one for over 40 years. In the 70’s same area reflected on the large number of a plague of them, similar to present day mouse plagues, swept over the country. They were in quolls in years gone by and the effects they had thousands and spent the day in hollow logs, on poultry (Carter 1934: 5): under out-buildings, or anywhere they could It is an unusual experience to meet with native get shelter. Any fowls not securely shut up were cats nowadays, even in the more remote bush. soon mopped up, and they must have taken a They were, at one time, a formidable pest to tremendous toll of ground birds, which were poultry-breeders, but something came along far more numerous then than they are now. I and cleared them out. Some have argued that can’t say how long the plague lasted. The years they are still in the bush, but that they find less are very long when one is young, but it probably risky prey in the rabbits, but it is doubtful, as was not long before they died out to a great ex- they are never seen by trappers. tent … They were sleek and fat, with good skins In Hamilton, in 1870, a newspaper corre- when they arrived, but after some time got thin spondent (Anon 1870: 2) observed that native and mangy, with a lot of ticks of a slate-grey col- our on them, which I always thought may have fauna was being driven from towns as a result had something to do with their poor condition. of habitat loss, except for quolls: There were no rabbits when the native cat army … for the native cats seem to have effected a arrived. I have often thought that had there been lodgment in the town, where they breed in they might have survived longer. Why they were the same way as the domestic rat. In wooden called cats I do not know, as they are not a bit houses especially, the native cats, are particularly like a cat. The long, pointed nose for one thing troublesome, locating themselves beneath the makes them unlike any cat. The larger tiger cat flooring or behind the wainscotting, and scamp- was not nearly so numerous as the smaller kind, ering about between the roofs and ceilings. The and though I have seen plenty of them, I didn’t vermin are very destructive to hen-roosts, and know until I read Mr. Stuchbery’s comments in some parts of the town it is impossible to that they, like the smaller kind, were of two col- keep fowls, owing to the depredations of the ours. I have only seen the grey and he is quite native cats.’ right about them putting up a good fight, and it took a game terrier to kill one. Quolls and European Rabbits Similarly, in the same newspaper, Cundy The disease mentioned beforehand apparently (1936: 1) wrote: reduced quoll numbers dramatically in the Now for the native cats, which are at present 1870s to 1880s. Quolls were also poisoned by very rare, but at one time were classed as a nui- landholders concerned the marsupial preda- sance. Their favourite sport was raiding hen roosts at night, and it was a common experience tors took their Chickens, and when the Euro- for householders to lie disturbed by a commo- pean Red Fox Vulpes vulpes was introduced in tion in the fowl pens at some unwelcome hour. 1874, quoll numbers were reduced even further Box traps were one method of dealing with (Peacock and Abbott 2013). Vol 138 (3) 2021 81 Contribution
There are many possible causes for the decline mal that would thrive and multiply amid our in quolls from very high numbers in some swamps and on our heaths.’ (Anon 1884: 2). locations. These are not mutually exclusive. In the same year, a correspondent named The Peacock and Abbott (2014) investigated the Vagabond (1884: 4) described having seen a declines in number and believed pathogens, flyer in Euston, on the banks of the Murray including those carried by ectoparasites such as River: Outside the police station we read a proclama- ticks, would have been one such cause. As well, tion from the Colonial Secretary of New South evidence was found of predation by introduced Wales threatening pains and penalties for the Cats Felis Catus and Red Foxes. There were also destruction of the iguana, the native cat, the reports of quolls choking on Rabbit fur. mongoose, the tiger cat, the ferret, and the domestic cat, these being protected as natural Quolls were once so common that it is be- enemies to the rabbit. lieved their predation of young Rabbits pre- I think today’s naturalists would be horrified vented the eruption of Rabbit populations in to see the suggestion that we conserve mon- Victoria (Peacock and Abbott 2013). These au- geese, ferrets and Feral Cats because they are thors have found evidence of over 90 releases of predators of Rabbits. Even in 1886, a Casterton the European Rabbit before the 1859 release by resident thought it was ridiculous to even think Thomas Austin at Barwon Park (Winchelsea). of introducing stoats, mongeese and weasels to It was this release that experts believed was one prey on Rabbits (Venator 1887). Nevertheless, of the main sources of the population establish- over 1000 mongeese were indeed released in ment and subsequent spread to many parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia Australia. However, there were several other to control Rabbits, mainly in 1883 and 1884 releases about the same time that led to large (Peacock and Abbott 2010). Fortunately, the populations of Rabbits (Rolls 1969); Thomas releases were unsuccessful. Austin thus cannot be solely blamed for the Even attempts to breed Rabbits failed because plague of bunnies! of predation by Eastern Quolls. An anonymous There were many early reports in west- observer in the early 1900s (cited in Ford 2014: ern Victoria supporting the claim that quolls 58) wrote: preyed especially on young Rabbits. A letter to From 1820 to 1869 probably not a year passed the editor of The Australasian from a reader in but some adventurous man or boy tried to turn Balmoral (Hayman 1892: 8) stated: [rabbits] out and breed them; but all met with Data provided demonstrate that native cats eat the same fate – extermination by the native cat. rabbits caught in traps. These traps also catch The following report (Anon 1885: 3) suggests native cats. Tiger cats are also caught in these quolls may even have been captured in large ‘abominable’ traps, with 3 of this species caught numbers and released elsewhere to help control in the last 2 weeks. Rabbits: Across the border in Mt Gambier, a corre- A report of their experience of native cats as spondent warned in 1884 that though Rabbits rabbit exterminators has been furnished to the were not yet in the huge numbers found else- Government … [in] Narrandera, New South where in the state: Wales. About 700 native cats were released in … it would not be wise to assume that we shall sound, healthy condition. Most of the animals always enjoy this immunity. No doubt large ar- were obtained from about Goulburn, Bungen- eas of the South-East are unsuitable as a habitat dore and Queanbeyan, the total cost of the [op- for the vermin. Much of it is liable to flooding, eration] is much less than it takes to keep one a good deal more of it is composed of loose soil man rabbitting for a year, and the experiment- not adapted for their burrows, while the most ers are certain that more good has been done fertile is so subdivided that they would find than 1500 would have effected, by other means. their quarters uncommonly warm. Besides all There are two places on the run where large this they have an inveterate enemy in the native rocks abound with holes, the best-known cover cat, still pretty numerous. But despite these fa- for rabbits, in which they had fairly established vourable conditions for keeping them in check themselves. A large number of the native cats the plague is not a thing to be trifled with. The were put among these rocks, and for a long time rabbit, like the British race, has a peculiar knack it was feared that they would be a disappoint- of adapting itself to new conditions; and if it is ment, as the rabbiters caught as many as before, allowed time and opportunity, we should not and the increase in the number killed contin- be surprised to find it developing into an ani- ued. About three months later an inspection
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showed indications such as scarcity of scratches, also described co-habitation of a native cat, a deserted burrows, and fewer fresh used ones; Domestic Cat and a Rabbit. (Anon 1886b). that they had been completely hunted out of the rocks, where there were cat tracks, but no rab- Another letter writer from Camperdown bits. It was supposed that the cats assisted the (Willingham 1885: 3) also disputed the idea hunters by chasing the rabbits out of the rocky that native cats controlled Rabbit numbers: places, where they could not be got at. … we hear from Cobden of a number of In 1921, a Perth newspaper published a report rabbits and also a number of native cats occupy- of a book written by James Matthews, a former ing the same cover ... I agree with and endorse your view that the cat is not a natural enemy of officer of the Vermin Destruction Board of the the rabbit, and … it is no uncommon circum- Victorian Lands Department. The article noted stance for animals of both classes to occupy the that Mr Matthews claimed that originally na- same place of concealment, as I have on several tive cats ‘prevented the early multiplication occasions when digging for rabbits, found a cat in the same burrow apparently quite regard- of the rabbits, but that in time the rabbits in- less of each other’s presence. No, the cat has no creased in numbers and apparently drove out partiality for the rabbit other than socially … the cats from certain districts.’ (Anon 1921: 7). The decline in quoll numbers, however, Of course, by 1921 the disease in and persecu- was cause for alarm from some early writers. tion of quolls had reduced their numbers sig- David Fleay was a strong supporter of the con- nificantly so it was not surprising they could no servation of native fauna. In 1931, he trapped longer limit Rabbit numbers. However, it would 16 Eastern Quolls at South Dreeite, where they be unlikely that Rabbits would have driven the lived in the stone fences and rocky outcrops, quolls away! and set up a captive breeding program at the Not everyone in south-west Victria agreed Melbourne Zoo (Seebeck 1984). This might that quolls help regulate Rabbit nubers. An have been one of the earliest captive breeding article in The Australasian (Bruni 1886: 11) programs of the kind that are now so important about Rabbits in the West- ern District, was at the Zoo, which has a strong conservation skeptical of this effectiveness: function. It is a curious fact connected with the extermi- Fleay also wrote extensively on the plight of nation of the rabbits in the Western District, that no sooner was the country free from rabbits quolls. In 1934, for instance, he wrote an arti- than native cats appeared in immense numbers. cle in The Argus, noting: ‘Nevertheless such an The theory that the native cats and hawks assist interesting native animal which is of value as in destroying the rabbits appears to be without a destroyer of young rabbits, rats, and mice, much foundation. It has been proved on many occasions, both in Tasmania and Victoria, that should not be allowed to die out without efforts rabbits will invade and establish themselves in being made to preserve it.’ (Fleay 1934: 22). His a country in which native cats and tiger cats pleas were not in vain. In January of the follow- abound, and that as the rabbits increase the na- ing year, the Victorian Government issued a tive cats disappear. I believe more rabbits have been killed in one drive on Mount Fyans than proclamation of a closed season for the whole all the native cats in Victoria would destroy in year for both quoll species (Seebeck 1984). It is a year. After many years’ experience in rabbit- interesting that the protection was in the form killing, Mr. W. Cumming is now firmly con- of a ‘no take’ closed season, rather than full pro- vinced that, unless their homes are destroyed, it is hopeless to attempt to exterminate the tection as a threatened species. Seebeck (1984) rabbits in a country where they find so safe also mentions early attempts (in 1936) to use a shelter on every hand as in the Stony Rises. camera traps to detect Eastern Quolls near Protecting hawks and native vermin is useless, Lake Corangamite, with little success. and only adds other pests to the already over- whelming one of the rabbit. To be effective, the Conclusion work should be carried out simultaneously by all the owners of land in the rabbit-infested The Eastern Quoll is now absent from mainland districts. Australia but was once widespread and preva- In a later issue of the same newspaper, a letter lent in south-west Victoria. In the late 1800s to the editor described how Rabbits and native and early 1900s, quolls preyed on poultry and cats lived in harmony together in burrows in were shot, poisoned or trapped by landholders. Casterton (Venator 1887). In Horsham, a note However, quolls were also recognised for their
Vol 138 (3) 2021 83 Contribution value in keeping Rabbit numbers in check, es- org.au:afd.taxon:617e069f-eb5c-40ec-a027-f5fd40e5145d> [accessed 26 March 2021]. pecially by preying on young kits. Reasons for Australian Government (2020) Environment Protection and the demise of Eastern Quolls in Victoria in- Biodiversity Conservation Act. List of Threatened Fauna. Victorian Government (2013) Advisory List of Threatened Willingham B (1885) The native cat and the rabbits. Camper- Fauna (Department of Sustainability and Environment: down Chronicle, 18 July 1885, p. 3. East Melbourne). Wakefield NA (1966) Mammal record for the Mallee. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 79, 627–636. Received 30 June 2020; accepted 19 July 2020 Vol 138 (3) 2021 85 View publication stats