195
Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge in
Understanding Environmental Change: a case study in
the Tumut Region, NSW
RUTH LANE
What can professional land managers gain by consulting with local
communities? Scientific knowledge provides valuable insights into the
causes of environmental change and the processes by which it occurs but
often lacks a historical dimension. Recollections of local people can
supplement both historical records and scientific understandings of cause
and process to achieve a more comprehensive picture of change over
time. However, the process of memory is tied to life experience and is
highly selective. Any attempt to use oral accounts in constructing a
picture of environmental change over time must also include an analysis
of the process of memory itself. Drawing on oral histories with long term
residents of the Tumut region of NSW, this paper explores the nature of
local environmental knowledge and evaluates oral history as a source of
information for understanding environmental history and the impact of
changing patterns of land use.
In a recent issue of this journal, Finlayson and
Brizga (1995) warn that oral sources may
contain major misconceptions of past
environments and describe examples of poor
land management decisions based on oral
traditions that enshrined gross misunderstandings within the locally accepted version
of environmental history. Their study provides a
valuable cautionary tale, but should not divert
attention from the potential of local knowledge,
used appropriately, to provide valuable
information that can inform and extend
Ruth Lane is curator, People’s Interaction with the
Australian Environment, National Museum of Australia,
GPO Box 1901, Canberra, ACT 2601.
professional knowledge bases in ways that other
sources cannot.
This paper examines the uses of oral history
in understanding the patterns of environmental
change in the Tumut region of New South
Wales and the responses of local people to
change. The high country just to the east of
Tumut is typical of the kind of country on the
western slopes of the Australian Alps, and the
history of land use change in the Tumut region
has many parallels throughout the Southern
Tablelands. Two specific localities, Tumorrama
and Argalong, are examined in more detail. Of
the two, Argalong is steeper and less accessible
country which pastoralists were slower to
occupy than Tumorrama and had less incentive
Australian Geographical Studies • July 1997 • 35(2):195-205
196
to clear land. However, in both places the
greatest change to land use within memory is
the dramatic expansion of softwood plantations
since the 1960s.
I recorded oral history interviews with five
people who lived on properties in this region.
For the purposes of this study, local knowledge
took the form of recollections of watercourses,
weeds and climate at earlier times which were
compared with the present day environment. I
also spoke with a wide range of people, both
land owners and non-land owners and gained a
more general appreciation of local perspectives
on environmental change. Of the five cited here,
only two still lived on the land that they owned.
The others had all moved to Tumut but still
retained strong feelings for the country they
used to live in. I first spoke with them at their
homes, then arranged to drive with them
through the country where they used to live,
asking each person to describe how features of
his or her environment had changed over time.
The expansion of softwood plantations brought
many changes to the lives of local people and
features strongly in their comments about
environmental change.
Watercourses
Watercourses have always been a focus for
human activity in this area. In the early years of
European settlement the Tumut River was used
by three different Aboriginal groups, the
Wiradjuri, Ngunuwal and Walgalu and may
have formed a route for travelling to the Snowy
Mountains during summer for the Bogong moth
feasts
(Bennett,
1834:265–7;
Kaminga,
1992:107; Flood, 1980:61). Early gold mining
along creeks in the higher country influenced
the location of roads and settlements (Hancock,
1972:134). Stock routes also followed
watercourses wherever possible and some of
these, such as the old Argalong stock route, have
now been replaced by roads.
Mark Garner related stories passed on to him
by older relatives indicating that pastoralists at
Tumorrama assisted the process of channel
incision by digging channels through swampy
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depressions. He understood that it was a
deliberate strategy to increase the area of fertile
grazing lands in the basins of creeks and
described the method used. A heavy log was
hitched to a team of bullocks and dragged
through a swamp until water flowed freely
through the channel created. According to Mark,
the creeks at Tumorrama remained much the
same until recent years:
And the channels were about three foot wide
and three foot deep. And they stayed like that
for many many years until just recently . . .1
He attributes the recent changes to the impact of
pine plantations:
’But now since the Forestry got there those
creeks are eroding and getting deeper and
deeper. And there’s enormous holes and the
sides are broken in in lots of places, lots of
places they haven’t they’re still the same . . .2
Jack Herlihy remembered Little Sandy Creek as
a swamp before it was drained by a local farmer,
probably in the 1930s.3
Waterholes had a particular place in people’s
memories. Most people carried fond memories
of swimming in them as children or of teaching
their own children to swim. Waterholes were
also prime places for trout fishing, a popular
recreation for most people. According to my
informants, many of these waterholes had
disappeared in recent years. Sheila Garner
pointed out that the waterholes on the
Adjungbilly Creek, where she taught her
children to swim in the 1960s, had disappeared
entirely.
Beryl Margules grew up at Tumorrama and
lived there until the 1970s. She never married
and assisted her father with the management of
the family’s hardwood mill and their property
which she eventually inherited. In the
photograph in Figure 1 she is pointing to where
the swimming hole in the Shaking Bog Creek
used to be before it silted up. It was not far from
her home and used to be the family’s regular
swimming
spot.
Beryl
attributed
its
disappearance to erosion of the banks upstream
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Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge
197
Fig. 1 Beryl Margules pointing
out where the water hole used to
be on Shaking Bog Creek
but did not comment on the cause of this
erosion.
Hazel Herlihy came to Argalong as a school
teacher in the 1940s, married into a large
landholding family and raised two children
during the 1940s and 1950s. She made similar
comments about the silting of creeks at
Argalong since the pines were planted. She
was always keen on fishing and spent a lot of
time along the creeks and, like Beryl Margules,
explained that many of the water holes she used
to fish in had disappeared. Hazel Herlihy
recalled a particular incident from the 1950s
when her young daughter made a dangerous
crossing of Little Sandy Creek when it was in
flood. She then explained that such floods have
not occurred for many years and related this to
reduced surface water run off from the pine
plantations (Fig. 2).
Hazel’s brother-in-law, Jack Herlihy, still
lived on the land he inherited from his parents,
not far from Hazel. Jack and Hazel were the last
remaining land holders at Argalong as everyone
else had sold out to the NSW Forestry
Commission or private softwood companies.
Jack Herlihy also described a dramatic decrease
in flow in Big Sandy creek since the pines were
planted and claimed that it had dried out for the
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first time in memory during the 1982 drought.4
Sheila Garner went to school at Argalong in
the 1930s. When she returned there recently for
a reunion she was totally disoriented among the
pines. She could hardly recognise Big Sandy
Creek because it had become much smaller and
narrower.5 Her husband Mark Garner came
from one of the older landholding families in the
Tumorrama district and remembered fishing in
the creeks as a child in the 1930s. He and Sheila
raised their children at Tumorrama in the 1960s
(Fig. 3). Mark Garner thought that the water
flow in the creeks at Tumorrama had decreased:
. . . I’m quite convinced that Tumorroma
Creek and Adjungbilly Creek and the portion
that goes through Tumorroma . . . it used to
be almost a river. It was beautiful spread, and
now you could step over it anywhere.6
He also thought that Tumorrama Creek and
Fairview Creek, both minor tributaries of
Adjungbilly Creek, had become silted from
run off from Forestry roads
And the siltation of those, and the colour of
the water has deteriorated something terrific.
And one time it used to be beautiful clean, it
was like gin the water. Now you don’t see
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Fig. 2 The entire catchment of
Greens Creek at Argalong has
been planted with pines
Fig. 3 Sheila and Mark Garner
at Tumorrama
that no more, and that’s through roads being
put through Forestry and put through areas,
and run off. It’s eventually got down into the
creeks and caused this.7
The following table summarises all the
comments relating to changes to creeks obtained
in the study including those discussed above.
In short, there was a large degree of
consensus among those interviewed about
changes to the creeks in this country, suggesting
that creeks with catchments planted to pine trees
have become silted and in some cases have a
reduced flow and that most of this change has
occurred since the 1960s. However, there are
some difficulties in interpreting these
observations. Mark Garner, made two
seemingly contradictory statements, on the one
hand observing that creeks had become
narrower and deeper and on the other, that bank
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Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge
199
Table I. Summary of Comments about Changes to Creeks
Tumorrama
MG*
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
BM
•
Creeks were first altered in mid 19th
century by early settlers who made
channels to drain swamps
Gold mining on Shaking Bog &
Adjungbilly Creeks in 19th century
Recently creeks have got narrower &
deeper
Erosion of banks
Decrease in flow in tumorrama and
Adjungbilly Creeks
Siltation of Tumorrama and Fairview
Creeks
Banks are eroding and large holes are
forming
Shaking Bog Creek has silted up
since the 1960s and big holes that
used to be there have filled with sand
The upper part of Shaking Bog
Creek has silted up
Adjungbilly Creek has become
discoloured from erosion from roads
The swimming hole in Adjungbilly
Creek where the Garners’ children
used to swim in the early 1960s has
become too shallow to swim in now
Swimming holes in Shaking Bog
Creek have silted up since 1960s due
to erosion of banks upstream
Argalong
HH
JH
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SG
•
Disappearance of water holes since 1950s
Silting of creeks since 1950s
Greens Creek has less flow than it
did in the 1950s
Decline in flooding since 1950s
Jack’s father & brothers did a lot of
clearing of country in the area (early
20th century?)
Little Sandy Creek used to be a
swamp but was drained by Joe
Whiting early this century (1930s?)
Little Sandy Creek has now silted up
Decrease in flow in Big Sandy Creek
since 1950s
Creek that house water supply comes
from now dries up but never used to
Dog Creek hasn’t changed much &
has always kept running year round
Big Sandy Creek has become smaller
and narrower with less flow
Interviewees: *MG = Mark Garner; BM = Beryl Margules; HH = Hazel Herlihy; JH = Jack Herlihy; SG = Sheila Garner.
erosion had caused enormous holes in some
places. Some creeks, such as the Adjungbilly
Creek have very large catchments and it is
difficult to typify the changes that have occurred
within their catchments. Others such as Little
Sandy Creek at Argalong have a much smaller
catchment and changes to land use and
vegetation cover are easier to typify. The more
useful comments are those which are more
specific about geographic locations.
Scientists at the CSIRO Division of Water
Resources and the NSW Soil Conservation
Service are attempting to reconstruct the
history of watercourses on the southern
tablelands since the arrival of the first
ß Institute of Australian Geographers 1997
European pastoralists. They are interested in
the evidence contained in historical records and
some are exploring the value of oral accounts
(Starr, 1989, 1992) Historical information is
related to an analysis of sediment layers in
creeks. From this and related work, there is
increasing evidence that the first forty years (in
some cases the first ten years) of European
pastoral land use was the period when the most
dramatic changes to watercourses occurred
(Wasson, pers comm). Based on descriptions
made by early explorers and survey plans, the
pre-European pattern for creeks on the
Southern Tableland seems to have been strings
of water holes and swamps connected by
200
discrete channels (Eyles, 1977; Wasson et al.,
in press). By the turn of the century, these had
become strongly incised channels and the
water holes and swamps had disappeared
(Eyles, 1977, Wasson et al., in press; Starr,
1989). Sometimes the draining of these creeks
was deliberately assisted by a driving a plough
through to make the water flow (Starr, 1989).
Mark Garner’s observations suggest that a
similar process of deliberate channel incision
took place at Tumorrama during the nineteenth
century. Jack Herlihy remembered Little Sandy
Creek being a ‘swamp’ before it was drained in
the early twentieth century.
Channel incision is usually associated with
extensive erosion of the banks of the deeper
channels, resulting in the deposition of eroded
sediments downstream causing silting. Detailed
studies of Michelago and Jerrabomberra Creeks
near Canberra indicate that the main period of
channel incision occurred prior to 1900 (Starr,
1989, Wasson et al., in press). Wasson et al.
(in press) compare these studies with evidence
from alluvial sediments and air photographs
and suggest that for many creeks in the
Southern Tablelands changes since the turn of
the century have been relatively minor and that
these creeks may now be reaching an
equilibrium state.
It is reasonable to conjecture that the changes
to creeks in the Tumut region in the early years
of European settlement reflected this same
pattern (see Wasson et al., in press; Starr,
1989 etc.). If this was the case then channel
incision would have been the most important
form of erosion during the nineteenth century
with the most significant changes to channels
taking place between 1850 and 1900 (Wasson et
al., in press). At Tumorrama, pastoral land use
followed soon after the discovery of gold in the
creeks during the 1850s, and the first country to
be taken up was the basins of the creeks.
Burning, grazing and clearing probably
increased the volume of run off from the
catchment into these creeks. This, combined
with the impact of livestock trampling the
ground along the banks of watercourses, would
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have led to channel incision (Wimbush and
Costin 1983). At Argalong, where pastoralism
did not take hold until late in the nineteenth
century, these changes may have continued into
the early twentieth century.
This account complies with the conclusions
of Wasson et al. (in press) that channels have
been stable for most of this century. However
the catchments of Jerrabomberra and Michelago
Creeks have remained pastoral land and the
channels of these creeks appear to have
maintained their stability. The observations of
local people in the Tumut region suggest that
some of the creeks there have undergone further
changes since the 1960s and that these changes
may be associated with reafforestation to pine
plantations. Some observations suggest a more
recent phase of channel incision.
The effects of pine plantations on water
catchments depend on the nature of the
vegetation cover that preceded them (Cornish,
1989:2). We should expect a decrease in run off
from catchments that have changed from either
cleared pasture land or eucalypt forest, to pine
plantations (Cornish, 1989:10; Ryan pers. com.)
However, this effect is complicated by the
growth stage of the pines as there is greater
run off from young plantations than from mature
plantations. The comments from my informants
about the decrease in stream flow generally,
support these predictions. The people I spoke
with had quite specific observations of changes
to particular creeks. Vegetation change occurred
rapidly but not uniformly and it is likely that the
creeks have not all changed uniformly either.
The observations of local people may be the
only source of information that addresses this
level of detail.
Research by the NSW Forestry Commission
indicates that the most significant factor
affecting the amount of sediment in streams
flowing through pine plantations is the density
of access roads and their proximity to
watercourses (Cornish, 1989:29). One could
also expect to find more sediment at the time
of harvesting and re-establishment of
plantations.
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Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge
Weeds
The spread of various weed species throughout
the Tumut region is closely related to the history
of land use. Weeds tend to become established
on distrurbed land (Humphries et al., 1990:27)
and in this region various land use practices
have contributed to different forms of soil
disturbance over time. Blackberry Rubus
fruticosus,
patterson’s
curse
Echium
plantagineum, sweet briar Rosa rubiginosa and
stinkwort Inula graveolens were probably
introduced to the region within the first fifty
years after European occupation. The catalogue
from a plant nursery at Queanbeyan shows that
blackberry, hawthorn Crataegus sp. and other
species now regarded as weeds in the district
were being sold to landholders for ornamental or
other purposes (Mulvaney, 1991, 39).
Climatic conditions, together with the land
use history in the higher country, have led to a
distinctive complex of weed and animal pests
common to Tumorrama and Argalong. My
informants tended to view the activities of the
Forestry Commission as the main cause of
increasing problems with weeds, feral animals
and kangaroos, however, land clearing for
pastoral purposes and the movement of stock
may also have played a significant role.
201
The creeks at Tumorrama and Argalong have
become choked with blackberry and many of
those keen on trout fishing explained that it was
now difficult to get near the water because of it.
Beryl Margules and Mark Garner both remarked
that the blackberry along the banks of Shaking
Bog Creek was now protecting the banks from
eroding further. Parsons and Cuthbertson
(1992:579) note that one of the reasons
nineteenth century acclimatisation societies
advocated the planting of blackberry was to
assist in reducing erosion of stream banks. Most
of the comments my informants made about St
John’s wort and blackberry associated their
spread with the activities of the Forestry
Commission. Jack Herlihy claimed that weeds
were spread by water draining from pine
plantations at Argalong and that the hip gutters,
put in by Forestry as an erosion control measure,
carried seeds which then spread downstream
(Fig. 4). Beryl Margules expressed concern that
both St John’s wort and blackberries have
spread since the 1960 and although she did not
relate this directly to pine plantations, it was the
period of the expansion of plantations at
Tumorrama.
In the Tumut region, private landholders are
obliged by law to spray blackberry, St John’s
Fig. 4 Jack Herlihy walking
through blackberry at the site of
the old school ground at Argalong
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202
wort and other noxious weeds when they appear
on their properties. Consequently, considerable
resentment was directed at the neglect of weed
problems by government landholders such as
the Forestry Commission. New harvesting
machinery which can operate regardless of
severe weed infestations has removed some of
the economic incentive for the Forestry
Commission to eradicate weeds. Surveys of
community responses to pine plantations
conducted for the State Plantations Impact
Study in Victoria also confirmed that this was
a concern of people living adjacent to pine
plantations (Centre for Farm Planning and Land
Management, 1989:142–144). It should be
noted, however, that my informants made
similar complaints about the spread of weeds
and animal pests in the nearby Kosciusco
National Park. Most of them were less
sympathetic to land use for forestry or national
parks than to pastoral land use and were
therefore more likely to level blame at the
management of these areas than of pastoral
lands.
Pine plantations are associated with a regime
of environmental disturbance, in the form of
road building, planting, thinning and harvesting
which may contribute to weed infestations.
Roads play a significant role in the spread of
weeds. Not only are they a form of
disturbance, they are also exposed to seeds
which are transported in the mud on vehicles
(Wace, 1988:144, 1977; Humphries et al.,
1990:27). Jack Herlihy claimed that St John’s
wort was absent from Argalong until the
Forestry Commission began planting pines
there and suggested that it was introduced
with the mud on earth-moving equipment. I
also spoke with foresters who thought this was
the probable method of introduction,
suggesting that the machinery may have picked
up seeds while being used in plantations at
Tumbarumba where the St John’s wort
infestation was very serious.8 Parsons and
Cuthbertson
(1992:389)
recognise
that
bulldozers can be significant in spreading seeds
to new areas.
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No research is available on the spread of St
John’s wort in pine plantations and it would be
difficult to establish whether forestry activities
really were responsible for the introduction of St
John’s wort at Argalong or if they were the main
cause for its spread. An alternative explanation
is that it was transported by travelling stock
which are still brought into the region during
dry years, and that the relationship with pines
was coincidental. Seeds adhere to animals and
are also transported in their digestive systems,
and the weed flourishes on heavily grazed
pasture land. It does not grow well in shaded
conditions and only flourishes in young stands
of pine as older trees generate too much shade.
At Mannus, near Tumbarumba, pines were
planted in former years as a control measure
for St John’s wort.
Although blackberry and St John’s wort have
both been shown to be transported in mud on
vehicles I could not find any studies of the
spread of weeds in pine plantations that would
give weight to my informants’ claims about a
relationship between pine plantations and these
weeds. Blackberry and St John’s wort have
much more serious consequences for the
management of pasture lands than they do for
pine plantations and it is clear that this has led to
resentment of the Forestry Commission by local
landholders.
Climate
There was a general consensus among the
people interviewed that the climate of the
Tumut region had become warmer since the
1960s. Many described heavy frosts or snow
falls in the past which they had not experienced
for several decades. Often they drew upon
anecdotal stories about getting caught in a
blizzard or having the hot water pipes burst to
illustrate the changed climate. Snowfall records
show that the 1960s had unusually heavy snow
falls (Kesteven, 1989:58). Memories of this
period may have become a benchmark for
comparison, leading to the view that ‘it doesn’t
snow like it used to’. There may also be a bias in
memories of past weather patterns due to the
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Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge
fact that my informants were more active and
spent more time outdoors in former years than at
the time of this study. For those who had ceased
farming and moved to Tumut the weather
played a less significant role in their lives.
Several informants claimed that the sun has
more capacity to burn now than it used to. Joan
Kell explained:
I notice these last two or three years that the
sun just seems to pierce the skin. Something
to do with the ozone layer they say. . . . It
used to be very hot. We didn’t complain
about it was summer. But there was no
thought of having to protect your eyes from
the sun.9
The comments people made in speculating
about the cause of the climatic changes they
had noticed indicated a concern that this pattern
was much wider and could reflect global
warming.10 There had been a reasonable amount
of publicity about global warming on national
television and radio stations and it may be that
this was the most readily available explanation
for the trend towards milder seasons.
In general, the comments local people made
about climate did not provide information that
could enhance existing climate records. What
they did contribute was an understanding of how
climate change was perceived and the ways in
which it affected local people. At Tumorrama
and Argalong, my informants tended to compare
the current climate to the 1960s claiming that
winters were milder and ‘it doesn’t snow like it
used to’. Records show that particularly heavy
snowfalls of the 1960s were an aberration to the
pattern of snowfall during the life spans of my
informants. Droughts were more memorable
than good years, particularly when they
coincided with economic depression.
Discussion
Local knowledge appears to be more valuable
for some aspects of environmental change than
others. In this study, oral accounts suggest ways
in which water courses have changed over time,
and by implication, the impact that changing
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203
patterns of land use have had on the country.
The story of creeks in the Tumut region shows a
reasonable degree of compliance between what
science predicts and what local people have
observed. It also indicates the potential for local
knowledge to provide a greater level of detail as
well as historical perspectives about how
specific places have changed over time. In the
absence of other information about the impact
of afforestation with pine plantations on stream
morphology, my informants’ comments suggest
directions for future scientific research. The
comments on weeds provided strong indicators
as to the periods of introduction and spread of
particular species and, in the absence of other
kinds of records, were an important source of
information. However, attributions of the cause
of introduction and spread were impossible to
separate from a widely felt antagonism to the
Forestry Commission as a land manager in the
region. Comments about climate did not provide
any information that could enhance existing
climate records, only impressions of the impact
of climatic factors on daily life.
Local people accumulate knowledge about
the country from their own experiences and
from those of prior generations but the process
of memory is tied to life experience and is of
necessity highly selective. Attributions of cause
seem likely to be influenced by perceptions of
the desireability of the land use industry one is
associated with as opposed to a new industry
that has displaced the former. Dates are rarely
remembered with any accuracy unless they
relate to specific episodes in which local people
were personally involved.
Historians have highlighted the role of
memory as a social process which helps people
to make sense of the past and articulate
meanings in their lives (Hamilton, 1994:15;
Samuel and Thompson, 1990:10). The features
we distinguish in the landscape, the kinds of
changes we observe taking place, and our
attribution of the causes of change, all relate
somehow to who we are and what our life
experiences in that place have been. This
subjectivity, which often makes oral history
204
unreliable for factual accounts, makes it
extremely valuable for comprehending the
human impact of environmental changes, the
role that local people have played in these
changes and reasons for their attitudes and
behaviour. Anthropologists have used life
history research as a tool for interpretating
cultural relationships to land (eg. Basso, 1988,
Rosaldo, 1980, Vansina, 1985). When
examining the accounts people give of their
lives in a particular place over a number of
years, it becomes clear that environmental
change and social change are intimately
connected.
The people I spoke with were very willing to
divulge what they knew because they still felt
strongly about the country. By recording the
perspectives of local people and relating them to
scientific understandings of the impact of land
use change, local knowledge and scientific
knowledge can be brought together. The
environmental impact of new forms of land
use can be better understood and the social
impact also becomes clearer. Most of all,
environmental change is set in a human context
and related to the history of people who have
lived in the region. The land use changes
occurring now are not an imposition on a stable
environment, but a new phase that has come
after a succession of human imposed changes to
the country. The coupling of local knowledge
with scientific knowledge offers an opportunity
to gain a more detailed understanding of the
history of any particular place and of the impact
of land use changes that have taken place within
living memory.
NOTES
1 Tapes 037–8 MG p. 2–3.
2 Tapes 037–8 MG p.2.
3 Tape 052 JH p.7.
4 Tape 052 JH p.11.
5 Tapes 037–8 SG p.19.
6 Tapes 037–8 MG p.2.
7 Tapes 037–8 MG p.20.
8 Tapes 003 & 004 Group session p.5.
9 Tape 053–4 JK p.17.
10 See also Tape 001 JM p.1.
Australian Geographical Studies
REFERENCES
Basso, K.H., 1988: ‘Speaking with Names’: Language and
landscape among the Western Apache. Cultural
Anthropology, 3, 99–132.
Bennett, G., 1834: Wanderings in New South Wales,
Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China; being the
Journal of a Naturalist in Those Countries, During 1832,
1833, and 1834. London, Richard Bentley, New
Burlington Street.
Centre for Farm Planning and Land Management, University
of Melbourne. 1989: Consultant’s Report to State
Plantations Impact Study. Report prepared for Steering
Committee State Plantations Impact Study.
Cornish, P.M., 1989: The Effects of Radiata Pine Plantation
Establishment and Management on Water Yields and
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