This is a story to illustrate an instructive lesson on active land management. It involves animals including humans, plants and forces of nature.
My story is a call to arms to highlight that our land management issues are not straightforward and the solutions require the fortitude to go against elitist and misguided orthodoxy.
Flies! Damn flies! Everywhere in Australia, there are flies. Some areas have more than their fair share of annoying flies.
Sometimes it can be impossible to do anything outside without applying something to ward them off. This is because they are so persistent in trying to land on us. Unfortunately, all we can do is feebly adopt the Aussie salute to try and deter them from our face.… Read more
“The East Kimberley is the land of blacks, Sacks [another prolific local clan thought to be Irish] and bloody Duracks“. Anon
“If one were to paint this country in its true colours, I doubt it would be believed. It would be said at least that the artist exaggerated greatly, for never have I seen such richness and variety of hue as in these ranges and in the vivid flowers of this northern spring.”… Read more
How buffel grass changed the dead heart of Australia
When you enter the Northern Territory from South Australia the landscape changes immediately from mulga scrub to more open savannah woodland dominated by the introduced buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris).
Buffel grass is a deep-rooted perennial native to Africa, the Middle East and India.… Read more
“The dead ash forests reach starkly towards the sky like sentinels bearing witness to the holocaust just past, and those who love the bush are heavy hearted because this may be only the beginning of what is yet to come.” David Treasure, 2007[1]
Since 1939, the high-country forests in Victoria were relatively free of devastating wildfires.… Read more
It is always good to get the opportunity to visit a historic site that represents the area you are visiting. In this case, I am talking not about an old building or monument in town but a sizeable pastoral station in the Outback.
Bladensburg was one of the original stations in the Winton district, grazing thousands of sheep and around one thousand cattle.… Read more
