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Recreating the Country blog

The re-wilding of Australian culture

14/7/2018

10 Comments

 
PictureFeeling in the minority?
Saving our grasslands and grassy woodlands.
If you care, you're in the minority

Over the last six months I have looked at how our Australian culture> is limiting our ability to prevent the loss of grasslands & grassy woodlands. I have also suggested some practical solutions such as indigenous burning practice> and strategic grazing>.

If you are reading this blog, chances are you have an interest in protecting grasslands. You probably wouldn’t be surprised if I suggest that you and I are in the minority.

If I was to put on my ultraconservative hat, I might say to you;

“why are we spending buckets of money on saving grasslands”?

After all I might add, “money spent on protecting or restoring native flora would have a far greater benefit to the broader community if it was invested in medical research, defence or training more school teachers”.

I might conclude that “restoring a kangaroo grassland on a country roadside or a 10 ha bit of scrub on private land benefits very very few Australians”.

PictureCivilisation is underpinned by natural processes and ecological networks
Why don't most rational people care?

For those of us who are passionate about native flora, these views are confronting and extremely frustrating, but sadly not uncommon.

Conservationists scratch their heads with dismay as we wonder why every Australian doesn’t see native flora and fauna as precious. Why don’t most rational people care deeply about the steady slide into extinction of many of our unique plant and animal species?  

John Delpratt points out the many values of roadside kangaroo grassland reserves in the second of his excellent articles>. Their low fire risk, improved visibility for drivers and their extraordinary beauty. He also mentions the powerful sense of place they provide. But are these tangible reasons that would motivate a nation to protect them?

Conservationists are acutely aware of the significant environmental services that natural areas provide. The wealth and health of our whole civilisation is underpinned by natural processes and ecological networks, but to the uninformed these are invisible as is the ongoing loss and destruction


PictureTeesdale Grassy Woodlands isn't very scary but it's a bit messy
Grasslands are messy scary places with hidden dangers!

Dr Kathryn Williams is an environmental psychologist who has studied the relationships between people and ecosystems. In ‘Land of Sweeping Plains’ – Managing and restoring the native grasslands of south-eastern Australia (edited by Nicholas Williams, Adrian Marshall and John Morgan), she recalls the raw emotional reaction of a colleague with no previous experience of native grasslands.

“Walking through the grassland you can immerse yourself in the novelty and pleasure of such an experience, but it’s one tinged with a visceral anxiety engendered by the possibility of snakes and lurking danger.”

Many Australians would nod their heads in appreciation of this experience. They see natural areas as messy scary places that hold hidden dangers.


PictureNeville Oddie with enthusiasts at his Chepstowe property
Preserving grasslands is old fashioned

Williams goes on to describe studies of Australian farmers who consider native grasslands to be less attractive than a paddock of crops or grazing land of introduced grasses. They also considered grasslands to have less ecological value than much smaller areas of remnant woodlands.

Well known grassland conservationist and central Victorian farmer, Neville Oddie believes he is viewed by many people as ‘trying to hold onto something from the past that impedes progress today’. This suggests that preserving remnant vegetation is considered by some Australians as old fashioned and in some way holding us back economically.

There are certainly some deeply held attitudes in the broader community that are getting in the way of grassland conservation and protection.

How then can these old views be brought into the twenty-first century?

PictureA small committed group of volunteers at Teesdale after installing the new interpretive sign. Click on the sign to read more about this project.
The hard work of a committed few

One of the key goals in grassland management is to help people feel connected to grasslands and appreciate their many benefits as well as their fragility.

I remember first seeing the Teesdale Grassy Woodlands over twenty five years ago when it was Gorse infested and home to the Teesdale tip. I was with a grasslands expert who became excited about its floral richness after a short walk.

This was news to me at the time and it helped me appreciate its values. It started me on a long campaign to save and restore this reserve and through my involvement I developed a strong personal connection. It is now Gorse and tip free, a popular place to walk and highly valued by the Teesdale community because of its natural beauty and uniqueness.

This sounds like the happy ending we would all want but it was achieved through the hard work of a small committed group of volunteers. The majority of the Teesdale community were too busy with life’s demands to get involved, attend a wildflower walk or an evening talk on the local birds.

Does this story sound familiar?


Changing hearts and minds

How do we connect the majority of Australians emotionally with wild places?

Is it through ‘cues to care’? Aids that reveal the quality and values of messy landscapes?
For example;


  • high quality colour pocket field guides on wild flowers like those developed by the Leigh Catchment Group
  • extraordinary artworks like the amazing volcanic plains panorama Volcano Dreaming
    Designed and produced by Peter Haffenden and Kerrie Poliness in 2005. Click to read more>
  • putting up engaging interpretive signs like the clever ‘Welcome to my Backyard’ signs on the Cressy and Mt Mercer Roads near Shelford
  • putting up good quality fencing around reserves as a statement of their value
  • engaging volunteers with the promise of a fun day, meeting new people, giving them something meaningful to do and providing a tasty lunch
  • providing awards for being a ‘grassland champion’  
  • running Wildflower walks and providing interesting guest speakers
  • providing free indigenous plants for people to plant in their own gardens

All of these innovations are gratifying for people with an interest in wild places but sadly they are frequently ‘preaching to the converted’ and have very little impact on the hearts and minds of the broader community.

(Hover your mouse over the images below to read the caption and click to enlarge)

Volcano Dreaming Panels 1 - 4
Volcano Dreaming panels 5 - 8
Volcano Dreaming panels 9-12
The popular colour pocket field guides
A picket fence was added to Evans Street Grassland to make it look more cottage like and less threatening
Large signs on the Mt Mercer and Cressy Rds educate passersby
PictureSelect, connect and protect an Australian animal and plant
Totem-izing the Australian culture – a wilding revolution

To reach the hearts and minds of the average Australian we need cultural and social change as outlined in my recent December> and January> Blogs.

Fundamentally we need to adopt many of the values of indigenous Australians and become honorary aborigines as was suggested by Don Burke at the 2016 Landcare conference. This may sound like a radical solution but consider how their culture maintained an ecological balance across this nation for over 60,000 years. A balanced fabric of complex ecologies that has almost been unravelled by our culture and values in less than 200 years.

With respect to Aboriginal elders past, present and future I propose that we start in a small way by all choosing a personal plant and animal totem plus an ‘ugly’ (see the brilliant Wilderness Society’s campaign to ‘save Ugly’).

Select and connect with an Australian animal and plant species that can be found near your home.


PictureEastern Yellow Robin, Eopsaltria australis
My personal totems could be;

The Eastern Yellow Robin is very curious and has a single note song which is usually repeated three times. I chose this species in the hope that they will return to my emerging native garden after an absence of many decades. They are an important habitat indicator species because they need areas with diverse layered vegetation in an area of 5 – 10 ha.

An ancient Sweet Bursaria that’s growing in the park next door helped me feel more settled in my new home. Bursaria> are a wonderful small tree that help maintain the ecological balance of woodlands.


PictureWhite striped freetailed bat, Tadarida australis. photo Museums Victoria


The White-striped Free-tailed Bat is one of my favourite ‘ugly’ mammals. In my youth I could hear their high pitched sonar bell like call while they hunted in the upper canopies of trees at night


PictureWhat are your totems?

What are your totems?

Become part of a wilding revolution that leads to every Australian choosing their personal totems.

Every Australian child could be given a plant and animal totem when they start at preschool. These would become their personal pathway into appreciating our amazing Australian wilderness.


Next month I will explore the idea of choosing personal totems and provide some resources to help
Please send your ideas so they can be included.
Read the heart warming story Amie and the intoxicated kangaroos>
Its based on an actual incident that will amaze you

10 Comments
Ben Courtice link
16/7/2018 03:32:53 pm

Regarding snakes... Too many Australians have an irrational fear of snakes. There are so few actual snake bites, and the vast majority of those are of people who try to handle or kill the snake. Like sharks in the ocean, they are scary to the imagination, not so much in reality. More education on this would be a good thing! Just as sharks don't generally deter us from swimming, snakes shouldn't deter us from walking in the bush.

Reply
Steve
17/7/2018 02:42:05 pm

Thanks Ben,
I agree that snakes aren't a real threat for people walking in the bush. In my 40 years living in a country area and walking regularly in the bush, I could count the number of snakes I've seen on one hand. Recently we found a little whip snake when we were cleaning up and they're quite harmless but extremely cute with their black cap. Your analogy of the sharks is an excellent one.

Reply
John Delpratt
16/7/2018 04:48:21 pm

My own irrational fear is of good words that have 'ise' (or, worse still, 'ize') added to them. Gently putting that aside, it would be a wonderful innovation to allocate a totem to each person entering our education system for the first time. Totems could be drawn from Australia's natural, not necessarily indigenous, environment (e.g. floral, faunal; fungal; geological; geographical). A person's totem could become the basis for a stream of formal, ever deepening and widening inquiry well into primary or, perhaps, early secondary schooling. Late comers (e.g. mature migrants) could be encouraged and resourced to adopt a totem upon arrival. Fully developing and enriching the program may take years, but if contemporary Australia can learn from our first people how to properly live on this continent, we will have plenty of future generations during which we sort out the details.

Reply
Steve
17/7/2018 02:53:38 pm

HI John,
Great comments. I hadn't thought about places and topographic features being a totem. That's taking a leaf from Animism, the early spirituality/religions, that were replaced by the modern religions. The animists placed a spiritual significance on rocks, places as well as animals and certain plants like ancient trees. I think a including an aspect animism in our modern religions would also help people appreciate their importance..

I also like your idea of providing a totem animal/plant to new immigrants as part of their induction into Australian society. It would make the whole ceremony more fun and could lead to a greater interest in our environment

Reply
Morag Wurth
16/10/2024 09:15:00 pm

this could be seen as cultural appropriation, and trouble some folks perhaps ?

Reply
Steve
18/10/2024 04:30:29 pm

Hi Morag,
Thank you for your interesting comment. Adopting Australian plants and animals as personal totems could also be seen as accepting and being respectful of the wisdom of first nations people. I'm not advocating that we exploit their culture, I'm suggesting that we admire their culture and see that it offers solutions to our significant environmental problems. Should we turn our backs on a remarkable culture and what it can teach us for fear of offending some folks?

Morag Wurth link
18/10/2024 11:58:22 pm

hi Steve
but you probably appreciate this idea is loaded. the only way to know if Indigenous people take the adoption by non-Indigenous people of 'totems' as a mark of respect for Indigenous wisdom is to ask, and listen to what is said and not said in reply. Sorry it's so curly. But that how i think it is.
Admiring their culture from a distance is one thing. Without close contact and conversation to see how this sits with them is the only way to find out if it's taken well. Just a thought.
Who in this chit chat is thinking of turn their back on this remarkable culture? I certainly was not. Were you ?
We only really know it by direct contact.
So, try a conversation. Then you'll know.

Always Love. All ways love.

Gib Wettenhall
6/8/2018 03:44:36 pm

Why stop at totems? We could reinvent songlines relevant to place and integrate with outdoor performances and dances that connected people to nature.

Reply
Steve
20/8/2018 01:07:26 pm

Thanks for that suggestion Gib. Songlines are something that I only have a superficial appreciation of and would love to hear more. I know you have strong connections with indigenous people of the Kimberly region so perhaps you could explain in basic terms how they evolved and how songlines are put into practice today. I hope to hear more.

Reply
KarinP
31/12/2019 02:53:59 pm

I've always loved the willy Wagtail :)
Would love to know more about Aussie spirit animals

Reply



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  • Home
  • be Challenged
    • Design to restore lost biodiversity >
      • Diversity >
        • Making a list of plants for revegetation
      • Structure >
        • Ecology Snapshot - wildlife and their habitat
      • Species survival
      • Location - connections
      • Blueprint for Recreating the Counrty
    • Biodiversity and profit >
      • Designing for profit
    • Managing sustainable biorich landscapes
  • be Informed
    • Indigenous flora of the Geelong district >
      • Indigenous plants - what & why
      • Acacias, wattles of the Geelong Region
      • Acacias - the cafes of the bush
      • Allocasuarinas/drooping sheoaks, Black Sheoak & Callitris glaucophylla/cypress-pine
      • Bursaria spinosa, Sweet Bursaria
      • Eucalypts, The Sentinals
      • Exocarpos cupressiformis, Cherry Ballart
      • Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata
      • Small riparian myrtles
      • Wedge-leaf/Giant Hop-bush, Dodonaea viscosa
      • Wild Plants of Inverleigh
      • Tree Violet - as tenacious as a terrier
    • Nurseryman's diary >
      • Regent Honeyeater - a good news story
      • Give me a home among the gum trees
      • Symbiotic fungi
      • The joys of seed collecting
      • Landcare, who cares?
      • The last Silver Banksia
      • Neds Corner
      • River Red Gums and the Tuscan monks
  • be Entertained
    • Stories for children >
      • Amie and the intoxicated kangaroos
      • The Little Green Caterpillar
      • B'emus'ed - a Christmas tale of bursairas and emus
    • Stories about the natural world >
      • Brushtail
      • Cormorant
      • Eastern Bettongs. 'Truffle junkies' or 'ecosystem engineers'
      • Richards Sweet Rewards
      • Coxy's Curse
      • How the River Red Gum came to be - A dreamtime story
  • RtC bookshop
  • Blog
    • Easy blog finder
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