by Tim Low
13. Noble Arks
Barrett (1925), Foxes destructive – Le Souef (1925); Wilsons Promontory – Anonymous (1905), Kershaw (1913), Kershaw (1928), Ewart et al. (1913), Campbell (1952), Gillbank (1998), Hardy (1906), Seebeck & Mansergh (1998); ‘Noble Promontory’ – Gregory & Lucas (1885); Kangaroo Island – Dixon (1981), White (1925), Anonymous (1948), Copley (1994), Le Souef (1925). Earlier releases of malleefowl were made by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union; Nailtails & parmas – Short et al. (1992); Hinchinbrook – Anonymous (1929); Sharland (1944); Tanner (2000); Hobart Mercury – 27 April 1966; McManus – letter to Peter Murrell, Director, National Parks and Wildlife Service, dated 10 September 1985; Ferryman claims – The Examiner 28 July 1988; Emus – letter to the Minister for National parks from P. Murrell dated 26 July 1982; Bandicoots – memorandum to Director of Agriculture from Peter Murrell dated 8 April 1974; SA bettongs and rats – Robinson (1989), Copley (1994); Shark Bay – Short et al. (1994), Algar & Smith (1998); Little Tobago – Long (1981); Kiwi on island – Tiri Tiri Matangi Island; Wetapungu – Gibbs (1999). It is confined to Little Barrier Island.
14. Fun with Fish
Lake Eachham rainbow – Barlow, Hogan & Rodgers (1987), Pusey, et al. (1997); Nile perch – Miller (1989), Ogutu-Ohwayo (1987), Midgley (1968); Freshwater Fishing Enhancement Program – Hamlyn & Thomas (1995), Hogan (1995); New fish in every river – Freshwater Fisheries Management Advisory Committee (1996); The Burnett and Mary – Freshwater Fishers Management Advisory Committee (1998); Alf Hogan – Hogan (1995); Lake Tinaroo net – Department of Primary Industries press release, 8 February 1999; Brisbane River cod – McKay & Johnson (1990); Lake Morris, Koombooloo Dam – Hogan (1995); Barred grunters – Rowland (2001); Wimmera – Harris & Battaglene (1989); Macquarie perch – Cadwallader (1981); Trout cod – Cadwallader & Gooley (1984); Blackfish, catfish – Harris & Battaglene (1989); Yabbies – Jasinska, Knott & Poulter (1993), Austin (1984), Horwitz (1990); Marron – Morrissy (1978), Horwitz (1990); Redclaw – Horwitz (1990), Hogan (1995); Fish diseases – Lee Owens, James Cook University, Townsville; Translocation policy – Ministerial Council on Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture (1999).
15. Pardon My Garden
Useful articles on this topic appears in Plant Protection Quarterly volume 16(3). See also Carr (1993), Blood (2001) & Muyt (2001); Mt Martha – Carr, Bedggood & McMahon (1991); Victoria – Carr (2001, 1993); WA – unpublished list by Greg Keighery, Conservation and Land Management; also Hussey et al. (1997); Tuckeroo – it is sprouting in thousands in the botanic gardens at Coff’s Harbour. Syzygium paniculatum is also rare and also spreading from gardens in NSW; Parks Victoria budget – Scott Coutts, Parks Victoria; Dandenongs – Department of Conservation and Environment (1991); In Belair – Stuart Paul, Belair National Park; Bruzzese & Faithfull (2001); Pittosporum and orchid – Stuart Paul, Belair National Park; Australian plants abroad – Low (1999), Groves (2001); Pittosporum seeds by 1826 – Mack (1991); History of gardening books – Crittenden (1986); Bunce (1850); James (1892); Guilfoyle (1911); Pescott (1912); Harris (1953); Wayne Hill – Environment and Natural Resources Committee (1998); Western plants come east – Piggot (2001); Cadagi and bees – Wallace & Trueman (1995); IUCN – McNeely (2000); SGAP – at http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/weeds.html#dontgrow; Wolschke-Bulmahn (1996); Mound (1995).
16. Bad Birds
Kangaroo Island – Garnett, Pedler & Crowley (1999), Garnett & Crowley (2000), and Chewings (the newsletter produced by the SA Glossy Black-Cockatoo program); twelve nationally endangered birds – Lord Howe woodhen, short-billed black-cockatoo, golden-shouldered parrot, Norfolk Island green parrot, forty-spotted pardalote, regent honeyeater, black-eared miner, white-chested white-eye and the Australian breeding populations of Kermadec petrel, southern giant petrel, blue petrel and fairy prion. See Appendix II for further details; Possums in New Zealand – Low (1999); Galahs and corellas colonised – Baxter (1989); Zoe’s thesis – Tanner (2000); Magpie-larks at Atherton, woman loses eye – Stephen Garnett, Environment Protection Agency, Cairns. In another recent example a kookaburra on Fraser Island pierced a woman’s cheek while trying to grab food; Ringecks and grasstrees – Recher (1999); Saunders & Ingram (1995); Currawongs – Major, Gowling & Kendal (1996), Bayly & Blumstein (2001) and references therein, and articles in various bird newsletters, eg. Canberra Bird Notes 15(1) 1990; Caley – Currey (1966); Allison (1993); Cabbage Tree Island – Priddel & Carlile (1995, 1999), Priddel, Carlile & Wheeler (2000); Disgorge pellets – Buchanan (1989); Bass (1996); Bass (1990); Garnett some years ago – Garnett (1983); Seagulls – Smith (1991), Smith (1992), etc.; Ravens – Garnett & Crowley (2000), Baxter (1988), Fell (1987); Skuas – Garnett & Crowley (2000), Skira (1984); Bellminers – Loyn et al. (1983), Loyn (1987b), Stone (1996); In Melbourne – McCulloch & Noelker (1974); Noisy miners – Dow (1976), etc., Gould (1865); Sparows vanishing – Woodall (1996, 1995) found that sparrows and miners do not co-exist; Loyn (1987a); Grey, Clarke & Loyn (1997, 1998); Catterall – Catterall, Piper & Goodall (in press); Oxley – Steele (1972); Allport (1867); Watling – Hindwood (1944); Hindwood (1944); Threaten pardalotes, honeyeaters – Garnett & Crowley (2000); Helmeted honeyeater – Woinarski & Wykes (1983), Pearce, Menkhorst & Burgman (1995), Garnett & Crowley (2000); Yellow-throated miner – Smith & Smith (1994); Cowbirds – Rothstein (1994), Post, Cruz & McNair (1993).
17. What Kangaroos Do
In this chapter ‘grey kangaroo’, unless otherwise stated, refers to the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus); Conservation in the past – Bonyhody (2000), Bennett (1832, p. 278), Gould (1973), Robin (1965); SA roo numbers – Peter Alexander, Environment and Natural Resources, Adelaide; Parra Wirra – Giffard (1996); Tidbinbilla densities – ACT Kangaroo Advisory Committee (1997); Boldrewood (1884, p. 106); Hattah-Kulkyne – Cheal (1986), Coulson (2002), David Cheal, Natural Resources and Environment; Wallaroos in Flinders Ranges – Alexander (1997); Woodlands – Coulson (2002); Coranderrk, Yan Yean, etc. – Coulson (2002); Canberra – Coulson (2002); Treecreeper – Garnett & Crowley (2000); Hamilton Island – Craig Walker, Queensland Environment Protection Agency; Quokkas – Dickman (no date), Sinclair & Morris (1995-96), McDonagh (1992); Black-striped wallaby – Flower et al. (1995, p. 30); Toolache Wallaby – (Strahan 1995); Bounties – Jarman & Johnson (1977); Recovering Ground – Cameron (1991). Notwithstanding this book, many in the ACF oppose roo culling; Gellatley (1998); Deer in North America – Opperman & Merenlender (2000); Elephants – Laws (1970).
18. To Kill a Tree
Martin & Handasyde (1999) is the most useful reference for the koala themes discussed in this chapter, and includes a detailed list of references; Mascall – The Age 21 August 2000; Framlingham – Martin & Handasyde (1999), Herald Sun 26 April 1998; Dawson (1981, see the introduction); Martin & Handasyde (1999); French Island – Martin & Handasyde (1999), Lewis (1954), McNally (1957); Munro – Martin & Handasyde (1999); SA koala origins – Robinson (1978); Kangaroo Island – Martin & Handasyde (1999), Tyndale-Biscoe (1997); Task Force – Possingham et al. (1996); Wotton – quoted in The Advertiser (Adelaide), 22 November 1996; Two thirds in favour – poll by The Advertiser, reported 18 November 1996; Support from CCSA – the CCSA moved a motion on 24 May 1996 calling, in part, for ‘Some selective culling by a professional shooter’; Sterilisation – Menkhorst, Middleton & Walters (1998); Menkhorst – quoted in the Adelaide Advertiser 18 November 1996; Le Souef (1925); Culling goes on – Kath Handasyde, University of Melbourne; No koalas seen in early years – Martin & Handasyde (1999), Warnecke (1978); Mann (1811); Parris (1948); Gould (1974, p. 36); Serventy (1990); The AKF concedes that koalas kill trees – their earlier newsletters make this concession but more recently they have expressed doubts; AKF newsletter – Australian Koala Foundation Newsletter, April 1998, p. 1; MacPherson – in Flannery (1994, p. 212); Dawson (1981, p. 21); Possums – Heatwole & Lowman (1986); On Keppell Islands – Craig Walker, Queensland Environment Protection Agency; Dieback from beetles – Landsberg, Mors
e & Khanna (1990), Heatwole & Lowman (1986). The main beetles were eucalyptus tortoise beetles (Paropsis atomaria); Tuart borer – Roger Armstrong (Conservation and Land Management), Old, Kile & Ohmart (1981). Roger suspects that thick undergrowth, sprouting in the absence of Aboriginal fire, has helped lower the water table. He also suspects salinity of playing a role; Armillaria – Kile (1983), Pearce, Malajkzuc & Kile (1986); Abbott and colleagues – Abbott, Wills & Burbidge (1999), Burrows, Ward & Robinson (1995); Mistletoe – Heatwole & Lowman (1986), and see Victorian Naturalist 114(3); Beech fungus – Beckmann (1987); Pisonia psyllids – Purinaria urbicola; Fungus killing banksias – Bathgate, Barr & Shearer (1996).
19. Vegetation Wars
Coast tea-tree – Burrell (1981), Bennett (1994); Pittosporum – Gleadow & Ashton (1981), Ross & Fairweather (1997), Mullett (2001), Muyt (2001), etc.; Invading rainforest – Harrington & Sanderson (1994), Trott (1995); Endangered bettongs – McIlwee (1999); George Davis – quoted by Claire Miller in ‘Protection takes more than a listing’ in The Age 26 November 2000; Parrots and paperbarks – Crowley & Garnett (1998), Garnett & Crowley (2000); Bristlebird – David Stewart, Queensland Environment Protection Agency; Woody weeds and graziers – Ludwig & Tongway (1995), Harrington, Wilson & Young (1984), Pitt (1997); Cassinia – Campbell et al. (1994); Finch Hatton (1885); Shaw (1957), see also Isbell (1969); Newsome (1975); Ewart (1909); Burgan – Kirschbaum & Williams (1991), Singer & Burgman (1999); Coast wattle – Muyt (2001), Geoff Carr (Ecology Australia, Melbourne), Tim Barlow (La Trobe University); Manuka, white kunzea – Carr (1993); Rainforest and buttongrass – Marsden-Smedley (1998), Marsden-Smedley & Catchpole (1995); Herremans (1998); Lunt (1998); Black-cockatoo – Garnett, Britton & Crowley (2000); Ryan, Ryan & Star (1995), Benson & Redpath (1997). Responses appeared in Cunninghamia 5(4). I believe Benson & Redpath underestimate the influence of Aboriginal fire; Fensham – Fensham & Fairfax (1997), Fensham & Holman (1999), Fensham & Fairfax (1996), Fensham (1997); Flannery (1994); Horton (2000), Tench (1961, p. 272); Phillip, Worgan and Ball – Horton (2000); Lomatia – Lynch et al. (1998); Neilson she-oak – Shephard (2001).
20. Gene Scene
Black-eared miner – Clarke Gordon & Clarke (2001), Christides & Holderness (1998); Maclear’s rat – Pickering & Norris (1996) and references therein; Grey-headed blackbird – Garnett & Crowley (2000), Schodde & Mason (1999); Endangered palm – Shapcott (1998), David Liddle, Conservation Commission of the NT; Black duck – Marchant & Higgins (1990); Corellas – Johnstone & Storr (1998), Garnett & Crowley (2000); Terns – Ross, Egan & Priddle (1999), Garnett & Crowley (2000); Nicotiana – Nicholls (1936). N. glauca also hybridises with N. simulans and N. goodspeedii; Grevillea hybrids – Carr (1993); Wattles – Blood (2001), Muyt (2001); Rushes – Hussey et al. (1997); Pittosporum – Carr (1993), Blood (2001), Muyt (2001); Other plant hybrids – Carr (1993), Carr (2001), Blood (2001); ‘Hybridisation as a stimulus . . .’ – Ellstrand & Schierenbeck (2000); Hoop pines – Dick Clarkson, Envionment Protection Agency, Queensland; Geraldton wax – Hussey et al. (1997); Macadamia – see O’Neill (1996); Darwin nurseries – Colin Wilson, Parks and Wildlife, Darwin; Redclaw, sleepy cod – www.dpi.qld.gov.au; Prawns – Benzie et al. (1995); – Pollard (1989); Tropical crops straddle continents – Low (1990); Shitake – Tom May, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne; Ross River virus – Russell & Dwyer (2000); Brown tree-frogs – Gerry Marantell; Super eucalypts – Lake (1997); Currawong – Garnett & Crowley (2000), Schodde & Mason (1999); Jarrah – McComb, Stukely & Bennett (1994); Norfolk boobook – Higgins (1999), Garnett & Crowley (2000); Endangered island mammals – Eldridge (1998), Spencer & Moro (2001); Neil Murray, La Trobe University.
21. Wild Strife in the Garden
Frog ponds – summarised in Low (2000–01). Arthur White is an associate of the Australian Musem, Sydney; five or six frogs benefiting – apart from the four mentioned, the dwarf-sedge, frog (Litoria fallax) and tusked frog (Adelotus brevis) are benefiting, perhaps also the ornate burrowing frog (Limnodynastes ornatus) at a few outer sites; Miners – see notes for Bad Birds chapter; Pizzey (1988); David Paton, University of Adelaide; Dying wattlebirds – Paton, Dorward & Fell (1983); Catterall’s Toohey survey – Catterall, Green & Jones (1991); Cockatoo damage – Environment and Natural Resources Committee (1995); Urquhart & Clapp (1999); Curtain Square possums – articles appeared in the Melbourne Times (1 & 8 November 2000, 31 January 2001) and Yarra Leader (29 January 2001); Canberra mynas – Pell & Tidemann (1997); Hugo Phillipps – on the Birds Australia website www.birdsaustralia.com.au; Monika Rhodes, Griffith University, Brisbane; Organ Pipes – Irvine & Bender (1995); ‘We can all do our bit’ – Urquhart & Clapp (1999); Howard and Jones – Jones pers. comm., Jones & Howard (2001); Dinkum gardening – Low (1993); Helping birdwings – Low (2000); Robert Bender, Friends of Organ Pipes National Park.
22. Grazing and Culling for Conservation
Fragrant doubletails – Cropper (1993); Kangaroo grass kills itself – Lunt & Morgan (1999); Derrimut – Lunt & Morgan (1999); Oolambeyan – ABC Radio news 12 December 2001; The Queen’s jumbo – ‘Damsel acts to save dragon in distress’ in The Australian 5 June 2000; Bunya Mountains balds – Fensham & Fairfax (1996); Pioneers ate animals – Low (1989); Collapse of civilisation – see Littler (1902) for example; NSW farmers kill flying-foxes – Decker & Burrowes (1994); Killing corellas, galahs, wombats – Ian Temby, Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria; WA farmers kill emus – data supplied by Conservation and Land Management; Cormorants culled – Ian Temby; Queensland permits – Birt (1999); Investigation at Emerald – Birt (1999); Lychee farmer – Booth v Bosworth [2001] FCA 1453, www.federalcourt.gov.au, Canberra Times 23 October 2001, McGrath (2001); Officer under investigation – The Courier Mail 17 December 2001. Garnett, Whybird & Spencer (1999) counted 153000 spectacled flying-foxes in 1998 and a recent census recorded a similar number; Lamont & Burbidge (1996); The main threatening process – culling by farmers was also the main threat to Muir’s corella earlier this century (Garnett & Crowley 2000); Birt (1999); Wildlife in the agricultural landscape – Temby (1995) lists most of Australia’s pest species; Mascall in The Age, 21 August 2000; Myroniuk – Mascall in The Age 21 August 2000; Michelle Grady, Executive Officer, Conservation Council of South Australia; Possingham and Grady – The Advertiser 10 March 2001; Kirkpatrick (1995); Jamie in another report – Kirkpatrick & Gilfedder (1998); Owen Foley, Ison Environmental Planners, Brisbane.
23. Forward to Nature
Gottlieb – The Tiger’s Eye, December 1947 p. 43; Melbourne canoe tree – Eidelson (1997); In Melbourne gardens – Neville Walsh (National Herbarium of Victoria); Pitcher (1910); Old Sydney trees – Doug Benson (Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney), Wilson (1986) and signs posted within the gardens. The large forest red gum is much bigger than eucalypts (Eucalyptus robusta) planted in the gardens in 1814 by governor Macquarie, suggesting much greater antiquity; Old Canberra trees – Robert Boden, former director, National Botanic Gardens; Hobart manna gum – in Queen’s Domain, near the swimming pool; Woolloongabba grass – in Carl Street, eastern side; Maiden – in Wilson (1986); Hobart’s Domain – Kirkpatrick (1995), Kirkpatrick (1986), Kirkpatrick, Gilfedder & Fensham (1988). Button wrinklewort is Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides; Yarra Bend – McIntyre & Yugovic (1982), Hardy (1911); Melbourne grasslands – Department of Conservation and Environment (1990); Malachite beetles – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NucNews/message/1347; Sylvan (1998); Lewis (1967); Fell (1999); Coates (1996); Neil Murray, La Trobe University; Let being be – borrowed from philosopher Martin Heidegger; Ratcliffe (1932); Bats in Mebourne – The Age (9 January 2001, 21 January 2001, 1 May 2001), Herald Sun (26 January 2001, 16 March 2001), Peake, Ward & Carr (1996), Menkhorst & Dixon (1985), Loos (2001), Menkhorst (1995); The Age editorial – 25 January 2001; Dimity Reed – The Age 23 January 2001; False claims – the Gardens listed eight rare and threatened plant species ‘conserved’ in Fern Gully. However, although some of these species are rare in Victoria, they are common in other
states, eg. cabbage palm (Livistona australis), and are common in cultivation and the seed in the gardens was probably sourced from interstate. The cabbage palms, kentia palms and magenta lillypillies (Syzygium paniculatum) in Fern Gully thus have no real conservation significance, no more than the same species growing in any backyard or park anywhere in Australia. The Gardens also made ridiculous claims about Fern Gully as a useful study site for botanists, and allegations were also made about bats carrying disease, although tests found no trace of any. Bat experts have suggested that some of the tree damage was caused by elm beetles, fungi and overwatering from a new sprinkling system, although bats certainly were causing damage; Bolt – Herald Sun 1 February 2001; Brundrett – Herald Sun 16 March 2001; Leunig – The Age 25 January 2001; Garbutt – quoted in the Herald Sun 6 October 2001; Listed as vulnerable – The Age 8 December 2001. In New South Wales grey-headed flying-foxes were listed as vulnerable earlier in 2001, and a similar listing looks inevitable in Queensland.