 The Bellarine Peninsula showing the dominant tree species in 1835. Click on images to enable zoom The Bellarine Peninsula's original vegetation Early settler diaries often described the Bellarine Peninsula as a land that was ideal for grazing and cropping. They were delighted with its open woodlands, its extensive grasslands and its fertile soils. John Batman, one of the founders of Melbourne, describes it as, 'softly undulating hills and plains with the richest grass and verdure so delightful to the eyes of a sheep farmer.' Batman and others also described it as being like a ‘gentleman’s park’ suggesting that it was an open landscape with established well-spaced trees and uniform grassy plains. What they did not appreciate was that a unique geomorphology and over 2,000 generations of human occupation had shaped this living landscape. The soil was varied as was the vegetation it supported. On the highest ground the black ‘older volcanic’ clay loam was shaded by well spaced Drooping Sheoaks (Allocasuarina verticillata) and other small trees. To the west and south, fertile marine sandy loams, elevated by movement along the Bellarine and Leopold faults, provided the perfect conditions for eucalypt grassy woodlands to thrive. Open eucalypt woodlands also developed on the east side of the Bellarine Peninsula on the gentler slopes bordering Swan Bay, On the most recent alluvial soils in low-lying areas at the Lake Connewarre wetlands and the numerous salt lakes on the south side of the Peninsula, there were unique and hardy plant communities. Examples of these are the Moonah (Melaleuca lanceolata) woodlands and White Mangroves (Avecinnia marina), which supported twelve types of salt marsh vegetation, the glassworts and seablite, being important foods for the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) that has migrated in winter from Tasmania to the Bellarine Peninsula for millennia. The Wadawurrung people are the traditional owners and stewards of the lands and waters that extended from the Geelong-Lorne coastline inland to Ballarat and Werribee. They shaped its vegetation with sophisticated management practices for more than 40,000 years. The people that lived on the Bellarine Peninsula were the Bengalat Clan.  Well spaced Drooping Sheoaks in the foreground as they would likely have looked on the upper slopes of Mt. Bellarine. Artist, Charles Norton, Fyansford, 1846 An open grassy woodland An open grassy woodland is what the early explorers described on their exploratory visits to the Bellarine Peninsula in the early 1800s. In Autumn 1802 Matthew Flinders described the vegetation on the northern side (Flinders had named the Bellarine Peninsula ‘Indented Head’); ‘Indented Head, at the northern part of the western peninsula, had an appearance particularly agreeable; the grass had been burned not long before and had sprung up green and tender. ‘The wood was so thinly scattered that one might see to a considerable distance and the hills rose one over the other to a moderate elevation… the soil probably not deep, as I judged by the small size of the trees……the most common kinds of wood are the casuarina and eucalyptus.’ John Batman anchored near Point Henry in Autumn 1835, walked east about 32km and climbed the Bellarine Hills. He described; ‘Very rich light black soil covered in Kangaroo Grass two feet high [0.6 m] and as thick as it could stand. The trees were not more than six to the acre and those small sheoak and wattle. I walked for a considerable extent and all of the same description… and most of the high hill was covered with grass to the summit and not a tree’. Batman was describing a very open and grassy environment at the summit, and the lower slopes with a small tree every 25 – 30 metres. He makes no mention of eucalypts, which suggests that they were either absent or in small numbers. Thirty-two years before, James Fleming, the agriculturalist of the Grimes survey team, that assessed the bay and surrounding landscapes for it's potential for settlement, climbed Mt. Bellarine confirming Batman’s description; ‘…the timber small, oak and mimosa of sorts.’  Ancient Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinosa var. macrophylla) in the Portarlington cemetery. (This beautiful tree blew over the strong winds of 2021) Trees and shrubs of Mount Bellarine, Portarlington Mount Bellarine is an ancient volcano from an age called the Oligocene. Basalt lava and fiery emissions from Mt. Bellarine lit up the night skies over 25 million years ago. The soil that has developed from the basalt is a fertile clay loam that shrinks and cracks in the dry seasons. These volcanic hills rise to 120m above sea level, which exposes trees and shrubs to punishing winds. A well-adapted, widespread tree that survives today is the Drooping Sheoak, (Allocasuarina verticillata). Another durable small tree that has adapted well to the clay soil is the broadleaf Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinose var. macrophylla). A few very old Sweet Bursaria still survive in the Portarlington cemetery and represent a widespread plant community of the past. The mimosa mentioned by Batman and Flemming would have been Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii), Lightwood (A. implexa), Golden Wattle (A. pycnantha) and Hedge Wattle (A. paradoxa). All can still be seen on Mt. Bellarine today, though there are no remnant eucalypts on the elevated areas. The River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), and Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) grow along drainage lines on the volcanic soils between Portarlington and Drysdale. Examples of mature River Red Gums can still be seen at Drakes Bushland Reserve east of Drysdale. These majestic trees would have been widespread in 1835.  McLoeds Waterhole today Marine sandy loams: Drysdale The elevated hills to the north, south and west of Drysdale are composed of an extensive thin sheet of sands, silts, clays and gravels. They formed around five million years ago under retreating shallow seas in the Pliocene. The deposits left behind developed into sandy soils and sandy loams that suited a more diverse mix of grassland plants, shrubs and trees. The topography and quantity of clay in the soil determined which plants would thrive. In January 1803 Surveyor Charles Grimes described the vegetation on hills between Clifton Springs and Point Richards; ‘…gentle rising hills of good land thinly wooded with low and decayed timber.’ (This observation at the end of a dry summer was of vegetation that had been regularly exposed to hot north winds). There are only a few remnant plants still surviving along the steep coastal cliffs that hint at what Grimes would have seen. These are Drooping Sheoak, Golden Wattle, Moonah (Melaleuca lanceolate), Common Boobialla (Myoporum insulare) and Seaberry Saltbush (Rhagodia candolleana). Inland the protected gullies and ephemeral creeks would have supported River Red Gums. McLeod’s Waterhole Reserve in Drysdale is fed by permanent springs. Originally it consisted of bogs and marshes that fed a creek that flowed into Corio Bay. River Red Gums and associated wetland species like Swamp Gum, Blackwood, Black Sheaok (Allocasuarina littoralis), Moonah, Hop Goodenia (Goodenia ovata), Prickly Tea-tree (Leptospermum continentale), Shrub Everlasting (Ozothamnus ferrugineus) and Golden Spray (Viminaria juncea) would have thrived around this wetland environment. Only eleven River Red Gum specimens remained in 1962 and only one is left today.  'Coriyule' homestead, built in 1849 Curlewis Two kilometres west of McLeod’s Waterhole Reserve near Curlewis is ‘Coriyule’, the original home of Anne Drysdale and Caroline Newcombe built in 1849. This was a flat landscape of well-spaced trees and grasslands. The low areas would have been dominated by River Red Gum and the drier areas by Coast Manna Gum. The usual mix of other species would have included Drooping Sheoak, Black Wattle, Lightwood, Golden Wattle and Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata). Anne Drysdale wrote in her journal ‘there was an abundance of wildlife in the area in the form of kangaroos, emus and scrub turkeys’. She also recalled acacias, sheoaks and wildflowers; ‘the place is so beautiful, clean and fresh, it’s like a nobleman’s park’  Ocean Grove Yellow Gum woodland (centre left) Eucalypt woodlands: Ocean Grove and Wallington Eucalypts were an important canopy tree on the Pliocene sandy loams. In protected areas they grow into substantial trees like the Bellarine Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. bellarinensis) which was wide spread. It thrived on the undulating landscapes of Ocean Grove where the soil is sandy loam with a clay subsoil. There is still a significant stand north of Thacker Street that has been recognised by Ecology Australia as being a site of National Conservation Significance. The Bellarine Yellow Gum is an important food source for the endangered Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor). These colourful birds breed in Tasmania and have migrated to the mainland in winter for millennia to feed on the nectar of this flowering eucalypt species. Usually associated with the Yellow Gums is the Coast Manna Gum in well drained areas and Swamp Gums where the drainage is poor. The latter association can still be seen in the Ocean Grove Nature Reserve where the Swamp Gum is the dominant eucalypt species. Other species that are part of the ecological mix in the Nature Reserve are Black Sheoak, Austral Grasstrees, Hedge Wattle, Golden Wattle and Coast Tea-tree. It is likely that the Yellow Gum was widespread throughout the elevated Pliocene soils with a clay base. This would give it a potential distribution from the raised areas of Leopold, round the higher northern and eastern slopes of Lake Connewarre (where it was historically recorded on the higher slopes) and then east to a line between Marcus Hill and Curlewis. It is east of this line that the sandy soils become deeper and the Manna Gum becomes the dominant eucalypt species The Coastal Manna Gum usually has an understorey of Drooping Sheoak, Black Sheoak, Black Wattle and Austral Grasstree. This ecological mix of species can be seen at Basin Reserve east of Drysdale. This is a four-hectare undulating remnant of indigenous vegetation where Cherry Ballart; Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare), Silky Tea-tree (Leptospermum myrsenoides) and Prickly Tea-tree also grow.  Remnant Drooping Sheoaks (Allocasuarina verticillata) on private property at Mannerim Mannerim sheoaks Toward Mannerim the Drooping Sheoak once again was dominant in the harder, gravelly, wind eroded Pliocene soil. The large trunks on some of the Drooping Sheoaks in a private reserve suggest that they are very old trees. This open woodland of well-spaced Drooping Sheoaks is likely to be similar to the original woodland of sheoaks that once provided the ideal habitat for the locally extinct Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius), its eery call last heard in the 1950’s. The habitat requirements of the curlew suggest that a large area of Drooping Sheoak open woodlands would have existed around Mannerim to support a stable population.  Grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea australis) in a Coast Manna Gum Woodland (Eucalyptus viminalis subsp. pryoriana) at the Basin Reserve near Drysdale Grasstrees were more widespread John Batman recorded in his diary on the 29 May 1835 a description of the landscape and trees west of St Leonards; ‘….as a relief to the landscape, the rising eminences were adorned with wattle, native honeysuckle [banksia] and the sheoak whose short straight stumpy butts and round heads resembled a number of pins sticking in a lady’s pincushion.’ Batman’s colourful description of sheoaks sounds unlike Drooping Sheoak and more like Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea australis) which are still found on the sandy soils near Drysdale at the Basin Reserve, Ocean Grove, north-east of Wallington and on the heaths and heathy woodlands of the Borough of Queenscliffe. It’s likely that Grass Trees were far more widespread on the sandy soils than they are today.  Majestic relics of the past. Bellarine Yellow Gums (Eucalyptus leucoxylon ssp. bellerinensis) on Grassy Point Road. The younger alluvial sands: ‘A gentleman’s park’ - Swan Bay, St Leonards, Indented Head More recent marine alluvial sand deposits and coastal calcium rich dunes formed during a time of rapid and repeated climate change 2.6 million to 10,000 years ago in the Pleistocene. These softer alluvial sands formed flat plains which can be seen at St Leonards, west of Swan Bay and at Portarlington’s Point Richards Flora and Fauna Reserve. James Fleming described the trees of the land near St Leonards in February 1803; ‘The land is light sand from the point of the hill and in some places swampy; the timbers something larger consisting of gum, oak, banksia and mimosa and some small pine, one half of it dead by the country being lately burnt.’ The well-drained, low nutrient loams that developed from these marine sand deposits formed flat plains that suited the Bellarine Yellow Gums. Healthy mature examples of these can be seen at the southern end of Grassy Point Road. These trees are remnants of a much larger community of Yellow Gums that would have occupied the higher ground across the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula. A grassland shaded by well-spaced giant eucalypts clearly evokes Batman’s image of ‘a gentleman’s park’. On the flat plains west of Swan Bay, St Leonards and Indented Head, River Red Gums occupied the moister drainage lines. Mature examples of these are growing on the creek behind Indented Head. Moister soils suited the Swamp Gum. Other significant species that can be seen on the roadsides are Drooping Sheoak, Cherry Ballart (Exocarpus cupressiformis), Golden Wattle, Black Wattle, Sweet Bursaria and Seaberry Saltbush. These would have formed the open woodland community, supported by Manna Gum, Silver Banksia, Black Sheoak (likely to be the ‘small pine’ mentioned by Fleming), Common Boobialla and Hop Goodenia. Kangaroo Grass, orchids, lilies and herbs would have been prominent amongst the Grassland flora.  Blue Pincushion (Brunonia australis) by botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer The first detailed plant records of St. Leonards Sailing with Matthew Flinders in Autumn 1802 were naturalist Robert Brown and botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer. They explored the land behind St Leonards and recorded 95 plant species. Some of the specimens collected around Edwards Point and St Leonards were; (Note: I have updated their botanical names) Canopy trees– Eucalyptus camaldulensis, River Red Gum, E. viminalis subsp. Pryoriana, Coast Manna Gum; E. ovata, Swamp Gum Understorey – Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata; Cherry Ballart, Exocarpos cupressiformis, Drooping Sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata Shrubs - Native Holly, Lomatia ilicifolia; Wirilda, Acacia retinodes; Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata; Coast Beard Heath, Leucopogan parviflorus; Coast Tea-tree, Leptospermum laevigatum (now Gaudium laevigatum - renamed in 2023) Ground layer - Bidgee Widgee, Acaena novae zelandiae; Bower Spinach, Tetragonia tetragonioides; Creeping Brookweed, Samolus repens; Common Flatweed, Platylobium obtusangulum; Sword Sedge, Lepidospermum congestum, Blady Grass, Imperata cylindrica; Climbers - Fine-leafed Clematis, Clematis microphylla, Native Pea, Glycine clandestina  A very large and ancient Silver Banksia. Photo Anna Foley St. Leonard’s big trees Lieutenant James Tuckey surveyed Port Phillip Bay in October 1803 and walked over 2 km inland from near St Leonards. He described the natural environment as ‘beautiful country, thickly wooded, but the soil sandy and without water’. He was interested in trees that could be used to repair battleships and wrote; ‘The Honeysuckle (banksia) is the largest tree found here; it grows near the shore and in most dry and sandy places. The shaft seldom exceeds eight feet [2.4 m], the branches large and straggling and if sound of sufficient growth for a line of battleships knees and timbers.' There is an ongoing debate about whether Tuckey was describing Coast Banksia (Banksia integrifolia) or the now very rare and much larger tree form of Silver Banksia (B. marginata). The jury is still out, though ecologists mostly agree that the Coast Banksia is not indigenous to the Bellarine Peninsula Captain George Cole was a colonial entrepreneur. He purchased large areas of land around St Leonards in 1857 that was described by the real-estate agent as ‘thickly wooded with gum, honeysuckle and wattle’ One of his many enterprises was selling firewood into Melbourne where local supplies were already exhausted. Clearing started, ‘…and axes bit deep into the trees. Piles of wood stood awaiting transport. St Leonards became noted for its timber trade. At one period it is said there were over 300 men employed in this work. Timber-cutting, as a big industry, lasted until the 1870s.’  Sketch women of harvesting Murnong (Microseris walteri) at Indented Head (J.H. Wedge 1835) Herbs, orchids and lilies The open areas on the sandy dry soils of Indented Head were rich in herbs, lilies and orchid species. These plants have evolved succulent roots to store water and energy to sustain them through drought and extreme heat. These succulent roots were an important food source for the Bengalat clan. For example, in a few hours Bengalat women could harvest enough Murnong (Microceris walteri) and other tubers to fill a large basket; ‘The native women were spread out over the plain as far as the eye could see, collecting Murnong, or in their language 'pannin,' … I inspected their bags and baskets on return and each had a load as much as she could carry.’ (George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector of Aborigines, Port Phillip District (Victoria), 1838) The Derwent Company started a large sheep run on the Bellarine Peninsula in 1836. The sheep quickly developed a taste for Murnong roots and by 1840 the Bengalat women were distraught because; ‘the ngamadjig (sheep) eat it all’ There was no Murnong left for them to harvest anywhere near Geelong.  Mat-rush and Bracken Fern growing under Manna Gum at Point Richards Flora & Fauna Reserve Point Richards Flora and Fauna Reserve This 62ha reserve is situated on unconsolidated sands that were laid down when the sea level rose about 90m, at the end of the last ice age around 8,000 years ago. About 3,000 years later, the sea level fell about 1m and the sea retreated, creating flat sand-covered coastal plains like the Point Richards Flora and Fauna Reserve. It was set aside in the 1970s to protect a population of Southern Brown Bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus) that was surviving in the sheltered environment created by extensive areas of Spiny-headed Mat-rush (Lomandra longifolia) and Bracken Fern (Pteridium esculentum). The freshwater ephemeral wetlands in this reserve support the rare and endangered Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis) as well as other species of frog. Their growling call in November would have been a sound heard throughout the Bellarine Peninsula’s freshwater wetlands before they were drained by the first settlers. These shallow wetlands would have been an important ecological feature of the alluvial sands.  The bluff and foreshore. This tough vegetation is likely to be similar to vegetatioin of 1835 Indented Head, Barwon Heads Bluff, Thirteenth Beach The shallow seas of the Pleistocene around Mt. Bellarine were rich in marine life which later formed calcium rich deposits. This combination of sand and calcium hardened into a natural cement that resists erosion, creating the higher ground west of Indented Head, at the Bluff at Point Lonsdale and the dune formations along Thirteenth Beach. Only the toughest plants can grow in these exposed dry coastal conditions and once again Drooping Sheoak and Moonah were dominant species. They were supported by a rich suite of hardy shrubs, grasses, herbs and groundcovers. Examples of these are Coast Wattle (Acacia sophorae), Common Boobialla, Coast Wirilda (Acacia uncifolia), Sea Box (Alyxia buxifolia), Coast Saltbush (Atriplex cineria), White Correa (Correa alba), Cushion Bush (Leucophyta brownii), Coast Daisy-bush (Olearia axillari), Thyme Rice-flower (Pimelea serpyllifolia ssp. Serpyllifolia), Running Postman (Kennedia prostrata) and Coast Beard Heath (Leucopogon parviflorus).  Lake Connewarre Less than 10,000 years old, these younger sediments are a combination of freshwater stream deposits and saline marine sediments. The 860ha Lake Connewarre Wetlands Complex receives fresh water from the Barwon River to the west and salty tidal flows at Barwon Heads to the south. It is one of the largest estuarine systems on the central Victorian coast covering 3,300 ha. This wetlands complex consists of;
At the time of European settlement Lake Connewarre was larger and twice as deep as it is today. Subdivision surveys of 1841 & 1852 recorded large gums, Drooping Sheoak and Silver Banksia. The large gums would have been the Bellarine Yellow Gum which were also recorded on the northern and eastern slopes of Lake Connewarre. This suggests that the Yellow Gum Woodlands would have extended at least as far as the Portarlington Road where the River Red Gum became the dominant eucalypt. In 1855 Skene surveyed south of Lake Connewarre and he recorded; ‘…moderately to thickly timbered with sheoak and gum … other blocks were considerably encumbered by stumps of sheoak which have been used for firewood, the gum trees still remain.’  White Mangroves and salt marsh on the Barwon River near Barwon Heads The Barwon River estuary At the coastal end of Lake Connewarre is the Barwon River estuary which is home to the White Mangrove (Avicennia marina) growing on mudflats. The pneumatophores of the mangroves provide a protected nursery environment for many fish species and crustaceans that feed on the diverse macroalgae.  The monument to explorer Matthew Flinders along the coastal walking track between Portarlington and Indented Head Learning from the past When Batman’s party arrived at St Leonards on June 8th 1835 on the Bellarine Peninsula, he was surprised at the lightly timbered grasslands that he found. Except for inland areas, around St. Leonards, Drysdale and north of Lake Connewarre that were more densely wooded and dominated by large eucalypt species, the more elevated and exposed areas of the Peninsula were open and parklike. This was no chance occurrence but a landscape created by the Bengalat clan. Using fire as a tool to manage the vegetation, they had developed a sustainable and productive landscape that they had cared for over 40,000 years. The European settlers quickly made their mark on the remarkable but fragile ecosystems. They introduced sheep, cleared native trees, planted crops, drained and filled many wetlands. It took only eighteen months for the Wadawurrung to be dispossessed from their land within a 25mile radius of Geelong - 4 years for agriculture and sheep to remove all the Murnong, and 40 years for the Peninsula to be cleared of most of its native vegetation. These radical landscape changes have put the unique ecologies of the Bellarine Peninsula under considerable stress. There is an intriguing monument beside the coastal walking track between Portarlington and Indented Heads. I often stop and contemplate the rusting steel anchors that mark the site where Matthew Flinders is likely to have pitched his tent some 224 years ago on April 29th, 1802. If we could turn back the clock to the moment of Flinder's first visit to this beautiful landscape, hopefully we would map a more biodiverse future for the Bellarine Peninsula and honor the traditional ecological wisdom of the Bengalat clan. The above blog is a condensed version of Chapter 7 - The ecological history of the Bellarine Peninsula: native plant associations before 1835, from, 'Geelong's Changing Landscape. Ecology, Development and Conservation.' Editors: David Jones and Phillip Roos. 2019. Pub. CSIRO. A PDF of the full chapter is available to download below. 
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Stephen Murphy is an author, ecologist & Master Treegrower. He has worked as a nurseryman and designer of natural landscapes for over 30 years. He presently advises farmers, small landholders and governement agencies on sustainable landsacape design.
His recent book:
'RECREATING the COUNTRY' Ten key principles for designing sustainable landscapes Second edition Updated & expanded Click on the image below to read more 
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