Hi Is Mise,

What you say about trees and roadsides is true, one problem is the cost, is it for local government, state, federal. In that third world country over the ditch, I was surprised when traveling around the South Island, the amount of work done to maintain roadsides, a wide grassy verge, lots of blokes on tractors out nowhere keeping them trim and neat. They are very green with high rainfall on volcanic soil, the roads there are very good, until they have an earthquake. Having said that, one time travailing up north from Auckland to Northland, on a very wet and rainy night, normally a trip that takes about 3 hours, took us 7 with the amount of fallen pines that had to be removed from the road, about 4 while we were going through. Stop for an hour at a time whilst an emergency crew get through with chainsaws at the ready to deal with the problem. I said why do they plant those pines so close to the roadside, one meter away, heavy rain undermines them and they come toppling down, sometimes killing people.

p/s I hate those cut down gums when they grow all those suckers, they do look ugly, don't you agree.

It could be a similar story to new power lines which must have 10m clear either side. Old lines can have tops lopped on private property. So our neighbour is developing house-blocks along our fence and 20m is being cleared for driveway. The main road to town has trees in gutters next to the tar.

About 10 years ago someone published a peer reviewed study which showed that there are about 25% more trees in Oz today than at white settlement The cessation of aboriginal fire stick burning has seen dramatic thickening of trees & scrub. Much of the open parkland they'd developed is now thick scrub, useless to man or beast. This study was disappeared very quickly, it was preaching from the wrong book

Over 24 years I have watched a neighbour's 5000 acre paddock go from open woodland pasture to about 40% woody weed thicket. He has given up burning every 4 years, due to complaints from encroaching tree change blocks, & in today's market it can no longer earn the cost of maintaining it with labour. The greenies have won.

On my ex turf farm 20 acres I have planted about 50 trees, & let a similar number of bird plantings grow. I would have left many more if some fool councillors had not enacted some tree perseveration bylaws. If I could simply choose to remove any tree on my own property at will, it would be some hundreds, with later removal of the less suitably placed or less well grown if still possible.

The greenies have shot themselves in the foot as usual with that one.

Bruce Pascoe in "Dark Emu" has listed numerous explorers' comments preserved in Libraries etc. Even those prejudiced against the Natives wrote indirect comments showing these were germinating and planting seed across large acreage , storing up to 4 tons in clay and stone bins , living in stone-foundation houses with rooms and creating wide parklands for hunting among scattered trees.
These are British settlers' reports by first visitors to regions across the continent.

Nick they also reported that where the Murray river red gums are preserved as "VERGIN" forest was actually open mostly grassland, with not a river red gum to be seen. It was only the lack of burning that allowed them to develop.

They also reported much of the Darling was too salt for man or stock.

It is hard to believe that our greenies & academics can get away telling so many straight lies.

righto, not sure exactly how you mean it Hasbeen.
So what do you say was the correct thing to write when the first British reached the Darling?