Australia Lesson Activities - ESD

THEME: Gregory National Park
SUBJECT AREA: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
TOPIC: Protecting species biodiversity – methods used in National Parks

The Department of Environment and Wildlife Services co-ordinate the preservation and protection of native flora and fauna in Australian national parks. The Australian Government decided that certain areas in Australia needed to be protected from farming, heavy traffic and pollution.

Areas can be claimed to be a National Park for the protection of a certain landmark or place of beauty/historical value, or the home of a plant or animal that is endemic to the area - or is endangered and needs special protection. Some parks are declared so that people do not modify the environment for farming purposes.

There are rules and regulations that everyone must follow whilst a visitor in a national park, which include the following:
- Leave areas as you find them. No littering.
- It is illegal to remove anything. No removing or damaging flora or fauna in the park.
- Pets and domestic animals do not belong in national parks – leave them at home.
- Firearms are forbidden in the parks (even the Wildlife Services can’t shoot feral (wild) animals that they are attempting to relocate).
- No hunting of feral animals in the parks.
- No soaps or toiletries to be used in water systems.
- You must stay on set tracks, and walking trails. Don’t leave the path.
- Do not enter areas that you have no permits or permission for.
- Light fires only in designated areas.
- Do not feed animals in the park.

These are the basic rules that should be followed when going into any National Park in Australia. When visiting the park make sure you get any permits you need from the Park Ranger, and whilst doing this ask about any special rules and regulations relevant to the park you are visiting.

Suggested learning activities:
- Write down a reason why each of the rules and regulations in the list above are enforced in National Parks. For example: Pets are not allowed because they might escape and become feral, and because they may hunt native animals and damage the park. How would you enforce these rules?
- Find out about National Parks in your country and compare the rules and regulations with those outlined above for Australian National Parks.

Joshua.

THEME: Timber Creek
SUBJECT AREA: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
TOPIC: European expansion for cattle ranching

“Natives are numerous on Victoria and Ord and are very treacherous, a fine race and very independent”. Lindsay Crawford 1885.

The story of European settlement of the Victoria River Region for the purpose of raising cattle was a classic case – seen throughout the rest of Australia during this era – of outsiders encroaching and taking over land lived on by the native people for more than 50,000 years. The legacy of this collision between two cultures is something the people living in the district today are still trying to resolve in the form of Land Ownership claims.

Aboriginal resistance was apparent from the very start of European settlement and continued for 50 years. Open warfare seems to have been the general state throughout the region for at least the first decade. As different areas were ‘tamed’, Aboriginal resistance continued in or spread to other areas.

By the turn of the century most of the prime cattle lands were under European control. Some Aborigines had given up the struggle and had come into camps near the homesteads, but others stayed out in the rough range country, killing cattle – and white men – whenever possible.

In 1910 a new wave of hostilities broke out when the last remaining refuge areas of the ‘wild blacks’ was taken up for pastoral use. Brigalow Bill was speared and killed on the Humbert River, and Harry Condon was wounded on Bullita station. Another manager was speared and killed on Bullita in 1919, followed by the alleged murder of an Aborigine in 1922 in which the victim was chopped up and burnt. The station cook was charged, and a warrant also issued for the arrest of the manager. The cook was acquitted and the manager never seen again.

Small groups of Aborigines held out in the ranges in the 1920’s and there were occasional clashes with the newcomers. The last round of serious Aboriginal resistance began with the murder to two European prospectors on the Fitzmaurice River in 1930. The hunt lasted 2 years and finally ended with the leader, Nemarluk, on Legune Station.

This tide of displacement and associated hostilities was part-way reversed in 1976 when the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act was passed allowing traditional owners to claim some of their original land back. But, as we discussed in the geography update of September 27, the only land that was really left to be claimed was Crown land – mainly desert areas with little or no water, or any other value to anyone (such as the potential for mining). Some ‘useful’ land was however given back, such as the area around Dagaragu (see history update for Oct 1st). But for the most part the choice areas, in the form of pastoral leases, were retained for existing European cattle ranchers.

And so today the bad feeling still seems to be there, bubbling beneath the surface. From our limited perspective - biking through the region with just a few day’s to get up to speed on the situation - it seems the hostilities were too recent to yet be forgotten. But the way forward according to all the people we’ve spoken to from both Aboriginal and European backgrounds is for both cultures to work together to overcome the past and build a positive future for Australia. With the passing of a few more generations, and a great deal of effort and perseverance on both sides, this ideal should hopefully one day become a reality.

Suggested learning activities: can you think of at least one other area of the world in which European colonists took over lands already inhabited by indigenous peoples? Compare the differences and similarities between this area and the situation in Australia, as detailed above. How is this area today? Has there been any reconciliation? Can the situation be described as ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than it was when the Europeans first arrived.

THEME: Cattle Ranching
SUBJECT AREA: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
TOPIC: sustainable farming practises

During our stay at Moolooloo Station we got to interview the Station Manager Mark Clifford. One of the questions we asked him was how important it was to protect the land from overgrazing or soil erosion from the presence of cattle. This was his answer:

“Well it’s critical and is a fairly large part of our job. As a company we use things like satellite imagery. There’s a Northern Territory range management body that actually comes out here and monitors certain sites on an annual basis to make sure there’s no pasture degradation. Obviously we also keep a close eye on the paddocks. There’s a scientist within the company who does a lot of work looking after the pastures. They also run trials to help us understand what we can do with the country without causing degradation.”

The reason cattle ranching in the Victoria River basin has been so successful since Nat Buchanan first stocked nearby station Victoria River Downs in 1884 (see History update for the day) is largely because of the protein rich grasses that thrive on the black clay soil and the amount of rainfall the area receives each year (around 28-30 inches per annum). But, during drought years, when the reduction of vegetation in turn means the soil is more open to erosion from the wind, the land is in serious danger of becoming degraded. Should a particularly dry winter (April through October) be followed directly by a particularly wet summer (November through March), the topsoil will be further eroded by floodwater. Add cattle to the equation, especially more than the optimum cow/calf unit per square kilometre, and you could be in trouble. Mark continues:

“It’s not impossible to have a drought year, in which instance we have to look quite closely at our cow/calf unit per square kilometre – normally around 6 to 1 on Moolooloo. In drought years we’d have to look at reducing this figure to maybe 3 or 4, or even less, and taking the surplus animals off the land.”

Suggested learning activities: it seems that monitoring the pastures, either by satellite imagery from space or by a scientist on the ground, is the method that Mark uses to safeguard his pastures from degradation. Data from monitoring procedures can be used in conjunction with computers to build ‘models’ from which he can make well-timed range management decisions, such as an early reduction of the cow/calf unit per kilometre ration - before it gets too late and erosion sets in.

Suggested learning activities: Find out about another farming practice – perhaps in the area near where you live – in which monitoring the effect of the farming upon the land forms an essential part of land management and how the environment is safeguarded from undue degradation. If the farming practise involves animals, compare the carrying capacity of the land (animal to square kilometre ratio) to that of Moolooloo station. If the figures are very different, suggest reasons as to why this is the case?

THEME: Birds
SUBJECT AREA: Sustainability
TOPIC: Gouldian Finch

2001 October 17, Wednesday

“It was with feelings of the purest affection that I ventured to dedicate this lovely bird to the memory of my late wife.” John Gould, 1865.

Historical records indicate that the Gouldian Finch was once abundant across tropical northern Australia, from the Kimberleys to northwestern Queensland. Although protected, their numbers have dwindled rapidly from Western Australia, through the Northern Territory, with a small population located in central northern Queensland.

Reason for population decline may be attributed to trapping (they were trapped and exported by the thousands), changes to their habitat caused by inappropriate burning practices, and disease (infection caused by a lung mite).

During the Dry season and early Wet, the Gouldian Finch lives in grassy woodlands. They prefer rocky and hilly country.

Gouldians eat grass seeds and prefer native sorghum. During the Wet, sorghum becomes scarce and the finches resort to more common grass seeds. They drink from small water holes that are surrounded by vegetation as it offers protection from pythons and goannas.

Gouldian Finches are the only Australian finches to nest exclusively in tree hollows. The Snappy gum and Salmon gum are the two types of Eucalypts they prefer for their nests. They build a grass cup nest and lay 4-8 eggs. Predators that prey on the nest (and sometimes the parents!) are goannas or Brown tree snakes.

To manage the Gouldian Finch population for conservation purposes, it is important to know how many are living and if the population is declining, stable, or increasing. Their breeding and nesting habitats are also under observation.

To answer these questions, the Conservation Commission carries out a banding program to track the patterns and growth of the finches. This study involves netting these finches around water holes and placing a numbered aluminium band around the right leg of each bird. Banding sites are monitored each year and recaptured birds are identified and recorded.

Suggested learning activities: What types of birds in your area are endangered and under protection? How are their numbers monitored to control populations and promote growth, if possible? Are their habitats threatened and, if so, in what way? What can be done to protect the natural environment of these birds?

April