EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT UPON INDIGENOUS VEGETATION, 179) 
Division I, 
Destruction of forests and herbage, and checking bushfires. 
In all newly settled countries this is the first cause, and for a 
considerable period the principal cause of alteration in the flora. 
On the arrival of the first fleet in 1788, the first thing done was 
the clearing of land for the erection of buildings, and for cultivation. 
It is difficult to say the exact area of forest-clad lands in Australia 
at that time. 
The only colonies for which I have been able to make any 
estimate are New South Wales and Victoria. Mr. R. Brough 
Smyth*gives the following as an estimate of the approximate area 
occupied by forest trees and scrubs in Victoria, on the authority 
of the State Forest Commissioners 
Stringy-bark and messmate ... ... 30,000 square miles. 
Mallee scrub ... an cae sos 182000 i 
Eucalypti of small size if seats 14000 FF 
Large white gums _... seh we 1) 9,000 af 
Red gum (/Z. rostrata) oe vine 1 oR000 ‘ 
Lightwood ... os oes hen V3000 1 
Oak and Murray pine ae a 500 is 
Iron bark tes} ae te ia 500 As 
Honeysuckle, etc. ... ame faa 500 _ 
Sassafras, etc., in mountain gullies ... 300 nt 
Tea-tree scrub... soe bale ses 200 FA 
Total forest clad lands ... 73,000 3 
Extent of open country ... 13,831 As 
Total area ... ae Lape nOO, Sor 
9 
This, however, does not give us the area of forest land in Victoria 
at the time of first settlement. 
In New South Wales it is probably safe to assume that the 
whole of the coast district, the table lands and mountains, and a 
* Goldfields and Mineral Districts of Victoria, Melbourne 1869, p. 26. 
