Australian Bustard

Author(s):  
Mark Ziembicki

The Australian bustard is Australia's heaviest flying bird. It is an icon of the Australian outback where it is more commonly known as the bush or plains turkey. It is also culturally and spiritually significant to Aboriginal people, who prize it as a favourite bush tucker. This book provides the first complete overview of the biology of the Australian bustard, based on the first major study of the species. The author explores the bustard's ecology and behaviour, its drastic decline since European settlement, and the conservation issues affecting it and its environment. Colour photographs of juvenile and adult birds complement the text as well as showcase particular behaviours, such as the spectacular display routines of males when mating. Australian Bustard is the perfect book for natural history enthusiasts.

Author(s):  
Andrew Claridge ◽  
John Seebeck ◽  
Randy Rose

Rat-kangaroos have not coped well with the impact of European settlement in Australia. Of the 11 species present in 1788, two are extinct, two are either mostly or totally restricted to offshore islands and the range of all other species has been much reduced. Habitat alienation, altered fire regimes, grazing, predation by introduced carnivores, competition from rabbits and timber harvesting have variously taken their toll on these little-seen animals. The rat-kangaroo was one of the first Australian marsupials to be seen alive in Europe. Collected close to the settlement at Sydney Cove, a pair of them were exhibited in London in 1789. These animals were called by the local Aboriginal people 'Pot-o-roo', and by the European settlers, 'Kangooroo rat'. They were the Long-nosed Potoroo, Potorous tridactylus, the first of what we now call 'Rat-kangaroos' to be discovered. Bettongs, Potoroos and the Musky Rat-kangaroo provides an extraordinary glimpse into the secretive lives of these unusual marsupials. It also reveals little-known facts about the critical functional role these creatures play in maintaining the forest and woodland habitats in which they live. Winner of the 2008 Whitley Award for Natural History.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 623 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Kimber ◽  
M. H. Friedel

Mosaic burning is the deliberate creation of a mosaic of patches representing different fire histories. It is often recommended for management of Australia’s natural landscapes, on the assumption that it enhances biodiversity and reduces fire hazard through increased spatial and temporal diversity of fuel loads and species composition. It is also suggested that such fire practices were used throughout Australia by traditionally living Aboriginal people. Although the creation of a patchwork of different fire histories may be an effective management tool in modern land management, the evidence for universal mosaic burning before European settlement deserves scrutiny. The records of explorers, early settlers and anthropologists relating to a large portion of the Lake Eyre Basin, particularly the Channel country and the Simpson Desert region, were examined. It is concluded that extensive gaps in the records of smokes and large fires are important and meaningful, and do not represent a failure to record fires. The case for universal mosaic burning in the region is not supported by the evidence although mosaic burning did occur in specific circumstances. Fire practices were shaped by complex and interacting factors including the vegetation and terrain type, for example the occurrence of spinifex-dominated sandhills or stony deserts; seasonal conditions and the presence or not of adequate fuel loads; how readily Aboriginal people could access country and their reasons for using or not using fire; the stocking of the pastoral country and spread of feral animals; and government policies about fire.


Dialogue ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Thomas Mathien

Some writers about the history of philosophy in Canada have wondered why it should be studied. That is a worthy question, but it is not the one I want to discuss here. I am going to assume there are good reasons for doing so because I want to consider some general features of the subject of such studies and to determine what has to be done to establish certain descriptive claims about it. I will also point out some concerns I have about the proper explanation of certain interesting features of Canadian philosophic activity, and I will present a brief evaluation of one major study. I will do this with the aid of a contention that the study of the history of an intellectual discipline is a little like an evolutionary study of a biological species, but I will close by pointing out one reason for doing history which goes beyond description, and even explanation, of the past.


1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-21
Author(s):  
M.L. O’Brien

It is a significant fact that in 150 years of European settlement there is still only a handful of Aborigines working in the field of education in this state. This means that Aboriginal parents have very little say in the educational policies and programs affecting their children and they are concerned about this. Because of the fact that many Aboriginal people have had little contact with the school situation, (in fact up till comparatively recently, many, as children, were actually excluded from attendance at school) they regard it as an alien institution, representing an academic world to which they do not belong. Consequently many Aboriginal people are hesitant to approach the school under any pretext, even for the purpose of enrolling their children. They need a corporate voice, an avenue of approach by which they can make contact with educational authorities, to make known their needs and aspirations, at whatever level necessary, and to feel assured that action will be taken in response to these needs.With the object of providing a corporate voice for Aborigines in the educational scene in 1977 State Consultative Groups were set up in all states except Western Australia. Here in Western Australia, the need was seen by the Education Department to provide for organization at the grass roots level, and to plan for regional committees throughout the State. In September 1978, I was transferred from a classroom to the Aboriginal Education Branch as a community liaison officer, to instigate and facilitate the setting up of these committees, and to this date initial meetings have been held for this purpose in the following towns each serving a particular region: Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Kellerberrin, Narrogin and Moora. At each meeting the keen response from the local Aboriginal community has indicated that this move to establish regional committees has their full approval and support. It is expected that by the end of 1980 a committee will have been established in each of the Education Department’s regions.


Author(s):  
Michael Pearson ◽  
Jane Lennon

Pastoral Australia tells the story of the expansion of Australia's pastoral industry, how it drove European settlement and involved Aboriginal people in the new settler society. The rural life that once saw Australia 'ride on the sheep's back' is no longer what defines us, yet it is largely our history as a pastoral nation that has endured in heritage places and which is embedded in our self-image as Australians. The challenges of sustaining a pastoral industry in Australia make a compelling story of their own. Developing livestock breeds able to prosper in the Australian environment was an ongoing challenge, as was getting wool and meat to market. Many stock routes, wool stores, abattoirs, wharf facilities, railways, roads, and river and ocean transport systems that were developed to link the pastoral interior with the urban and market infrastructure still survive. Windmills, fences, homesteads, shearing sheds, bores, stock yards, travelling stock routes, bush roads and railheads all changed the look of the country. These features of our landscape form an important part of our heritage. They are symbols of a pastoral Australia, and of the foundations of our national identity, which will endure long into the future.


1986 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-486
Author(s):  
William H. Edwards

In this article the author, whose experience in cross-cultural communication as a missionary was used by a group of Australian Aboriginal people among whom he had worked to interpret their demand for title to their traditional land, outlines aspects of the traditional life of the Pitjantjatjara people and their conception of their relation to the land. Edwards traces the history of the dispossession of the land following European settlement, and the history of negotiations which led to the recognition of their title to the land under South Australian legislation. He comments on the role of the churches in these events and reflects on a Christian approach to indigenous land rights, noting that churches in other lands, in their mission work, are also involved with indigenous peoples in struggles to achieve just recognition to title for their land.


2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Steward

AbstractDiscourse in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education of the last ten years has not addressed a pedagogy that draws on and reflects the natural history of the continent. Australia is an ecological and species diverse country that has experienced substantial environmental change as a consequence of European settlement. Australians have historically been, and increasingly are, urban people. With high rates of urban residency in a substantially modified landscape, what role might environmental education play in assisting Australians to develop understandings of the natural history of specific Australian places? While Australia has a rich history of people observing, comparing and recording the natural history of the continent, environmental education discourse in this journal has not addressed how pedagogy might be informed by a focus on natural history. This paper draws attention to this gap in Australian environmental education discourse and offers some thoughts and ideas for a pedagogy based on the natural history of specific places.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Stewart

AbstractThe speckled warbler and other woodland birds of south-eastern Australia have declined dramatically since European settlement; many species are at risk of becoming locally and/or nationally extinct. Coincidently, Australian environmental education research of the last decade has largely been silent on the development of pedagogy that refects the natural history of this continent (Stewart, 2006). The current circumstances that face the speckled warbler, I argue, is emblematic of both the state of woodland birds of south-eastern Australia, and the condition of natural history pedagogy within Australian environmental education research. In this paper I employ Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) philosophy “becoming-animal” to explore ways that the life and circumstances of the speckled warbler might inform natural history focused Australian environmental education research. The epistemology and ontology ofbecoming-speckled warbleroffers a basis to reconsider and strengthen links between Australian natural history pedagogy and notions of sustainability.


1987 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Shopen ◽  
Nicholas Reid ◽  
Glenda Shopen ◽  
David Wilkins

Abstract There were over 200 distinct languages in Australia at the time of European settlement. Today less than 40 of these are still being passed on to new generations, and all of these are under threat of extinction. Aboriginal people are struggling to adapt themselves to the massive European presence without losing their identity. The greatest threat to Aboriginal languages is the physical, economic and social situation in which their speakers find themselves. Language maintenance will not be possible without social maintenance and this in turn is a political issue. The most important factor will be the success of Aboriginal people in gaining control and self-reliance in their communities. The government can help by assisting in a program of self-determination where Aboriginal people participate at least equally with others in decisions concerning priorities and funding, and in addition by educating non-Aboriginal people to the value of the Aboriginal part of our cultural heritage. Aboriginal teacher education is of primary importance with the goal of schools with Aboriginal control where Aboriginal teachers develop the curriculum and the pedagogy. It is in this context that bilingual education can be put to best use. Bilingual education is of great importance but it must be used not just to assimilate Aboriginal children more easily into English and Western schooling but to have Aboriginal languages and English used together in a coherent educational program where the children become strong in two languages and in the academic and cultural skills they need for contemporary life. Like education, media has the potential for strengthening Aboriginal languages and oultures as well as for destroying them. The outcome will depend on the extent to which Aboriginal people themselves can control what is broadcast and printed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Keogh

In the 1870s, an intense quest revealed to scientists that pituri, an important Aboriginal commodity, was sourced from the plant Duboisia hopwoodii?a shrub named after a well-known colonist. But it was Aboriginal people and white explorer-pastoralists from the Mulligan River region in far western Queensland who provided the samples and alerted scientists to the important chemical properties of pituri. Subsequently, there was a proposal to change the name of the plant to Duboisia pituri. Whom should the plant have been named after, the colonist or the Aborigine?


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