Poisoned Axe TIFR

Slide1: 

The poisoned axe people, vegetation & climate in Australia Heather Goodall History, UTS March 2007

I What did the British see? Or not see?: 

I What did the British see? Or not see? Perceived seasonal patterns to be upside down & plants unfamiliar & disorderly esp on coast They did not see the larger processes : El Niňo + Southern Oscillation Assumed severe ENSO events 1788 – 1795 was temporary aberration carbon storing and fixing Did see that it was not a uniformly heavily wooded continent … some rainforest but largely dry or some wet sclerophyll on coast – often dense as in mountains But INLAND GRASS BELT: open Eucalypt woodland with Mitchell grass inland. Broad grasslands which arc round the whole eastern inner area of the continent. Salt bush and mulga (native Acacia) scrub – in inner arc before central desert Saw these inland SUNLIT PLAINS as God-given Complete failure to recognise the Aboriginal land management which created grasslands: fire selective harvesting replanting

Few see defining characteristic : 

Few see defining characteristic George Goyder’s Line 1865 Created in mid drought to decide on drought declared areas But reflected Goyder’s 14 years of research and observations What it was NOT: Not average rainfall Not guess at rainfall isohyet Not aridity or rainfall scarcity What it WAS: rainfall variability North of this line Euro ag not possible Official & popular acceptance? Established 1872 as limit of credit Dismissed & caricatured 1874 as too cautious …

How did Goyder identify this line?: 

How did Goyder identify this line? Goyder’s observations of large bodies of inland freshwater and lush vegetation attract high attention – but later ridiculed as next expedition finds desert. Goyder’s key observation ignored: Sharp vegetation change – from tall gums to low malleed gums – at limit of reliable, predictable rainfall Argues that the vegetation is adapted not just to aridity but to variability of rainfall hence its ability to respond rapidly to presence of fresh water Implications: vegetation relates to and expresses the overall water processes river flow and flood, spring (ground) water, rain water and water flowing across the landscape

II Closer Settlement mkI – 1864 + 1884: 

Pressures: Rising Australian population + populist demand to ‘unlock the land’ for agricultural ‘yeoman’ farmers Based on European prejudice against pastoralism – see cf Agrawal & Sabawal 2004 re Sth Asia – desire to settle agriculturalists closely and displace herders for ‘higher’ civilisation Series of good seasons – ENSO effects Rising confidence in technology & engineering Empire-wide 1860+ Justifications – ploughing AND planting Comparable expansion in USA 1860s – leads to rain follows the plough myth PLUS parallel argument involving planting [not just ploughing]: John Ednie Brown (Sth Aust) argued (1881-82) that mallee should be replaced with European trees which would then create rain. George Goyder countered that mallee was in that form BECAUSE of variable climate NOT that climate was variable because of particular species or form of plant. Leads to: push beyond George Goyder’s line of reliable rainfall in all eastern colonies Smaller holdings, more intensive land use Regulatory REQUIREMENTS for IMPROVEMENTS ie clearing II Closer Settlement mkI – 1864 + 1884

Clearing the western plains… : 

Clearing the western plains… Major expansion in rural population and labour force for agriculture: Agric seeks silt black soil of grasslands BUT this pushes higher pastoral stocking onto sandy red soil BUT simultaneous emergence of new regrowth on park-like grasslands – NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD From 1880s: First appearance of Eucalypt regrowth in malleed forms Multi-stemmed, dense, on ‘disturbed’ – ie intensively grazed – salt bush red soil in arid south west 1988 Section: Scroll of Endurance Mo Xiangyi, assisted by Wang Jingwen Held by NGA Racialised divisions of labour: eg Chinese clearing and fencing teams

Impact 1890s: environmental disaster: 

Impact 1890s: environmental disaster Overgrazed, permanent loss of native fodder eg saltbush; massive red soil erosion. -> 1901 Establishment of Western Lands Division in NSW Approximation of Goyder Line of rainfall reliability – but a generous one!

Slide9: 

Repeating the error: 1901 - 1930 Some analysts like geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor took lessons and argued ceaselessly for more cautious approach – and failed!

Closer settlement mk II 1905, 1915, 1945: 

Closer settlement mk II 1905, 1915, 1945 But even anxious persistence of popular myths -> expansion of closer settlement blocks Clearing was central to the tragedy of soldier resettlement 1917 to 1932 These blocks were NON-VIABLE because too small but govt still mandated clearing These blocks were major means to resettle returned soldiers – heartbreaking labour intensive work – then blamed for failure. Irony: more labour central div and some western div black soil BUT pastoral mechanisation: means LESS labour to observe eucalypt regrowth on red soil ANOTHER drought & pastoral collapse 1920 -1940

III: Woody weed: the natives strike back: 

III: Woody weed: the natives strike back Woody weed : can be seen as an active response to disturbance ‘Malleed’ : dense, multistemmed Most native and local Regrowth density fills vacuum left by overgrazing but is then blamed for land denudation No-one knows if this regrowth might return to sparser, single-stemmed mature trees on grasslands if left for 100 years OR If it requires Aboriginal management (burning, transhumance) to create grasslands

Saved by military ‘big’ engineering?: 

Saved by military ‘big’ engineering? 1945 : Goal no longer to control climate but to control water: Not ‘plough’ to bring rain but technology to control surface water flow & distribution Regularize flow timing and quantity. …. Based on misapprehended models from India + US Big engineering: Snowy Scheme: hydro power + irrigation PUSHES AGRICULTURE FAR INTO WESTERN DIVISION Irrigated rice on Murray 1950s Cotton on upper Darling from 1960s – used military tank technology on black soil Pushes intensive pastoralism further onto red soil Undermined by woody weed expansion 1940s to present Some exotics [African Acacia - Rangan] but most NATIVE & LOCAL Eucalypts By 1970s, ‘woody weed’ is consuming the ‘sunlit plains’ on red soil & some black soil

Clearing focus: the ‘sunlit plains’: 

Clearing focus: the ‘sunlit plains’ Environmental vandalism? (Scientist + urban? + environmental activist push for NSW Native Veg Act 2003) or saving iconic Australian landscape? (rural grazing lobby – or ‘bush families’) NSW Labor Govt on ‘INS’ - Invasive Native Species 2003 becomes Invasive Native Scrub 2006

So… the clearing continues: 

So… the clearing continues Clearing Coolibah on the black soil for Cotton, intensive irrigated crop expanding rapidly from 1960s INTO WESTERN DIVISION despite temporary slowing b/c of drought Clearing budda, turpentine etc on the red soil for grazing, as industry faces economic challenge from cotton and world market collapse AND Woody Weed expansion BUT grading, blade ploughing and burning demonstrated to be uneconomic and impractical….. Transhumance seriously suggested by DEC and CSIRO researchers – D. Robson 1995

And clearing still tangled up with climate: 

And clearing still tangled up with climate Strategies to stop clearing which accounts for 10% of Australian Greenhouse gas emissions: This campaign! Trying to change attitudes but importantly it is RURAL Restoration of Aboriginal management strategies: fire and transhumance BUT will be ignored because…. Graziers claim ‘steward’ status! AND retain political control of decisions [West 2000, sabotage of and further threats to current native veg plan] Carbon Sink for Kyoto + global warming: farmers paid to retain woody weed? Currently under serious discussion as Govt desperately seeks ways to meet international pressure to lower Greenhouse emissions