Unit: Park Ferals

This information will be useful to teachers planning programs for young students. Students of upper primary and secondary levels should be able to use the information directly.

Before European settlers came to Australia there were few creatures or plants that had not originated here. Because Australia was so far from other countries, it was very difficult for animals or plants to get here by accident.

It is thought that dingoes accompanied Aboriginal people when they reached Australia many thousands of years ago, but most other plants and animals were indigenous.

From the first European explorers onwards, people brought numerous plants, animals and birds to Australia for a variety of reasons. Even before the arrival of the first European explorers, it is likely that Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen occasionally visited the far north and may have introduced a few species.

How and Why Did Introduced Creatures and Plants reach Australia?

By Accident.

• Mice, rats and cats that lived on ships sometimes ran down gangplanks or mooring ropes to the shore.
• Animals kept as pets on ships may have escaped ashore.
• Vermin amongst the cargoes may have been brought ashore accidentally.
• Seeds of plants were brought ashore in mattress stuffing, the padding of saddles, stuck on clothing and hidden in soil around imported plants.
• Insects and fungi could have arrived the same way.

People Had Many Reasons for Deliberately Introducing New Species.

• Horses, donkeys, camels, oxen and buffalo were brought as transport. They were ridden, carried packs and pulled carts.
• Animals such as cows, goats, sheep and pigs were brought as food, to provide meat and milk.
• Sheep also provided wool, which later became one of Australia's most important exports. At first, however, wool was used to make clothing and bedding for the struggling early settlers.
• Plants such as wheat, oats, barley, fruit trees and bushes, vegetables and sugar cane were introduced as food for the new colony. The new settlers were unfamiliar with native foods and rather distrustful of them.
• Bees were introduced to provide honey and to pollinate the food crops. The native pollinators were not always efficient in pollinating the new species.
• Deer, rabbits and foxes were introduced for the recreation of game hunters and, rabbits at least , soon became a useful meat source.
• Pasture grasses were introduced to make it easier to feed domestic animals.
• Animals for zoos and circuses were brought for recreation and study.
• The settlers who came here faced a very different environment from the one they had left behind and they very much missed familiar birds, animals and plants, so they brought some with them.
• Keen gardeners brought their favourite plants.
• Specially formed Acclimatisation Societies brought many exotic species here that they thought were "useful" or "beautiful" and they worked hard to establish populations of these creatures in the wild.
• When some of the introduced species became problems, other species were sometimes introduced in attempts to control them. eg. Cane toads were introduced to eat cane beetles, but soon became a pest themselves.

What Happened to the Introduced Species?

• Some of them didn't survive at all.
• Some survived in the gardens, farms and zoos for which they were brought, but didn't escape into the wild.
• Some established wild populations, but only small numbers or in very small areas and pose little threat to native species.
• Some were very successful in spreading over wide areas with ever-increasing populations and became pests that threaten native species and cause damage to farms, crops etc.

Why Are Some Introduced Species So Successful?

• In the early days , the journey to Australia by ship took about six months. Any creature or plant that survived the long and difficult trip was probably strong and disease-free.
• During the journey, any diseases or parasites tended to die out, or the surviving creatures and plants developed immunity to them.
• Once in Australia, the introduced creatures often had no local predators, parasites or diseases that would have controlled their numbers naturally in their homelands.
• Many species came from much harsher climates. The milder winters in Australia increased their chance of survival and extended their breeding season.
• The activities of settlers in providing permanent water and improved pastures for their domestic stock, assisted pests to survive too. eg. Wild horses goats and donkeys could not have survived in large numbers in semi-arid regions without the bores that were established for the settlers' cattle.
• Settlers often reduced the numbers of predators to protect their stock and this also helped the pests. eg. Acclimatisation Societies encouraged the killing of native birds of prey to protect the newly released European songbirds. Near the Barwon Park rabbit release site in 1886 alone, hunters shot 448 hawks, 23 eagles and 622 quolls.