Menang elder recalls Western Australian landscapes before mass clearing
Menang elder Carol Petterson recalled the landscapes near the Gairdner River in Western Australia before mass land clearing. In her childhood, her family worked as shepherds and drove sheep through the bush and along rivers towards the Western Australian coast. The river is located about 200 kilometres southeast of Perth.
As ABC News Australia reports, Petterson was four years old when her family worked at a station. According to her, the area was not fenced then and resembled a park-like landscape. The family did not use dogs for droving: people led the flock themselves, while the sheep followed the lead animal. Every day, they could walk up to 20 kilometres, keeping pace with a horse-drawn cart carrying their belongings.
Place names and knowledge of the area
According to Petterson, places were then known by their Noongar names. The neighbouring Jerramungup was called Yarramup — the name is connected to the tall yate trees that grew on the hill. People navigated by elevations and other natural landmarks.
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She also said that her family knew the weather, animals and places where food could be found in the bush. Samphire growing near streams was wrapped with meat in paperbark and cooked on coals. Salt was collected in the bush, while sweetness came from honey.
Landscape changes
Gondwana Link executive director Keith Bradby, who studied the diaries of early explorers, said the plant and animal life of the area had changed significantly. According to him, James Drummond admired the region's botanical richness in the 1840s, while early diaries mentioned woylies and tammars running out of the bush and frightening horses.
In the diary of surveyor John Septimus Roe dated 22 October 1848, the area was described as a large tract of good grassy land, well supplied with water from the river and its numerous tributaries. By 1950, the Hassells' 20,000-acre estate had been sold to the state government, after which mass land clearing began for post-war servicemen's settlement. Gondwana Link aims to restore a 1,000-kilometre strip of bushland in southern Western Australia.
