Maintaining native vegetation and careful management of total grazing pressure is the key to surviving drought in the rangelands
Indigenous Australians relied on Australia's native plants and animals for all of their food and fibre needs. The human population was low and there was no such thing as an export market.
The population of animals was determined largely by the limitations set by the environment. Numbers would have fluctuated, including widespread deaths during severe droughts. Animals such as kangaroos stopped producing young in dry times but were able to reproduce quickly when rains came and food became plentiful again. They would also travel large distances to where there was adequate food.
Humans and other animals such as dingos, thylacines and other extinct predators like marsupial lions killed and ate large herbivores such as kangaroos and emus. This prevented their population from becoming too high in times where there was plenty of plant growth.
Native vegetation included a very diverse mix of plants well adapted to the changing conditions. There were many deep-rooted perennial plants that survived in the most severe droughts. These plants maintained ground cover and prevented soil erosion. Despite the lack of water on the surface of the ground during times of drought, there was still plant material on which at least some animals could survive. When the drought broke there were seeds and dormant plants that sprang to life quickly to produce new feed for the animals.
The British colonists brought plants and animals with them and an attitude that Australia's native flora and fauna was largely unsuitable for their use. The bush was to be tamed and civilised by the establishment of a very different landscape and they had little to learn from Indigenous Australians. This attitude remains to a large extent even today.
Within 100 years of the First Fleet vast areas of land had been cleared and huge flocks of sheep were grazing the countryside with rabbits in adundance. With the onset of droughts massive environmental destruction occurred as a result of the large numbers of sheep and rabbits eating out the remaining vegetation and leaving the land bare.
As bores were sunk providing water for stock, the pastoral zone spread further west, drastically changing the environment of the arid rangeland areas and resulting in widespread loss of small wallabies, bilbies and other mammal species.
As landholders controlled the population of predators such as dingos and added more permanent watering points, the populations of large kangaroos increased, contributing to the total grazing pressure on the landscape.
As farmers and researchers became more aware of the damage being caused to the environment much progress was made to try to make the existing farming systems more sustainable.
As knowledge about the inevitable drought cycle grew farmers were encouraged to reduce the number of stock they carried in good years and decrease the stock quickly as droughts set in to try to preserve as much standing feed as possible.
The future of Australia's threatened ecosystems is in the balance. While much is continuing to be done to make our existing farming systems more sustainable, we remain almost totally reliant on introduced species for our agricultural produce. The FATE Program aims to research and promote the commercial use of Australian native species as a way of making our agricultural land more sustainable. Our native species have evolved in Australia and are superbly adapted to this environment, even in times of drought. Working with our own native plants and animals is a way of working with the landscape. For example:
It is impossible to drought-proof Australia, but much can be done to learn to live with drought and reduce its harmful effects. As Professor Peter Cullen from CSIRO, speaking on behalf of an eminent group of scientists known as the 'Wentworth Group' said on ABC radio, 'We need to try and live with the landscape, not try and fight against it all the time.'
Commercial use of native plants and animals is a way of valuing our native ecosystems so farmers can have a greater incentive to conserve and regenerate bushland on their properties. This will help protect the environment and the farmers' livelihood in times of drought.
Last Updated 1 June 2005
