lNFLOWS:

THE CHANNEL COUNTRY

MANDY MARllN

JANE CARRUTHERS G U Y FITZHAROING E

TOM G RI FFI THS PETER HAYNES

ACKNOWLEDG EMENTS

The School of Art a n d the H istory Progra m, Research School of Soc ia l Sc i ences, Austra l i a n Na tiona l U n iversity; the H istory Department , Un ivers i ty of Sou th Africa; Environmental Management and Ag r icu l ture, Un ivers ity of Weste rn Sydney; Vincen t Ca rruthers; Libby Robi n ; Ron and Sandy Pagett ; Simon and Ch r ist i ne Campbe l l ; Steve and Esmay Taylor; Chr i s Dickman and h is studen t team; Ka ren , Amel ia , Fergus and Angus Emmott; Ann and Sandy K idd; B ruce, Maureen, Ka r ly and Courtney Scott; Peter a n d Jeann i e Reynolds; D J Ivlu lvaney; Bob Morr ish ; Sandy and Bruce Rowla n ds.

I nflows: The Chan nel Country Mondy Mortin, Jane Carruthers, Guy Fitzhardinge, Tom Gri ffiths, Petcr Haynes

2001

ISBN 0 9577481 1 6

T h is Llook is copyright. Apart from a n y fair dea l ing for the pu rposes of private study, research, crit ic ism or review, as permi tted u nder the Copyright Act 1968, no ra rt may be reproduced by a n y p rocess without writtfn perm ission. Enq u i ries shou ld be to t h e publ isher: M a ndy Martin PO Box 35, Ma ndura ma NSW 2792. Copyr ighL in individual es,ays remains with the �Iu t h ors.

Photogra p hy of a rtwork: David Pate rson, Dorian Photogra ph ics Photograph page 5: Angus Emmott PhoLographs pages 7 and 63 Guy Fitzha rdinge Photographs pages 52: Mandy Mart in

Ca ta logue design (,ngel I n k , Can berra

Catal ogue pri n t: Goanna Print, Canberra

ACT Government

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 5 Mandy Martin

THE CHANNEL COUNTR Y 7 Guy Fitzhardinge

l N FLOWS: 1 1 The C ha n nel C ountry

Jane Carruthers Mandy Martin

MAND Y MARTI N: 46 Ongoing l nvest igations

Peter Haynes

MAN D Y MARTIN: 48 C urriculum Vitae

The last ten years

B I OG RAPH I ES 51

COOPER CLAY 53 Tom Griffiths

4

NORTHERN TERRITORY

a I

Lake Eyre Basin r

100 I

200 I

lNTRODucnON r : -r �'. ".,!, ""'"I'f,,:-'" ,'/ .

From lefl: ·1001 Griffiths. Jane Carrulhl'ls. Guy Fitzhardinge. Mandy Martin

Inflows: the Channel Country is the t h i rd in a ser ies of envi ron men ta l stud ies that began with an art ist's vis ion and the i ns ig h ts o f four renowned wr i ters a nd has p roduced a trave l l i n g exh ib i t ion and accompa nyi ng pub l i ca tion.

Between 1 996-2001 Mandy Ma r t i n has wo rked i n co l l abora tion with

pastora l i st a n d environmenta l ist, Guy Fitzhardinge and historian, Tom

Gr iffiths and South African historian, Jane Carruthers and curator Peter

Haynes to produce Inflows: the Channel Country The team is an associate of the Lake Eyre Basin Coordi nat i ng G roup

that has provided inspira t ion and i n fo rma t ion for the project Or ig ina l ly resea rch began i n 1996 when Guy F i tz h a rd i nge and Mandy M a r t i n gave pa pers at the Windorah Scientific Workshop.· An Ecological Perspective

on Cooper's Creek. This gather ing co l lected sc ient if ic evidence to subm i t

5

to th e Oueensla n d Gove r nmen t to coun te r a n i r r i ga t ion deve lopm e n t a pp l i ca t i on from Cu rra reva stat ion a t Windorah. W e were asked b y the Cooper 's Creek Protect ion G roup to undertake a n env i ronmen ta l study to h e l p th is fig h t. Five yea rs la ter, i t was serend i p i ty to be s i t t ing on the bank o f the Cooper on Cur ra reva Stat ion the very day t he i r r i g a t ion l icence was fi n a l ly revoked and to k n ow tha t cotton wou ld not k i l l t h i s river system yet.

T h is pub l i ca t ion beg ins w i t h F i t zha rd i nge 's essay i n wh ich he evokes the g e n e ra l sense of loca l e and i n trod uces the reg ion at the hear t of th i s p roj ec t . In tota l , 1 7% of the a rea o f Austra l i a comprises t he La ke Eyre catchme n t, of wh ich Coope r's Creek is one of the th ree major d ra inage syste m s. Beg i n n i n g i n the north w i th the deser t up l ands, the catch men t co l l ec ts runoff wa te r and , th roug h a maze of waterho les, channe ls and ephe m e ra l wet la nds, the water s l ow ly flows towa rds La ke Eyre. The a rea represents one of the wor ld 's most s i gn i fica n t ephemera l wet lands as we l l as one of the best ca t t l e fa t t e n i n g a reas in Austra l ia . Th rough h i s exper iences of r unn i ng ca tt le i n the u ppe r reaches of the catc hmen t and h i s pass ion fo r t rave l , F i tzha rd i nge speaks w i t h n o t o n l y a g ood u ndersta nd ing of the l a ndsca pe b u t an i n tima te love fo r the land and i ts peop l e .

I t was on o u r vis its to a vast Abori g i na l bora g round t ha t I fe l t the t rue m e a n i ng of th is vast reg i on was revea led . Sem i -con ica l mounds, l i nes a n d c i rc les of anc i e n t wea the red stones, a r ra nged for seve ra l k i lometres a long a ra ised watershed wi th bonsa i -ed vegetat ion on a k ind of rocky carapace d ropp ing down to permanent waterholes, crea ted a s tu n n i n g visual map of a reg i on a l most too com plex to conceptua l ise w i t h i n non-Abor ig i na l systems. O n e cou ld imag i ne that t h i s stone coda was a ro l e -ca l l of tribes, their home la nds, the rivers they c rossed to reach this g ro u nd and the a l loca ted place for t he i r camp on a r r ival . O the r p laces m a rked o u l w i th s tones, poss ib ly for exc l usive t r iba l bus i ness, were in a n i m a l sha pes - I i m a g i n ed , of turt le , fish, desert mo l e or eag l e -ind ica t i ng the la nds respective tr ibes had trave l led from i n the Channel Country.

My d rawi ngs a nd pa i nti ngs of the Channe l Coun try, l i k ewise, when a l l p la ced i n na r ra tive sequence a re my visu a l map , a Eu rocen tric one, of a huge region, the rivers a nd watersheds we crossed, t he specia l s ites we were t a ken by loca ls and p laces we camped.

J a n e Ca rruthers worked closely with me on one of these t r ips and kept a J ou rna l of our travels. She has exper ience i n wr i t i ng abou t i ti n e ra n t a r tists, hav ing pub l ished extensive l y on Thomas Ba i nes, a n i ne teenth­centu r y explorer-art ist whose ca reer spa nned sou thern Afr ica as we l l as

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Austra l ia . Jane has g rea t adm i ra tion for those who are ab le to i nv igora te the la ndscape t h rough a r t a nd has a ta l e n t for notat i ng i mages w i t h con text and nar ra t ive. Persona l ly act ive i n envi ronmen ta l i ssues i n South Afr ica , she is a n acute observe r of i n terna t iona l deba tes and is part icu l a r l y keen on the compa ra tive aspects of Austra l i an a nd Afr ican env i ronmenta l h istory

Peter Haynes, D i rector of the Canberra Museu m and Ga l l e ry and the No lan Ga l l ey, has curated the exh i b i t ion , Inflows: the Channel Country

He has en thusiast ica l ly supported the concept behind the th ree respective projects and cu ra ted and faci l i tated the extensive tou r of the th ree exh ib i t ions to sixteen reg iona l ga l l e ries i n the Austra l i a n Cap i ta l Terr i tory, Victor ia , New Sou th Wa les and Queensl and from 1 995-2002. Ga l l e ry a ttendance a lone du r i n g the fi rst two tours was ove r forty thousand people . H i s essay offers a n ins igh t i n to my a rt ist ic mo tiva t ions and practice.

Tom Gr i ffi ths i n the fi na l histor ica l essay explores the way the past resona tes i n the presen t po l i t ics and eco logy of the Cha nne l Coun try. H i s acco u n t m oves consta n tly between pe rsona l a n ecdote and h istor ica l reflect ion in an a ttem p t to a rticu late the soc i a l and n a tura l systems tha t a n ima te the channe ls and the i r cultu re, to map the flows of both water and fee l i ng . H is in terest is in the crea tive tensions that a re gene ra ted by contrast ing perspectives of a reg iona l la ndscape and i ts h istory, tensions between aer ia l and underground views, loca l a nd n a tiona l , ins ide and outside, d ream i ng and ana lysis.

This i s the t h i rd in a se ries of environ mental p rojects undertaken by the g rou p between 1995-2001 , the f i rs t be ing Tracts: Back 0' Bourke,

which a l so i nvolved h istor ian Pau l S inc l a i r and the second Watersheds:

the Paroo to the Warrego. Team m e m bers have worked i n the com m u n i ti es and envi ron men ts of the reg ion , d raw ing on the i nsp i ra tion of people and land, and they look forward to retu rn ing these perspectives to those sou rces, and to conti n u ing the d i a logue .

Mandy Mar t in

THE CHANNEL COUNTRY

GUY F1TZHARD1NGE

:.. .. - ..

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Majo r Thomas M i tche l l was a l ready m idd le-aged when he left o n h i s t h i rd 8nd Fin81 jou rney o f exp lora t i o n i n to trop ica l north Austra l i a i n 1 847 . T h e reports o f h is two p revious exped i t ions were eager ly sough t by se t t l e rs, anx ious t o acqu i re l a rge sections of t h e n ew and r ich g raz ing l ands beyond the bounds of sett lem e n t. H is two previous exped i tions had f a i l ed to sa t isfy h i s (and the colony's) q u est for a n i n la nd sea or trade rou tes to the Pac i fic r im of Asi a , and so M i tchel l , i n th is f i na l quest, was more determ i n ed to 'd iscover' t h a n to 'exp lore: Rea l i ty and fa n tasy beca me i ntertwi ned in M i tche l l 's m i nd, and his topog raph ica l d raw i ng of La ke Salvador and the d i scovery o f t h e 'Victor ia R iver' and a passag e t o I n d ia , were works of f ict ion. W i th t h e d iscovery of t h e Victo r ia R iver ( la ter renamed the Ba rcoo), M i tche l l returned to Sydney and thence to Lon d o n , where he wro te his report s tat ing he had fou n d a river lead ing to I n d i a v i a the Gu l f of Carpentar ia : ' the river i s the most i m porta n t i n Austra l i a , i ncreas ing as i t does by successive t r ibu tar ies, and not a mere prod u c t of d is ta n t ranges, a d m i ts o f no d i spu te, a n d the downs and pla i n s o f centra l Austra l i a , thro ugh wh i ch i t flows, seems sufFi c i en t to supp l y the who le wor ld w i t h a n i ma l food'. H is 'zea lous assista n t' , Edm u n d Ken nedy ( l a ter of Ca pe Yo rk fame), was to re tu rn l a ter that sa m e yea r i n expecta t ion o f con fi rm i ng the fi n d i n g . M i tche l l fe l t press u red by h i s riva ls i n explora t i o n , Ca pta i n Sturt a n d D r Le i cha rd t (wh o i nc iden ta l ly, were na med by M i tchel l 's m e n D r Thirst a n d Captain Hungerl)' and there was no t ime to be lost i n pub l i sh i ng the Jou rna l s of h i s fi nd .

Kennedy retu rned to the Ba rcoo, to a spot somewhere near the s i te of the pa i n t i ng , Family tree an the Bareaa (No. 8). He followed the river to the west and then south to where it was Jo i ned by the Thomson R iver ( named by Ken nedy). This new river which had ear l ier been named by Stu rt, a fter h i s g reat friencl S i r Char les Cooper, was Cooper's Creek. The creek soon fla red out i n to a series of chan ne ls. Cooper's Creek in Flood

on Durham Downs (No . 1 0) d ep icts th ese chan nels i n flood c l ose to where Kennedy must have trave l led . Around La ke Yamma Yamma, south of Wi n do rah , Kennedy was forced back by a lack of g rass and water and retu rned north . Th is was no r iver to Ind ia , and M i tche l l 's 'E lys i an fie lds' were, as Ken nedy put it, 'mere ear th , desperate a nd done w i th : Mirages

on Currareva (No. 7) g ives some idea of what i t m igh t have been l i ke, w i th l a rg e wa terholes l i ke those dep icted in pa in t i ng s of the Thomson (No. 9) a n d Cooper's Creek (No 1 2) reduced to J ust m uddy a n d d i r ty pudd l es.

Ca pta i n Cha rles Sturt had been forced back two years ea r l ier ( 1 845) by sea r i n g heat a nd a lack of water and feed. He had reached Cooper's

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Creek from the sou th , and had named i t Strze leck i Creek. Stu r t had followed Cooper's Creek to the north for a short d i s ta nce, and had tu rned back only about 200 k i lometres sou th of where Kennedy had retreated two years later. In 1 86 1 the Bu rke and W i l ls expedit ion pe rished on the banks of Cooper's Creek. Of the fou r explorers who set off to the Gu l f, on ly K ing su rvived. Both Burke and Wil ls per ished near Cu l lya m u rra wa terhole, the waterho le dep icted i n the fi na l work , [No 1 71 With th is the Channel Country became fi rmly en trenched in Austra l i a n mythology, rep lete w i th i rony. Both Burke and W i l ls had per ished a lo ngs ide a wa terhole where ind igenous people had su rvived for thousands o f years Where Kennedy and Stur t had been forced back through a lack of food and water for the ir an ima ls, forty years l a ter catt le sta t ions were being estab l ished, and pastoral dynast ies born i n the Channel Coun t ry. Fam i l ies such a s the Coste l los and the Du racks left the southern tab l e l ands of New Sou th Wales in the ear ly 1 860s, a nd wi th their flocks of sheep and ca tt le pushed i n to the Cha nne l Coun try, esta b l ish i n g sta t ions and ho ld i ngs to wh ich other fam i l y members l a ter m i g ra ted.

Wha t is it about th i s l andscape tha t enab les the vast diversity or p l an ts and an ima ls to prosper? One has to look at the system as a whole to beg i n to understand why a la ndsca pe that is so abundan t i n a l l that supports l i fe i n one insta nce, can be so devo id o f it i n a nother. S im i lar ly, one has to look at i ts people to understand how they a re able to su rvive and enjoy hab i ta tion in a l andscape that pun ishes so absol u te ly those who refuse to come to terms wi th i t .

The Cha nne l Cou n try is pa r t of the Lake Eyre ca tch ment, a l a rge drainage area in sem i-ar id i n la nd Austra l i a tha t provides the source of water for La ke Eyre. To understa nd the size of the catchment, one has to pic ture a fl a t shape l i ke a n i nverted pear, p l ac ing i t over a map of Austra l i a so that the bu l bous part i s not far from the Gu l f, and the poi n t i s n o t far north of Adela ide. I n th is way m u c h of western Queensland, the south east of the Northern Terr i tory and north eastern Sou th Austra l ia a re covered. Lake Eyre is near the sou thern po int , and Mount Isa near the northern . The total basi n com p rises about 1 70f0 of Austra l i a . The lake i tse l f, as a resu l t of the 1 974 f lood, was a l most 8 .5 thousa n d square k i l ometres in a rea and 5 .7 metres deep at the deepest par t. The dep th of sa l t crust was est ima ted to be up to 460 m i l l ime tres and weighed 400 mi l l ion tonsl

Cooper's Creek is one of th ree l a rge river systems servicing the basi n , the other two being the D iamant ina and Georg ina r ivers. A fou rth and l esser river system ca l l ed the Mu l l ig an d ra i n s the eastern s ide of the S impson Dese rt, becoming Eyre Creek a t the sou thern e nd . The

D i aman t i n a R iver Jo i n s Eyre Creek a t Goyder Lagoon and becomes Warbu rton Cree k wh ich flows into La ke Eyre S im i la r l y Cooper's Creek beg i n s at the conf luence of the Ba rcoo R iver and the Thomson R iver, flow i ng down th rough Wi ndorah and I n n a m i ncka a n d even tua l ly i n to La ke Eyre. It was hard for the ear ly exp lorers to bel ieve that rivers flowed i n to creeks and ended in the desert in lakes t ha t were empty more often tha n they wert' fu l l l

These th ree dra inage systems t h a t m a ke u p the ca tc hmen t for La ke Eyre pass th rough extensive a reas of a l luv ia l c lay pla i ns, t h rough sa ndp l a i ns a nd dune fie lds, a nd between low stony r idges. The very na tu re of the topogra phy th rough w h ich the watercou rses flow provides a vast a rray of var ied hab i t a ts and envi ronments. Georgina Gidgee

(No 13) dep icts a l a n d system not com mon ly associated w i t h the Channe l Coun try; the dry roll ing sa ndh i l ls of the eas te rn Sim pson desert.

The flooded environments range from those that are only very occasionally inundated, to the large and permanent waterholes on the major channels. Other areas, such as Coongie Lakes, receive more regular floodi ng a nd provide the b reed i ng ground for many d ifferen t species of b i rds.

When peop le refer to the Chan nel Cou n try they a re genera l ly referr ing to the Cooper chan ne ls, wh i ch s ta r t north o f Windorah and stretch a l l the way to I n n a m incka , a pprox ima te ly 420 k i lometres to the south , and beyond . At the w ides t po int (between Ta nbar and Keeroongooloo) the channe ls a re a l m ost 80 k i l ometres across. Further south and Just north of Innam i n cka the Cooper ga thers again a t a p lace ca l l ed 'the Choke', a na rrow rocky sect ion t h rough wh ich the Cooper passes before sprea d i ng o u t a g a i n on the way to Lake Eyre. The D iamant i na and Georg ina r ivers a lso have s i gn i fica n t a reas of channe ls, and as a resu l t these fea tu res typify the who le of the catchment.

When ra i ns fa l l in the u pper reaches of the catchment , somet imes as a resu l t of the sum mer wet season tha t d renches the north of Austra l i a each year - see Beginning of the Wet on Norwood (No 2) -the water feeds i n to the r ivers such as the Ba rcoo a nd the Thomson, and flows west and then south. The flows mai n ly follow the fairly defined river beds u n ti l they Join to form Cooper's Creek. Huge trees (such as

Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus micro theca - river red gum and cool ibahl. centu r i es old, ma r k the more perma nen t waterho les Below Wi ndorah the water fa ns out i n to a myriad of major and m i nor chan ne ls, t he exten t of the i n u ndat ion depen d i n g o n a n u m be r of factors, the q u a n ti ty of water be ing the mos t i m porta n t one. No two floods a re ever the same, a nd where some channels fi l l in one flood, they

may not i n the next. A fa l len tree, or a p i l e-u p of roly poly ISalsola koh) can set thousa nds of tons of f lood wa ters off i n a nother d i recti o n . The t im i ng of the ra ins (summer or w i n te r, or a succession of f loods) and the na tu re and extent of i n u ndat ion lextensive or pa r t i a l , l i nger ing or q u i c k wet/dry) a re c ruc i a l factors. Va ria b i l i ty i s one of lhe key fea t u res of the system .

The water spreads ou t over the coun tryside, r u n n i n g i n , fi l l i n g a n d flowi ng through the hund reds of channe ls, hol lows a n d flats. As the flood peak passes, wa ter slowly dra ins ou t leav ing behi nd numerous ephemera l water ho les a nd sha llows. A mean a nnua l low o f 3. 1 5 m i l l ion m eg a l i tres at the beg i n n i ng of Cooper's Creek becomes 1 .35 m i l l i on mega l i t res a t Na ppa M err ie just north of I nnam incka . I n other words, Just ove r 57Dfo of the wa ter d isappears in 420 k i lometres, flooding approxima tely

20 000 square ki lometres. The water acts as a pu lse of l i fe dow n th i s frag i l e a nd d e l i ca te

ecosystem. The la nd comes a l ive, w ith i nsects, aq uat ic p la nts, rep t i les, mam mals and b i rds a l l rush i n g to cap i ta l ise on the sudden exp los ion of food . Reproduct ion cycles depend on the ava i la b i l i ty of food , a n d so b reed i n g takes p lace. H i l l ocks or isla nds in the lakes become the rockeries for tens of thousands of waterfow l . B i rds norma l ly associa ted w i t h the coast, such as s i lver g u l ls, pel icans, waders and gan nets, a re sud d e n ly to be found in thousands. Acres and a c res of eggs a re spread over t h e SOi l , a t t rac t i n g b i rds of prey and scavengers, constant ly on the a l e r t for ungua rded nests or ou tcast f ledg l i n gs.

The t im i ng of the floods determ i nes what g rows. Forbs and h e r bs are more character ist ic of floods in the cooler seasons. G rasses predo m i na te i n the warmer mon ths. Such g rowth is h i g h ly p r ized by pastora l ists, where i ts poten t ia l to fa tten and fin ish l ivestock for market is renowned. The l a rge r pastoral compan i es have many ho ldings in the favou red Cha nne l Cou n try. The i r stock a re bred elsewhere- a n d then moved on to the chan nels to fa tten i n record t ime . As a CSIRO report declared in 1980, 'a beef cattie i nd ustry based on extensive grazing is the only ag r ic u I tural land use that is suitable to these lands: The reason for this is that when the g rass and water goes, so do the cattle: to m a rket.

The system has supported l i fe s i nce a n tiqUi ty. A stro l l across the c lay pans and i n to the sandh i l l s revea ls m a ny s i gns of i n d igenous occu p a t ion . The rema i ns of jam-jams (sa ndstone g r i nd i n g stones) and yerndoos

(crack i ng stones for she l l food) can st i l l be seen. There a re m iddens, and count l ess used stones sca ttered about. Th is has long been a h u m a n as wel l as na tura l landscape. On ly echoes rema i n of i nd i genous n ames and the wea l th of mean ing beh ind them : ' ka-ku-r i ' for d ry, ' toora-ku n-gu- ry'

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for the p la in of the kanga roos and ' tool-koo-roo' for the b ig red g ravel p l a i n s coun try.

The bio log ica l diversi ty of Coope r's Creek is of world s ig n i ficance. The Cooper, Diama nt ina and Georgina a re the three last major r iver systems in Aus t ra l i a that a re not dam m ed o r regu la ted. This frag i l e system is de l ica te ly ba lanced, and wate r i s the key to i ts su rvival - water, not i n bores a nd pi pes, but w i ld and uncon t ro l led, flood i ng a s i t h a s done for cen t u r ies past. The system must be seen as a INhole , as someth ing more than j u s t the sum of i ts par ts. Not o n ly is the Channe l Count ry worth preserving , but un like many other a reas, there is sti l l someth ing the re to preserve. Past a nd cu r re n t use a n d occupa t ion has not yet had the dra m a t ic impact on the env i ronment it has had in other areas. The system is s t i l l l a rgely i n tact .

Exo tic weed i nvasion (parthinium hysterophorus and acacia nilotico)

and Fe ra l a n ima ls (rabbits, p igs Foxes a nd cats) pose a n umber of th reats. These i n troduced p roblems a r ise part ly from ignorance, bu t more i m p o r t a n tly from i n a p p rop r i a te dec isions by l and adm i n istra tors. The mana gemen t of the u pper reaches of the catch men t is as i m por tan t as t h a t of t he l ower reaches. Cro p pi ng , t he h a rvest ing of water, and extens ive l and c l eari ng of br iga low, g idgee a nd boree [Acocia

harpophyllo, combogei, tephrino) in the headwa ters, a l l have im pl icat ions for the long term susta i nabi l i ty a nd health of the r iver system. This Inflows project celebra tes the sta nd taken by local pastora l ists to p reven t t he d evelopment of i n tensive i rr iga tion Farm ing on Cooper's Creek.

The ma i n tena nce of the Cha n ne l Cou n try as one of Austra l i a's g rea test na tu ra l assets depends not on ly on accu m u lated knowledge a nd i n fo r m a t ion , b u t a lso on the sense of p lace and com m i tment of i ts i n hab i ta n ts and com m u n i ti es. The p roposed cotton deve lopment motiva ted and ga lvan ised loca l fee l ing to such an extent tha t the com m u n i ty a cted w i t h passio n a nd dete rm i na tion to preserve the i r envi ronmen t, both na tu ra l a nd soc i a l . The threat of i rr igat ion provided a com m o n pu rpose and motivation, empower ing the comm u n i ty to resist the p roposal in sp i te of the [su pposed) local economic benefits w ide ly touted by the deve lopers. As a resu l t , Chan nel Coun try pastoral ists a re now even more awa re of the economic and po l i tica l signi ficance of wider com m u n i ty percept ions of the i r land use. A loca l pastora l compa ny has been one of the first i n Austra l i a to d eve lop a n environmenta l mon i tor ing system to measure a nd modiry i ts i m pact on the envi ronment. Another com p a ny sel ls orga n i c beef from the Channel Coun try world wide, and prides itse lf on p resen ti ng a chem ica l ly c lean a nd g reen p roduct. Local pastora l companies, together w i th governmen t agencies a nd Meat and

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Livestock Austra l i a , a re r unn i ng t r i a ls i n the Channe l Country to better u nderstand how to fu r ther m i n im ise the negative i m pacts of g raz ing .

The La ke Eyre Basin Coordi na t i ng Group , w i th representatives from the Cooper, Georg i n a a nd D iamant ina R ivers, seeks to imp lement and coord inate the p reserva t ion of th i s un i que ecosystem, a catchment that i nc l udes t h ree states and the Northern Terr i tory. The p reservation of a n ecosystem a nd ca tchment of such nat iona l and ecological importance needs the support of a l l Austra l ia ns, and not just the local commun i ties. For thousa nds of years na tura l and soc ia l systems have been del ica tely i n te rtwi ned . . . they st i l l a re.

lNFLOWS:

THE CHANNEL COUNTRY

JANE CARRUTHERS

MANDY MARllN

1 1

1 . APPROAC H I N G STOR M ON YARAKA ROAD

'Al l travel has its advan tages. If the traveller visits better cou ntries, he

may learn 10 i m provl' 11is own; and if fortune carries h i m to worse, he

may learn III enjoy his own'.

Sa mue l Johnson.

Some yea rs ago a cousin from Eng l a nd visi ted South Africa and I reca l l motoring from Johannesburg down to Cape Town to show he r someth i n g of t he coun try Accustomed to Devon's na rrow w i nd i ng la nes a nd hedgerows, she was a l most frig h tened by the sense of space in the a rid ka roo south of K imberley, and amazed by the long stra i g h t road which cou ld be seen stre tch i ng di rectly to the dista n t horizon many ki lometres beyo n d. In Br i ta i n one is i nc l i ned to l ook hor izo n ta l l y, one's gaze di rected towa rds the soft a nd human ised l andscape, and my cousin was tota l ly exh i l a ra ted by the skyscape wh i ch d om i na ted o u r drive. Com ing from Sou t h Afr ica, I was not i n t im ida ted by the immensity of the Ou tback, bu t neve r the l ess the g rea t sense of sca le is so overwhelming tha t i t ma kes an extraordina r i l y strong i m p ress ion even to someone fam i l i a r w i th wide open spaces. Austra l i a's skies i nspire real awe. They a re canvases for the p lay of l i g ht and colour and for the c louds and storms tha t traverse them.

Occasiona l ly we met a road tra i n crammed with l ivestock head ing for a feed lot o r a ma rket , b u t usua l l y we - the I n flows p roject team -had the road to ou rse lves. Under these c i rcumstances, se l f- re l ia nce is a wise cau t ion . We travel led w i th addi tiona l supp l ies o f diese l a nd wa ter, a cou p i e or spare wheels, ta pe to effect eme rgency repa i rs on the w i ndscreen i n case o f damage from a stone th rown u p by the heav i ly loaded tra i l e r and a we l l equ i pped f i rst-aid k i t. We a lso had swags, tucker boxes, a gas cyl i nder, Bedou r ie oven , sui tcases, reference books, l o l l ies and a l l t h e l i t t le t h i ngs needed to m a ke a Jou rney comfortab le . In t ruth , however, most space i n the veh ic l e was occu p ied by Mandy's ca nvases, made specia l ly for he r a nd packed i n to custom ised protective boxes. At the sta r t of the Journey, these canvases we re b l a n k, Just l i ke a n open sky wait i n g expectant ly to be fi l l ed w i th dramatic tension and colou r.

When I l ooked a t the m a p of Austra l i a , t he con t i nenta l i n te rior a ppea red we l l provided wi th roads I i nk i ng towns effic ient ly and di rectly. On the g round, however, t h i s is somet imes more fict ion than fact. There a re roads departmen t boa rds advis ing of seasona l divers ions and stress i n g the need to check the best passab le rou tes w i th loca l peop le . Most roads a re u nsea led a nd there i s no shoulder lane, so drivi ng is slow. B u t o ne of the advan tages of unse a l ed roads and slow travel is tha t the

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geology is so c lear ' u nderfoot'. You can feel the clayey soi ls benea th the wheels, hear the rumb le of the corruga tions where the su r face is ha rder o r become awa re (wi th some a l a rm ) of the stony pa tches. Red so i l is sandy and the ra i n e i ther runs off o r s i nks in q u ick ly. G rey soi l is omi nous because it i s c lay and even the l i g h test of ra ins i mmediate ly turns it i n to s l i ppe ry g rease. When the sky darkened we beca m e a nxious, for no ma tter how carefu l ly one drives, the veh ic le i s i nc l i ned to s l ip and sl ide. Th i s k i nd of trave l l i n g is tense and dema nds concen tra t ion from passengers a nd driver. After a day spent dodg i ng storms the even ing rum or beer was part icula r ly welcome.

Approaching Storm on Yoroko Rood. 2001. Oil. ochre. pigment/linen. 90 x 330 cms

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2. BEGI N N I N G O F THE WET ON N ORWOOD

We we n t on a tou r of the h is to r i c Wool scou r. reconstru cted as a com m u n i ty project by the Folk of B l acka l l . My brand-new Akubra perched Firmly on my down-tu rned head and notebook in ha nd. I wrote down i tems o f i n terest. O u r guide spoke w i th a st rong Queensland accen t and I h a d t o concentrate hard t o catch o n to the Facts which came tumbl i ng o u t rapid ly amid attractive local metaphors and names. The in Forma tive pa t ter i ncluded ·dead Fin ish· - now was that a shorn sheep, a t i red shea r e r o r a tree? Suddenly eve ryone laughed: our gu ide had seen me wr i t i n g a nd w i thou t paus ing a moment in h i s story, said as he wa lked past me , 'Wr i ting a book, m a te?'

I was de l i g h ted to Jo i n the I nFlows project as i ts 'chron i c ler ' , a job descr i p t i on g iven to me by Karen Emmot t, a ta l en ted bush-poet. She p re Fe r red the word 'chron ic le r' to ' recorder', 'jou rnal- keeper' or 'dia r ist', a nd so did I because of i ts strong semant ic l i n k w i th ch ronology a nd the concept of movemen t over t ime . There a re many ea r ly colon i a l travel a cco u n ts of both South Afr ica and Austra l i a a nd they p layed a n impo r ta n t role i n i n Fo rm i ng a wider world of what were, i n ea r l i e r t imes, I sscr-known reg i ons. B u t even i n our shr i n k i ng world of rapid visual and a u ra l commun ica t ions, there is someth i n g sa t isFy ing in persona l l y m a rk i n g oFf each Full a nd exc i t i n g day, no t i n g conversa t ions a nd a necdo tes, topog ra phy, h istor ica l issues, a n ima ls a nd p lan ts and in be ing ab l e t o construct, i n the end , a n overa l l 'jou r ney' From the discrete e l em e n ts of expe r ience.

Mandy Mart i n's pa i n t i ngs record aesthetic moments in the same way that words record ch rono log ica l moments. Just as any d iary - or sl ice of rea l l ife - consists most ly of rou t i n e, Ma ndy bel ieves that her i mages should a lso dep ic t the 'ord ina ry', the 'typ ica l ' , the ' recogn isab le'. Her g rea t ta lent, h owever, is to i n t roduce a strong symbo l ic e lement which transforms and up l i Fts the 'ordi nary' i n to the universa l . Mandy a rgues that today's environmen ta l deba tes a re domina ted by two la nguages, science and politics, and that a n injection o f aesthetics i s needed. Landscape can be i nterpreted in many ways. From t i me i mmemorial , aesthetics has been one of t h e avenues to environmenta l appreciation. Art can contribute to the d iscussions around the care and maintenance of land by incorporat ing

i mag i n a t ive metaphors of Austra l ia's space and by opening avenues to understa ndi ng i n a way that other d isci p l illes can not

However, Ma ndy's i m ages cannot be labe l led 'protest a r t: She does not i nc l u de people a nd a n i ma ls, or b u i ld ings or cult ivated l and. She even avoid s emot iona l scenes of env i ro n menta l despo l i a t ion . Ra ther, w i t h i n

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her aesthet i c perspective, she is a t pa ins to p resent the env i ronment as a rchetypa l a nd not a precise t ime-bound even t. She bel ieves tha t the la ndscape is an i n terface between human i ty and the earth . In th i s way, her work d i ffers tota l l y from a ch ronolog i ca l record. The human presence m akes i tse l f fe l t in Ma ndy's n u mber i ng her pa i n t i ng s a nd som e t imes writ ing some k ind of t i t le or i nscr ipt ion I I1tO the pa int The la ndscapes are the metaphors, not the text i tse l F.

Mandy travels w i th an i roning board For an easel and an esky Full o f pa ints and pencils ( t h e esky doubles as a seat when beers a r e o FFered arou nd). The rout ine is to set up in a satisFactory place, oFten chosen For her by l andowners. A m ixed-media pencil sketch and watercolour is the

prel i m i n a ry drawi n g for a l a te r oi l pa i n ti n g . First there is a base of

watercolo u r, a nd in Mandy's expert hands the pa in tbrush crea tes soFt spaces For trees, wa ter, so i l and sky When ava i lab le , pu re p igments a re used; much of the brown colour is mud a nd the reds a re va r ious shades of ochre or m i ca . Somet imes Mandy merely takes a b i t of the soi l and m ixes i t w i th wa ter, o r she may brea k u p o r scrape a rock to get co lour from the so ft i n ter ior. As she discove red on th is project, g idgee ash makes a wonderFul w h i te. I not iced tha t many of her pa i n t tubes a re ma rked 'Austra l i an p igments' a nd they di Ffer From the colours of Europe. B u t st i l l , she thinks many a re not q u i te Austra l i a n enough , a nd some seem ra ther syn thet ic and un rea l i st ic . Art ists work i n g in AFrica confron t the same d i l emma , for the l ig h t i s aga in d i fferent F rom Europe's, bu t i t i s not l i ke Austral ia's.

Beginning of the Wet on Norwood. 2000. O i l , ochre, pigmmt/l inen, 90 x 1 65 cms

1 5

3. THE HOLLOW ON N OONBAH

Vistas of immens i ty a n d the macroview of the previous images con trast with the microview at g round level. At the beg i n n i n g of the wet, a d ry creek bed seems a lmost expectan t u n der a canopy of sw i rl i ng c loud and rush i n g l i g h t. The drama and i n tens i ty of i m pend ing s torms br ing forth a sense of forebod i n g on the sma l l e r sca le . Water p lays ou t on the earth as wel l a s i n t he sky a nd metaphors of g randeur conver t to metaphors of g rowth in a l andscape of more pe rsona l d imension .

The I n flows p roject is concerned w i th the surface water of the Cooper 's Creek ra ther than the a r tes i an system which u n derpins i t , but South Africa has no a rtesian water and I wa n ted to learn more about th is u nde rg round l i feb lood o f pa r ts of Austra l ia . Water is a prec ious commod i ty in Sou th Afr ica , and I had been shocked on a previous vis i t to Aust ra l ia to see bores l i ke r u n n i n g sores, bubb l i ng out thousa nds of k i lo l i tres of sme l l y wa te r each day, wa tC'r wh ich had been m i l l ions o f yea rs i n t h e m a k i n g a n d stor ing, o n l y t o evapora te rap id ly a n d be wasted once it reached the surface . Appa r en tl y the Grea t Ar tesia n Basin o f Austra lia i s the l a rgest i n t h e world a nd a n aston ish ing 1 8 000 bores have been s u n k in Queens land since d r i l l i n g began in the 1 870s.

More than th ree thousa nd of these a rtes ian bores sti l l f low, and a lmos t ha l f of them a re u ncon trol led. Not surpr is ing ly, water p ressure has d ec l ined m a rkedly over the l a s t cen tu ry and there is a concer ted effo r t by the sta te g overnment to e ncourage people to close o ff u nused bores a n d to regulate the use of the others w i th the modern techno logy wh ich i s to hand .

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The Hollow on Noonbah. 2001 O i l, ochre, p ig m e n t/l i n e n , 90 x 165 ems

1 7

4. NOO NBAH WATERH OLE O N VERGEM ONT CREEK CH AN NEL

F loo d i n g a l ters the Cooper 's Creek ecology - somet i mes i r reversi b ly. W i th t h e recent i n u ndat ion of the Channe l Cou n try, carp a nd mosqu i to f ish co l o n ised n e w creeks a nd wa terho les, t he reby i n creJs ing the i r ranges s ubstantially. Cooper's Creek contains a nu mber of endemic fish species and Noonbah's owner, Angus Emmott, told us about a rare grern turtle that might be threatened by the aggressive i nvaders. In Europe, because of its long history of habitation and manipu lation , the terms 'a l ien' , ' fera l ', ' indigenous' or ' native' make l i ttle sense. Where plants and a n i m a Is came from 'or ig il l a l ly' i s of no consequence. However, i n newer �etl ler soc iet ies l i ke Austra l i:] and southe rn Afr ica it ma t ters g rea t ly because i m por ted (exo tic) a l ie ns upset a ba lJnce and modify a b iodivers i ty wh ich may ta ke t housands of years to rega i n some k i nd of eq u i l ib r i um .

The rabbi t i nvasions o f AustrJ l i a a re probably t he best k nown case in po i n t a nd h i s to r i cal desc r i pt i ons a nd old photographs of t h e pesti l e nce a t i ts he i g h t s t i l l shock t he reader or v iewer. La ndho ldtr, a re r u t h l e ss a bou t e rad ica t i ng a l i ens from thei r p rope r ti es because they compe te for g raz ing with sheep and cattle. I n troduced fera l pests today i n c l ud goats, p i gs, ca ts, camels a nd foxes. Ca me ls h ave comme rc i a l va l u e and a re so ld to buyers i n t he M iddle East where Austra l i an -b red cam e l s enjoy a considerab l e reput.a t ion for w i n n i ng ca me l races' The M idd le East is a lso a ma rket for l ive gOillS, and feral p ig carcasses land up i n G e rmany a nd Austr ia where they a rr converted i n to sa usages a nd mea t pastes.

As has been the case i n southern Afr ica as we l l , many Australia n ecosys tems have been severely t<lm pered w i th . They ca nnot s imp ly be aband oned to fig h t themselves beca use they wi l l not be self-correct i ng . I n t h e ruture they will have to be managed, a n d how best a n d how appro priate ly this in tervention m ight b e achieved is t h e subjecL o f vocife rous debate. Water catchments, like Cooper's Creek o r the larger Lake Eyre Basin for exa mple (itstl l the sizt' of all of South Africa). might be better gove rned as a s ing le u n i t, rega rdless of stilLe, p rovincial - o r even na t iona l - borders. New ca tchment managemen t leg is la t ion has been i n t roduced i n Sou th Afr ica wh ich goes some w'ay towards m in imi s i n g con fl ic t ing loca l monagell1en t stra teg ies, bu t it is too soon to lake s tock of any success. Much of Sou th Africa's i ndustr ia l h u b a round Johannesburg (Ga u teng Prov ince) re l i es on water from rivers r i s ing i n the Dra kensberg mountai ns (KwaZu l u -Na ta l Provi nce) a nd from the

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h i gh l ands of Lesotho (a ne ig hbour ing SLa te) . Is some k i nd of eco-state or b io -reg iona l government a way forwa rd? Pe rhaps i t is a way, bu t catchmen ts a re not on l y u n its of natural h istory, they a re social u n i ts too. Peop le and Iclildscape ca nnot be sepa ra ted; i ndeed they o u g h t to be better i n tegra ted.

Noonbah Waterho/e on Vergemont Creek Channel. 2001 O i l , ochre, p igment/l inm, 90 x 165 c m s

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5. WESTERTON RAM PADDOCK 2

I n the u pper reaches of the Cooper's Creek catchment westwards from B l acka l l towards the h i g h g round of the Ca rna rvon Range a re a number o f i m por tan t Abo r i g i n a l si tes, of wh ich Cu tsie's (or Cu tch i e's) Cave i s one. Many o f them a re on pr iva te p rope rty and cannot therefore freely be vis i ted We had wan ted to go to 'B l ack's Pala ce' a cave and bur ia l g round which w e had heard about, but prob lems w i th access - or access wh ich had been abused by vis i tors - preven ted th is. As an a l terna tive, ou r hosts had a r ra nged For an out i ng to Cuts i e 's Cave, somewha t d i Ffi cu l t to fi nd as the road to the c l i ffs had washed away i n the recen t floods. The smal l d i r t trac k soon beca me i mpassable , so we parked the veh ic le and a fter a bi l ly o f tea, walked the rest o f the way. As we a mbled a long , we d i scussed g u l ly e rosion I n the v ic i n i ty - w h a t Sou th Afr icans ca l l ' dongas: [The Oxfo rd D ict ionary i n c l udes th is South Africa n mean i ng , expla i n i n g tha t i t is p ronounced w i th a h a rd 'g ' and h as a Bantu or ig i n , bu t I was advised tha t in Austra l i a dongas a re movab l e h u ts l)

The re is no extan t record of exactly how the cave was used - nor when i t was last used - but i t was probab ly some k ind of s i te where peop l e g a thered for i n i tia t ion or other ceremon ies. Not ing the number of s m a l l pa i n ted ha nds we wondered whether the people who last used it were the S to len Genera t ions of the 1 930s - the ch i l d ren ta ken from their p a ren ts in a d isastrous assi m i l at ion pol icy fo r wh ich a pology is cu rre n t ly sough t. As I u n d e rstand this aspect of Austra l ian h isto ry, Abori g i na l or ha l f-caste peop le d i d not adm i t to havi ng l i g h t-ski n ned ch i l d r en for fear they would be removed and settled with wh i te fam i l ies o r put in i ns t i tu t ions where they wou ld acq u i re some trapp i ngs of 'c ivi l i sat ion ' to rep lace the i r trad it i on a l her i tage. Because of this fear, they refused to take educat ion , hea lth a n d other advan tages suppl ied by the gove r n m e n t beca use of the d read of losi n g the i r ch i ld ren . As Sou th Afr ica ns w i th a na t i ona l h i s tory m o re racia l l y divided and b ru ta l tha n Austra l i a 's, we have lea rn t tha t say ing sorry is the easy part. Being sorry, or n ur t u r i ng reconc i l i a tion , is more d ifficu l t, but i t is lhe more rewa rd i ng and hea l i n g process.

The re is a hole in the rock-roof o f Cutsie's cave and ra i n fa l l s through i n t o a rounded stone depress ion benea tho T h i s depression was fu l l of wa ter at the t ime of ou r vis i t, and Mandy u sed a l i tt le orit to mix the r ich brown and red colou rs for her sketch on lhis page. Tom suggested that this was specia l ra i nbow serpent wa ter, i t would help Mandy to create a magica l paint i ng , but one wh i ch wou ld disappear when we reached lower g round and rea ppea r on ly when i t was near the s i te i n wh ich it was made.

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Culchie's Cove. Ghos{gum. deod gidget, bon;e and "cork' (ICC. Auyusl, ""Iock on PJper

Whi l e Mandy pa in ted, her eyes a l e r t to every shape and shade of co lour, we wandered above the cave si te, iden t i fy ing trees and b i rds. A cur i ous wa l l aby came close and then bou nded away. A magp ie flew overhead a n d I cou ld hea r the w h i r r of i ts w i ngs. S imon acci d e n ta l ly a lmost swa l lowed a na tive bee i n our enthusiast ic chatter and he to ld us how the Abo r i g i n a l people used to g l u e a l i t t le wh ite fea ther on to a captu red bee so that i t would l ead them back to a h ive. He tempted us to p ick and eat a berry, 'bush- tucker' w i th a tart citrus taste. South Africa has rock pa i n t i ngs l ike Austra l i a , a lso made by h unter-gatherers who had strong con nect ions with the l and . I n caves th roughou t the sub-cont i nent one can fi nd dep ict ions of a n ima ls and of h uman fig u res, danc ing i n a state of trance to woo the gods to provide ra i n or food.

In a sma l l ravi ne fa i r ly close to the cave is a fresh -water spri n g . With water ooz i ng gen t ly from the earth , th is spr i n g m ust once have been extremely beau t i fu l , but it was dyna m i ted some decades ago in an attempt to en l a rge the water supply 50 that stock cou ld d r i nk more easi ly from it. The sp r i ng is now fenced off w i th ba rbed w i re, so it is not a par t i cu la r ly a ttract ive si te. But one can i mag i n e how, in pre-co lon ia l t imes (and perhaps even l a ter) the ceremon ia l cave and the spri ng were a focus for an Abor i g i na l com m u n i ty in the a rea. Appa rently the name Cutsie (spe l t i n many d i fferen t ways) derives from the name of a German man who was m u rdered by local Abor ig ina l people . Perhaps the foreig ner's presence u pset the spir i tual ba la nce of the place, perhaps he witnessed ceremon ies which were h ighly secret. We do not know why he met h is death, but one can specu l a te in a place l i ke th i s.

Weslerlon Ram Paddock 2. 2001. Oil, ochre, p i g m ent/l i nen , 90 x 1 65 cms

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6. MT FELlX LOOKI N G TOWARDS FLAT TOP, WARBRECCAN CREEK AND FA RRAR'S CREEK

There are not many mou n ta i n ra nges from wh ich to view the f lat flood­p l a i n geo logy. M i l l ions of years of flood i ng has eroded ha rd rock i n to sand a nd d is t r ibuted i t even l y on the surfa ce of the ea r th . Moun t Fe l ix i s one of the few ou tcrops in the Cooper catchment to have escaped th is fate a nd one cannot he lp b u t be saddened that many of these h igh po i n ts have been va ndalised by the e rec t ion of u na u tho rised a nd u ns igh t l y com m u n icat ions towers a nd service roads. The e rosion these crea te is u n l i ke the natura l e rosion of p revious eons, and deep gul l i es, which g ive she l te r to i nvas ive p l a n ts a nd a nima ls, wh i l e reduc ing the n iches For na t ive species, res u l t From i nsens it ive construct ion.

The 'Flat Top' of Mandy's pai n t i n g is very rem i n i sce n t of the si m i l a r mesas o f the Sou th Afr ica n ka roo w h ich have been shaped b y t h e same p rocesses of e ros ion. Ove r m i l l i ons of yea rs, r i ch Fossil deposi ts have accu m u l a ted over a nc i e n t F loodp l a i ns a nd pa laeon tolog ists F ind much to i n terest t hem , qu i te oFten Find i n g a crea ture o r p l an t new to sci ence. In the Channe l Coun try, pet r i Fied wood from the Cretaceous per iod is the m ost common foss i l , b u t the re a re plants a nd she l l s wh ich bear w i tness to a l acust r ine past. The Fossil f i sh Found near Canow i ndra in New Sou th Wa les is Fa m ous - i t eve n has i ts own m useum. O ne wond e rs whether other Fossi l treasu res m i g h t be Fou nd one day i n the Cooper's ca tchmen t too.

More treasures lying on the ea r th or J ust beneath it a re more recen t hum a n a r tetacts From a round 40000 yea rs ago. We were to ld about Abor ig i n a l si tes i n the Channe l Coun ty, b u t people a re secretive, Fea r i ng Na t ive Title c l a ims a nd loss of property r i gh ts. C lar i ty on pr inc ip le a nd process seems to be lack ing a nd leaseholders a re u nsu re of the i r future. Many property owners we spoke to a re, cont ra ry to the racist stereotype of ha r d - b i tten Queensla nders, in favour of Na tive Ti t le. However, they a re a Fra id o f how claim a n ts w i l l be ident iFied because stor i es of i mposters a re common , a nd concerned at an i ncrease in trespass ing , or becom ing vu l ne rab l e to pub l i c l i a b i l i ty c la ims. They a lso resen t the Fact that they w i l l bea r an unequa l s ha re of the consequences of wh i te sett lemen t by los ing the i r propert ies. By com pa ri son, c i ty dwe l l e rs a re let off extremely l i g h t ly, t houg h t he i r bu rden of g u i l t is no d i FFe rent . I n cont rast, wh i te South A frica n s a re paying a n equa l price for our racist past, i n h i g he r taxes fo r Black deve lopment schemes a nd l and pu rchases for previously disadva n taged com m u n i t ies. There is also a strong governmen t-driven a ffirm a t i ve act ion e m p loym e n t po l icy a nd a l and restitu t ion p rocess

2 2

which w i l l see j ustice for those evicted w i thout adequate compensation du ring the years of apa r the id. Open transpa ren t deba te and u nequ ivoca l governmen t pol i cy a re he lp fu l, because they a l l ow us to ce lebra te di fference and to unde rsta nd cu l tu ra l diversi ty.

IVIt Felix looking towards Flat top, Warbreccon Creek and Farrar's Creek. 2001. O i l , ochre, p igment/l i n e n , 90 x 330 ems

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7. M IRAGES ON CURRAREVA, JUN CTl ON OF BARCOO AN D THOMSON

Eco log ica I d isru ption of the Coope r catchment has been go ing on for decades but a l though many peop le cou l d see what was happe n i n g , envi ron m en ta l act iv ism w a s n o t spawned b y problems of weed i nva sion or an i nc rease in fe ra l a n i m a ls. I nstead, a cam pa i gn began in the ear ly 1 990s w i t h an externa l t h reat to the Cu rra reva prope rty wh ich l ies on a n a ttractive stretch of the Cooper nea r Windorah .

The Cu rra reva i r r i ga t ion scheme was modelled on the cotton- fields of the D a rl i ng nea r Bou r ke. ' Th i s is a l so an a rid a rea , w i th a pasto ral economy and s im i l a r ecological p rob l ems of woody weeds, fera l a n ima l s and i n a p p ropr ia te l a nd m a nageme n t . Cotton is econom i ca l ly a t tractive beca use there is i n terna t iona l dema nd and it y ie lds a h i g her i ncome than sheep o r cattle. However, corpora t ions r un the cotton industry because cap i ta l a nd other costs a re too h i g h for i n d iv idua l l andowners to shou l de r. Cotton m ust be watered and fer t i l i sed a r t i fi c i a l ly, treated chem ica l l y aga i nst d i seases and pests, p icked and packed mechan ica l l y a nd t r a n s ported l ong d ista nces to the nea rest seaport . The Dar l i ng flows more reg u la r ly t han the Cooper, b u t even so, cotton i rr i ga t ion has lowered t he river leve l and the wa te r table [and sa l i na t ion) has r i sen . The smel l of c hemica ls fou ls the a i r, and humans and l ivestock often fa l l i l l .

E nvi ronme n ta l is ts a ttack cotton product ion because i t d isru p ts ecolog ica l p rocesses fa r mo re t h a n even the worst excesses of the pastora l i ndustry. However, what the envi ronmen ta l ists d id not a t fi rst a p prec i a t e - a n d wha t has becom e ev iden t in the Coope r's Creek campa ign - is the equa l l y i m porta n t fact tha t a m u l t i - nat iona l corpora te p rese n ce and i n tens ive c rop-cu It iva t ion upsets the fi nely-tuned socia I envi r o n m ent as we l l . The Ou tback re p resen ts a pecu l ia r ly Austra l i an way of l i fe a n d i rr iga tion schemes a re i ncreasi ng ly si tes of con test in wh ich peo p l e p rotest a t beco m i n g pawns in a n i n te rnat ionCi I homogen ised corpora te cu l tu re.'

C u r ra reva is c lose to l a rge, sem i -permanent wa terholes a n d when the f l ood s come, i t i s i n u nda ted w i th water. The p roperty had been g ra n te d a n i rr igat ion perm i t some years previously and the new owners (Macqu a r i e men, fam i l i a r w i th the Da r l ing cotton i n dustry) fe l t that the t ime h a d come to exercise it. Accord i ng ly, they gave not ice of t he i r i nte n t ion to use Cooper water for i r r igat ing fru i t trees, wheat and cotton. I n ad d i t i o n, they spoke o f b u i ld i ng a dam on the Coope r in order to contain the 'excess' wate r in t imes o f flood ing for use i n d ry per iods. Cog n i sa n t of the cap i ta l that this scheme wou ld i nject i n to a depressed

24

reg iona l economy, the owners were conf iden t t ha t i t wou ld be we l l received by the Queensla nd state author i t ies.

Then s lowly t he campa ign to save the Cooper swel led . Envi ronmen ta l ists q uest ioned the w isdom of crop-growing i n th i s a rea and worr ied that the last u n regu l a ted river system on the con t i nent m ight be tampered w i th . Scie n t ists real ised how l i t tle was known about the Cha nne l Cou n try ecosystem a nd voiced concern that i t m i g h t be destroyed even before research cou ld be done. Hyd rolog ists a rgued that the long-term susta i nab i l i ty of the l a rger Lake Eyre system m i g h t be a t risk. Abor ig ina l g roups added the i r voices to the g rowing campaig n : some sacred si tes in the a rea m i g h t be ru i ned ' Loca l people specu la ted on the effect to the i r l i festyle if pastora l i sm gave way to ag ri cu l tu re. Th ey were roused to act ion - i ndeed they were empowered by Cur ra reva : o u tsiders were abou t to de term ine the i r f u tu re. They fe l t a l ie na ted by the Queens la nd government wh ich cons idered the i r r iga t ion scheme so favou rably a nd d id not even consu l t local op in ion about i t . Rura l pastoral va lues were be ing d iscoun ted by i m persona l a u thor i ties a n d ignorant 'town ies' in fa r-away c i t ies, g reedy for export ma rkets and fore ign exchange and who lacked u nderstand ing about the soc ia l fa br ic of Cooper's Creek. Were economic val ues the on ly ones, they asked?

An excellent su rvey or lhc Murray-Ddr l ing lJ�tSln is J rv1 Pawl' l l , Thl ' l:rncr�J!'nCt o f

Bion.:gionu/ism in (he Murray-Durling Bu')in, Murray-DJrl ing Bas in Con l l l l i�::.ion.

Ca'llJ"rra, 1 993.

D J M u lvaney Ied.1, The Humonities and the Australian Environtn<'nl. Auslm k,n Acodemy

oi ! I lf HlInl.ni t iK, (': ,n I1<"rr;'I, 1 99 1 , S ilov",> (cd I. fllvironmt'nlal History and PulleY: Stili

S<" l l Ill1g Australia, Oxford Unlvc" i ly PrbS, 50ull1 Melbourne, 2000.

5 R Morton, M 0 Doherty and R D Barker, Natural Heritage Values oj' the Lake Eyre Basin

in South Austrulio: Wurld Heritnge Asscssment, CSIRO Division af Wildl i le and Ecology,

Canberra, 1 995; J J Pigram and R C Sundel l (cdsJ. Notional Parks and Protected Areas' Selection, Delimitation, and Iv/anagemenl, Centle for Water Policy RC'Cilrcll. UniVl'rsi l-y of New England, f\rrn ldale, N5W, 1 997

Mirages on Currareva, junction of Boreao and Thomson. 200 1 . Oil , ochre, pigment/l inen, 90 x 1 65 ems

2 5

8. FAM1LY TREE ON THE BAR COO

Du r i ng the d ry yea rs, much of the Ba rcoo becomes a seri s of muddy, tree- l i ned depressions. Parrots cry and f lutter in the branches above and a var i e ty of l i t tle herbaceous pla n ts flou r ish in a shady n iche . Bu t when the fl ood is down the Ba rcoo is a power fu l and i m passab le r iver, and many is the time tha t Blacka l l - abou t 20 k i l ome tres away from th is sce n e - m i g h t we l l be as Fa r as Sydney o r London . Fa m i l ies ca n be sepa rated for weeks iF their members a re on d ifferent sides of the Ba rcoo. Th is ma kes for d i fficu l t fam i ly re la t ionsh i ps, bu t w hen everyone is on the same s i d e of the r iver bu t cut off From the outs ide wor ld for long per iods, this too can be tax ing I Even a t the best of times, l i v i ng on l a rge propert ies means t ha t socia l i s i ng w i t h ne ig hbours or trekk i ng i n to the c losest town is an e fFor t reserved fo r spec i a l occas ions or sheer necessi ty. Fam i l ies t he re fore work toge the r as wel l a s l i ve toge the r in th ese pa rts, with women do ing as much of the p roperty management as men.

Many outback propert ies have been owned by the same fam i ly for Q

number o f genera tions, the l eases g o back to t h e fi rst select ions of the n i nete e n th century. Some people h ope tha t the i r sons o r daughters w i l l conti n u e a trad i tiona l pasto ral l i festy le and take care of t h e a t tractive ram b l i ng Queens land h omesteads. There a re, however, rea l fears t ha t the l and a nd i ts produce w i l l not provid e a suffic ie n t ly good l i vi n g for the four th gene ra t ion : t h i ngs a re t ight enough for the th i rd .

Fa m i ly stories form the layers o f soc ia l geology. Every property has i ts spec ia l spots where annua l fam ily ri tuals l i ke b i r thdays a nd Chr istmas are ce lebra ted and where emot i ona l l y s ig n i fi ca n t moments have occu rred . This Fam i l y Tree is one . Here, once upon a t ime in the secl usion of i ts s hade , a young man sou g h t the hand of a you n g woman in mar r iage . Many yea rs la ter, when h is fami ly had grow n u p a nd his l i fe ended, h is ashes were sca ttered a mong i ts roots. There was a war: three b ro thers had a quiet meeting u nder the tree and drew lots as to

which of them should be the first to join the army. Among the happier tales of celebrations, weddi ngs and births are the tragedies which the

landsca pe records. The g rave of a chi ld , d rowned i n a po�t -hole full of water. Another ch i ld, just 2 years old, 'strayed away' and d ied of exposure. A muster, beg u n with such exci tem e n t and an ticipa t ion , ended wi th a

fal l from a horse - and a fa ther's neck was broken. A fire some fifty years ago, w h i c h took the l ives of two c h i l d ren a nd t he i r mother and g randfa ther, as we l l as the i r home . In t ime , t he su rvivi ng father rebu i l t h is house , but he o m i tted a l ounge- room because there was no fam i ly to keep him company We a lso h e a rd a story about a you n g woman

26

w h ose work on the prope r ty's ra bb i t fe nce was i n te r r up ted by he r conf inement. On the way to a m idw i fe i n Cha r levi l le , t he baby arr ived b u t d ied immed i a te ly. So the bereaved mother s im ply turned around and wen t home to con ti nue he r fenc i ng. Were peop le tougher then , w i thout mob i l e te lephones, fast ca rs o r he l icopter rescue services, or tra u ma cou nsel l i n g ?

Family Tree on the Barcoo. 200 1 . O i l , och re, p igment/ l inen, 90 x 1 65 cms

2 7

9. B R OADWATER ON THE TH OMSON AT lOCHERN

We w e re i nvited to pa rt icipate i n an O pen Day org a n ised by the ra ngers of Loc h e rn Nat iona l Pa rk. Wh i l e Ma ndy pa in ted th is scene about th i r ty of us m i l l ed a ro u nd u nder a ta r pa u l i n she l ter look ing a t a nu mber of i n Fo rm at ion boa rds. Lochern 's Open Day was a n i n i t i a tive to i n teg ra te nat i o n a l parks i n to the su rrounding social environment a nd to encou rage school c h i ldren and la ndowners ( the la tter was a part icu l a r target g roup) to contr ibute to Jo i n t d ia logues on ecologica l issues. The na t iona l pa rks peop l e a l so wan ted to promote the park as an expe r imenta l b lock of land on w h ich d i fferen t manageme n t strateg ies could be played out and e n v i ronmental i m pacts aud i ted. In the course of the day speakers had b e e n a rra nged from the fishe ries section, fire manageme n t a nd com m u n i ty ou treach . Na t i ona l pa rks i n Austra l i a h ave a s t rong env iron menta l educa t ion m ission and provide an i n te rface between state gove r n m e n t and local com m u n i t ies. I n South Africa or the U n i ted S ta tes they a re tourist dest ina t ions.

Aus tra I ia is the fi re con ti nen t:· Abor ig i na I peop le used fi res t ick farm i n g to enhance the p roductivity of the bush , to enco u rage certa i n a n i m a l s t o g raze i n spec i fic p laces a nd to nu rtu re spec i fi c n u t r iti o na l p l a n ts. I was conce rned about the ra ndom co l l ect ion of f irewood fo r b i l l y -b o i l i n g b u t a p p a rent ly the r isk o f runaway fi res under these conditions is very low. In South Afr i ca the veld wou ld be a l i g h t w i th i n minu tes. I n i n l and Austra l ia there is a lways the fea r that i f g rassla nd were fi red, w i thou t ra i n - which ca n n o t be coun ted on - it wou ld not regenerate the fol low ing sea son .

M a ny extensive g rassla nds which ought to be dom ina ted by deep­rooted perennia l Mitchell g rass (Astreblo spp.) are being invaded by the a n n u a l Aristido [w i re g rasses and feathertop). As wel l as bei ng less pa latab le for stock, Aristido g rasses affect wool quality because the sharp seed a wns have a twist i ng act ion wh ich enables them to penetra te wool a nd sk i n W i th t'ase, but renders them impossi b le to remove. Also i nvadi ng the p l a i n s of M i tche l l g rass and reduc ing pasture va lue a re woody weeds [South Afr icans refer to it as 'bush e n croachmen t') .'

Park rangers exp l a i ned to us how, from experimen ta l b u rn i ng done at Loc he rn , fi re could be used a s an effect ive managemen t tool fo r man i p u l a t i n g g rass species and e nsu r i n g th a t M i tche l l g ra ss was encourag ed and invaders e rad ica ted . Beca use there is no l ivestock on Loc-h e rn a nd thus no g raz ing p ressu re, i t seemed to be a pa r t i cu l a rly su i tabl e s i te in w h ich to conduct expe r imen ts l ike th is . However, l i ke other l a ndholders in this frag i l e env i ronment , na t iona l pa rks a re sti l l

2 8

Milclwfl Grass, blellrh('(/ b y frost IJoree, qi(/'lce regrowth i" Nelling Pacidock, Lofroue. Work on paper, Augu't

fee l i n g the i r way. And some people m u t tered that managem e n t and i g nora n ce a re wo rse i ns ide nat ional parks than ou tside them. Certa in ly, answers to env i ronmen ta l d i l emmas a re sorely needed.

See Stephen Pyne, Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia, HOlt, I"(w York, 1 9 9 1

See J Noble, The Delicale Clnd Noxrous 5((ul), CSIRO, Canberra, 1 997

';�. Broadwater on the Thomson at Lochern. 200 1 O i l , ochre, pigment/ l inen , 90 x 1 65 cms

2 9

1 0. C OOPER'S CREEK IN FLOOD AT DURHAM DOWNS

The c lose juxtapos i t ion of ' r ivers' a nd 'desert' is the mag i c of Cooper's Creek . In times of u nusua l monsoon ra i ns in north-eastern Queensla nd, water drains slowly genera l ly sou th-westwards across the fla t a r id land i n a vast flow of wa ter, some of wh ich is channe l led i n to creeks of vary ing sizes. These i n turn a re subdivided aga in and aga in i n to sha l lower a nd ever - b ra nch i n g creeks a nd channe ls. Absorpt ion is slow because so m u ch of the so i l is clay. As the water i nches its way towa rds La ke Eyre, i t moves across roads a nd through fences. M uch of the wate r never reaches Lake Eyre : i t evapora tes, it i s a bsorbed, a n d it i s ca ugh t in waterho les a nd lake systems such a s the Coong i e La kes, Lake Yam m a Yamma , the Nappa Mer r i e wetla nds, a nd the ma rshes o f the Strzelecki Desert. An ima l s and p l ants have ada pted to the w a terholes o r the massive system of dra i nage chan ne l s when they a re fu l l a nd to the dry condi t ions of the per iods in between . The Cha n ne l Cou n t ry as a ra nge land type is u n i q ue w i t h i n Austra l i a and the wor lel:"

It i s also a wonderful hab i ta t fo r a la rge n u m ber of aquat ic b i rds. I n t imes o f flood, b i rds flock t o the wa terholes a n d creeks i n hundreds of thousands, a t tracted by abundant food by way of fish [whose numbers a lso exp l ode at th i s t i me) a nd other aquat i c l i fe . G ra sses a nd sedges p rovide seed fo r seed-ea ters a nd abunda n t nest ing ma teria l can be col l e c ted from the su rround ing p l a ins, b u rs t i n to l i fe with mo isture. Pe l i cans were so closely packed, t ha t they cast a p i n ky-wh i te hue over some w a terholes l Even though we were a l l ama teur b i rd-wa tchers, our b i rd l i s t was fa i r l y extensive. Bu t i t was the numbers, ra ther than the va r i ety wh ich made the most impa ct. We were fortu n a te to see flock bronzewi ngs, a species restr icted to this i r regu l a r flood hab i ta t. They a re dark g rey beneath a nd bronze on top , w i th a b lack and w h i te face wh ich is not immediately eviden t when they a re i n fl i g h t F lock bronzewings cong reg a te a round waterpo i n ts and in typical p igeon fl i g h t pattern, c i rc le the a i r a bove, rather l i ke hom ing p i geons do.

Because b i rd popu l a tions bu rgeon at t imes of flood i ng , sc ien t ists have great diffic u l ty in studyi ng the orn i thology of the reg ion . For one th ing , t im ing cannot be p redicted, so a l l a rrangements have to be made a t the last m i n u te. Many roads are impassable, and he l i copter su rveys a re expensive. The b i rd l i fe of the Cha n ne l Cou n try is therefore not we l l s tudied , and i t seems a p i ty to ta m per w i t h the system w i thout unde rsta nd ing i ts dyna m ics ful ly.

30

6 R 0 Groetz, The PotEn lial Applications of LANDSAT Imagery 10 Load Resource

Manarjl'ment in th(> Chann'" Counlry, CSIRO Division 01 Land Resources Managcnwnl, Perth, 1 980; queMr! by Bob Morrish, 'Some general observa tion, ol1 lhe Cuoper System·, unpublished manuscript, 1 999, p . 9.

Cooper's Creek in flood at Durham Downs. 2001 . Oi l , ochre, p ig ment/ l inen, 90 x 330 cms

3 1

1 1 . OURDEL , LATE AFTERN O O N , GHOST G U M , S P I N I FEX AN D SAND HILL

'The Ou tback is a m i rage of places resonat i ng deep in the n a liona l m i nd, w i th s t range a l l ure a nd power [b u t i t i s] weak and tang led adm i n i s trat ively, doub t fu l p roductive ly yet vel l uab l e ecologica l l y, a nd poo r l y known by the vast bu l k of people: ' Thooe few who know i t wel l know i t i n tima te ly and love i t pass ionate ly. Sandy Kidd, owner of 'Ou rdel ' i s a man who fi ts th is descr ip t ion pe rfectly. I n Places Worth Krceping, Ti m Bonyhady ana lyses a n u m ber of Aust ra l i a n conserva tion a reas. He a rgues t ha t conserva t ion i n i ti a tives have a be tter chance of success if the a rea has som e va l ue wh ich resona t s vv i th a wide const ituency. In other words, protected a reas a re not successfu l because they comprise a p retty rive r, o r a h i gh mounta i n or a rare tree. These th ings in themselves a re not su ffic ient they have to be shown to be 'spec ia l :"

Le t me e la bora te. For Sandy, 'Ourde l ' is not l a nd , it is place. 'Land' wou ld be a me re commod i ty or resou rce, wh i l e 'p lace' is a cu l t u ra l e n t i ty wi th a value a nd worth wh ich ca n be separa ted from econorll ics. One of Sa n d y 's favoured spots is t h is g host gum, close to the well- used fa rm track. It is a personal landscape a n d Sandy's l i fe is m irrored in i t. But in add i t i o n to being Sandy's ' p lace' , i t ough t to be 'place' to other Austr(Jl ians too. As another local pasi oralist puts it, 'The en ti re Cooper

reg ion from Wi ndora h to La ke Eyre is a reg ion of immense a nd brea t h ta king beau ty and g randeu r which has i nsp i red, and con t i nues to inspi re , Austra l i an art, poetry, l i trra tu re, and science. The Cooper occupies a ce n tral i con ic sta tus i n the cu l t u ra l mytho logy of the Australia n ou tba c k Fa i l u re t o protect the na tura l va lues of the Cooper and t he who le La ke Eyre system wou ld condemn us as a na t ion 01 env i ronmenta l ph i l is t i nes and barba r ians:"

3 2

Dow,>, ( I ivimnmcnlol l-liSlOry nnd Pnlicy, p . 1 2 .

I Bonyl1ady, Ploces Worlh Keepinq: CUIIScrvuliul II>b, Polilic, unci Lu!l', ,� l Ie l i d! l e l U"Wi l l , S t Le""orrls, NSW, 1 993.

Morr lsll , 'I)OIl 1t' gl'nt(al obs(·rviJt iorl�· . p. 1 0.

Luw sonil dunf ond BouhinJ(l "n rh" l 'rl'le 01 COOPtT ', Ci1l"",d,. Augusl, work on p"pcr

Ourdel, late afternoon, ghost gum, spinifex and sand hill. 2001 O i l , ochre, p ig ment/ l in�n . 90 x 1 65 ems

3 3

1 2 . COOPER'S CREEl< ON CU RRAREVA STAn ON

The i n i t i a tive of the Cooper's Creek Protection Group aga inst i rr igat ion o n Cu r r a reva was successfu l . News of the fi n a l dec is ion aga i n st the app l i cati o n had just been annou nced when we sa t beside the Cooper's at W i nd orah a n d Mandy sketched th is scene . The au thor i ties were a ppa ren t ly conv inced that the d isadva n tages of cotton ou tweighed any adva n t age after a sci en t i fic workshop , represent i ng a l l the stakeho lders, was o r g a n ised at W i ndora h . Th i s occasion provided a forum for envi ro n menta l ists. scient ists, government and la ndowners to meet and vocabu l a ries were interchanged and values shared. A long with these in terest g roups, represen ta tives o f the Aboriginal Land Council and Mandy a nd Guy both presented papers at the workshop and thus made a con t r i bu tion to the fi na l ou tcome. I ndeed, the idea of the I n flows p roject and th is pub l icat ion or ig i nated a t this workshop.

T h e exte rna l th rea t to the Cooper catchment gave r ise to a w ider conce r n about the fate of the ent i re Lake Eyre Bas i n wh ich i nc l udes a numbe r o f ecosystems and stradd les state bounda r ies. The r ipp les of the Cooper soon came to inc l ude discu ss ion about some kind of b ioreg iona l strategy for the who le catchmen t bas i n of Lake Eyre.'o The resu l t was the found i n g of the Lake Eyre Basi n Coord i na ti n g Gro u p, which represents a l l s ta keholders of the a rea : p a s to ra l i sts, government, Abor i g i na l com m u n i ties and sci en t ists. " For the first t ime many c i ty dwel l ers learnt abou t the i ncred ib le ecology of the Channe l Cou n try th rough pub l ic i ty genera ted by the Group . Scien t ists came to rea l ise how deeply local landowners cared about th is la ndsca pe, and i n turn , landowners learnt more about the scientific va lue of the floodpla in . Environmenta l i sts gained some understand ing of the d i lemmas fac ing people who try to make a l iv ing in this h i g hly va r i ab l e ecosystem a nd that government i n terven tion has to have the back i n g of loca l property owners."

The Lake Eyre Basin Coord i n a t i ng Group, together w i th i ts sate l l i te catch m e n t com m ittees, is a com m u n i ty-based i n i ti a tive. I t shows how a ca m p a i g n began w i t h a l i m i ted stra teg i c objective and consisted of d iverse, i nchoate g ro u ps of people. Eventua l ly, however, they coalesced, not o n ly around the o r i g i na l objective, b u t spawned much broader b io reg i o n a l i n i t i a tives which have the capac i ty to a l te r the na t iona l enviro nm enta l m i ndset. There is a g loba l d imension too, fo r the i n tern a t i o na l com m u n i ty has deve loped envi ronmen ta l standa rds and suppo r ts strong advocacies. Not a l l o f these a re necessa r i ly benefic i a l i n the so uthern Afr ican o r Austra l i a n con text a nd there is considerab le resen tmen t of a n i m posed 'top-down' a pproach from ou tside. Peop l e

34

who a re c lose to issues have certa i n local agendas and concerns which bod ies such as Wor ld Her i tage and Convent ion on I n ternat iona l Trade i n Endangered Spec ies (CITES) do not take i n to accou n t. I n ba n n i ng t h e ivory trade for exam ple, CITES ignores th i rd-world econom ics, a nd does not rewa rd Z imbabwe, Botswana and South Africa for h usba nd ing e l ephan t herds to the ex tent tha t susta i nable ut i l isa t ion is possi ble. World Her i tage status is resisted in western Queensland because i t i s see n to be a smokescreen for centra l government i n terference.

10 Jim Puckrodgr, 'The Lake Eyre B;Jsin : The Need for Calchment Manag<'ment', m<!nuscript. Depar t ,nen t 01 Zoology, University of Adcl,lide, SA

" Lake Eyre 80sin Coord i n a t ing Group, A� uring 0 Future in Auslrolia\ Ou/uuck River

CatchmenlS: The Work of tile Lake Eyre 80sio Co-ordinoting Group, Community Group,

LongreaciJ, nut daled. l here arc a n u m ber 01 subsid iary 1'3tchment commi ttecs, c.g.

Coo )er Catchmen t Comm i t tee : Georgino Dionlontiro" CalchOll'nt Comm it tees, Southern

Rrgion, Desert Rivers Region, Western Rivers Region. The mission: 'The LJk e Eyre Basin Coord i na t i ng Gruup i, com m u nity in i t ia ted "nel droven, working in pa r t nersh ip with

government . . . Working tOl'lo((h a su;toinablf future wllo le having respect lor the

differen t groups and int(,rests within the Basin: The goal is to 'del iver ,nl egrnted na tural

resource ll1C1m·)gcrnent outcomes:

1 2 Posters are d isplayed in local ,hop windows which warn government that any dlorts to

declare the Channel Country a World Heritage Site \', i l l be hotly contested locally.

Cooper's Creek on Currarevo Station. 2001 O i l , ochre, p igment/ l i nrn. 90 x 3 30 cms

3 5

1 3 . GEORG I N A GlDYEA AND SANDHILL WI1l-l SPINlFEX

There a re at least two ways of u n d e rstand i ng ecosystems. One is local env i ro nmenta l knowledge , wh i ch is exper ien t i a l , h uman-cen tred, h isto r ica l - even aesthet ic . For exa m ple, 'Yamma Yamma' sna kes, h i g h ly poison o u s and extremely agg ressive, rea r up from the g round a n d take off a t the heigh t of a pony. I ndeed, one was seen vau l t i ng over a ho rse some years ago. Another is the p u rely scient i fic and ahistorical which rel ies on the expe rimental method w h ich can be universally repl icated.

I ts pe rs pective would probably d isal low the Yamma Yamma snake. Often there is tension between these worldviews but they do

sometimes conve rge. Fo l k l o re, observa t ion and anecdo te led sc ien tists to con f i rm t h a t some South Afr i c an Acacia spec ies prod u ce con t ro l led a m o u n t s of tan n i n in o rder to discou rage browse rs, such as g i raffe, from devour i n g every l eaf and leav ing the tree bare and unab le to th rive. After a w h i le, when i t ' Feels' i t has been ea ten 'enough ', the tree is t r iggered to p roduce more ta n nin w h ich tastes unpleasa n t So the g i ra ffe moves on to the next tree. I was i n tr igued to learn that a member of the same fam i ly, Acacia georginae, Georg i n a g i dgee, is an except ion. I ts leaves can con ta i n f luor acetate wh i ch is a component of 1 080, a poison used to exte rm i n a te undesirable ferals. Appa ren tly catt le can consume re lat ively l a rge qua n ti t ies of Georg ina g idgee at certa i n t imes of the yea r, bu t a t others - pr inc i pa l l y when the t ree i s setti ng seed pods between June and September, t he leaves become l e tha l .

M uch Cooper's Creek science revolves a round botan ica l -pastora l o r app l ied range land management wh i c h has pol i tical ramificat ions. Shou ld r ivers be impounded? Trees pu l l e d? Fera ls e rad ica tecl? The g rassl and burn t ? But zoolog ists a re busy too . D u ring certa i n t imes of the academ ic yea r, the studen t ca mp benea th t hese g idgees bustles w i th resea rch a ctivi ty. Owing to the i n tense heat of the day, m a ny sma l l a n ima ls a re noctu r n a l and l i ttle is known abou t them. Long- term stud ies a re be i ng done t o construct a profi le o f t h e b iology and population dynamics of mam m a l s like the lesser hai ry- footed dunnart, the sp i n i fex hopping mouse (w i th a lovely long tai l with w h i te e n d feathers) or the sandy i n l and mouse and the var ious bat species in the area .

T h i s is d une cou n try and r idges of sa ndh i l ls stretch across the vast spaces. Here at Ethabuka is the po i n t at wh ich the pastoral g rass lands a re fi n a l ly engu l fed by the S impson Desert Ear ly explorers d id not sha re our sense of m a rvel at the dunes. In the 1 880s Hodgson's account told o f ' l i n es of dunes racing away i n to t he d ista nce and my hea rt sank: The soft s a n d s provide good bur row ing hab i ta ts a nd there is a wea l t h of

3 6

Raltlepod, desert Grevillia, on dune rield post Georgina flood plain. Work o n paper

creatures to s tudy, each adapted for a pa rt icu la r n iche a n d w i t h specialised adaptations t o enable them to su rvive i n t h i s h a rsh environ ment. Long-term studies are needed to build up a profile of the dese r t fauna. Scientists are passionate about t h e i r work, al though t h e l ang uage o f scient i fic papers is careful t o remove a n y emotion. The s tudents we met from the Universi ty of Syd ney were prepared to p u t up w i th considerab le physica l d iscomfort and isolation i n pu rsu i ng the i r prey and in w r i t i ng up thei r fin d i ngs in spare, te rse l anguage. B u t one of the vo l u n teers had the t ime to p lay a d igeridoo and make a d ream ga rden . Don ' t a l l fields of knowledge and exper ience need to be bet ter i ntegrated?

Georgina Gidyea and sandhill with spinifex. 2001 O i l , ochre, p igment/ l inen . 90 x 1 65 ems

3 7

1 4. WADDl WOOD, ACACIA PEU CE NEAR BlRDSV1LLE

Amo n g the rarest Australian trees is Waddy Wood . Acacia peuce, wh ich i s fo u nd only i n isolated populations i n arid central Australia. In the North e rn Terr itory t h e re is a reserve, the MacClark, devoted to its preservation and to increasing knowledge about its propagation and biology However, according to the signage near Birdsvi l le where t h ese trees were pain ted , it a lso occurs in Sou th Africa! This was i ndeed an

i n tr i g u i n g l i n k between the two con tinents wh ich once formed par t of Gondwa naland and we dete rm i ned to explore it Although I had never heard of this species in Sou th Afr ica and cou ld not find it in any o f my reference books, I took the m a tter up w i th the Botan i cal Resea rch I nst itute i n Pretoria as wel l as with the CS IRO i n Al ice Springs I confi rmed that i s dol'') not occu r in South Afr i ca . The word 'peuce' means con i fer­l i ke a n d th is is an en t i re ly apt desc r i p t ion because the long waxy leaves a re i n d eed as th i n as p ine need les. B e i ng an Acacia , it has pods not cones, and waddy wood pods a re papery w i th th ick edges.

Acacia peuce is a very anc ien t species and it has become Ma ndy's favou r i te tree. She thoug h t tha t it had i n teg r i ty, it was so ' i tself', convey ing a sense of sel f-con fidence and t ime lessness in hav ing been part of that l a ndsca pe for so m a ny m i l l ions of yea rs.

3 8

Woddi Wood, Acacia Peuce near Birdsville. 2001 Oil, ochre, pigment/linen. 90 x 330 cms

39

1 5 . M ORNEY PLA1NS, NIT LEONARD STAT1 0N N EAR FARRAR'S CREEK

It is the s heer sca le of Austra l i a wh ich is so d i fficu l t for an outsider to com e to g rips w i t h . The size of each paddock exceeds by fa r that of a n averag e South Afr ica n sheep fa rm , where we consider propert ies of a ro u n d 2000 hecta res to be extensive. Both i n Austra l ia and South Africa the woo l i nd ustry is p resen t l y in t roub le. There have been d i ffi cu l ties before of cou rse, par t icu la r ly du r i ng d rough t when shortages of g raz ing and w a t e r reduce sheep n u mbers.

The c u rren t d isaster fo r sheep farm ing is not a rare cr is is, bu t a n e ndem i c quandary to wh ich there seems to b e n o short o r med i um- term so l u t ion . People are optim ist ic , o f cou rse, 'Th ings have been bad before', said Gordon McLean in 1 992, 'but t h ey a lways come back, a l though it is ta k i n g a wh i l e this t ime: ' " The i n te rna t ional wool p r i ce is low. Propert ies l i ke Ter r i c k Terr ick once had 56 e m p l oyees and a stat ion populat ion of 1 50 - by the ea r l y 1 990s there were just 12 employees. '" Many g raz iers a re sw i tc h i ng to catt le because the m eat pr ice has not fa l l en to the same exte n t. But the fu tu re of beef fa rm i n g is i tsel f i nsecure. A recen t issue of the B r i t i s h week ly, The Spectator, commen ts on a recen t te levis i on prog ram me. As the wr i ter pu ts i t : 'From the open i ng scenes of a fa rmer shoo t i n g h is new-born fu l l ca lves in the heCld because they were econom i ca l ly unv iab le , you knew i t was the sort of programme which ru ins you r Sunday even ing . You a l so knew tha t not to wa tch i t would be cowa rd ly ; the destruct ion of our ru ral comm u n i t i es is too far gone and too se r i o us to excuse bury ing one's head i n the sa nd :" Th is m ight a pp ly equa l l y to Austra l i a and South Afr i ca .

As t h e g lobal economy changes, some 'off farm' income is i nc reas ing ly requ i re d to make ends meet i n ru ra l Austra l ia and this is not easy to do, g iven the remote pastora l sta t ions and the fact tha t not many pastora l i sts a re m u l t i -skil led. The menta l image w h ich ou tsiders have of the Outback is a roma n lic, even nosta lg ic, one - kept go ing for obvious commercial reaso n s by R M Wi l l i ams's Outback m agazi ne. The cast in th is stereotypical Aust r a l i a n production compr ises pro perty owners, shearers, jacka roos and J i l l a ro os, rouseabou ts, cooks and dogs. The set is t he wide open spaces such as that s hown i n Ma ndy's pa inti n g : i t, a l least, has not changed.

D r iv i ng for l ong per iods a l ong the Queensla nd roads ma kes one th i nk . M a ndy sa id tha t you could see why the explorers trave l l i ng th is la ndsca p e were g iven to profound t h ink i ng. I agree. Where does cu l t u re beg in a n d landscape end7 Is l and a nd cou n try na tu ra l , and l a ndscape cu l tu ra l ? At what po i n t do humans put i n tel lectua l or emot iona l va l ues

40

in the l and7 We d iscussed whether 'a sense of p lace' is va l id , and whether one can 'be long ' to a pa r t i cu la r p l ace. Probab ly there a re as many mean ings as there a re human beings. Belong i ng may merely be a p rocess of coming to terms w i th the land , e i ther as a com m u n i ty or as a n ind iv idua l . T ha t p rocess m i g h t ta ke a var iety o f forms, i nc l u d i ng trave l l i ng , wr i t i ng , pa in t i ng , l iv ing i n , even explo i t ing . Mandy's landscapes a re pa rt of the process of d iscovery, i tsel f a part of belong ing .

1 3 John E I I io l t, Sons and daughters o f the Barcaa, Olackall , 1 992, p . 3 . I am watf' l u l to Simol1 and Christine Campbell for therr g i Ft o f this wonderful photographic record of Blnc al l hie,

14 Ibid, p. 1 5.

1 5 James Dcl rngpole, 'Wagrng class w,if', The Spectorar, 29 J u ly 2000, p. 44.

Marney Plains, Mt Leonard Station near Farrar's Creek. 2001 . O i l , ochre, pig ment/ l inen . 90 x 330 cms

4 1

1 6 . G l B BER PLATEAU ABOVE COOPER'S CREEK N EAR l NNAM1 N CKA

At m idday Mandy fou n d the perfec t spot from wh i ch to ponder o u r descen t from t h e M orney table lands i n to t h e Cooper va l ley. As s h e pa i n ted the scene, the rest of us empt ied the t ra i le r and made a sandw ich , fa t ing q u ickly be fore the fl ies o r t he approach i ng s to rm d is tu rb. Lunch a nd p a i n t i ng comp le ted , no th i ng could have p repa red m e for the ex t ra o rd i na ry co lours and shape o f the ea r th as we d rove down to the Cooper. The ear th lay ba re, i t looked as though i t had been m i ned, the vege t a t i o n and topsoi l removed to expose creamy p ink and g rey colou rs a lmos t i n bands. As Mandy sa id , i n t h is pa r t icu la r place the landscape was the powerfu l hero, no t the sky. As the ear ly se t t l e rs and exp lorers expressed i t , i t was indeed a place of "exqu is i te public suffer ing ': '"

Do today's trave l le rs in a i r-cond i t ioned 4x4s su ffe r7 How do they re la te t o th i s la ndsca pe7 Does one have to be educa ted � as I had been by my com pan i o n s and t he i r fr iends � i n t o an app rec ia t ion of the s u b t l et ies of chang ing so i l s a nd soc i a l pa t terns7 E nco u ra g i n g eco- to u r ism a n d mak i n g l i tera t u re ava i l ab le is o n e w a y of promot i ng u nde rs t a nd ing , b u t many peop le doubt tha t tou r ists wan t to be e i ther educa ted or 'eco: Apparen t ly they m erely want to race from A to B and say t h a t they have 'done i t'. Com i ng from Sou th Africa I was su rp r ised, becau se there we hope t h a t tou r i sm w i l l be an enormous econom ic g row th po i n t. B u t, o f course, for t h i s tou rists w i th money to spend a re requ i red, not ca m pers o n a shoes t r i ng budget . The soph is t icated a n d moneyed travel ma r ke t w i l l demand services and supp l ies and possib ly ru i n t h e very a tmosphere which was the i n i t i a l <l tt ract ion . And the soc ia l i n teg r i ty may be d i s rup ted too , a s pubs a l ter from i n t i m a te spaces i n wh i ch lorJ I gossi p a n d news i s sha red t o become mass d ri n k ing a reas with m us ic and 'cu is ine'. I t i s an i n creas ing d i l emma a s pastora l i sm p rod uc t iv i ty dec l i nes. Some o ld - t imers of B lacka l l a re cyn i ca l : 'Some peop le a re saying the answer l ies in tou r ism, but I t h i n k they a re k idd ing themselves', a comment from Buddy Wagstaff i n 1 992 a fter t he d ry years of the 1 980s. Others, l i ke Des Fa l l on d isag ree, 'Tou r ists a re becom ing m ore and m ore i n terested i n the real Austr a l i a n exper ience'." Property owners appe a r to be cons id e r i n g fa rm s tays and the l i ke i n order to surv ive financ i a l ly Is offer ing relaxa t ion a way to generate an understa nd i ng 7

Lon g reach , the l a rgest t own i n western Queens l and , i s a we l l deve loped tou r i s t cen tre w i t h i ts wor l d renowned Stockmans Ha l l o f Fame as i ts foca l po in t . Some � but no t a l l - of t he l i t t l e towns we stopped a t gave the i mpression of hav ing seen bet ter days Barr i n gun , on

42

the Queens land-New Sou t h Wa l es bou ndary south of Cunnamu l l a , was once a la rge wool town w i t h i m pressive b u i ld i ngs reco rded in faded pho tog ra phs on the pub wa l l . Now on ly t he pub rem a i ns. Ba rca l d i ne, north of B lacka l l , seemed more v ibra n t, but then, i t con ta i ns the 'Tree of Knowledge: Not Adam and Eve's tree, I d iscovered (you never know i n Austra l ia , every th ing i s so a nc ient) , b u t t h e tree under wh ich d i sa ffected shea re rs g a the red in 1 89 1 to form a t rade un i on . In th i s way the Austra l i an Labor Pa r ty was born. Augathe l la i s memorable for a nother reaso n : i t has the most imag i n a t ively decora ted pu b l i c 100. Be toota doesn' t have a pub l i c 100, for the town forma l ly went out of existence w i t h the closu re of the pub. The B i rdsv i l le pub is r a t he r tou r is ty and i m persona l b u t i s fu l l o f peop le (a nd a wonderfu l money-sp i n ner I i mag i ne) when the famous B i rdsv i l l e Races take p lace each Sep tember and peop le flock from al l over the d ist r ict to a t tend. Property owners a re enormously su ppor tive of the i r local towns, a ppreci<l ling the service and conven ience of nea rby shops and services.

1 6 1':19 I i", Camille, Sexuol Personae. Arl and demriencc from Nelerllii lo EIwll' Dickillson,

p. 323.

1 7 El l iott. Sons nnd doughier:;, p. 5 and p. 1 3 .

Gibber plateau above Cooper's Creek near Innamincka. 2001 . O i l , ochre, pigment/ l inen. 90 x 330 ems

43

1 7 . CULLYAMURRA WATERH OLE AT SUN R I SE

I f t h e re is any one story which encapsulates the na tional mythology o f w h i te Austra l ia , i t i s t ha t o f Bu rke and Wi l ls. I n any ya rn-te l l i ng I h ea rd about Cooper's Creek the i r names ca me up as did the i n tr ig u i ng detai ls o f the i r exped i t ion , the i r deaths, and the extraord i na ry convo l u tions of the base-party. Even though i t h appened so long ago, their p l i g h t is deep ly a ffect ing .

We cam ped ove rn ig h t a t the Cu l lya m U r r8 Waterho le and i t was d i ffi cu l t to i mag i ne end i ng one 's l i fe so i gnom i n io usly in such magn i ficent scene ry. I had never been anywhere qu i te so bea u ti fu l . O u r ca m ps i te was m a g i c a l : b ro lgas on the waterhole ban ks, red - r um ped parrots, galahs, corellas, sacred k i ng fi s hers and cockatoos in the red r iver gums, wh istl ing k i te overhead, and i n the water or i n the edging reeds and sedges we saw nig h t heron , pe l icans, pac ific he ron, grea t wh i te eg rets, h a rdheads, b lack and p ied cormora n t. As even i ng d rew i n , the sound of roosti n g b i rds g rew louder before subsid ing , and the wan ing m oo n and the sta rs became v is ib le . Our gas and kerosene la mps had b roken from be ing bou nced a round i n the tra i l e r a nd our amb i en t l i g h t i n g was reduced t o a cand le i n a plast ic bott le stuck i n to t he ground . By to rch l i g h t Tom began read i ng a loud the sect ion o f Alan Moorehead's Cooper's Creek tha t deals w i th the deaths of Bu rke and Wi l l s a lmost a t th is v e ry place. A lmost despite ou rselves, w e a l l beca me qu i te emot iona l .

Add i ng to our fee l i ngs abou t the fa te of the wh i te exp lorers was the a lmost palpa ble sensa tion of another story. The Cul lyamu rra waterho le is just below the 'choke' o f Cooper's Creek, where a si lcrete dyke i n trudes to na r ro w the floodp la in , a lmost d iv id ing i t i n to two. Because of the rocky su bstrate and the na rrowing of the wa tercou rse, th i s waterhole never d r ies up and i t was a most i m portan t Abori g i na l si te and meet ing g rou n d for that reason . The en ti re si te is an enormous ju m b le of core stones and discarded fla kes. There is an abu ndance of rock engravings -the i r age is u n known - some a re rea l ist ic dep ict ions of a n i ma ls and peop le , w h i le others a re more abstra ct a nd symbo l ic .

Th e sense o f th is p lace, comb i n i ng aesthet ic beau ty, abundan t p l an t and a n i ma l l i fe and encapsu la t ing the twi n stories of human se tt lement i n Aust ra l ia , could not have been stronger.

44

Cul/yamurra waterhole at sunrise. 2001 . O i l , ochre, p i gment/ l inen . 90 x 1 65 ems

45

M ANDY MARnN :

ON G 01NG lNVESnG AnONS

PETER HAYNES

46

The work i n th i s exh ib i t ion cont i nues Ma ndy Mar t i n's pa i n te r ly and i n te l lectua l d ia logue wi th the Austra l ia n la ndscape. Mar t i n 's d i a l ogue i s a comp lex one . I t i s i nformed by a r t h i story, h i s to ry, ecology, the environment , po l i t ics and the a r t ist's deep persona l i nvolvement w i th the m u l ti - layered na rrat ives tha t consti tute the land t ha t she so powerfu l ly depicts.

The works a re the resu l t, not on ly of speci fic Journeys through the p laces p ictu red, bu t a l so responses to a n aggregat ion of previous journeys i nto o ther a reas of the Austra l i an (and other) landsca pe. The art ist bri ngs to these encounters a n accumu l a ted knowledge of a r t h istory, and in pa r t icu la r the h i story and theory of the depict ion of landscape.

Mar t i n 's most appa rent debt is to e igh teenth- a n d n i n e teen th­century E ng l i sh la ndsca pe a rt and i ts precu rsors (e.g . Sa lva to r Rosa, C laude Lo rra i n , N i cho las Poussi n) . The debt though is no t about appropr i a t ion . Rather, i t i nvolves subt le v isua l i n s i n ua tions and i n terpo la t ions. These a re a l i g ned wi th eclect ic bu t d ist i l led references to a number of l i tera ry models ra ng i ng from the d istu rbed a tmospher ics o f Coler idge's Romant ic ep i c The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, th rough the vis ionary world of S i r Thomas More's Utopia, to the a l l usive and el usive networks of Susan Son tag's The Volcano Lover.

The examp les c i ted ind icate the substan t ia l i ty of the sou rces of Mart i n 's a r t. They a lso i n ti m a te the a lmost a l chemica l possi b i l i t ies of express ion ava i lab le to the a rtist. The i r d i s ti l l a t ion through the a rt ist's aesthet i c persona con t i nues to provide u n iq ue i ma ges i n w h ich the r up tu res and d is rupt ions of na ture and ma n's i n trus ions i nto and o n to natu re a re eloq uen t ly visua l ised.

The fo l low ing d i scussions of selected work from the exh i b i tion a re persona l responses to the pa i n ti ngs. They a re another e leme n t i n the ongo ing d i a logue that the a rt ist has i n it ia ted w i th her viewers.

Approaching Storm on Yaraka Road (No. 1 ) is an i m mense and encom pass i ng i mage . The g ra n d i lo q uen t l a t e ra l sweep of t he storm

c louds across t h e su rface o f the ca nvas is a d ra m a t i c and s ta rk stateme n t, a l l u r i ng ly beau t i fu l despi te, o r per haps beca use of i ts dark and th rea ten i n g presen ta t ion .

As a lways i n Ma r ti n 's work the reconci l i a ti on of oppos i tes creates ta ng ib le visua l and contextual tensions. He re, the ha l lmark E n l i g h tenment tra i t of scrupu lous and detai led observa t ion o f natu ra l phenomena (seen in the vegetat ion across the fore- and m id-g round) i s p layed off aga i nst the l u m inous g loom and fus ing power of nature as enca psu l a ted i n the storm . The latter i s a sh ibboleth of Roman ticism and a device that avers the im possibi l i ty of a detached re la t ionsh ip w i th na t u re.

M a r t i n ad ro i t ly ada pts pa i n t textu re a n d co lou r to descr ibe the va r ious protagon ists that const i t u te her v is ion o f i m m inen t and immanen t u n leas h i n g of the energ ies of nature. Wh i l e the i m pend i ng changes accompanying the s to rm a rf rad i ca l , t hey a re a lso harb i ngfrs of change , t he cyc l i c a nd u n iversa l changes o f n a ture tha t restore and revi tal i se the ea r th .

The extraord i n ary power of na tu re and the concom i ta n t power of the a r t ist's tra ns lat ion of that power i n to her u n ique pictor ia l l a nguage a re exemp l i fied in Cooper's Creek in flood at Durham Downs (No. 1 0) . Th is i s a v isu a l ly and conceptua l ly i m mense pa i n t i n g . The sp lend id evoca t i on of the seem i ng l y end less hor izon and the ostens ib l e i nsubstan t ia l i ty a nd frag i l i ty of the l andscape mark th i s work as a major statement w i th i n the artist's oeuvre.

The osc i l l a t i ng a nd pa tterned su r faces of the f lood-en g u l fed l and speak o f a state of imma ter i a l i ty. I t is as though we , as viewers a re led from a perceptua l state to a medi tative one. The i mage as presented is a lmost an a n t i th esis of an image, the subject emerg i n g as the floodwa ters subs ide i n to the l and . Like the ve i l of Maya the wa ters s imu l ta neously enc lose and d isclose the e lements i n our perceptua l f ie ld. The c la r i ty of perceptua l , spa t ia l and temporal a mb igu i t ies is bea u t i fu l ly evoked.

The spa rse empt i ness of the l and in Gibber plateau above Cooper's

Creek near Innamincka (No. 1 6) ho lds an e l usive a ttrac t ion . The l a rge el l i pse o f the c loud-f i l led sky m a tches the cruc ib le o f ear th . Here, the a r tist a s a lchem ist i s em inen tl y a t p lay.

Poet ica l n u a n ces of colo u r and fo rm swi r l w i t h a dete rm i ned l anguo rousness th rough the p icture p la ne. The swi ng i ng mot ion i mpa rts concur rent upwa rd and downwa rd movement and a lyr ica l atmospher ic con fi gu ra tion .

The l and is so l i d , the base over wh ich the c louds i m p inge the i r presence i n a way that makes mate ri a l the i m m a te r i a l . Th is i s a n i nv i t i ng a n d enve lop ing p i c tu re i n w h ich deta i l s a re s ubsu med i n favou r of

captu r i n g a n essence, the core o f t h e fee l i n g s for t he subj ec t, wh i ch i nst iga ted the ar t ist's response.

The frag i l i ty a n d end u ra nce of n a t u re are beau t i fu l ly ca p tu red i n Waddi Wood, Acacia Peuce near Birdsville (No. 1 4) . Th is i s a very s im ply com posed image. The o rgan i c verti c a ls of the trees a nd the more comp lex geometr ies of the h i l l s break the hor izon .

The pa let te is spa re a n d l e an I i ke the cou n try i t i s v isua l isin g . A layer of modu l a ted brown s i ts a t the front of the p icture p l ane in c lea r con trast to the soft pastels of the blue and gold sky. The viewer moves l a tera l l y across t he p icture and then slowly back i n to the end less e n i gma of the l a nd beyond the ho r izon . Mart in shows in th is work the power o f her a b i l i ty to sensi tively respond to cou n try where extremes m eet a n d where a savage yet welcom i ng beauty red eems i ts h a rsh rea l i t ies.

Much of the work i n thf fxh i b i tion i s concerned with tenac ity a nd endurance. These cha racter ist ics a re e leg an tly man i fest i n Cooper's Creek

on Currareva Station (No. 1 2) . S i l houet ted across t h e fro n t of the p ic tu re p l ane a tree spreads i ts b ranches a n d roots i n to the so i l and the sky. Ma r t i n has i mpa rted a s i n uous e l egance to the tree, s imu l t a n eous ly rem i n iscen t of the o rgan i cism of Art Nouveau and the spat ia l rad i ca l ism of Japanese woodblock pri n ts, a subtle rem i nder of the ca thol ic cha racter of the a r tist's sou rces.

The tree is constructed vv i th a deter m i n ed act iv ism. I t is vehement ly a l ive push i ng a long , th rough a nd u p i n to the spatia l de l i neat i on of the p icture. I ts na tu ra l v i ta l i ty is s ig n i fi ed by i ts v isua l predom i nance . I t i s c lea r ly the protagon ist and the land beh i nd is s im ply a backdrop.

Trees either a lone o r in company popu la te seve ral works. I n Georgina

Gidyea and sandhill with spinifex (No. 1 3) they move through th e l and , both a pa r t of i t and apar t from i t. The i r gna r led a n d con torted bod ies have an a lmost an th ropomorph i c p resence a nd the a rt i s t p ictures them as a ctive pa r tic ipa n ts i n the drama o f na ture.

Inflows i s a n i m porta n t body of work . I t i s com p lex a nd d e nse. I t revea ls the a r t ist a s a sensi tive, a r ti cu late and i n te l l i g e n t com m e n ta tor on the land, wh ich she i n tima te ly knows. I t revea l s her a s a n a r ti s t of cons iderab le sk i l l a nd consistency a n d i t demons tra tes a ra re t a l en t whose creat ions not on ly i n form us abou t aspects of o u r envi ron men t, b u t a lso move us w i th the force of the i r beauty and aesthet ic reso l u tion . Ma r ti n 's comb inat ion o f aesthet ic a n d i n te l l ectua l r i gou r con t i n ues to p roduce end u ri ng and mean i ng fu l a r t.

47

MANDY MARTIN : Curricu l u m Vi tae The last ten years

Born in Adelaide, Austra l i a 1 9 52

S t u d i e d South Austra l ian School of Art, Adelaide 1 9 7 2 - 7 5

Lectu rer School o f A r t , Austra l ian N a tional U n iversity

2001 a r tsACT Creative Fellow

EXH l BlTlONS

1 97 7 -0 1 many solo shows i n Austra l ia , Mexico a n d America i n c l u d i n g :

Ro.,lyn Oxley9 Ga l le ry, Sydney - 1 983, 1 984, 1 986, 1 989, 1 99 1 , 1 993, 1 995, 1 997, 1 999, 2001

Christine Abrahams Ga l lery, Melbournl ' - 1 990, 1 992, 1 996, 1 998, 2000

Austral Ga l lery, SI Louis, USA - 1 990, 1 99 4, 1 998, 1 999

Primcra Casa de I m p rentil de los AmeriC<lS, Salva tor Rosa series Mexico City 2001

Tracts. Back 0' Bourke, Nolan Gal lery, Ca n berra; Moree Regional Ga l lery; Bruken H i l l City Art. G a l l ery, 1 99 7 ; Dubbo Regiona l Art Ga l lery; Albury Regional Art Centre, 1 998

Wa tersileds. tile Paroo to tile Warrego, Swan H i l l Regional Art G a l lery, August-October 1 99 9 ; M i ld u ro Arts Centre, Oclober­November 1 999; Bath u rst Regional Art G a l l e ry, November 1 999 -FelJruary 2000; Newcastle Reg ion Art G a l lery, February-Apri l 2000

Inflows.' the Channel Country, Canberra Museum anel G a l l e ry, May-J une 2001

GROUP EXH I BITl ONS

1 990 Conbrart. Selt'l'tion of Works b y Artists from ACT & Districts, Au.,trJ l i a n N at ional Gal lery, Canberra

1 99 1 a G O G Ga l le ry, Ca nberra, Ten-la -One Pri n t Project. Canbura, ACT, tou ring shuw

4B

Cancer Council - 7990 Collection, A Portfolio of Women Artists, David Jones Gallery (touring)

Indo Ero, The LaTrobe Valley Arts Centre, Sale Regional Arts Centre and Lindell, St Kilda, Melbuurne

The Four Elements, Dissonance Exhibition, Lake Macquarie Cily Arl Gallery, M a i t land Regional Ga l lery and M uswellbrook Regional Gal lery

Transilionol Times, The P r i n t Coullcil o f Austra l ia 2 5 t h Ann iversary Pr int Comm ission

1 992

1 99 3

1 994

1 995

1 996

Works for 70 SquarE WildErness, Li nden Ga l lery, Melbourne

Artists from Canberra and D istr ict i n the Pa r l i ament House Art Col lect ion, Pa r l ia m e n l House, Canberra

Henr i Worland Memoria l 20th Ann iversary Collection, Warrnambool Art G a l lery

ACAF3, Exhibition Buildings, Me lbourne

Pos ter Art in Austrolio, National Gallery of Australia

Identities - Art from Aus/m/io, National Gallery Tai - Wa n , Tei - Pe i

Identities - A r t from Aus tralio, Wo l lo ngong Reg ional G a l l ery, NSW

Virtuosi, Youlh M usic Austra l ia Pr int Portfolio, Chr ist ine Abrahams Gal lery, Melbou r n e and Sherman Ga l le r ies, Syd ney

Prime Television Pointing Prize, Newcastle Reg iona l Ga l le ry, Orange Regional Ga l lery a n d Tamworth Ci ly G a l lery

Briefcase Show, Ca irns Regional G a l lery, o.ueensland

Hidden Treasures, Art i n Corporate Collections, S.H. Ervin Gil I I ny, Sydney, J a n u a ry-February

Eve-Olutian, Newcastle Regional Art Gal lery, March-J u n e

Dawnland College Collection, Toowoomb<J Regional Ga l le ry, March-May

The Australian National University, Staff Ameni ties Fund Donations to Art Collection 1 992 - 9 4, February-March

The Best Face Value for Autumn, Wol longong City Art G a l lery, Wol longong, M a rch-May

Women Hold Up Half the Sky, N a tiona l Gal lery o f Austra l i" , Ca n berra, Ma rch-Apri l

Australian Art 7940- 1990: From the ol/Ection of the National Gallery of Australia, The M use u m of F ine Arts, G i fu , Japan , J u ly-Sertember

Through Women 's Eyes ' Australian Women A rtists and War 79 74- 7990, Queens land Art Ga l le ry, August

Ironside, New England Regional Ga l lery and Art Auction, Casu l a Powerhouse, Sydney

The Qan tas Collection, New South Wales Art Gallery, Sydney, Nove mber- December

Save Albert Park 9x5 Invitation Exhibition, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne, May

Prime Pointing Prize, Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, NSW; November-December 1 99 5; Ballarat Fine Art Ga l l e ry, Victor ia , February-May ; Nolan G a l lery, ACT, Apr i l-May; Gold Coast City Art Ga l lery, May-June

1 997

1 998

2000

2001

Ten Important Pointers, Solander Ga l lery, Ya rra l umla , ACT

The Vizard Foundation Art Collection of the 7990s, U n iversity of Melbou rne, Melbourne, March-Apri l ; Hami lton Art Gal lery, April-May; Geelong Art Gallery, May-June ; Bendigo Art Gal lery, August -September

The Australian National University 50th Anniversary Touring Exhibition, Orange Regional Gallery, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Swan Hi l l Regional Art Gallery, Ta mworth Regional Gallery, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, April

Australian Art in the 80s, National Gallery o f Victoria, Melbourne, March

Australian Opera 40th Anniversary Print Folio, Opera House, Sydney, January and the Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne

Taste of the Notion, Co m m un i ty Aid Abroad, Sotheby's, Melbourne, December

Landmarks. Views o f the Australian Landscape by Con temporary Australian Pain ters, Ca m pbel l town City Art Gal lery, Apr i l

Luoghi Del Corpo e Della Spirito, Spoletto, U m bria, I ta ly, 30 June-30 Auyu,t

A Flourishing Resource, Burnie Regional Art Gal lery, B u rn ie, Tasma n i a ; 2 5 September-8 November and Side Space G a l lery, Sa lamanca Arts Cen tre Hobart, 23 May 23-20 June

Prints for UTS from the Friends, Sydney, 4 November

Suddenly the lake. Weereewa: Lake George, Canberra M u seum a n d Gal lery, Canberra, 1 2 December, 1 1 Apri l

Central Queensland Art Purchase, Rockhampton Art Ga l lery, December-January

Shell Australia Collection of Con temporary Art, Melbourne and Sydney, June

First Showing, Cowra Art Ga l lery, NSW, October

A Thousand Colours. Visual Art for green ANU, August -Se ptember, School of Art, ANU, Canberra

Federation. Australian Art and Society 7907 -200 7, N a tional Ga l lery of Austra l i a , Canberra, December 2000-February 2001

Decode, Bathurst Regional Art Gal lery, December 2000-February 2001

Auriferous. The Gold Project, Bathurst Regional Art Gal lery, April-June

Reflecting Canberra, Canberra Museum and Gallery, February-ongoing

M AJOR COMM 1 SS1 0N S

1 991

1 993

1 995

1996

Santos, Adela ide

B H P, Melbourne

Coopers Et Lybrand, Melbo u r n e - 'Between Nature Et I n d ustry Lies Art' , 2 canvases and proscenium arch

Australian Opera Boll inger D i n ner P late Series -The Flying Dutchmim'

Australian Opera 40th Anniversary Print Folio

Esso Annual Patron's Print

G RANTS

1 995 Environment Educa tion Trust Grant, M i n ister for the Environm e n t, New South Wales

2000 M a i n Fu n d i n g Round ACT A r ts Program G rant

2001 a rtsACT Creative Arts Fc l lows h i p

M AJOR COLLECll ONS

Art Gal lery of New Sou th Wales; Newcastle Reg ion Art Gal lery; Art Ga l le ry of South Austra l i a ; Pa r l iament House Col lect ion, Canberra; Art Gal lery 01 Western Au,tra l i a ; P h i l l i p Institute; Artba nk ; Print Cou nc i l of Austra l i a ; Nat ional G a l l e ry of Austra l ia , Canberra; Pr int Co u nci l of Western Austra l i a : Austra l i a n War M e moria l , Canberra; Queen Victoria Museu m and G a l lery, Tasman ia ; Banyule Art Col lect ion, Victoria ; Queensland U n iversity of Tech nology, Brisbane; Bendigo Art G a l l e ry; R M IT; Broken Hi l l Regional Gal lery; Can berra Museum and Ga l lery: R iddoch Art Gallery, M o u n t Gambier; Frema nt le Art G a l lery, Western Austra l i a ; Solom o n R Guggenhei m Museum, New York; Glalistone Reg iona l Art Gal lery Et M u se u m ; Tamworth City A r t Gal lery, NSW ; Griffith U n iversity, Gold Coast Colleg e ; U n iversity Art M useu m , U n iversity of Queensland : Josh ua McCle l land P ri n t Room, Victoria: U n iversity of Melbourne Gal lery, Victoria ; LaTrobe Valley Arts Ce n t re ; U n iversity or Southern Queensland; Los Angeles M useu m of Contemporary Art ; Visual Arts Board Purchase Program, Austra l ia Counc i l ; M iche l l Endowm e n t , Na t ional G a l lery of Victoria; Warrnambool Collect ion ; Nat iona l Ga l lery o f Victoria; Wollongollg City Gal lery; Aust ra l i an Nat iona l U n iversity A r t CO l lect ion ; U n iversity of Canberra, ACT; Emerald Shire, Queensland ; Cen tra l Queensl a n d U n iversity; Bath u rst Regional Art Gal lery

49

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS: AUSTRALIA AND USA

AG. Edwards and Sons, S t Louis, Misso u r i ; I B M ; Austral ia Post; Macquarie Ba n k ; B H P ; M a r k Twa in B a n k Sha res, St Louis, M issour i ; B lake Dawson Wa ldro n ; P r i c e W a t erhouse; Coopers 8 Lybra n d ; Santos; C R A L imited ; Zoltek Corpora tion, S t Lo u is, M isso u r i ; Dr�sdner Austra l ia Li m i t; Merca nt i l e Bank, St Lou is; Smorgon Col l e c t i o n ; ,viJcdonalds Col lect ion; Oantas Collect ion ; Shell Austra l i a

PU BLI CATI ONS

1 99 1

1 99 2

1 993

1 99 4

1 99 5

1 996

1 99 7

50

Smith , 1. and Smith , B , A ustralian Painting

Nancy G. Hel ler, Women Artists. An Illustrated History, Abbevi l le PIC�S Inc.

G�rmaine, Australia Artists & Gallcries, 1990-91, Eileen Chanin

Australian Pointing, Cra ftsman House Dru ry, Neville (ed.) New Art Four, Craftsman

Hall , N G., Women Artists. Illustrated History, New York

Conway, Rona ld , Obst'ssian and Civilisation

Contemporary A ustralian Women Artists, Poster BOOk, Craftsman House

Mancun, A., Art Through Australian Eyes, Longman Cl lcsh i re

Wi l l iams, Don and S i m pson, Col in , Art Now - Issues in Contemporary Art Pos t 7970, Mcgraw H i l l

Voyt, A, New Visions, New Pf'rspectives, Craftsman House

Sullivan, G., Se6ng Australia - Views of Artists and Art Writers, Piper Pr�ss

Identities - Art to Taiwon, Tai Pci Fine Arts Museum

Buckner, Robin , Art Et De,>ign - Book 2, McGraw Hill

Lindsay, R , Shell Collection o f Contemporary Australian Art

Cater, Mel issa, Out of Line. 25 Years of Women 's Posters, Sydney

Waterlow, N ick , Macquarie Bank Art Collection

'Brave New Women', The Weekend Australian, Arts Fea tures, 5-6 Novemhn

Llewellyn, Kate, ' M u ngo Drea m i ng' , Thee Aust ralian, Focus

Grish i n , S., Australion Printmaking in the 7990s, Sydney

Martin, M , S incla ir, P., Tracts Back 0' Bourke, Canberra

McAul i ffe, c.. Art and Suburbia, Sydney

Williams, D., Eyes on Ausfralia. Talking About Art and Culture, Sydney

Noble, J, The Delicate and Noxious Scrub, Canberra

Abel, N. and Ryan, S., Sustainable Habitation in the Rangelands, Proceedings of a Fenner Conference: on tile Environment, Ca nbe rra

1 998

1 999

2000

2001

Haynes, Roslyn, Seeking the Cen tre, Literature and Art, Ca mbridge University Press, Sydney

Haynes, P, Mondy Martin: Ward and Place, catalogue for the Salvo tor Rosa Series, Christ ine Abrahams Gal lery, Melbou rne

St James Guide to Contemporary Women Artists, St J a m es Press, Mr, USA

Martin, M., F i tzhardi nge, G. a n d Gri ffiths, 1, Watersheds: tile Poroo to tile Warrego, Canberra

Haynes, P., 'Further Explorations', Watcrsheds. tile Paroo to the Warft'ga, ib id

Haynes, P. , 'Mandy iV\:H l i n : Word a n d Place 1 1 ' , cata logue for the Salva tor Rosa :,eries 7 1 , Roslyn9 Oxley G,l l lery, Sydney

Gr ifl l t hs, T. 'Essaying the l ru th ' , lvIeanjln, vol. ! ,C), no. 1

Haynes, P., 'Tom Roberts and Mandy M a rt in !'rom tht' Big P icture to Red Ochre Cove', Makers of lvIiracles, Melbourne U n ivcr,ity Press

Read, P,. Belonging. Australians, Place and Aboriginal Ownership, Cambridge U niversity Press

Curthoys, Ann and McGrath, Ann (ed�J. Writing Histories. Imagination and Norration, Monash Pub l icat ions i n H istory

Haynes, P., 'Mandy Marti n : From Word To Place', cata logue, Canbe rra

Salvator Rosa Series 7 7 7 , Christine Abrahams G a l lery, Melbourne

Sever, N. , 'The Art o f Mandy Mart in ' , Pr imera Casa de I m pren t a de l o s Americas, Mexico City, Mexico

Judd, C and Lawson, A., Auriferous.The gold project, Bathurst Regional Art Ga l le ry

WRlTIN G S B Y THE ARTIST

1 998

1 999

2000

'Letter to Nick Jose', in Niall, B. and Thompson, J. (eds! . The Oxford Book o f Australian Letters, Oxford University Press Australia, 1 99 7

Fitzhardinge, G., G r i ff i ths, 1, M a r t i n , M., Watffslleds.· the Paroo to tile Warrcgo, Goanna Pr int , Canberra

'Watersheds the Paroo to the Warrego', i n People and rangelands. proceedings of the Vll h International Rangeland congress, VI I n ternational Rangeland Congress I nc , Australia

'This El Dorado o f pure recog n i t ion and desert of pure non­recogn i tion', i n Hambl in , A [ed.) , Vision of futurE' landscapes, Proceedings of 1 999 Austra l ian Academy or Science Fenn<:r Conference o n the Environment, 2-5 May, Canberra, B u reau o f R u ra l Sciences, Canberra

B1 0G RAPH1ES

J a n e Carruthers Dr Jane Carru thers is a Senior Lecturer in the Depa r tment of H i story of the Un ivers i ty of South Afr ica, Pretor ia where she teaches a wide range of u nderg radua te and postg radua te courses. Her PhD thesis i s a soc ia l and po l i t ica l h istory of the wor ld�renowned Kruger Nat iona l Pa rk . Jane is one of Sou th Afr ica's fo remost env i ron m e n ta l h isto r ia n s, hav ing wr i tten a n umber o f books and many academ ic a r ti cles on the h istory of game pa rks in sou thern Afr ica . She is pa r t i cu la r ly i n te rested i n com m u n i ty conservation issues a nd h a s ongo ing invo lveme n t w i th non­governmen ta l organ isat ions concerned w i th r u ra l and u rban com mun i ty deve lopment a n d env i ronmenta l conse rva t ion . He r engageme n t w i th Austra l i a n environmen ta l concerns began wi th the ' Ecology and Emp i re' con ference hosted in London i n 1 996 by the S i r Robert Menz ies Cen tre. She was subseq uent ly awa rded a Visi t i n g Fe l l owsh i p in the H istory Progra m , Research School of Soc i a l Sciences, Austra l ia n Nat iona l U n iversity, Canberra i n 1 999, and i n 2000 she received the Fred Alexander Fe l l owsh i p i n the Depa r tment o f H istory at the U n iversi lY o f Western Austra l ia , Perth . It was d u ri n g this la tter visit that Jane Jo i n ed the I nflows Project. Her other ongoi n g resea rch projects encom pass a spects o f colonia l art . J ane h a s wr i tten on the a r t of the Ang lo�Boer Wa r and has pub l i shed two books on Thomas Ba i nes, a n importan t a r t i s t�recorde r of ea r ly co lon i a l Austra l ia as we l l as of South Africa.

Guy Fitzhard i nge Guy Fi tzha rd i nge graduated from the Un iversi ty of New Eng land in 1 970 wi th a degree in Ag r icu l t u ra l Econom i cs, and received a Master of Appl ied Science deg ree from the U n iversity o f Western Sydney in 1 993 . He is cur rent ly work i n g o n h i s P h D. M r F i tzhard i n ge manages a n u m ber of beef proper ties i n cent ra l western NSW A reci p i en t o f seve ral awards inc lud ing a Church i l l Fe l lowsh i p ( 1 992) . he is a lso a member of numerous boards and com m i ttees, i nc l ud i ng the Boa rd o f Range lands Austra l i a , the board of Meat and Livestock Austra l i a and a comm i ttee member of the CS I RO Text i l es C lo th i n g and Foo twear Adviso ry Com m i t tee. He is a lso cu rren t ly a member of the Austra l i an B io log ica l Resources Study Advisory Com m i t tee a n d member of the Na t iona l Assessme n t Pane l for the Threatened Species Program of E nvi ronment Austra l i a .

Tom Griffiths Dr Tom Gr i ff iths is a Senior Fel low in the H i story Prog ram of the R esearch School of Soc ia l Sciences at the Austra l i a n Nat iona l Un iversi ty, Ca n berra . He has worked as a n h isto r i an fo r the S tate L ib ra ry o f Victo r i a , the M useum of Victor ia and the Victo r i an Depa rtment of Conservat ion and E nv i ronmen t, and has tau g h t h is tory at the U n iversi ty of Me l bou rne , Monash U n i versi ty, the U n iversity o f London and the Austra l i an N a tiona l U n iversity In 1 995-96 he was Dep u ty Head of the Menzies Centre for Austra l i a n Stud ies in London . H i s books i nc l ude Secrets of the Forest

(Al len & U nw in , 1 992) . Beech worth: An Australian Country Town and its

Past (G reenhouse, 1 987) a n d Ecology and Empire: Environmental History

of Settler Societies [co�ed i ted w i th Li bby Rob in , Keele Un iversi t y Press, 1 997) . H is book Hunters and Collectors: The Antiquarian Imagina tion in

Australia (Ca m br idge Un ivers i ty Press, 1 996) won seve ral l i te r a r y and h istory awards as we l l as the E u reka Science Book Pr ize, and was n a m ed the NSW Prem ier's Book of the Year i n 1 996.

Peter Haynes Peter Haynes holds Honours degrees i n Archaeology and F ine Arts and a Masters in Eng l ish L itera ture. He has lectured a t the Un iversity o f S ydney, Macquar ie U n iversi ty, and the Un i versi ty of New Sou th Wales, a n d was found i n g Curator at the School of Art Ga l lery, I ns t i t u te of t h e Arts, Austra l i an Na t iona l Un iversity Before jo in i ng ACT Museums and G a l le r ies as D i rector/Cura tor of the Nolan Ga l l e ry, Mr Haynes was Cura tor o f the Pa r l i ament House Art Co l lection. Cu r rent ly he is D i rector of the Ca nberra M useum and Ga l lery and the Nol a n Ga l l e ry M r Haynes has pub l ished widely na t iona l ly and i n terna t iona l ly, ch iefly on aspects of contem porary and h istor ic Austra l i an visua l cu l ture. He has cura ted over 1 80 exh i b i t ions, many of wh ich have tou red nat ion a l ly

5 1

52

COOPER CLAY

TOM GR1FF1THS

THE PIG, TH E EMU , THE JOE Y . . . AN D FAITH

We said g race at Ron and Sandy's tab le i n Bourke and the i r baby's name is Fa i th . Perhaps the i n fa n t's namc a lso rcprcscnts the necessa ry creed of a 60 yea r old fa ther and a l i fe-lo ng gamb le r wi th sheep, a Mr M icawber o f the outback whose for tune is Just over the fla t hor izon.

Ron was head s tockman at Wapwee ldh and is fu l l o f a w insome mystery. We travel led w i th h i m l a s t year and he i m pressed m e a s both raconteu r and o u tback ph i losophe r. He had a very c lose re la t ionsh i p w i th a n Abor ig i n a l man who en tru s ted Ron with va r ious t ra d i t i ona l ob l i ga tions, i nc l ud ing the care of spec ia l s i tes and stones a n d pa ths i n the reg i on . Ron is enormously sym pa thet ic t o Abor i g i na l people , s t rong ly supports na tive t i t le and genera l l y overturns a l l u rban expec ta t i c ns of what a stockman wou ld t h i n k on these issues. He revea led th is t ime, more c lear ly than he had last year, that he' had an Abor i g i n a l g randmother.

I s lept that n ight in a bedroom I sha red w i th a baby p ig a n d a baby emu I The p ig and the emu , each n o b igger than a shoe, were cudd l i ng u p together i n a cardboa rd box. They snugg led u p to one a no ther a s i f they were si b l i n gs, and fou g h t over food as i f they were s i b l i ng s. Du r i n g t he n i g h t they w restled and snu ffled and I would tu rn over and th i n k 'oh, tha t's J us t the p ig and the emu . . . THE P IG AND TH E E M U I '

The househo ld a lso had a pet j oey, a cu te l i t t le c reature t h a t h opped a bou t a nd sn i ffed po l i te ly but inqu is i tive ly. Every so often it wou ld c l imb back i n to a sack suspended from the back of a k i tchen cha i r. k, Jane sa id , i t 's handy to have a pet you can hang up . Such a typ ica l Austra l i a n home, of course ; they're a l l l i ke th is.

53

'THE NATURAL ALLOCAn ON '

O n Sa t u rday n i g h t w e stayed nea r Auga the l l a a t Steve a n d Esmay Tay lor's proper ty, 'Wet lands: And wet it was l The loudest thunder c l ap I 've ever heard reverberated a round the t imbe r homestead. The rain d r ummed o n the roor a l l n i g h t a n d the morn ing was bright a n d g listening. I t hadn't

ra ined there for twelve weeks, but i t d id a l l day, notch ing u p 104 poi n ts, j ust ove r an i n ch , 26 m i l l imetres. R a i n fa l l is the stuff of local ta lk , of

course, a nd people were ring i ng one a nother com pa ring totals. Steve is a g ra zi e r, h i g h ly professiona l , versed in a l l the natura l

resou rce managemen t p r inc i p les and Jargon , done a l l the r ig h t tra i n i n g cou rses, a nd somet imes ta l ks i n acronyms. He ca l l s ra i n fa l l ' t h e natu ra l a l locat ion' I He to ld us how he'd just been to a cou rse on how to manage ca tt le , and tha t i t was a l l down to psycho logy and predator-prey re l a t ionsh ips. So this is psycho-pastora l ism ! S teve's i n te l lectual i n tens i ty a nd prac t ical enth usiasm d ist i l led i n to terms such as UCV (Un imp roved Cap i ta l Va lue) a nd TGRM (Tota l Genet ic Reso u rce Management) . Bu t th is l a nguage is par t o f S teve's d isc i p l i ne and sc ient i fic p recisio n ; h e makes a u n ive rs i ty of h is work , a doctora te of h i s backya rd. He is crea t ive , i n te l l i gen t and ref lect ive, and Esma y is h is par tner i n the work. S teve adm i res G uy enormously. They a l l do . I 've been teas ing Mandy that we' re go i ng to be l i ke Bea tles' fans a t B l acka l l a i r port today, screa m i n g for h i m a s he crosses t h e tarmac.

We a re r ig h t i n the m i dd le o f the a rea tha t has recen t ly become i n fa m o u s for the c l ea r i ng of vege tat ion , 400 000 hecta res a year. Of cou rse, a s w i th a ny issue , i nc l ud ing even th is one, it i s more comp lex than the m ed ia or the po l i t i ca l deba te can convey. We are spend i ng m a n y hours t a l k ing i t t h rough , de l ica tely, even w i t h good fri ends, a s there is a g rowi n g defensiveness here as the n a liona l eye backs people , especi a l l y those w i th subt le posi t ions, i n to a corner. Wha t is a tree7 What does i t m e a n to clear7 The key issue, acco rd i ng t o Steve Tay lor, i s a n h istor ica l one: w ha t was the la ndscape l i ke be fore7 Land ho lders get i r r i ta ted by the judgement of uneduca ted u rban eyes tha t see n a tu ra l ly opcn grass l and as 'cl e a red: B u t what o f t h e pu l led paddocks that l i ne the roads, the burn i n g debris, the 'smoking g un'7 Steve acknowledges his horror a t some o f the clearing, b u t also searches for d ist inctions and gradations. He d ist i nguishes between 'canopy' a nd 'stem density: He justi fies some c lear i n g as shock therapy; the key is how you mnnage the reg rowth. He

and Esmay sholN us a reas they have 'ove rclea red ' , st i l l de nuded, but o thers w h ere a t h i nne r reg rowth and denser pastu re have resu l ted. Steve does not see a s imp le o pposi t ion be tween c leared land and unc leared

54

l a nd so m uch as a more open , cha ng i ng wood land , a c rea tive cyc le of shock and recovery. Perhaps str ip clea r ing would be better, he wonders. There is another h isto r ica l legacy that tv" ists the deba te : the fa c t tha t other states c leared ea r l i e r and Queensla nd ca n be seen as ' the last tree­r i ch front ier ' , a d ista n t site to exercise belated southern consciences. I n s uch tal k, c lear ing me rges w i t h n a tive t i t l e and gun l aws i n a deepen i n g north/south, u rban/ru ra l d iv ide.

Whi le the south has been trying to p lant 'a b i l l ion trees' in the 1 990s, ' the decade of Landcare', the north has been clearing possibly twice tha t n um ber. Many here say that sa l i n i ty is not going to be the problem it has become in the Mu rray- Darl ing Basin , ye t sa l t sca lds began to a p pear fu r ther north, a round Cha r ters Towers, over ten years ago, and a few CSI RO su rveys fou nd sa l ts j us t 30 cent imet res below the surface i n many

pa rts of Queensl a nd . ' The h isto r i ca l a n d mo ra l momen tum for tree

clea r i ng is i mmense; it is an ' improvement' , as leg is la tors h ave decreed and crown ba i l i ffs have adjudged fo r a cen tu ry and a h a l f. Some c lear ing is respons ib le and some is not, and po l i t ics cannot make the d is t inction .

THE FAMILY TREE ON TH E BARCOO

They say tha t if you cross the Ba rcoo seven t imes, you ' l l come back. We made su re we d id , con tr iv i ng an errand or two to town , and notc h i ng up t he seven th cross ing as we l e ft. For here there is beg u i l i n g cou n try - and com pany. S imon and Chr is t ine Cam pbel l manage 'No rwood', a p roperty of about 60 000 acres w i th an 1 8.5 i nch ra i n fa l l north west of the l i tt le central Queens land town of B lacka l l (wh ich has a popu la t ion of 1 500 or so) . The homestead is ramb l i n g and g lows with chara cter - much of it d a tes from the 1 890s, and part of it was moved, once on d rays a n d then aga i n on trucks, from a s i te 1 2 k i lometres no rth. I have a gorgeous room, borrowed from Jessie, the fam i ly's s ixteen year old daug h ter w h o is a t board i ng school . S o i t i s a l l b l u e w i t h a teddy bear i n t h e bookcase and a cei l ing fan , and i t opens through cu rta ins on to a l o ng b road vera ndah tha t enc i rc les the house. A i r Flows con t i nua l ly t h ro u g h frolll o u ts ide where the g rass lands stretch away to the horizon . S imon and I sat by the Fire last n ig ht, burn ing boree and eat i n g Fudge , a n d we d iscussed Mr

Darwin 's Shooter and Landscape and Memory, both of wh ich he'd read thoroughly. Thrre are many books in the house, and two were chosen for rne and left on my l i tt le desk in this room - Reminiscences of Early

Queensland and The Merino: Past, Present and Probablel He had even

read Ecology and Empire I I told h im of the remark by Malcolm Thom is,

an i m m ig ran t Professor o f H istory and author of a h i story o f the S h i re of B lacka l l , who said tha t when he a r rived fresh from Br i ta in to wr i te th is ou tback h is tory he had fou n d no d isa ffected u rban i n te l lectuals wande r i n g the st reets of B lacka l l to turn h is foo ts teps i n the r ig h t d i rect ion . S imon's eyes widened and he s im ply rem a rked : 'He was l ucky he d i dn ' t meet a ny a ffected ones:'

As he d rives across the Barcoo, S imon stops by a b ig tree in the c reek and says : 'Dad's j ust there: H is fa ther 's ashes a re sp r i n k l ed u nder i t And tha t's where h i s fa ther proposed to his mother. What a fam i l y tree l I t's a l so the tree where h is fa ther and unc les f l i pped a co i n to decide wh ich of them would go to war first Eve n tua l ly they a l l went and a l l su rvived.

I 've re turned from my breakfast w i th Chr i s t i ne in the k i tchen - she baked fresh app l e m u ffi ns l O h , i t 's toug h ou t h e re on the ou tback fron t ie r l Today we a re gett i n g a tour of the property, i ncl u d i n g a look at some of the pu l led a reas. There wi l l be m u ch more to learn . I t fee ls l i ke an i n tensive fa rm management cou rse, on ly m uch better beca use we a l l ta l k a s equa ls from d i ffere n t walks o f l i fe , str iv ing t o com m u n icate a nd understand. I..Jst n i gh t we si pped d r i n ks as we watched the sun set i n a Mandy Mar t in sky, s i t t i ng on cha i rs on the l awn , a l l i n a row, as i f we were at the thea tre. And we were , of cou rse. The sky is the g rea test show i n town out here.

Today we vis i ted a n Abor ig ina l cave. I t was a beau t i fu l , c lear, wa rm day, and we set off before 9 am, d riv ing for an hour a nd a ha l f w i th s ix of us packed i n the land rover. I n th is fla t cou n try a low b lue esca rpment on the horizon is magnetic , t he out l i nes o f t he Ca rnarvon Range , a red rocky cong lomera te r idge rea r ing suddenly from the p l a i n . We passed an a n t-bed tennis cou rt, a n i n congru ity seem i ng ly i n t he m idd le o f nowhere , and then wa l ked a m i l e o r two from the car i nto the h i l ls, under the creamy ghost gums, to a na tu ra l spr ing that some pastora l ist dynam i ted last cen t u ry to get it to run more fu l ly ( it d i dn ' t) . There a re figs a round the spr ing ; they seem out of p lace here, b u t h aun t i ng and mag ica l . The cave is at the top of the range, a deep scoop i n the rock with a ci rcu l a r pool of water at i ts cen tre, s i t t ing perfectly under a correspond i ng hole in the roof. The sun spotl i gh ts the water t h rough the gap; what mag ic d id i ts shaft spe l 1 7 A ra i n bow serpent pa i n ted onto the roof of the cave winds a round for fou r or five metres, a pa i n ted fig u re gua rds the water, and lots of hands si l houetted aga inst the rock qu iet ly declare themselves. Under the i n fl uence of the place - th is lookout, coo l retreat, sp i r i tua l se tt ing -we sp l i t i n to twos or ones, ta lk ing softly or pa int ing or wr i ti ng . Mandy perches on a prec ip ice and pa i n ts. We a re i n the u pper reaches of the Cooper basin that we w i l l explore these next two weeks, movi ng from th is

h ig he r ra i n fa l l esca rpment coun try and edge of the 'desert up l a nds' i n to the chan ne ls and then i n to the s a n d h i l ls, to the edge of the S i m pson Desert.

Fu r ther a long the same range is ' B lack's Pa lace' , a b igger Abo r i g i n a l s i te , and a lso a bu r i a l p lace. I t has been r i fled over the yea rs, Sim o n te l ls us . There were even sku l l s d isp layed i n the B la cka l l chemist shop . Now access is restr icted, and S imon d id not feel that he shou ld or cou l d take u s there.

We re turn to the car for a l a te l u nch in the meagre shade. De l ic ious cold ch i cken i n lemon and coria n de r w i th b i l ly tea , the f i re is b u rn ing w i t h m u lga and boree. A b i rd is not a n y b i rd i n t h i s company a nd wood i s not a ny wood. Later in the tr i p I 'm de l i g h ted to conf i rm from a pub l ished au thor i ty that 'boree is the best fi rewood i n Austra l i a , a pa r t from g idgee'. S imon f inds a na tive ber ry to ea t , a nd on ano the r occas ion g rasps a handfu l of na tive bas i l for the roast One canno t get lost in th is cou ntry and company provided Guy te l l s jokes to S imon a nd one o f them knows where they a re , for S imon's l a u g h could broadcast the ca tch m e n t

S i m o n a n d Chr i s t i ne recen t l y fou n d the weed Parthenium

hysteraphorous on the i r p roperty, a species that ra p i d ly co lon ises pastu res, d ra mat ica l ly reduces carry i ng capac i ty and can i nduce h a y fever and dermat i tis, a nd for some t imes o f the yea r it is a lmost a fu l l t ime job conta i n i n g and erad ica t i ng it They showed us photographs of the ou tbrea k and the ensu i ng batt le to tame i t . 'We don't show v i s i to rs photos of our ch i l d ren ' , Ch r is t ine rema rked d r i ly, 'we show them photos of o u r parthen i um : They a re aware of the need for pos i t ive as we l l a s defensive engagemen t w i th the l a nd and regu la r ly have t he ch i l d ren from both B lacka l l schools to Norwood , where they spend a day l ea r n i ng abou t t he local environment The p i n k tags of selected study s i tes s t i l l f l a p from roadside trees. ' I t's i m po r ta n t for the ch i l d ren ' , says C h r is t ine , ' to learn that e nv i ronmenta l s tud ies a re not j ust abo u t degrada t ion :

TH E ARTIST'S CA RAVAN

M a ndy is a n extra o rd i n a r i l y ta len ted perso n , b u t she is no t a p r ima donna a t a l l . Whe reas m a ny ar t i s ts, I t h i n k , demand e i ther t o be the cen tre of a tte n ti o n o r to be com p lete ly a l one a nd u n i n t e r r u pted , M andy's a r t is extremely soc ia l , both i n execut ion and des ign . She does no t now dep ict peop le in he r p a i n t i n gs, bu t evokes the i r p resence t h rough text and choi ce o f subject . She sees he rse l f in a l i neage of exp lorer-artists (espec ia l ly Ludwig Becke r w i t h B u rke a nd W i l l s) , and so

55

p l a ns a n 'exped i t i on ' a n d pa i n ts a ser ies, n u mbe r i n g the canvases, dep ic t i ng a Journ ey. The prog ress ion p l aces h er u nde r a consta n t crea tive p ress u re . Hpr a r t must be scu l p ted o u t of the ci rcu mstances of the day, i t m u s t be swi ft, opportun ist ic , and i m press ion ist ic , a le r t to mood a n d mom e n t, l i g h t and sky, l u n ch and d i n ne r. S he pa i n ts a s we eat o r as t h e b i l l V bo i l s o r u nder th reat of dusk . And she a lso pa i nts u n d e r command . Fo r i t i s he r de l ibe ra te s t ra tegy to ask l andho lders to choose her scenes and h e r s i t es. There are spec ia l p l aces they wan t to take h e r, and she encou ra <Jes th i s. So he r a r t dep icts chosen scenes, mean ingfu l p laces i n t he h u m a n la ndscape. Th is i s a fu r ther pressure upon he r. For o u r hosts have e x p ectat ions, espec i a l l y a bou t favou r i te spo ts, and Ma ndy's pa i n t i n g i s done at t he i r i nv i ta t i on and des ign , and they review i ts prog ress, somet i mes over h e r s hou l der, b u t mo re usua l ly when i t i s com p l e te .

One of the g l'az iers, Sandy K i dd , paced l i ke a restl ess beast around the fi n i shed canvas of h i s favou r ite vva terhole as i t lay on the concrete floor ou tside h is home in the fl uorescen t l i g h t after da rk. He had even g raded th l' tlJck to tht' spot t ha t day to t::<Jse the a r tist's way. As he sat by th l' wa terhoic, u pon the g raded earth where a dead ly snake had just sl i t h e r ed , he looked around w i th p r i de a nd announced his J t tection for the p l a rc : ' I wou ldn ' t ca l l the king m e uncle i n this p l ace . I cou l dn ' t catch a cold hl ' re: La ter as we awa i ted d i n ner a t h is home, h e handed us beer ca ns s p a t tered w i th b lood from the c h i l l e r. Another vis i tor, Bud, was te l l i n g M i n Min s to r i es and l a ugh i ng h ea r t i l y at h is own Jokes Sandy paced a ro und the fi n i shed canVdS, a p proach ing i t from every angle a n d look i n g a t i t from t h e corner o f h i s eye as i f tryi n g t o su rp r ise i t. H e m u t te re d to m e , g estu r ing t o t h e pa i nt ing . T h i s i n tr ig ues m e , t h i s does. This p u ts emotion i nto me. I come over a l l emo tiona l look ing at that. The Cha n n e ls, eh? 1 d i dn ' t know I loved them so m uch til l they tr ied to bugger them u p: Bud a lso had a look a t t h e art. 'Yeah' , h e sa id to Mandy, 'we l l I wou I d h ave le t you do my portra i t :

O n ou r last day a l l together, Mandy had a n a r t show, cura ted by J ane, on a c l aypan near Bo l l ; mJ's I "goon in the S trze leck i Desert . Wha t a sett i n g , vv ilat a backd rop l R ed , compacted clay, a surface once used for 'c lay p a n dances', a n d l a i d ou t in three l i nes u pon i t were 24 or so ca nva ses tel l i nl) the story of our t r i p . It was extraord i na ry to see the sky on the e a r tll like th is, and the earth a nd g rasses and trees crysta l l is i n g as i f ou t of t he cracks i n lhe c lilypan. I rea l ise that when you travel w i th an a rtist , such a f i n e a r tist, you beg i n to see the coun try th rough her eyes. S he f i nds the colou rs a n d the forms for you to recog n ise as you r own ins ight .

5 6

THE SCIENCE OF ROADKILL

Angus Emmott and h i s w i fe Ka ren and the i r two ch i l d re n Amel ia 19 ) and Fergus 16) l ive near S to n eh enge and Lochern Nati ona l Pa rk on a p roperty labout 1 30 000 acres) owned for s ixty years by the Emmotts. Angus's fa the r and mother, l ive there s t i l l in the old homestead. So Angus has n ever had to move from home. He fi n i shed school at year 10 and never went away to board i ng school. As a ch i ld he col lected everyth ing , a lone i n h i s fam i l y with th i s passion for n a tu ra l h isto ry, and so he learnt by observi ng and from books. His home now is l i ke a m useu m . He has cab i n f ts with smooth ly s l i d i n g d rawe rs i n w h ich a re beet les and butter f l ies and i nsects of every k ind, ca refu l ly p i n ned a nd labe l l ed . On h is co ffee tab l e i s a basket of dr ied seeds and nu ts and fru i ts, a sti l l l i fe of loca l , casua l na ture. On h i s vera ndah , i f you ' re hung ry, you have to wa tch out wh ich refr ige ra tor or deep freeze you open, for two of them a re g iven over to the preserva t ion of road k i l l and other a n ima l spec imens. On the tab l e there is a dugong sku l l and a ca me l sku l l , as we l l as the nests of b i rds. This is whe re I s lept in my swag, a mongst t he roadk i l l and beside a death adder in a terra r i um , the d i n goes c i rc l ing the house a t dawn and how l i ng . Guy wou ld come a n d say goodn i g h t to m e on the ve randah each n i gh t and , as he d id so, pee r i n to the dea th adder's l a i r beside me and excla i m . 'Oh , i t's gone I '

When Angus d r ives, he leans forward, both arms rest i ng a long the wheel , gazing up and forwa rds, n am i ng every b i rd h e sees, each a qu ie t ach ieveme n t, and somet imes he bra kes and tu rns, j u m ps ou t of the truck, crouches on the road and returns w i t h a fan of w ings o r a wounded bea rded d ragon which h e p laces besi de you He has many spec imens i n m useu ms, espec i a l l y i n Austra l i a but some overseas too, and has con tr i b u ted substan t i a l l y to the Austra l i a n Wi l d l i fe Col l ect ion i n Canberra . I t i s h i s g rea test pr ide tha t h e has, I t h i n k, t h ree species named a fter h im , the la test (a wren) a fter h is fa m i ly, emmottorum. In h i s study, stepp ing ove r the p i les of pa per, are many books of na t u ra l h i story and explorat ion , Austra las ian and Anta rct ic , and American too, a m id bottles of sna kes a n d ja rs of frogs. I told Angus tha t he ,;vas the person I wan ted to be when I was g row i ng up , and h e rep l ied , s i ncere ly and q u i te sim ply; ' I 've never g rown up:

And tha t's t rue i n the n i cest way. He is 38, wears shor ts, h is pockets a re fu l l of th i ngs he p i cks u p, he has a n i nfect ious g igg l e, never l e ft home, and M u m and Dad are next door. Belong i ng to a p lace is i m por ta n t to h im . He doesn ' t wa n t to move from here. Karen wa n ts to ret i re to the coast nearer the sand dunes of her u pb r i ng i ng , bu t I t h i n k she knows

she' l l never get h i m there. (As he d rives towards the S impson Desert she warns : 'Now don 't f ind a ret i rement block out there, w i l l you7 . . . they're not the dunes I have in m i nd I ') 'Noonbah ' is home, and eve ry th ing tha t he co l lec ts, names, pins, secures, is an act of homage to this place, a way of knowing and loving i t better. Jane commented that this is not evidence

of 'ecology and empire ' , of possession by conq u est. It is a way of belong ing by knowing a place, scient i fical ly, inte l lec tua l ly, a way tha t perhaps we underest im a te and too often ca tegorise as i m per ia l . H i s way of knowing is generous a nd lovi ng and h umble , a n act of respect, n ever comp l e te. He 's a ' na t i ona l treasure' and we know this i s t rue beca use telev is ion 's 7.30 Report told LIS so th is yea r, and we watched the video of it in the treasure's own lounge room .

The next day, Ame l i a and Fergus take me for a wa l k to 'Sandy Gu l l y' , just a few m i n u tes from their house, one of their p lay a reas and fantasy lands. Amel ia treads l i g ht ly in her ba re feet th rough the d ry and sp iky g rasses, and Fergus wie lds a compass. Th i s makes h im boss.

Each morn ing - or so I have read in a g lossy magaz in e - Angus can be found 's leep i l y devou r i n g h i s bowl of m ues l i in the modest homestead'. ' His bus iness has just abandoned sheep in the face of the severe g loba l depress ion in wool pr ices. Angus has decided to sel l them a l l and to rely on catt le , ' the fi rst t ime Noonbah is sheep-free s ince the ear ly 1 940s when h i s fa ther B ru ce Emmott sta rted the fam i l y opera t ion '. Truckin ' Life to ld th is story i n Apr i l 2000. In the a rtic le , the sheep appea r as no m ore than a n a morphous mob of 'woo l ly wethers', 5000 of them , but t h e t ru cks used i n t h e opera t ion emerge as colou rfu l i n d iv id ua l s : ' a Lou isvi l l e h i tched to two t ra i lers', ' a Kenworth pu l l i n g i t s t h ree t ra i le r 1 2-deck r ig ' , 'a b ig o ld Mack Super l i ner: And these veh ic les have poetry and h istory, too: 'The trucks are the tallest shapes on the flat landscape' and they are managed by a t h i rd generation descendant of a local Cobb & Co d river, a trucki n ' fa mily that did the mail run for n igh on 60 years t i l l 99.

UNNATURAL H I STORY

I 've j u st learnt tha t Guy first read Ernest ine H i l l 's The Territory ( 1 95 1 ) when h e was six l I g uess i t i s a b i t o f a boy's own adventu re. I n tha t book H i l l w rote of the Nor the rn Te r r i tory : ' i ts h uman i n te rest and nat u ra l h istory a re supe rhuman i n terest a n d u nn a tura l h istorY:' 'S upe r human ' a nd ' u n natu ra l ' : these a re the adjectiva l d imensions of northern h istor ies. Cu lture is l a rger than l i fe, heroic , l egenda ry, epic . And nature is somehow

corru pted , defici ent o r u n real ised. Explorers and settlers d id not describe the land as it was; instead, they divined what it lacked or imagined what i t might become. They described not so much i ts features as its

shortcomi ngs and redeeming pote n tial . We are certa in ly in a country of l egends. I 've met peop le ca l led

Crackers and Chumpy and Dude a nd Bub, as we l l as Bud. We eve n saw some d rovers on horses w i th 2500 head of cattle on the final stages of a Jou rney from the Gu l f to near Wi ndorah . I t h i n k I 've not iced one o r two t h u m bna i l s d i p ped in tar and we've certa i n ly d r iven a rou nd some overflows, and the Cross turns over every n ig h t. Bush poetry is an id i om . Ka ren Emmott showed me some of hers (a fter some u rg i ng ) , and young Fergus wh ispered h is five-second- Iong p rize-w inn i ng poem to m e several t imes. There is the Stockman's Ha l l of Fame, of cou rse, a nd a Wa l tz ing Mat i lda Cen tre, a nd the Tree o f Knowledge where the Austra l i a n Labor Party seeded.

I 'm i n terested in the specia l cha l lenge of wr i t i ng env i ro n m e n ta l h istory i n a coun t ry of legends, whe re t he adjectives a re i n deed 'superh uman ' and ' u nna tu ral : The Stockman's Ha l l o f Fame fails to do i t, constra i ned as i t is by i ts legenda ry m iss ion . We learn a lot a bo u t the i m ported stock but noth ing about the na tive g rasses. Are an hero i c h istory and an environmenta l h istory incompat ib le7 I don't t h i n k so. Here g oes.

A WIN FOR WINDORAH

The Mayor of the Barcoo Sh i re, Bruce Scott, uses words l i ke 'bra ided' and 'anastomosing' and 'ephemeral: They don't a lways q u i te fi t i n h i s mouth and sometimes m u ta te i n the process, but he knows the i r pow e r a n d meaning a n d poli tics better than any lexicologist.

The locals happ i ly embel l ish their l anguage now W i th these sc i ent ific terms, eager ly adopt ing and adapt i n g the words of u rban p rofess iona ls to a dvoca te the spec i a l a tt r i bu tes of t he i r water syste m . One Cooper pastora l i st , fu l l o f genu i ne wonder, ca l led the cha nne ls 'anastomaz ing :

Th is i s one of the legacies of a n extraord i nary and effective a l l i a nce s i nce 1 995 between pastora l ists, g reen ies a nd some Abor i g ina l peop le to defend Cooper's Creek from regu l a t i on for i rr i ga t ion . The l a n g uage superb ly ca ptures the meet i ng and me ld i ng o f cu l t u res. W i n d o ra h pastora l i sts, I found , often beg i n sen tences with t h e words : ' I ' m n o t a rad ica l g reen ie , but .. .' The i r r ivers are no t on l y u n regu l ated b u t a lso u npo l l uted. 'There's no pee in our r iver' they say of t he (frequen t ly m is­spel t) Thomson I

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The re are the floods - or I shou l d say, the flow. I t's not a flood but a flow ; i t's not a r iver bu t a creek. The bra ided channe l system. As Fa ith 's fa ther, Ron , put i t , i t's not l i k e you c ross the Cooper and tha t's i t. You cross the Cooper, and then you cross i t aga in , and then aga in , and then aga in . And the flow swe l l s to a sea . I t is the l a rg est i n land d ra i n i n g system i n the world. I n flows.

The system is at such a whole l andscape sca le that you s imp ly can not ignore i t . I ts rhyt hms a re overwhe l m i ng . Debr is i n trees and on fence l i n es reco r d s the last he ig h t of flow.

I had th is si mp l ist ic i dea tha t t h e coun try got more marg i na l the fu rther one went out . But the Cha n ne l Coun try and l a rg e swa thes of centra l a nd western Queens land - pa r ticu lar ly the m i tche l l g rass coun try - defy that expecta t ion. There is an owners h i p mosa i c of l a rge company ho ld i n g s and sma l l e r p r ivate l and ho lde rs, the compan ies g rad ua l l y w i n n i n g . Bu t many fam i l i e s he re d a te themselves back t o the Duracks a nd Coste l los of the 1 8605, p rovid i n g a soc ia l con t i nu i ty that i s unusua l , q u i te u n l i ke l a rge a reas o f weste rn NSW whe re soc ia l i nstab i l i ty a nd l a nd degrad a t ion have been t rag ic partn e rs. And a l though some of the s igns of h is to r i ca l m ismanagement are st i l l eviden t, there seems to have been no s i n g l e devasta t ing pe r i od o f g ross overstoc k ing and long-te rm env i ro n men ta l damage such a s western NSW exper i enced 50 catac lysm ica l ly in the 1 8805 and 905. Many of the pastora l ists here now ta l k of pastu re management as much as stock manageme n t, of fi r ing the g rasses, o f h uge paddocks kept on ly for emergency feed, of p l ann i ng for d rou g h t a nd accept ing flood as a bon us, of go ing wi th the flow.

In 1 995, fou r fa rmers from the M acquar ie Va l ley of NSW proposed an ag r icu l tu ra l deve lopment on t he Cooper. They had a l l been i nvolved i n i rr iga t ion for over 1 5 years 3nd two o f them a lso had long experience w i th sheep and cat t le . The i r proposed 'Cur rareva' deve lopment inc l uded the g row i n g of cotton and wheat, fo l l owed by more i n tensive hort icu l tura l a nd v i t icu l tu ra l act iv i t i es, a s w e l l a s a fish fa rm ing e n terpr ise. " Cotton product ion , with i ts chemica ls and th i rst for water, is fa r more d isruptive of eco log ical processes than pastora l i sm has ever been.

T h e deba te about i rr igat ion on the Cooper is a revea l i n g moment in the ca tchment's h istory and it made loca ls a r t icu l a te the i r h istory a nd the i r p r ide , and to see the po l i t ica l as we l l as env i ronmenta l adva n tages of ta l k i n g 'susta i n ab i l i ty'. In the face of corpora te cotton, pasto ral ists mobi l i se d i n defence of the i r soc ia l a s wel l as natu ra l e nv i ronment. I t's a reversa l of the more usua l si tuat ion where a rura l sh i re m igh t be found advoc a ti ng deve lopment and be ing restra ined by gove rnment on behalf of an u rban environmen ta l sensib i l i ty. One of the leaders of the campa ign

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was Bob Mor rish , a loca l pastora l ist wi th a backg rou n d i n psychology (more psycho-pastora l i sm I ) who wr i tes referenced academic papers on the na tu ra l rhythms of the Cooper system, and g ives them t i t l es l i ke 'Al iens i n the Ecosyste m · The Stra nge Behaviour of Human Be ings'. H e acknowledges a l i n eage of Austra l i a n pe rspect ives on ' the g loba l ecocr isis' wh ich i n c l udes Jock Marsha l l 's The Greot Extermination ( 1 966), Leona rd Webb's The Environmental Boomerang ( 1 973) , and Tim Fla n ne ry's The Future Eaters ( 1 994). 'Sma l l wonder' , wr i tes Morr ish, ' that the Austra l i a n nove l i st Xavie r Herber t descr ibed humans as t he most savage a nd bruta l an ima l s on th is earth '. I n th is pasto ral ist's m i nd, the win for W i ndorah is p la ced in an h istor ica l context of i n te r na tiona l ecopol i t ics and a t ime less and despa i ri n g psychology of h uman i ty.

On the g round i t tra ns la tes i n to local advocacy for the Cooper as a nat iona l resou rce. The l i n k between embedded locals and an educa ted, trave l l i ng , u rban popu l ace therefo re becomes c ruc ia l , and tou rism is i ncreasi ng ly to lerated , not on ly for i ts economic prom ise, but because of the expanded e lectora te i t offers to a n outnumbe red and defens ive few l iv ing downstream in a frag i l e catchment.

We a re now stay i ng a t a p roperty 30 k i lome tres ou t of Wi ndorah beside Cooper's Creek. I t is owned by Bruce (the Mayor) and Mau reen Scott, who have two ch i ld ren , Karly (aged 9) and Courtney (5). Karly has j ust sk ipped i n to her l i tt l e classroom to p u t on her headphones and beg i n schoo l , a n d Courtney i s gett i n g a pa i n ti n g lesson from Mandy on the verandah of the house where we a re stayi ng opposite the homestead. B ruce a n d Guy spent most of breakfast d iscuss i n g the i n tr ica cies of acety l ene gas bott les and la ter I had some m a rve l lous, i n te nse conversa t ions w i th B ruce , too, about Abor ig i n a l i ty a n d b ioreg i ona l ism a nd educat ion . Guy sl i ps easi l y i n to the id iom of whoever he is w i th , d raw i ng them ou t on the i r home g round , and 50 he and Bruce were ta l ki ng fast and low, mou ths ba re ly open i ng , exp lor ing the fu l l range of the i r shared pastoral l i ngo. La ter in our stay we were joined at d i n ner by ne i ghbour i ng g raz i e rs, B r i an and Ross, a nd the rhythm of the repartee, the lacon ic humou r, and the extreme economy of l i p movement, rende red Jane a non-spea ker. The INords merged i n to a fasc i nat i ng ly fore i gn sound , as i f i t were a nother language. An a nastomazing n ig h t.

Such is the pace of adve n tu re and the n umber of new people and places and ideas that we a re encoun ter ing that Jane and I sometim es both feel 3 l i tt l e ove rwhe lmed and tem pora r i ly (bu t happ i ly) exhausted. At t imes we have been a lmost as leep at the d i n ne r tab le , mak i ng brave, pa th et ic e fforts to look a tten tive, a nd Mandy has saved us wi th thoughtfu l excuses. J ane a nd I have wondered i f the congestion of our

bra ins m i g h t a lso be put down to co FFee depr iva t ion. Th is is certa i n ly tea ­dr i n k i ng country. Basica l ly, there's tea and beer and rum and tea . I t h i n k t h i s i s one of the deepen ing d iv ides i n Austra l i a n cu l t u re , between ru ra l tea d r ink i ng and urban coffee d r i n ki ng . 'The ca fFe la tte set ' - wh ich I now rea l ise I clea r l y be long to , more comp le te ly than I ever knew - i s not a n i d l e labe l , nor is i t j ust a cu ltura l s l u r ; i t conta ins a bruta l b io log ica l i nsig ht

B ruce says that people come here a n d a re a l m ost d i sa ppoi n ted t h a t they do not fi nd i t more ba r re n , even i n d roug h t. They expect j u s t red dust a nd tumb leweeds. I asked h i m wha t he wa n ted them to lea rn . He sa id he wou ld l i ke them to see how the coun try is s t i l l hab i tab l e a fter 1 00- 1 50 years of sett lement, tha t peop le have lea rned to l ive w i th the land, w i th the ecosystems because they have no choice. Few of the towns he re a re on a r tesi a n o r sub-a r tesi a n water supp l ies ; they rely on the su r face wate r i n a l l i ts u n re l i a b i l i ty Peop l e l ive w i t h tha t The pu lse of l i fe that en l ivens the ecosystems is what the peop le , too, musl l ive o ff. He d id not th i n k that t he re shou ld be mo re people out here, o r tha t deve lopment should e n la i l medd l i ng w i t h the water supp ly He ta l ked self-su fficiency and i n tegr i ty of systems, the economy of Cooper water sp i l l i n g over i n to a l l h is po l i t i cs.

As I wr i te these words, I am reminded of the v is i t i ng B r i tish b iologist Fra nc is Ratc l i ffe and the l e t te rs he w rote home from the Queens land fron t i e r i n the l a te 1 920s and 1 930s. These lette rs l a te r evolved i n to Flying Fox and Drifting Sand, a book much loved by Austra l ians t ha t was first pub l ished in london i n 1 938 , Syd ney i n 1 947, a n d repr i nted many t imes si nce. The Cooper d is turbed Ratcl iffe . He fe l t a Form less Fear there,

and fou nd the end less fla t bed of grey clay 'menacing'. 'The d ry bed of that dead river: he wrote, ' . . . was one of the most eerie and haunted spots I have ever visited: He ca lled Cooper's Creek a dead river not only because it did not have water in it when he first saw i t in 1 935 - it had not

flowed i n its lower reaches for seventeen years - bu t a lso because i t cou ld never knovv the sea . It seemed that i t did not have water and never reached water. Even when it did run , it cou l d no t fu l fi l the dest iny of a river a n d release i n to the ocean . I t was d ry and l and locked and frustrated. It was a pa rody of a r iver. It e p i tom ised the i ro ny, the menace , the waywa rdness o f Austra l i an na tu re. ' I can never t h i n k of the Cooper and the D iamant ina as m ere r ivers', Ratc l i ffe reflected . 'They have sp i r i ts of their own , which a re not frie nd ly to man :

But Ratcl iffe a lso saw th is l and a n ima ted by wa ter. When he returned to the Cooper the fo l l ow ing year, 1 936, he fe l t that it was l i ke retu rn i ng to ' the t iger 's paws from wh ich I had so recen t ly escaped . . . The t iger, moreover, was no longer s l u mber i ng , for the d rough t had broken , and

the g rea t i n l and r ivers had come down in Fl ood: ' I n the end i t took us three weeks to get over the w re tched "creek"' , he said of the Coo per. A fresh came down a nd b locked h i m a t W i ndorah.

A lthough Ra tc l i ffe was on a sc ien t i fic m issi on - to i nvest i g a te the causes of soil e rosion ( 'dri ft i n g sand' ) i n i n l a nd Austra l i a - he had much more to say about people and po l i t ics than about ecology and w i ld l i fe. Or perhaps i t is more a ccu ra te to observe t hat he saw t h e m as i n ter re lated. He came as m uch to study society as natu re, to l is ten more than to teach. He looked for who le l a ndsca pe so lu t ions, brave ly a rgued the rea l i ty of env i ron men ta l l i m its a n d the shock i n g consequences of overstock ing , a nd he took ser iously h is d u ty to com m u n icate h i s fi n d i ngs to a genera l p u b l ic . He reg a rded people not on l y as compone n ts o f the ecosystem, but a lso as sources of knowledge abou t it Ratc l i ffe l is tened . He d i d not j ust hand down scient i f ic knowledge from on h igh . H e der ived i t from the peop le who l ived it, as we l l as from h is own expertise. He spun h is le t ters and h is book and h is science out of conversa t ions in paddocks a nd a t homestead tab les.

l i ke Ratc l i ffe, I a m s imp ly observ i ng the t a l l est vertebrates i n th is l andscape . As Angus lemmottorum sp . ) says, i t i s wrong that In our spec ies l ists of var ious reg ions we do not inc lude homo sapiens.

TH E AERIAL PERSPECTIVE

In th is extraord i nari ly flat land, there a re few p laces to cl imb u p for a view from above, few va n tage po i n ts for an aer ia l perspective. Yet, to q uote two observa n t i n ternat ional v is i tors to Austra l i a 's a r i d l a nds, Fra ncis Ratcl i ffe a n d Jane Carr u the rs, i t is l i ke ' look ing rou n d the bend of the earth: The horizons a re immense and d istant yet you feel as if you m i g h t be fa l l i n g over the edge of them. And the sk ies, as Mandy k n ows and shows, a re stretched ca nvases of d ra m a tic e ffects. What wou l d it be l i ke to be in them, to be up there, to be vert ica l l y adva n taged i n th is awesome hor izonta l i ty7

Tha t's the stock E u ropean u rge , isn ' t i t, to want to be h i g h u p a nd to look down7 Tha t's seen to be i m per ia l a nd dom ina t i ng a n d con t ro l l i ng . And i t's the u rg e that propels thousands of u n fi t people every year to i gno re Abori g i na l p leas and cl i m b U l uru . I f you a re embedded i n the land sp i r i t ua l l y and envi ron menta l ly, perhaps you don ' t need th is v iew from outs ide a nd from a bove. Or perha ps you d iv i ne such a view i n t u i tive ly. I t is a n i n t r i gu i ng mystery t h a t Abor ig i n a l a r t a n d m a p-ma k i ng so effect ively imag i ned the ae ri a l perspective.

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S a ndy Kidd gave us t ha t view w i t h the a id of i mported technology When I met h im he seemed l i ke he w as carved out of red gran ite, with on ly his Jaw moving and that ba rely. Sitti ng i n the red dust or flying in the b l ue sky were both equal ly easy a n d natura l for h im. He did both that day he showed us his p roperty, graded the art ist's path , danced over the snake , and handed us b loody beer ca ns. He has a b ig red a i rstr ip i n h is backya rd , and kanga roos a re a hazard. He learned to fly in paddocks i n Char lev i l l e and Toowoomba in 1 956.';

S a ndy showed us a photo of h is Fa ther as a c h i ld wi th wel l -d ressed Abu r i g i na l ca rers; h i s dad was de l ivered by a n Abor i g i na l m idw i fe i n Cu n n a mu l la . And he spoke earnestly of how m uch knowledge of the land and i ts r hythms, the p la n ts a nd a n i ma ls, ca me from ' the old b lacks', tra n smu ted i n to a common bush l ore, bu t i ts sou rce not en t i re ly fo rg o t te n . I n the a i r, a view the o ld b lacks never had , th is bush p i lo t seemed to t lnd a nother meeti ng w i th the i r m i nds.

S a ndy fl ew at about 250 feet and sometimes lower mostly over his prope r ty 'Ourde l ' near Windorah . He fo l lowed one part icu l a r channe l bra n c h i n g ou t from the Cooper system, the one wh i ch the i r r igat ion deve l o pment a t Curra reva would h a ve dra ined . Bank i ng low over the outlet, he commented upon i ts sma l l beg i nn i ng and then followed with h is w i n g s the exten t of i ts i n fl uence as a web of n a t u ra l i r r iga t ion channe ls spread out from i t. From the air the hydra u l ics were exposed, the ta pestry was revea led, t he trace ry - and it is the r ig h t word, so expressive of finery and fragi l i ty - was sudden ly man i fest.

I thought about the importance of the aerial perspective in helping us to understand the sca le and i ntegrity of the system. Satel l ite photos of the Channel Country (and we saw one at the Stockman'S Ha l l of Fame) look l i ke microscope sl ides of o rgan i c tissue. There i s a strong con nection i n the ou tback between fly ing and h e a l th - John Flynn's famous I n l and M ission a nd the flyi n g doctor service - and here the hea l th that is exposed for scruti ny, the veins that a re la id out, a re ecolog ica l . The bones ca n be d iscerned, too, the geo log ica l structu res of deep t ime. One looks down t h rough space - and t ime , across m i l l ions of yea rs. It is impossi b le not to see con nect ions between new ecolog ica l u ndersta nd i ngs and the ae r i a l pe rspective, par t icu l a r ly in f lat l a ndsca pes, par t icu la r ly i n the Channel Cou n try which is a creat ion o f fla t l and a nd sudden wa ter. No imper i a l g aze th is view from a bove, b u t a dawn ing, embedded i nsi gh t.

W h e n counci l lo rs of t h e Ba rcoo Sh i re were conside r i ng the conse q u ences of the proposed 'Cur ra reva' development, a deputa t ion f lew to Na rromine i n the Macquarie M a rshes to speak with g raziers about the con sequences of cotton fa rm ing in that reg ion . The test imony was

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very d istu rbing. 'There were q u ite a few people there w i th symptoms of chemica l poisoning and spoke of their experiences', reported Bruce Scott to his fel low coun ci l lors. The Barcoo representat ives were u rged not to trust the promises of cottong rowers. They were taken for a d rive a round the Marshes a nd eve rywhere they cou ld 'rea l l y see the effects of lack of water, huge r iver red gum trees hund reds of years old dead and dyi ng , a reas where r iver couch and water reeds once g rew a l l dead:

But j ust a s i m po r ta n t as t h is on-g round survey a n d d i rect oral test imony was the view from the air as they flew home. Bruce concluded his report wi th these words on the lessons of an aer ia l perspective about h i s own land :

W e t hen flew h o m e r i g h t a l o n g Coopers Creek from abou t Nappame rr ie

to Tanbar via Lake Ya mma Ya m ma. You can real ly sec how l i t tle water there is i n the system a fter two floods. There i s h u ndredS of thousands

o f acres tha t never received a drop of water.

TI-lE VIEW FROM UNDERGROU ND

I lowered my arm g i nger ly i n to a p i t t rap , a b lue plast iC cylinder about 10 cent imetres in d iamele r su nk i n the red sand of the Simpson Desert. I had an i nverted cloth bag over my hand to protect i t from attack and I had a l ready locked eyes with a tiny marsupial a t the base of the trap. On my first attempt it jumped to my elbow As gen tly as I could I g rapp led th is feisty l i ttle {'u�tom er i n to the bag, brough t h im to the surface and met the tal l ea rs, ,trung h ind l egs a nd long tu fted ta i l of my first sp in i fex hopp ing mouse (Notomys alexis) .

Ch ris D ickman and h is studen ts a t the U n iversity of Sydney have been su rveyi ng these ' l i tt le people ' [as Guy would a ffect ionate ly ca l l them) for e leven yea rs, about fou r t imes a year, here, west of Ethabuka on the eastern edge of the northern S impson Desert . Chris is a very gent le , so ft ly-spoken man , con fident ia l in his manner, and he hand les humans as if th ey, too, were sma l l ma rsupia ls. The g reat pu lse of wet ea r l ie r th is yea r stranded the su rvey team , who had to be he l icoptered out , and has provided some very i n terest ing bumps in the g ra phs for these long i tud i na l s tud ies. They've cau g h t more desert mice t h is yea r than a l l of the ten previous years combined. The whole experimen t maps popu lat ions of vertebrates aga i nst wea ther and other va r iab les. There a re sixteen or so g r ids of s ix l i nes of six traps spread down a swa le between the red dunes. There i s a weathe r sta t ion at each mon i tor ing s i te. I f certa in popu lat ions cha nge, why? What a re they ea t i ng? Thei r scats are

col lec ted and exa m i ned, the i r we i gh ts a re m o n i tored, ta i l w i d ths measu red. Bags of sand a re gathered and si Fted For seeds to determ i ne ava i l ab l e Food sources. What ha ppens to o t he r popu la tions if the aggressive, carn ivorous mu lgara (Dasycercus crist/cauda) is excluded (or a lmost excl uded - we trapped one i ns ide the exc losure! ) . The long brown, b lack-t i pped ta i l of the m u lga ra was a de l i cacy For Abor i g i na l people . Each capture - maybe th is t ime i t's a Wonga i N i ngau i ( Fi rs t d i scovered on ly about two decades ago) or a Lesser, Ha i ry- Footed Dunna r t (ou rs weighed a l l of 7 g rams) - has i ts ears notched accord i ng to a n umber code, tens on the leFt ear, u n i ts on the r ig h t. Liza rds (such as Southern Sands l ider, Pan ther Sk i nk, o r Na r row Ba nded Sandsw immer) a re a lso recorded and - i F Angus is one o F your party - each l i t t le rept i le is gen t ly stroked i n to mesmer ic and statuesq ue com pl ic i ty, p laced in na tu ra l sur round i ngs and photogra phed (with a Flash !) For as l o ng as you l i ke.

Underground is where a l l the act ion is o u t here. And in that wonderFu l sky of cou rse. The red sa nd is an inc identa l canvas of i ts own , but even i t does not record a l l the n i g h t's com ing and go ings as these t iny, active a n ima ls i nvis ib ly a n ima te the desert. Ra i n u nea r ths secrets. 'AFter a decen t rain we get a bucketFu l of Frogs', says Chr is. 'The g round Just erupts w i th Frogs: This is Fron tier science i n every sense, d usty a n d orig i na l , rea l p ioneer i ng stu FF, t h e sc ien t ists even look l i ke they've Just crawled out From a p i t- t ra p themselves, they a re u nwashed, prote i n deprived, a n d a re los i ng weigh t a lmost as Fast a s t h e fat l i tt le mu lga ra a re ga in i ng i t th i s good season ; they s leep i n cocoons close to the Fire, the red dust i s in the creases on t he i r Faces, they a re d is t inct ly crepuscu l a r, and a ppear to su rvive long periods wi thou t free water. They a re us ing s imple , repea tab le systems to revea l wha t we would not otherwise know. The long-term data is i nva luab le and these scien tists a re not w i thou t a sense of h istory. We s i t by the Fi re bu rn i ng g idgee and ta l k i ng of W 0 Hodgk inson who passed nea rby i n 1 876 a n d Cha r les Winnecke i n 1 883, cross ing land so d ista n t and und i FFeren tiated on ear ly maps that the co lon ies and sta tes and ter r i tor ies were pa rce l led u p accord ing to l i nes of la t i tude a n d long i tude . A b i t Fu r ther west is the Northern Territory border, longitude 1 38T and there is no town between us and Al ice Spr i ngs. We ta l k a l so of C T Mad igan i n the 1 920s and 30s a nd H H Fi n layson, the Fa mous cent ra l Austra l i a n natu ra l ist , and of course, of Ba ldwin Spencer and Fra n k G i l l en and the Horn Exped i t ion of 1 894, that momen tous first systema t ic sc i e n ti Fic encoun te r w i t h Cen t ra l Austra l ia . O u r scien t ist com pan ions know just wh ich explorers recorded which ma rsupia ls a nd exactly where. The deta i l s a re i m portan t because the d ra mat ic dec l i n e and ext i nct ion of ce r ta i n Cen tra l Austra l i a n

marsu p i a ls i s one o f the most d i stu rb ing envi ron men ta l sto r i es s ince Eu ropea n i nvasion .

We a re l iv ing t h rough one underg round revo lu t ion in th is reg ion . Fu rthe r south i n the S i m pson, vv he re the ra bb i ts were a lways more numerous, ca l i c iv irus has brought a dramat ic reduct ion i n thei r n u mbers. For the First t ime in a centu ry, sett l ers are see ing a S i m pson Dese r t b loom i ng w i thout many rabbi ts. One loca l com pared the mag n itude of th is even t to the end of Comm u nism , the Fa l l o f the Be r l i n Wa l l .

COOPER DREAM 1 N G

Last n i g h t we stayed i n t he most beau ti Fu l p lace imag i nable. We u n ro l led the swags on a gent le kno l l bes ide Coope r's Creek . I t was a t the Cul lyamu rra Waterhole, the deepest i n the system, the p lace w h i c h has the la rgest peak F low of a ny r iver i n Austra l ia . Just above the vva terho le is ' the choke' where the Flare of th e Cooper channe ls na r rows, and there - above a Flood l i ne on the rocks - is an Abor i g i na l qua rry a n d g a l le ry, every boulder an a rtefact, eve ry rockFace a canvas. I t 's worth remember i ng that Bu rke a n d Wil l s d i ed not of heat and t h i rst i n the m idd le of nowhere, bu t of m a l n u tr i t i on , exhaust ion , t h i am inase poison i ng (From raw na rdoo) and the cold (Burke accid enta l ly set f i re to the i r wu rley and b u rn t most of t he i r spa re c lothes) i n a wa tered a nd i nhab i ted place of a r t and industry.

Large g race Fu l coo l i bahs spread the i r l imbs above us, and the cree k was a chort le of b i rd no ise, espec i a l l y the g r un t i n g and g r i nd i ng of pe l icans as they sa i led the wa ters majest ica l ly or fl ew i n format ion o r g l ided i n to land on the pond l i ke Hercules bomber a i rcraft. The re were egrets, and pac i fi c herons and n i g h t herons and ha rd head d ucks and black k i tes and lo ts of ' LBJs' as J ane ca l l s them (L i t t le Brown Jobs) . After the big wet ea r l i e r this year, the ba n ks of the Cooper were g reen w i th n a t ive sp inach , w i t h w h ich we su pp l emented ou r even i ng c am p-fi re meal . I t was del ic ious - and i ron ic , too, to l ive off the land even in t h is sma l l way i n a sett ing of such European hopelessness There was a sense of such abu ndance, of r ipp l i ll � wa ters, dense b i rd l i fe , bush tucke r, a n i n la nd Eden, a n d y e t i t was here that Bu rke a n d Wi l l s perished. W i thou t a ny doub t t hey spen t the i r l a s t weeks nea r o u r cam psi te, wou l d have wa l ked over it seve ra l t imes. Th e Yan truwanta people bro u g h t the explorers food every day, look ing after them tender ly, bu t Bu rke k n ocked the ne ts of Fish out of thei r hands and o rde red Ki n g to fire ove r the i r heads because he was 'afra id of being too fr iend ly:7

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As n i ght c losed i n , I read a loud two chapters of Alan Moorehead's accou n t of the exped i t ion , 'Cooper's C reek'. It was haun t i ng and eerie to read it there, a round a cam p fi re on the Cooper, to learn of the i r despa i r, the i r came l swa l lowed by the clay, t he i r hopeless chasi ng of b ranches of the wa terho le , look i ng for a watered route o u t, knowing tha t they d ragged the i r feet over this very g rou nd, under these trees, stared at th is sky . Guy sa id he was spooked a l l n i g h t. A p lace of such bea u ty and capr ic ious boun ty n eeds on ly a n ep ic tragedy to deepen and complete i ts s ig n i ficance. Th is it has, beq uea thed unwi l l i ng ly by an exped i t ion l ead e r chosen fo r h is romance rather than h is sense. Aga i n the moon was extraord i narily br ight, dazzl ing, hang i ng above us there l i ke a street lamp, and I lay awake for long, contented periods u nder the stars, listening to the l a nd , thinking of fate and circumstance, of history and the future, d rea m i n g with my eyes open.

62

Endnotes

Bob Beale and Peter Froy, The Vonishing Contmenr, Sydney, 1 990, p. 82.

I mi,quoted Thomis. He actual ly wrote 'disi l l usioned'. What wOuld Simon have said to [h:al

'End of an Era' , Truckin ' Life, April 2000, pp. 22-26.

Erneotine Hi l l, The Territory, 1951, p. 2.

Bert Hawkln', John O'Br ien, Paul O'Brien anel Hans Woldl ing, Inilloi Informacioo

Statemcni: Proposed 'Currorcvo' Agriculturol Development, Septnnber 1995.

6 'The Flying Kicld from Win,t < l I�lh', Outback, bsue 7, Oct/NOV 1 999, pp. 40-4 1 .

T im Uonyho"y, Burke and Wills: From Melbourne 1 0 Mych, David [ I ! Press, Sydney, 1 9 9 1 ,

p. 1 4O.

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