Charters Towers
1975 - 1991
The last scene illustrates The Marginal. This classification is my own,
and would no doubt be disputed by the pastoralists from the Charters Towers
area where this scene is located. This scene illustrates the landcover change
in this area from 1975 to 1991.
Use your browser to open each image in
a new window to compare them.
The landcover change that you can detect and interpret is now familiar.
It is predominantly the consequence of clearing woodlands to encourage the
growth of native grasses or exotic pastures. The scale of the clearing does
not match the scale found in the Mitchell scene. There are very large isolated
areas to the north and smaller patches (hobby farms?) close to the town
of Charters Towers.
On the ground, the cleared landscape is familiar. However, it is my assessment
that much of this clearing is on unsuitable soils and under a less favourable
climate than that of the areas further south. My prediction is that much
of this clearing for pastoral landuse will result in significantly enhanced
rates of soil erosion and the decline and collapse of individual enterprises.
I hope I am wrong.
Those readers knowledgeable about the pastoral industry or northern Australia
will notice that I have ignored one spectacular and widespread tool pastoralists
use to transform landcover for their own purposes. That tool is fire. The
interaction of landcover and fire will be covered in the Chapter on Aboriginal
landuse.
