Australian Landscape — Observations of Explorers and Early Settlers

Cunninghamia 5(2): 285–328. Based on a selection of quotes from early European explorers and settlers, and modern authors including Flannery (1994), Ryan et al. (1995) suggest that, at the time of European settlement of eastern Australia: the vegetation was mainly composed of grassland and grassy woodland; Aborigines burnt most of the country every year or so; and a lack of fire after European settlement led to thick regrowth that was subsequently ringbarked and cleared by settlers for agricultural expansion. Ryan et al. (1995) present one line of evidence in trying to explain pre-European vegetation and overlook the extensive scientific literature on past and present vegetation, and on fire ecology in Australia. By referring to the scientific literature, and by re-examining the same historical sources used in Ryan et al. (1995), we examine the views of Ryan et al. (1995) and also question hypotheses put forward in The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery (1994) and the views about pre-European tree density in A Million Wild Acres by Eric Rolls (1981). The quotes used in Ryan et al. (1995) mainly cover parts of south-easter