THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 75 



THE DESTRUCTION OF EUCALYPTS. 



By Rev. W. Woolls, D.D. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, i2,th April, 



189T.; 



No genus of plants in the colony of New South Wales has suffered 

 more extensively from the hand of man, and from natural causes, 

 than that of Eucalyptus. When the first settlers landed at Port 

 Jackson, one of their principal objects was to destroy the forests 

 by which they were surrounded. This, indeed, was to a certain 

 extent necessary for the purposes of building, cultivation, fencing, 

 and firing, but it appears that gangs of men were employed to 

 clear all before them, and that, under the fear of punishment, they 

 had a certain amount of task work to perform in that direction. 

 Where Sydney now stands, some of the trees, such as the Iron- 

 barks {Eucalyptus siderofhloia, Benth., and E. paniculata, Sm.), 

 Swamp and Red Mahogany (^E. rohusta, Sm., and E. resinifera, 

 Sm.), and the gums of different kinds, were of large dimensions, 

 and therefore the labour of clearing must have been one of 

 difficulty. The giants of the primeval forest, however, gradually 

 disappeared, and as grants of land were given to the early 

 settlers, or those who had obtained their freedom in the colony, 

 the process of destruction was carried further inland. For the 

 purposes already indicated, it was necessary that many trees 

 should perish, but, in the early days of the colony it seemed to 

 be the policy of the settlers to clear off all the trees irrespective of 

 their industrial value or even their usefulness for fencing and fire- 

 wood. Hence many of the so-called farms were completely de- 

 nuded of their timber. No trees were left to shelter the cattle 

 from the summer sun, or to preserve wood for domestic purposes. 

 From Port Jackson to the Blue Mountains this system was pur- 

 sued to a greater or less extent, so that of late years there has 

 been a difficulty in procuring, near at hand, the best of Iron-bark 

 for railway purposes, piles, &c. Indeed, were it not for the fact 

 that some of the large landed proprietors have kept their forests 

 unmolested, or have thinned out their trees by selecting only 

 those that were fit for industrial purposes, several species of Euca- 

 lypts must have perished long since. Great, however, as the 

 destruction has been from the indiscriminate clearing of the land, 

 much greater has arisen from the process known as " ringbarking." 

 Some years since, when from the expense of labour and the 

 desire of carrying on the work more speedily, this system was 

 devised, the destruction was increased a hundredfold, and was 

 extended far beyond the settled districts. The object sought for 

 was the growth and improvement of the native grasses, whereby in- 

 stead of perpetuating a so-termed useless generation of Eucalypts, 

 a luxuriant vegetation might be secured for the sustenance of 



