Albert Morris

From time immemorial the Traditional Owners and carers of the lands around Broken Hill were the Wilyakali clan, members of the Barkandji (or Paakantyi) Nation, of the Barka (aka Darling River). Squatter pastoralists forcibly dispossessed the Barkandji, and the Wilyakali, of their lands, disrupting their deep relationship with Country, from ca.1860 onwards.

By ca.1900, the once well managed, vegetated, indigenous fauna rich and soil stable landscapes of the Barrier Ranges had progressively been exploited, and devastated, by pastoral overstocking, exotic animals such as rabbits, foxes and feral goats, mining and its residues, and the impacts of a large urban settlement of people and their stock. Natural recovery from these detrimental impacts was inhibited by the semi-arid climate which consisted of low average rainfall of 250mm pr annum and high summer temperatures.[9]

As early as 1908, newspaper comments indicated that the sheet erosion around Broken Hill had already begun. Morris described the degraded landscape in these terms: "The extending country stretched for miles without a vestige of any green thing and each stone or old tin had a streamer of sand tailing out from it. The fences were piled high with sand, inside and out and it looked as if the intended railway lines would just be buried every dusty day, which was every windy day".[10]

Albert was concerned about the detrimental impact that the local erosion and sand storms had on the amenity of his fellow citizens of Broken Hill, as houses and gardens were smothered in sand. He lamented the loss of indigenous fauna species due to the destruction of their natural habitats, and the breakdown of local ecosystems and their beauty. He looked for ways to manage these issues.[11]

Several failures at establishing a barrier to the wind blown sand deposits in his garden inspired Morris to search for plants that could be grown in the prevailing tough arid conditions and control erosion by binding the bare soil.[12] He, and Margaret, began to acquire expertise with botanical taxonomy and systematics, and by the mid 1920s Albert was corresponding with other Australian botanists.[13] Albert established a home nursery, purchasing adjoining land so he could expand it and his garden. He and Margaret, made field trips into the country around Broken Hill, studying and collecting specimens of the indigenous flora and observing the local ecosystems.

In 1920, with Margaret Morris and W.D.K. McGillivray (1868-1933), a local doctor and also a prominent Australian ornithologist and natural scientist, Albert helped establish the Broken Hill-based Barrier Field Naturalists Club, serving as its secretary until his death in 1939.[14] Margaret also served on the executive of the club. Club members were interested in natural sciences such as botany and geology, and also history, conducting regular field trips and lecture series. Albert and Margaret were prominent members.

As well as Margaret's diverse contributions, it is important to note that throughout the 1920s and 1930s Albert's botanical, conservation, tree plantation and regeneration work was strongly stimulated and supported by the many talented members of the Field Naturalists Club, people such as Dr. William MacGillivray, his son Dr. Ian MacGillivray, Edmund Dow, Maurice Mawby and many others.[15] Morris became widely recognised for his botanical expertise, urban tree plantation work, his propagation and contributions of plants to residents and civic bodies in Broken Hill, and for his firm belief in the possibility of re-establishing vegetation around the city by fencing and allowing the native vegetation to naturally regenerate.

As well as his talents as a botanist, ecologist and conservationist, Albert is best remembered and celebrated for the natural regeneration area encircling the city, now known as the "Broken Hill regeneration area", that he conceived and worked to establish.

Morris achieved national and international recognition as an expert on arid zone Australian flora, and corresponded with many prominent Australian botanists.[16] He, with Margaret, made a collection of about 8000 plant specimens, the bulk of which was donated to the Waite Institute in South Australia in 1944. This collection is now predominantly held by the State Herbarium of South Australia with some specimens held by other state collections, including the Royal Botanic Garden of NSW.[17] He and Margaret were noted for their generosity and hospitality to fellow naturalists and others working at Broken Hill. Among those they befriended was the noted botanist and author Thistle Harris, who worked in Broken Hill as a teacher c.1930.[18]

By 1936 Albert Morris had acquired considerable expertise in the distinct fields of arid zone tree plantation establishment, and arid zone natural regeneration. His expertise in natural regeneration was based on the field knowledge that he had acquired on Barrier Field Naturalists Club outings into the surrounding countryside from 1920 onwards, and his deep botanical knowledge of arid zone flora species.[19] His own home nursery experiments with sand stabilising plants such as saltbush, further enhanced his regeneration and restoration knowledge.[20] Broad acreage field trials conducted in 1935-36 on local pastoral stations, that involved fencing to exclude stock and rabbits in order to facilitate natural regeneration of the indigenous flora, convinced him of the efficacy of the natural regeneration method of degraded land restoration.[21]

Albert was also possessed of extensive administrative and communication skills. His professional employment as an assayer involved responsible administrative duties, and he utilised this experience to good effect in his volunteer conservation work. As secretary of the Barrier Field Naturalists Club, he corresponded with and lobbied New South Wales state government ministers, and other representatives of industry and government bodies, on conservation and restoration matters.

In particular, in 1935, he wrote on behalf of the Barrier Field Naturalists to the New South Wales state government, urging the government to establish a fenced natural regeneration area around Broken Hill.[22] In April 1936, on behalf of the Barrier Field Naturalists Club, Albert and other members presented detailed submissions on soil and flora conservation, and restoration techniques, to the New South Wales Erosion Committee.[23] In May 1936 Albert and the Club commenced lobbying the state government to fence two water reservoir sites in Broken Hill, in order to exclude stock and rabbits and allow the indigenous flora there to naturally regenerate. Due to Albert's persistence, this work was approved in September, 1937, and the fencing was done in April, 1939, shortly after his death.[24]

In 1936 the Zinc Corporation, another Broken Hill mining company, had developed extensive plans to construct a new mine complex on a bare, desert like piece of ground to the south-west of Broken Hill, and engaged the honorary services of Albert Morris to advise on the establishment of tree plantations there, to protect the new mine works from sand-drift and the strong local westerly winds. Construction of these tree plantations, which were to be irrigated with waste water and established by traditional planting methods, but using native Australian vegetation including saltbush, a method Morris had experimented with, commenced in May, 1936.[25]

As anticipated by the knowledgeable Morris, the initial fencing of the proposed tree plantation areas facilitated rapid and substantial natural regeneration within the still unplanted, and otherwise bare, fenced enclosures, of native grasses and forbs germinating from seed stored in the soil.[26] Crucially, this regrowth of native vegetation persisted as a result of foraging livestock and rabbits having been excluded by the new fencing.

Morris seized on this significant (approx. 22 acres) demonstration of natural regeneration principles, and convinced the Zinc Corporation mine manager, A.J. Keast, to obtain the backing of senior Zinc Corp management, (WS Robinson)and other mining companies in Broken Hill, to undertake a new project, the trial fencing of regeneration reserves to the south-west of the city, reserves which would utilise natural regeneration, and not planting, as their primary method of re-vegetation.[27] It is important to note that Morris had fully anticipated and predicted the natural regeneration within the tree plantation fenced areas; as mentioned he had already observed and confirmed this process in previous broad acreage field trials, and was aware of the ways in which indigenous flora seed could be naturally stored in the soil, be dispersed by wind, germinate, and thrive after relatively small amounts of rainfall.[28] For the times, this was pioneering knowledge, and largely originated from Albert's detailed botanical studies of the local flora.

Work on the tree plantations, which were located close to the Zinc Corporation mining, office and residential complex, continued, but Morris was now also managing, again in an honorary capacity, the new project, the construction of fenced regeneration reserves along the south-west perimeter of Broken Hill. This work, which ultimately comprised the first stage of the current Broken Hill regeneration area, commenced in the spring of 1936 and was completed in February, 1937.[29] Further reserves were added between 1937 and 1939, so that the entire south and westward aspects of Broken Hill were protected from wind driven sand-drifts by naturally regenerated indigenous vegetation of the type that naturally occurred on the site.

Sadly, Albert Morris died in January, 1939, after several months of illness, but he did live to see substantial evidence of the success of his regeneration work. Indeed, the successful vegetation regeneration within the initial set of regeneration reserves was highly praised by the visiting South Australian Erosion Committee (June 1937), and by mid-1937 the Zinc Corporation, impressed with the vegetation regrowth within the first set of regeneration reserves, was planning the construction of new reserves to the north-west of the city, and this work was completed by early 1938. Before he died, Albert was also aware that a Broken Hill community progress association had successfully obtained funds from the state government to finance the construction of a regeneration reserve to the south of the city in 1938-39.[30] Unfortunately, Albert did not live to see the beneficial effect that the good rains of 1939 had on the reserves.

The Second World War (1939-45) delayed the further development of more regeneration reserves. The experienced Margaret Morris was prominent in the botanical management, study and documentation of the reserves during this challenging period, successfully promoted their benefits with regular newspaper articles, and authored an influential article in the Australian Journal of Science.[31] In her articles, Margaret emphasised the natural resilience of the regeneration reserves, successfully predicting that they would survive the fierce drought of 1940, and was unstinting in her generous acknowledgement of the contributions made by members of the Broken Hill community, the mining industry and Broken Hill Council. The Barrier Field Naturalists Club also continued its involvement with the reserves, with members conducting botanical surveys of the thriving natural flora and advocating for the extension of the regeneration area. The Mine Managers Association of Broken Hill financed the upkeep of the regeneration reserves, and Broken Hill Council managed this work.[32]

The citizens of Broken Hill suffered severely from the effects of the drought of 1940, and further prolonged dry periods in the early to mid-1940s, with enormous dust storms ravaging the city. Due to the success and popularity of the regeneration reserves, from 1946 the city administration lobbied the New South Wales government to complete the encirclement of the city with further regeneration reserves, and these were constructed to the north and east of Broken Hill between 1950 and 1958.[33] The regeneration reserves created between 1936 and 1958 now primarily comprise the current Broken Hill regeneration area, with minor adjustments having being made over the years.

It has in the past, and still is very often mistakenly assumed, that a planting technique was utilised to initially establish all of the regeneration reserves. It is correct that the Zinc Corporation tree plantations of 1936-37, separate and relatively small projects located immediately adjacent to the urban area and piped water resources, were irrigated, and their vegetation established by the manual planting of thousands of trees, with saltbush also being planted. However it is clear from the documentation of the time that the regeneration reserves, as distinct from the tree plantations, utilised principles of natural regeneration, and not planting, to initiate re-vegetation, and also principles of what is today known as the contemporary restoration concept ecological restoration.[34] See also: http://seraustralasia.com and bush regeneration.

Albert Morris was interested in achieving broad acreage arid zone re-vegetation, both for amenity and conservation purposes, and it would have been impossible to achieve this, given the prevailing dry, hot and often drought stricken environment, by utilising a planting technique. To propagate, manually plant and keep hydrated until they were established, the tens of thousands of trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs, spread over many hundreds of rugged hectares, necessary for such a project would have required enormous resources and funding; it is unlikely that such a project would even be feasible today. It was clearly his intention that the establishment of vegetation in the regeneration reserves was to be primarily left to the factors associated with natural regeneration: germination of existing, naturally deposited and wind dispersed seeds of the local flora, the regrowth of established but degraded in ground rootstocks, and the local rainfall of approximately 250mm per year.[35] Crucially, fencing around the reserves excluded the livestock and rabbits that had previously decimated this indigenous flora. Spreading of seed by hand, and the ploughing of moisture impermeable claypans (aka scalds), were techniques also contemplated by Morris.[36] Relatively little or no tree or shrub planting was done in order to establish the regeneration reserves, except in an undefined section of regeneration reserve no. 2, which was also irrigated, as this reserve was adjacent to the small and irrigated tree plantation no. 1, now known as Albert Morris Park.[37] Some planting was carried out by community members along water courses and in claypans, and extensive tree planting was carried out along some road verges from approximately 1939 onwards.[38]