Antinuclear

AUDIO: Australian land management a failure, compared to traditional Aboriginal methods

AUDIO: Modern mismanagement of the Australian landscape? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-14/mis-managing-a-huge-land-mass3f/5593848 NSW Country Hour   By Sally Bryant Bill Gammage says modern Australians are missing the point in how we look after our natural heritage, ignoring lessons from one of the most successful and sustainable management regimes in history.

His view of traditional Aboriginal land management is at odds with the theory held by European settlers; that the traditional owners were hunter gatherers, opportunistic and simplistic in their approach to the land and native flora and fauna.

As an historian, Professor Gammage has studied written and visual records, from the history of the Australian landscape and he says it’s clear to him that Aboriginal people had developed a complex and sophisticated suite of tools, to keep their country healthy and productive.

He says he first became interested in the issue while working on a rural property in the New South Wales Riverina, and from writing a history of the town of Narrandera.

“It became clear that what was now trees had been grassland when Europeans arrived, the riverbanks for example are described as being grassy and a pastoral paradise,…………

Professor Gammage says it’s not surprising that European settlers disregarded Aboriginal people when it came to land management; he says it is typical of the European consciousness and disregard of indigenous knowledge.

“It’s pretty typical of how Europeans treated Aboriginal people.”

And what outcome would Professor Gammage like to see, if any, from discussion of his theories? “I’d like to see us using fire to manage the landscape, to control regrowth so we’re not as exposed to the really big bushfires. “But it has to be done in conjunction with species protection.

“This is something that Aboriginal people are really good at, managing species survival; and this is when they’re managing animals and plants they are using as a food sources.” He concedes that fire might not be an ideal tool to manage large tracts of farmland, and heavily populated areas, but says there are vast tracts of Australia under natural bushland which need to be better managed.

July 16, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, environment