Back of Bourke : a study of the appraisal and settlement of the semi-arid plains of eastern Australia
Abstract
The nineteenth century European invasion of the world* s
temperate grasslands brought the prospective settlers into
contact with novel environments, adaptation to which
imposed severe strains upon traditional techniques of
land use and traditional appraisals of land quality. The
eventual settlement of these lands was achieved only after
considerable modifications had been made to those
techniques and appraisals and several studies have been
made of the processes of modification in North America,
particularly in connection with the development of faming
on the Great Plains. In such studies, the emphasis has
been upon the development of land for agriculture, pastoral
land use has been regarded as only a temporary precursor
to eventual cultivation. Yet there remain today extensive
areas of the drier temperate grasslands from which
agriculture is still excluded and where the dominion of the
herdsman is unbroken. Some studies have been made of the
sequence of settlement in such localities, but little
effort has been directed towards understanding the mental
processes involved in the physical adaptation of traditional
techniques and concepts. Too much stress has been laid in
academic as well as popular literature, upon the conflicts between the farmer and the herder, and between the farmer
and his environment; not enough consideration has been
given to the initial conflict between the herdsman and
his environment. This thesis, therefore, is a contribution
towards restoring the balance for a portion of the plains
of eastern Australia.