CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT 1. INTRODUCTION This chapter provides an introduction to my thesis and contains an overview of the extent of the Great Barrier Reef, some definitions of that ecosystem and the rationale for my study. Several reports of decline in the Great Barrier Reef are presented below; these reports indicate that environmental changes have occurred in the ecosystem as a result of human activities in the Great Barrier Reef and on the adjacent coastal land. My research provides evidence of some of these changes, based on qualitative sources including archival documents and oral histories; my aims, objectives and research questions are stated below, and the scope and limitations of my research are outlined. The chapter concludes with a brief outline of the thesis. CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Great Barrier Reef of Australia The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the largest complex of coral reefs and associated species on Earth; the location of this structure is shown in Figure 1.1. The ecosystem extends for over 2,000 kilometres along the north-eastern coast of Australia, containing more than 3,200 coral reefs and representing one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems known to exist.1 The Great Barrier Reef is a young structure in geological terms, having formed during the last 10,000 years of the Holocene epoch; its reefs have always existed in relation to humans, supporting coastal Indigenous subsistence economies and containing many places of cultural and spiritual significance.2 After European settlement in Australia, the ecosystem influenced the colonial development of Queensland and was subjected to more intensive exploitation, especially since 1900. Yet the significance of the Great Barrier Reef extends beyond Australia. The coral reefs and their associated species were first protected by the creation of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) in 1975. More recently, in 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) acknowledged the outstanding universal value of the ecosystem as a natural phenomenon of global significance by creating the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA).3 The extent of the GBRWHA, shown in Figure 1.2, is approximately 347,850 km², forming the largest World Heritage Area in the world. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the lead agency responsible for the management and conservation of the GBRWHA, has faced unprecedented challenges in managing multiple human uses, activities and impacts in the GBRWHA.4 1 J. Bowen and M. Bowen, The Great Barrier Reef: history, science, heritage, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p. 2. 2 Bowen and Bowen, Great Barrier Reef, p. 3; D. Hopley, The Great Barrier Reef: ecology and management, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1989, p. 19. 3 P. H. C. Lucas et al., The outstanding universal value of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, GBRMPA, Townsville, 1997, p. 3. 4 D. R. Wachenfeld et al. (eds), State of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area 1998, GBRMPA, Townsville, 1998, p. 5; see also M. Furnas, Catchments and corals: terrestrial runoff to the Great Barrier Reef, AIMS, Townsville, 2003, p. 21; D. Lawrence et al., The Great Barrier Reef: finding the right balance, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, Victoria, 2002. 1 CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT 140ºE 155ºE 10ºS 10ºS GREAT Cooktown • BARRIER Cairns • Innisfail • Townsville • REEF Bowen • Proserpine • Mackay • QUEENSLAND Rockhampton • Gladstone • Bundaberg • 0 KILOMETRES 500 140ºE 155ºE 28ºS BRISBANE • 28ºS Figure 1.1. The geographical extent of the Great Barrier Reef. Source: Based on Wachenfeld et al. (eds), State of the GBRWHA, p. 4. 2 CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT 140ºE 155ºE 10ºS 10ºS FAR NORTHERN SECTION Cooktown • CAIRNS SECTION Cairns • Innisfail • CENTRAL SECTION Townsville • Bowen • Proserpine • Mackay • QUEENSLAND MACKAY / Rockhampton • CAPRICORN SECTION Gladstone • Bundaberg • 0 KILOMETRES 500 140ºE 155ºE 28ºS BRISBANE • 28ºS Figure 1.2. The geographical extent of the GBRWHA. Source: Based on Wachenfeld et al. (eds), State of the GBRWHA, p. 4. 3 CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT The Great Barrier Reef has been defined in various ways since Matthew Flinders first used that term in 1802; Maxwell listed several of those definitions in his Atlas of the Great Barrier Reef.5 ‘Great Barrier Reef Province’ refers to the coral reefs of eastern Australia and Torres Strait: one of seven coral reef provinces in the south-western Pacific Ocean. ‘Great Barrier Reef Region’ describes the first Australian coral reef area to be legally protected; in 1975, that term was replaced by the GBRMP, which extends northwards as far as the latitude of Cape York but excludes the coral reefs of Torres Strait. The GBRWHA, shown in Figure 1.2, occupies approximately the same area as the GBRMP, although variations exist in their coastal boundaries; the GBRWHA also includes the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, while the GBRMP consists of the marine environment alone.6 All of these terms are found in the scientific literature of the Great Barrier Reef, reflecting the problem of defining a vast, complex ecosystem. My research focuses principally on the GBRWHA, as this is the area for which the GBRMPA bears most stringent management responsibilities, and because archival and oral history sources contain evidence of changes in islands. Yet most historical sources predate the definition of the GBRWHA and often use the general term, ‘Great Barrier Reef’. Conceptions of the Great Barrier Reef held by Indigenous people differ significantly from those of non-Indigenous Australians. Many Indigenous people regard the Great Barrier Reef as sacred and its importance is reflected in creation stories. Some species, including dugongs and turtles, have formed – and continue to form – a vital part of the cultural identity of coastal Indigenous people; for such people, the Great Barrier Reef forms part of traditional ‘sea country’. Human use of the GBRWHA raises issues of self-determination, participation and co-management of resources by Indigenous people. Recently, scholars using postcolonial approaches have produced new interpretations of colonisation in Australia, developing new narratives of contact and resistance, and suggesting that no single account of the environmental history of the Great Barrier Reef is adequate.7 5 J. Bowen, ‘The Great Barrier Reef: towards conservation and management’, in S. Dovers (ed), Australian environmental history: essays and cases, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1994, pp. 234- 256, p. 235; W. G. H. Maxwell, Atlas of the Great Barrier Reef, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1968. 6 For further details of these definitions, see Lucas et al., Outstanding universal value, pp. 36-37 and 99. 7 D. Smyth, Understanding country: the importance of land and sea in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, Key Issue Paper No. 1, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, AGPS, Canberra, 1994, p. 2; postcolonial works include N. Loos, Invasion and resistance: Aboriginal-European relations on the North Queensland frontier, 1861-1897, ANU Press, Canberra, 1982; J. M. Jacobs, Edge of empire: postcolonialism and the city, Routledge, London, 1996. 4 CHANGES IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT However the Great Barrier Reef is defined, the ecosystem does not exist independently of adjacent environments. A recent study of terrestrial runoff to the Great Barrier Reef, by Furnas, acknowledged that the GBRWHA is interconnected with its sources of freshwater, sediments and nutrients: in particular, with the 35 drainage basins of Queensland that form the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Area (GBRCA).8 The GBRCA includes around 25 per cent of the land area of Queensland and run-off from this area represents a major input to the GBRWHA. Therefore, the GBRWHA and the GBRCA, shown in Figure 1.3, form a functional unit; accounts of environmental changes in the GBRWHA should consider impacts that originate in the GBRCA. Significant land uses in the latter include rangeland cattle grazing, forestry, sugar cane farming, cultivation of bananas and other tropical fruits, aquaculture and mining. In addition, urban development has taken place rapidly in the GBRCA; from 1991-1998, an average annual population growth rate of 2.2 per cent resulted in over one million people living in the GBRCA by the latter date.9 Economic development in Queensland has been promoted by the growth of tourism in the GBRWHA, which now comprises more than one million visitor days, and in excess of A$1 billion, each year. Consequently, the condition of the Great Barrier Reef is of considerable economic and social importance. 1.2 Rationale: the decline of the Great Barrier Reef? Many recent reports have suggested that the condition of the Great Barrier Reef has declined since European settlement commenced, as a result of exploitation and the development of adjacent coastal land; some of the most significant of these reports are listed in Table 1.1.10 Their authors have acknowledged that terrestrial run-off of 8 Furnas, Catchments and corals, pp. 41 and 46. 9 Furnas, Catchments and corals, p. 65. 10 QEPA (Queensland Environmental Protection Agency), State of the environment Queensland 1999, QEPA, Brisbane, 1999, pp. 5.4, 5.13 and 5.27; C. Wilkinson (ed), Status of coral reefs of the world: 2000, AIMS, Townsville, 2000; J. B. C. Jackson et al., ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’, Science, Vol. 293, 27 July 2001, pp. 629-638; D. McB. Williams, Impacts of terrestrial run-off on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Report to CRC Reef, CRC Reef Research Centre, Townsville, 2001, pp. 3-4; C. Dennis, ‘Reefs under threat from ‘bleaching’ outbreak’, Nature, Vol. 415, 28 February 2002, p. 947; D. McB. Williams et al., The current level of scientific understanding on impacts of terrestrial run-off on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Consensus Statement, CRC Reef Research Centre, Townsville, 2002, p.