"Two
hundred years ago Aboriginal people sat cross-legged on ground
that was a couple of metres higher . . . . The land and the vegetation
that these people lived among looked very different to what it
does today. For the Bubbler was the site of one of the most devastating
environmental catastrophes that the outback has ever experienced."
The
Outback climate is both extreme and unforgiving, and pastoralists
taking on the vast tracts of land available in central Australia
often learnt the hard way, to the detriment of themselves, their
stock, and the Australian environment.
When
Peter Ferguson took up the lease of the Mt Hamilton Station in the
1860s, the region was a comparable oasis. Numerous springs and the
running Margaret Creek supported a vast array of plant life and
feed was abundant. Ferguson quickly amassed a huge flock of sheep
and a herd of 4,000 cattle.
Within
a few years, the outback drought arrived, wiping out all of Ferguson's
sheep and leaving him with a mere 200 head of cattle. Ferguson could
only watch helplessly as his stock perished in the drought and,
along the way, removed every palatable morsel of plantlife.
"Rain
and wind scoured the exposed soil, destroying less palatable vegetation
and ruining the ability of the country to regenerate. Ferguson
could not have done more damage with 100 bulldozers."
However
this was far from an isolated incident. The European lack of understanding
of the outback climate has, over the years, seen many other pastoral
stations suffer the same fate, causing enormous loss of life and
irreversible environmental damage. Many of the barren plains which
we think are an integral part of the outback were in fact once thriving
green pastures.
Mining
and tourism sites cover a relatively miniscule portion of northern
South Australia. By contrast, cattle and sheep have access to a
much larger percentage of the region. In fact, our current pastoral
managers have custody of most of the South Australian outback.
"This
small resilient community has far more potential to either improve
or destroy the environment than all of the conservation workers,
miners, greenies and tourists put together . . . Using such vast
tracts of land in a wise and sustainable manner is not only a
huge responsibility but it is one of the most difficult jobs around."
One
response to the arid zone climate that is developing is the practice
of moving stock from station to station in response to the boom
and bust climate. However this is an expensive and time-consuming
option. Artificial stock watering points - dams and bores - are
cheaper, easier and integral to the preservation of naturally occuring
waterholes, but also allow stock to remain in drought stricken areas
when, for the preservation of the vegetation, they should have been
moved away.
Artificial
water sources have a wider reaching impact, increasing the numbers
of other species - both native and feral - which in turn upsets
the delicate balance of the outback. As an example, high numbers
of birds arrive and eat kilograms of seeds each day, seeds which
could have otherwise germinated.
Excessive
irrigation, in this region which drains inward, is also unsustainable
and could easily lead to the build-up of salts and chemicals, turning
our vast inland lakes into "toxic soups". But the abolition
of the entire pastoral industry, as called for by some environmental
groups, is not the solution either.
"If
the pastoralists were forced from the land, who would take responsibility
for repairing tracks, controlling feral animals, recording rainfall,
manning remote communication bases, supporting permanent settlements,
supplies, facilities and infrastructure, and keeping an eye out
for unexpected environmental changes? In all of these ways pastoralists
enhance conservation work in the outback."
Stuart
Creek Station, managed by John Read in his role as Land Manager
for WMC, is currently trialling camel grazing. Initial findings
are encouraging. Camels are obviously desert-adapted and do not
require anywhere near the amount of water as sheep and cattle. They
graze on traditionally unpalatable species of vegetation and therefore
if a percentage of cattle was replaced with cattle it would spread
the grazing pressure away from the usual plants. Preliminary studies
also found that cattle grazed with camels gained weight faster,
although the reasons for this are not yet clear.
"Although
in some environments camels and goats are more favourable from
an environmental or economical perspective than cattle and sheep,
they are not the optimum grazing animals for the Australian rangelands.
Indeed, the best methods of minimising the environmental legacies
of pastoral production throughout the outback have yet to be determined."
