Australia...the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Part I (Native Species)

In Australia, the kangaroo is our national icon, but we should be ashamed of the way we treat this beautiful marsupial. Unfortunately, this is not the only species to suffer or become extinct during the two-hundred-fifty years since white settlers arrived. So many species have been lost forever, and yet, we don't seem to learn, or perhaps it is more the case of we simply don't care. Too busy in our own lives to manage the land, ensuring our native species remain viable rather than just surviving.

And the question is...what is the point of any species surviving if there is little habitat for them to survive in?

I get it; although Kangaroos, and their cousins, the Wallabies', are beautiful and harmless marsupials', their numbers can explode if the seasons are kind. But to see 'culling' in its graphic reality is not how we, as a country, should portray ourselves, especially given the icon that the Kangaroo is...even appearing on our Coat of Arms.

Pigs are an introduced species and do a lot of damage to our land by rutting. They are hardy and compete with native species. Species with little chance of overcoming these feral animals, so culling pigs is the best policy (if done humanely). Foxes, cats, domestic dogs which have gone feral, the Cane Toad, and many other creatures our not-so-wise forefathers, settlers and native inhabitant genocide perpetrators brought with them to remind them of home (which wiped out countless species by way of introduced diseases and direct competition). Introduced species that didn't register on many of the native wildlife's danger list, and so, didn't see them as predators (or poison prey) until it was too late.

One of the difficulties and hurdles for the fauna here in Australia is that even small changes to the ecology can have a hugely detrimental impact, often spelling the extinction of certain species. We are fortunate to have one of the most diverse, yet specialised collections of wildlife found anywhere on earth. The Platypus, when taken back to the old country for scientists to examine, was deemed a hoax when first discovered by the English settlers. It was unheard of for a warm-blooded animal to lay eggs and suckle its young with milk. When it is born, the young Platypus joey, blind and deaf at this early phase of its life, must find its way to its mother's pouch, then find the teat all on its own, with the instinct it has inherited over millions of years of evolution's game of hit and miss. And, along with a mature male Platypus's barbs (one on the inside of each of its hind flippers), which can inject a very painful venom (to us, and can be deadly to any small animal) if threatened, makes them one of the most unique species of mammal on earth.

And so it is that we are losing species faster than we can think of ways to save them, and the chances for survival for any critter that cannot learn to live side by side with us as we encroach more and more on habitat, is low. Australia's population has increased to around twenty-five million people. Not a huge number considering the size of this island (the largest island on earth), but only two-hundred-fifty years of white decisions and control have changed Australia dramatically. Where once there were vast forests, much of which has now been cleared for housing developments and shopping malls that we are led to believe we cannot live without. And the result for any native species that rely on the forests for their survival, is to try to find another place to live.

Worldwide, we humans are exponentially growing in population. What will it take to stop this madness that is the human being? The coronavirus Covid19, which jumped from animals to humans (zoonotic spillover) is a result of man encroaching on habitat and either deliberately or inadvertently coming into contact with wildlife. The pandemic has killed millions of people, and more viruses will impact us unless we change our outlook and share this earth with other species.

There have recently been some strange and downright bizarre evolutionary discoveries in Australia, that have surprised scientists and the public alike. Since its introduction only a century ago, the Cane Toad has evolved longer rear legs as it crosses the continent from east to west. At present, from their original release point in the canfields of North Queensland (where it was hoped they would eat the cane beetle, but it ignored the pest when they found plenty of other food to help their numbers explode into plague proportions), the Cane Toad has made its way to the Northern Territory...some three thousand kilometres (one thousand eight hundred sixty miles) away. The growth of its rear legs is thought to be due to the unhindered expanses as it travels west, and if this is evolution at work, it is unprecedented within such a limited timeframe.

The Cane Toad, however, has not had it all its own way. When this amphibian is threatened or attacked, it releases a substance called bofotoxin from glands found on either side of its head. It is highly poisonous, not just to humans but also to our native wildlife, who see the toad as legitimate prey, like a frog. Snakes, monitor lizards, fresh and saltwater crocodiles, birds of prey and any species that would typically eat frogs, eat cane toads, and as a result, die. Now, in only a hundred years since their introduction, native species have learned how to take advantage of the cane toad...by turning it inside out and only eating the muscles, but not the skin, which contains the poison that would, if consumed, kill them in a matter of minutes. This to me, is something I struggle to get my head around. How do birds, snakes and lizards learn this skill?

Some Australian native species, such as the Bilby, have been brought to the point of extinction by cats, feral dogs and foxes. Predators that will not stop at one or two for food and go on killing until none are left. Nowadays, only a few isolated pockets of this beautiful and timid marsupial remain, fenced off for their survival. Add to this the worst introduced species of them all. White Anglo settlers who pollute, take without thought and have little affinity with this land.

Part II (Australian Society)

What is wrong with us as a society? Australia imports most of its goods from China because it is cheaper to import than it is to manufacture here. Yet, the hidden costs far outweigh the actual cost of this practice.

Why do we cringe at our own identity?

Advertising and marketing has become a science and are produced to sell their products. Fair enough, but for the fact that the way they do this can be, in a very hidden way, detrimental to some individuals within a society. One strategy is to make us feel like we are failing. So, unless we have whatever these companies are selling (by brainwashing us through television adverts that bombard us to the point of insanity), then many of us get caught up in this trap set by retailers, governments, churches and other groups who desire more profit. The result is huge debts on our credit cards for things we don't need, but unless we have, feel as if we are somehow failing. 'Addicted to shopping' used to be something of a joke, but it is no laughing matter when people cannot repay their debts, or for the outcomes this brings. Spending and being conned (keeping up with the Joneses') into thinking we will not be content unless we participate.

With so many problems in the world, it would be much easier to throw our hands in the air and say, "It's too hard" or "It's someone else's problem". To bury our heads in the sand and hope that everything will work out Ok, and then, we will all live happily ever after. But, life is not a fairy tale; eventually, someone will have to pay the price of our complacency...this consumer-driven madness.

We must first accept that can't solve every problem in the world because as fast as we solve one problem, there are more in the making. But, does this mean we have an excuse to be apathetic? The price of our apathy won't be paid by us, and the cost moving forward may be a lot more than we know. We can choose positive action, or, we can leave the mess for future generations to try to fix...if they are fixable.

The glaring issue right now is climate change, and thankfully, it looks like people power is getting through to those who act for us, yet often appear as if they act more for big business and profit. But I ask, what does it matter how much profit there is to be made if we don't have a viable planet on which to live? If every one of us makes simple and thoughtful changes to the way we go about our lives...using our vehicles less, catching public transport as much as possible and simply being aware...making choices that impact the environment less...small changes that can make a huge difference if enough of us act responsibly and thoughtfully.

Unless we can put our differences aside and see the big picture, our differences won't mean a thing if we become extinct.

Part III (The Human Toll)

Australia has lost so much of what made it special. Before we (European settlers) arrived, this uniqueness only took place because Gondwanaland broke off from the continent of Asia millions of years ago and isolated any of the species that could no longer migrate back to the mainland. So, they adapted to this, their new island home, which has seen more change in the last two hundred fifty years, than it did in the previous one hundred thousand years.

When the boats arrive in the late 1700s and it was decreed that one of the oldest and most stable cultures in existence was of no value whatsoever, which would nowadays be called a crime against humanity. And is it any wonder that we have an epidemic of suicides in custody, of mostly young, vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders...a rate of more than double that of the rest of the inmate population. This is something we are trying to change but are we doing enough? Still, it is a complex problem we, who created this situation in the first place, must do more about.

The indigenous people need their land back, and although progress has been made in some quarters, it's simply not good enough without a treaty. A treaty they deserve after the way we European settlers have treated them. I've heard ignorant people say that government handouts make it easier for indigenous people than for us white folk...well, how can we know how they feel whenever a racist comment comes their way or how it would feel to know that the land that they belong was stolen...just as their children were stolen back in the '50s and '60s and given to childless white couples who had no idea that the underlying purpose was the watering down of their heritage, culture and amounted to an insidious form of genocide.

We can never make up for what we did, but we can try, and at the moment, and for the last century, there has been little to no effort in this regard. On the 13th of February 2008, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the first senior politician to publicly say he was sorry for inflicting profound grief, suffering and loss to these, our fellow Australians. I am sorry, not just for the invasion, the attempted genocide, and the racism that was acceptable not that long ago, but I am sorry for the length of time it took for us to acknowledge how we acted and for never offering a treaty.

A treaty will require many people to be removed from their homes and compensation to be paid in some form and will be one of the most challenging issues we, as a nation, must face...but what else can we do? We stole this land, and until we negotiate in a fair and balanced way, these problems we as a nation can no longer hide from will continue to fester.

We poisoned their drinking water (they may have been primitive, but weren't stupid). We hung these beautiful and peaceful people for crimes they never understood...and for most, crimes they never likely committed. I cannot begin to imagine what imprisonment would do to a people who have only ever known endless open space. Being incarcerated, for the most part, for alcohol-related issues is a national shame and must be addressed before the numbers of young people who would rather kill themselves than suffer the indignities we bestow upon them. All done in the name of justice...the irony and hypocrisy of which would be laughable if not for the tragedy associated with every life lost. Alcohol issues they didn't have before we arrived.

In those early days of European settlement (and long after), injustice descended on the black, indigenous people. They would have had no idea what was being said in court or understood why their people were murdered by these supposed God-fearing strangers from the sea. We deemed them sub-human, and what came with that judgment was no human rights. They were butchered, bounties placed on the heads of a people who had lived in peace, with little change to the land they belonged to (and not the other way round) for millennia.

For the time being, our shame lives on.