Europeans and the Australian Environment

With the gradual settlement and deepening exploration of Australia by early convicts and European immigrants, Aboriginals' Australia had witnessed a upheaval towards 'White' Australia. European settlement in Australia has dramatically changed Australia's landscape of environment till today. The early generation of European Australians had transformed the local Australian environment to an European version of environment according to their European understanding of nature. Later, this generation of people who shaped the basic landscape of today's Australia are commemorated as the pioneers of Australia. However, some historians today tend to view those pioneers as the destroyers of the local environment as they cut down trees in a large scale and modified the nature in an European way. Especially, concerning today's debates about climate change and global warming, many scientists and historians trace back the origins of environmental transformation and destruction to the early days of colonisation.

In terms of the radical changes Australian environment brought by Europeans, historians like John Hirst, Tom Stannage and Marilyn Lake argue that the formation of the legend of Australian pioneers was at the expense of environment. In order to understand this viewpoint, the distinctive and authentic features of Australian environment will be reviewed. Australia was a rarely explored vast continent at that time. Although Aboriginals' livelihood and exploration such as 'Fire Stick Farming' exerted impact on environment to certain degree, these activities perfectly fitted to the local environment. However, the arrival of Europeans introduced new ways of treating environment. Europeans naively fantasised that Australia would be a fertile and resourceful land. Like W.C Wentworth in 1823 described Australia as 'a new Britannia in another world'. Wentworth is a typical successful example of social elites emerging from a convicts' family. He was educated in England and became a politician and poem back Australia. He imagined Australia as a better version of British society with more resources and better climate. Without doubt, convicts and immigrants started to reform the Australian environment under the ideology of 'new Britain'. Later, they found Australia has much less fertile ground; but irregular rainfall and less water sources. Moreover, there are many natural disasters like droughts, floods and bushfires. 

The distinctive Australian environment: Fertile ground and regular rain-fall areas all scatter along the coast. Vast area in the centre of Australia is dry land. (Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2001/publications/theme-reports/atmosphere/introduction-4.html)

Hirst's book about the chage of Australian ecology brought by Europeans. The front cover: A typical European village was built up along the river (Source: http://fineprintbooks.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?book_keywords=colonial+new+south+wales)

Furthermore, Adrea Gaynor points out the devastating impact of European life style on environment. She argues sheep and rabbits introduced for pastoralism by the First Fleet were the 'shock troops of empire'. Especially, rabbits adapted to new environment quickly and reproduced rapidly. They competed with local animals for food and they destroyed the traditional way Aboriginals obtained food. As a result, some Aboriginals were forced to steal food from British. This caused misunderstanding and led to great massacres of Indigenous people by British. Homas Livingstone Mitchell, explorer, even in 1848 pinpointed the environmental destruction by settlers. He asserts that the local animal, ecology and Aboriginals' life style were wrecked by the introduction of white men's animals

. 

Shocking troops of empire—rabbits: gnawed crops and destroyed Aboriginals' traditional livelihood. (Source: http://www.redreaming.info/DisplayStory.asp?id=95)

Sheep were largely reproduced, which damaged the vast grassland. (Source: http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1758.shtml)

As for the pioneer legend, it is more about Australian national identity. Australian nationality is based on British nationality, borrowing ideas from other European countries. Nowadays, Australians still have all kinds of celebrations to commemorate the brave, hardworking and wise pioneers who shaped today's Australia. In doing so, Australian national identity is reinforced. However, Tom Stannage focuses on who those pioneers were. Women, convicts, and Aorigines were all excluded from this pioneer group. Moreover, some argue that today's natural disasters like floods, droughts and bushfires can all be related to the deforestation and excessive cultivation in the colonial period. 

A great amount of pioneer memorial sites in Australia. However, convicts women and Aboriginals are excluded. A pioneer memorial site in WA. (Source: http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1758.shtml)