Australian Immigration And Its Effects Essay Research

Australian Immigration And Its Effects Essay, Research Paper

Australian Immigration and Its Effects

Australia is an island continent which is geographically isolated from

the rest of the world. This has resulted in the evolution of many unique plants

and animals and the development of a very fragile ecosystem. This ecosystem has

been influenced by human immigration for many thousands of years.

The original immigrants were the Aborigines who are thought to have

migrated to Australia from Asia between 50 and 100 thousand years ago. These

primitive people learned to live in the inhospitable environment of Australia

with very little effect. Their major environmental impact was from the use of

controlled burning of the land. Over the years they had learned the benefit of

periodic fires to control pests and to clear debris before it accumulated and

led to large uncontrolled disastrous fires. This also returned nutrients to the

soil which helped to grow back new vegetation. Unlike those who followed, the

Aborigines had very little impact on the environment.

Following the Aborigines, Asian seafarers are believed to have traveled

to Australia to trade on the north shores. Experts are not sure, but they

believe that these seafarers are the ones who first introduced the dingo into

Australia almost 3,500 years ago. The dingo rapidly became the top predator and

is probably the cause of the disappearance of the Tasmanian wolf and the

Tasmanian devil from Australia. They will hunt down almost anything but they

are not known to attack humans. They will attack kangaroos, wombats, rabbits,

and even lizards. After the settlers arrived and the sheep were brought in, the

dingo started to hunt the sheep. The sheep were much easier for them to get.

As a result of this the sheep grazers built a 3,307 mile long fence to separate

the sheep from the dingo. A $20 US bounty is now placed on the pelt of each

dingo.

European immigrants did not come to Australia until after April 29, 1770

when captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and made the first claim for

England on the eastern part of the island. He called it New South Wales.

In 1787, England started their first colony in Australia which was a

penal colony since England’s prisons were very overcrowded. That year, on May

13, eleven ships carrying almost 1,500 people, 800 of them convicts, left

England for the new colony. The ships first landed in Botany Bay on January 18,

1788 but found it unsuitable for a colony. They then moved north to Port

Jackson, one of the world’s best natural harbors. The settlement was started on

January 26 which is now celebrated every year as Australia day. The settlement

was later named Sydney after Britain’s secretary, Lord Sydney. Lord Sydney was

responsible for the entire colony.

The first European immigrants brought with them their livestock, plants,

and traditional ways. Much of this was not suitable for Australian conditions.

They also brought with them cultural beliefs including the Christian belief that

man was superior to the rest of creation and had the God given right to exploit

nature.

The Europeans believed that the Aborigines were inferior and refused to

use the knowledge that they had acquired about the environment. They began a

campaign of genocide with bullets, diseases, and even poison. With few

Aborigine survivors the practice of periodic burning came to an end. This led

to many of the plants and animals which had become dependent on this regular

burning to die off.

Sheep ranching quickly became a major agricultural practice in Australia.

By 1860 over 20,000,000 sheep were grazing and by 1890 there were over

100,000,000 spread over the entire continent. Sheep graze in large herds and

their hooves destroy the fragile soil by trampling it down so hard that roots

and water can not easily get through it. Over grazing quickly led to soil

erosion turning pastures into dust bowls. This also led to the overgrowth of

tougher plants, some of which were poisonous. Destruction of the grazing land

also effected many of the small native animals such as bandicoots which had

depended on it for food and cover.

The European rabbit has also been able to thrive in Australia at the

expense of the environment. They were first introduced by a squatter named

Thomas Austin who had 24 rabbits sent to him in 1859. He used them for breeding

and also released some to hunt. The rabbits found that there was plenty of good

food and liked the sandy soil for burrowing. They reproduced rapidly and

quickly took over and replaced other native animal species. Large stretches of

the country became scarred from the burrowing and barren from the rabbits eating

the vegetation in sight.

The water buffalo is another non-native animal which has caused several

problems. They were introduced by the Aus

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