Burke and Wills 150th Anniversary The importance of water WESTERN

While water has long been acknowledged as the key to surviving the outback, it was in plentiful supply during the Burke and Wills Expedition.

Ironically, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills were on Cooper Creek, alongside a waterhole, when they died at the end of June 1861. They died not from thirst but because they did not understand the correct way of preparing nardoo, a native plant which they had seen the Yandruwandha Aboriginal people collect.

The paddle steamers Excelsior and Barwon picking up wool bales from Balcatherine Station (approx 250 km downstream from Wilcannia) on the Darling River, circa 1905 (Reproduced courtesy of Museum Victoria)

Freecall 1800 032 101 Email: [email protected] www.western.cma.nsw.gov.au Burke and Wills had been camped with John King, but The favourable conditions meant Burke often misread were too exhausted to gather nardoo. They left Wills the agricultural potential of the landscape. He sent in the gunyah while they set off up the creek looking positive reports of the countryside back to Melbourne, for the Aboriginal people’s campsites they had passed largely for the benefit of the expedition’s benefactors. earlier in the trip. However, Wills recognised that a lack of water was going to have an impact on how much development On the second day of travelling up the creek, Burke could take place in this semi-desert part of the nation. became too weak to continue, so he and King Despite the good conditions they encountered due camped near Mulkonbar Waterhole. King collected to the recent wet period, Wills still considered the nardoo for dinner and they shot a crow. In the countryside too dry to be sustainable. morning, Burke was unable to get up and he asked King to place his pistol in his right hand and leave him unburied when he died. At about eight o’clock Experiences after Burke and Wills that morning, Burke died. (Phoenix, 2005) Most explorers and travellers who journeyed through the Catchment after Burke and Wills experienced Wills died a few days later and King survived to later water issues. Today, it is acknowledged that water is return to Melbourne, after being taken in by the the key to survival in semi-arid rangeland country Yandruwandha people. like the Western Catchment. The Catchment is largely When planning the expedition, organisers a pastoral area, with annual fluctuations in rainfall acknowledged that water was important. They making dryland farming highly unreliable. planned to travel during the cool season, when Aboriginal people have lived in the Western they knew there was a good supply of water and Catchment for tens of thousands of years. They have temperatures were more bearable. However, their a strong spiritual connection to the Darling and other departure was delayed, partly due to George Landells, rivers in the Catchment and have relied on them for the expedition’s original deputy. Landells was food as well as water. If Burke and Wills learnt nothing responsible for everything to do with the camels, else on their journey, it was that the Aboriginal people including trekking through India to select them. understood the countryside and knew how to survive However, he spent double his budget and arrived - in fact, they went in search of their help just before back in Melbourne seven months late – meaning they they died. missed the window of opportunity to travel between April and September. The early European settlers quickly regarded water as “the magic ingredient to unlocking the productivity However, a shortage of water was not a problem at of the Western Division” (Barnes and Wise, 2003, any stage of the Victorian Exploring Expedition. As p36). River frontages were highly sought after and Murgatroyd noted (2002), they were unaware of the the Barwon-Darling River grew in reputation as the usual seasonal variations and the potential of the semi- lifeblood of the Western Catchment. Burke recognised arid climate to cause the extremes of both drowning the importance of the river when they first camped at and dehydration: Menindee, which was considered to be at the edge of Burke and Wills passed through the landscape European civilisation at the time. oblivious to these brutal possibilities. Their task was At the time, Menindee owed its continued survival relentless, but they were lucky to be travelling in to the riverboat pioneer Francis Cadell (Murgatroyd, an unusually benign season and, contrary to most p120). His fortnightly paddle steamer service ensured stereotypical desert treks, they were short of water the settlement received supplies from Adelaide and for just one day on their entire journey. that fleeces were transported out of town as soon as The Western Catchment is characterised by numerous shearing finished. From 1859 to 1931, about 80 boats ephemeral creeks, lakes and gilgais, which can travelled along the Darling. During this time, Wilcannia remain dry for decades. The expedition left the major was Australia’s second largest inland port, with more watercourse, the Darling River, at Menindee, however, than 40,000 bales of wool shipped down the river each they encountered enough water sources to allow year. In other parts of the Catchment, settlements were them to travel quickly and successfully through the sustained by mining, the railway and the Cobb and Co Western Catchment. coach routes. him. When he returned to good health, he was so angry that he drained the waters of Peery Lake into a skin bag. He then only shared the water with his family, leaving the people who teased him to die of thirst and turn to stone. Before Kuluwirru left Peery Lake, he struck a rock and water flowed from it, providing spring water to keep his relatives alive. They then followed his instructions for a special ceremony which brought a flood down the Paroo River and refilled Peery Lake with water. Today, the Peery Lake mound springs are the only artesian springs within a nature reserve. The Western Catchment Management Authority (CMA) can assist landholders with artesian mounds on their property The Barge ‘Ukee’ with 1850 bales of wool aboard, passing under Wilcannia Bridge, 1920 (reproduced courtesy of the State Library of NSW) to better manage the area using funds through the High Conservation Value program. Mound Springs Although it is not documented, it is highly likely that the expedition members took advantage of naturally occurring mound springs and the water they discharge. The Great Artesian Basin lies under 23 per cent of Australia, including the northern part of the Western Catchment. It is the largest and deepest freshwater basin in the world. The mounds form where artesian water emerges from the Great Artesian Basin through fault lines in the rock, with mounds forming from the sediments as the water evaporates. Mound or artesian springs are listed as an endangered ecological community. There are about 45 sets of naturally occurring artesian springs in north-western NSW. The level of extraction of water from bores has impacted on their ecological sustainability and slowed the flow of some to a trickle. Today, about 30 have permanent seeps or slight flows of artesian water (NSW Scientific Committee, 2008). Mount springs at Peery Lake. Photo: Greg Mills Mound springs provide a home to unique aquatic invertebrate, vertebrate and plant communities. They Water sources for farming were also important sources of food and permanent Pastoralists began sinking bores and wells to tap into water for Aboriginal communities and are culturally the Great Artesian Basin in the decades after Burke significant places. The mound springs at Peery Lake, and Wills’ expedition. The first artesian bore was sunk about 30 km east of White Cliffs, are particularly near Tilpa in 1880. By 1890, bores and windmills had significant. According to Aboriginal legend, improved the viability of grazing. Kuluwirru, an ancestor of the Baarkindji people, With increasing numbers of people and animals travelled to Peery Lake to visit his relatives. People at relying on water, development pressures mounted the lake teased him about his over-sized head. They quickly. By the early 1900s, warnings were issued that even cooked up a water lizard and put it in his food the water flowing from these bores would not last to try to poison him. forever. Artesian waters were also proving unsuitable Kuluwirru fell gravely ill and his relatives cared for for irrigation. By the mid-1930s there was a push to conserve the finite water resources of the Great In a bid to improve fish habitat, the Western CMA has Artesian Basin. been working with Industry and Investment NSW In the 1990s, the Cap & Pipe the Bores program over the past few years to reintroduce snags along the began assisting landholders to control continuously Barwon-Darling. More than 200 large woody snags flowing bores and replace hundreds of kilometres of were reintroduced between Brewarrina and Bourke, open bore drains with underground pipes in a bid while 525 snags were installed along a 60 km stretch to overcome water losses through evaporation and of the Darling River near Wilcannia. These projects soakage. The Cap & Pipe the Bores Scheme also helps are encouraging native fish populations, while also reduce salinity, weeds and feral animals. The Western providing an alternative and ecologically beneficial use CMA has provided financial support and follow-up for legally cleared timber. services to landholders who have capped and piped The projects are helping with the recovery of their bores. Water Sharing Plans now provide long- endangered or vulnerable fish populations, including term confidence and security by ensuring that the the silver perch and western populations of the olive available resource is shared in a way that delivers perchlet and purple-spotted gudgeon, as well as socially, economically and environmentally sustainable the river snail. Snags provide hiding, spawning and outcomes. resting places for native fish; rich reservoirs of food for invertebrates and other organisms; roosting places Pressures over the years for birds; and habitat for animals such as tortoises and The amount of water we use and how we conserve native water rats. They also help maintain channel it has changed over the years, particularly as the shapes and protect river banks from erosion during understanding of the need for water conservation and fast flows. water quality improvements has grown. Since Burke Ranger with the Western Livestock Health and Pest and Wills travelled through the Western Catchment, Authority, Tim Wall is based at Wilcannia and has seen the flow and quality of water in the Barwon-Darling erosion halt and water plants grow back since the has suffered due to a range of pressures, including: snagging project was completed there in 2009. • diversion of water for irrigation, industrial and domestic uses “You notice the young people have come back to the river to go fishing now, so it’s clear there are more fish • uncontrolled stock fouling water with waste and in the area,” Tim said. “There has also been a fishing causing riverbank erosion competition at Wilcannia since the snags were put • polluted run-off from towns in place and some of the fish that were caught and • salinity and blue-green algae tagged were caught again – so that suggests the fish • sediment which blocks light to plant and fish are staying around this area now.” ecosystems. Initiatives put in place by the Western CMA and other agencies include revegetation of riverbanks, re-snagging, fish stocking, aquatic plant restoration, eliminating sources of pollution and community involvement in natural resource management issues.

Re-snagging the river The paddle-steamers which opened up trading opportunities along the Darling River also affected the environment. They relied on timber gathered along the river for fuel. This depleted riverside areas of trees and fallen logs, while also taking away habitat for native wildlife. Paddle-steamer operators also removed snags from the river to allow better navigation but these dead trees were home to native fish and essential to the local Aboriginal people. Local children enjoy fishing along the Darling River Wetlands on farms habitat. “The Paroo and the smaller wetlands that In recent years, the Western CMA has been working surround Yamaramie Lake, Blackjack Waterhole and with land managers to conserve wetlands, which Camel Lake provide significant water bird breeding are recognised as one of the most valuable and areas,” Robert said. “They are also an important aquatic threatened ecosystems. Many of Australia’s wetlands habitat for yabbies, frogs and native fish, which these are on private property and contribute to the land’s water birds rely on for food.” production capacity. They are also important for their The Bartletts are more aware of the issues impacting high levels of biodiversity and vital to sustaining upon wetlands following the Wetlands on Farms healthy rivers as they play a vital role in filtering planning process, which has included the production impurities from water which travels on to the river. of a Wetland Management Plan for their properties In a bid to highlight farm management practices that (McIntyre and Gunthorpe, 2010). The actions and help develop and maintain healthy wetlands, the targets proposed in this management plan are a guide Western CMA contributed funding to the Wetlands on for them to address the key threats to the wetlands. Farms Project, which saw the publication in 2009 of a Over the past two decades, feral goats have impacted guide titled Recommendations for Managing Wetlands on all three properties. They compete with stock on Farms in Inland NSW. Funding has also been made for food and impact heavily on perennial pastures. available to a number of projects that encourage The Bartletts run sheep and cattle across the three careful management of wetland areas. properties but are conservative in their stocking rates. They also harvest and sell goats, averaging 6,000 goats Goats and a nationally recognised wetland a year for the past few years - equivalent to about 200 Wanaaring was first established in the 1880s to provide tonnes of live goat meat. services to the large sheep properties of the time and By removing goats and baiting pigs and foxes, wool scouring was carried out on the banks of the they have been able to improve groundcover and Paroo River. Today, it is the last free-flowing river of the encourage native animals to return to the area, 26 river catchments in the Murray-Darling Basin and as including lizards, skinks and echidnas. Increased such is arguably the healthiest. groundcover means more organic matter and greater Robert Bartlett’s family has a long association with the water infiltration into the soil and subsoil, which then helps improve water quality. Western Catchment. His mother’s family settled on the Darling in 1874. His family moved to Tilpa in 1927 and bought Toonborough in 1964. Robert and Eveline took over management of Toonborough in 1973 and bought Yamaramie in 1983 and Noonamah in 1994. Yamaramie is referred to by Robert Bartlett as “the jewel in the crown” of the three properties due to its productive capacity and environmental significance. At Toonborough, near Wanaaring, the Western CMA has supported the Bartlett family by funding the construction of four goat enclosures designed to reduce total grazing pressure management on an area of 20,500 hectares. The enclosures enable the Bartletts to be more responsive in mustering the feral goats, which reduces their impact on Yamaramie Lake, a nationally recognised wetland on the Paroo River Floodplains. Yamaramie Lake Funding from the Western CMA’s Groundcover Program will help protect the nationally listed wetland “Our enclosure project aims for long-term improved Yamaramie Lake and reduce the heavy grazing goat management and has the potential to deliver pressure the goats are placing on important native the most significant environmental outcomes of any vegetation communities and water bird breeding project we have undertaken over the past 20 years,” Robert said. “This project aims to remove more goats Western CMA. We hope to improve waterbird habitat more often, lessening their destructive impact. It also around the lake by increasing plant species and complements our existing strategies to maintain and density through this project.” increase groundcover to more than the 40 per cent Western CMA target on the Paroo floodplain. “We continually strive to improve our management practices to ensure that this special country remains in a healthy and improving condition for all people.”

Murtee Station wetland Near Wilcannia, the Western CMA supported another project to protect a wetland and floodplain area. Owners of Murtee Station, the Fyfe family, are erecting 12 km of fencing to reduce the impact of grazing stock and reduce stock access to important wetland areas on their property. The funding the Western CMA provided for this project will help the Fyfes achieve one of the grazing management actions The Darling River on Murtee Station is fenced to exclude stock and solar power is used to pump water to off-river watering points. Photo: Libby recommended in Murtee’s Wetland Management Plan. McIntyre, Industry & Investment NSW. The total wetland and floodplain area on Murtee is 5,433 ha. The Talyawalka Creek and Gunyulka Lake References provide very important stock grazing areas, both in Baker, Liz; Howlett, Caitlin and Martin, Belinda (editors), dry periods and flooding. Gunyulka Lake receives 2009, Recommendations for Managing Wetlands on its inflows from Talyawalka Creek and floodout on Farms in Inland NSW, NSW Department of Primary average once every three years. When full, it is known Industries, Orange. to stay that way for as long as 12 months. Before the Barnes, Maree and Wise, Geoff, 2003, Celebrating 100 wet winter of 2010, Gunyulka Lake had not been full Years of Natural Resource Progress in the Western since 2001 and the lake bed was covered with lignum Division: Learning from the past and planning for in poor condition. the future, NSW Department of Sustainable Natural Resources and WEST 2000 Plus. Fencing off the lake and installing two off wetland watering points will allow the area to be rested from Edmond, Martin, 2009, The Supply Party, East Street grazing pressure and encourage flowering, seeding Publications, Adelaide. and regeneration of important wetland and fringing McIntyre, Libby and Gunthorpe, Grant, 2010, Wetlands vegetation species. on Farms, “Toonborough & Yamaramie” Wanaaring “The risk for us is the loss of biodiversity and Wetland Management Plan, Industry and Investment environmental values on and around Gunyulka Lake NSW, Orange. and the Talyawalka Floodout areas due to uncontrolled Murgatroyd, Sarah, 2002, The Dig Tree, The Text grazing of sheep,” Picolo Fyfe said. Publishing Company, Melbourne. “Once the fencing project is complete, we will NSW Scientific Committee, Gazetted 15 June 2001, establish short-term grazing in the wetlands at the Artesian Springs Ecological Community - Endangered most appropriate times. We will spell the lake for as Ecological Community Listing – Final Determination, long as possible and leave stock out while plants are www.environment.nsw.gov.au, Environment, Climate flowering and seeding, particularly to encourage Change and Water, Sydney. Page updated 12 February regeneration of the coolabah and blackbox. 2008. “We have noticed the positive effects of off river Phoenix, David, 2005, Burke & Wills, Melbourne to the Gulf, Burke & Wills Web publication, watering points and minimal grazing in the 25 km www.burkeandwills.net.au length of fencing we installed along the eastern side of the Darling River in 2008 with funding from the ISBN 978-1-74263-091-5