The Historical State of the Ecosystem

The Australian Outback desert ecosystem is unique because it has hardly changed over the course of millions of years (Dunlap 26).  Over a very broad timeline, however, it is clear that Australia's Outback was not always dry, flat, and barren. Some 55 million years ago, during the Eocene period, Australia had a warm and wet climate (compared to the hot and dry climate it has today). This means that much of what is now desert in Australia used to be tropical rain forest. As time passed, Australia became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Lack of any major plate movement and gradual erosion caused the land in this ecosystem to become flat and lacking in nutrients (Ollier 516).

The world during the Eocene period about 55 million years ago

(Image source: http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/deep_sea_sediments/case_study.html)

From a more contemporary perspective, it is evident that the Outback was left isolated from the rest of the world for many years. This allowed its native flora and fauna to develop in ways that the rest of the world's life did not. It was not until the British discovered Australia during the English colonial period that the Outback finally opened up to the rest of the world. To the first English settlers, the Outback was foreign and unsettling. This is evident from a quote by J Martin:

“...trees retained their leaves and shed their bark instead, the swans were black, the eagles white, the bees were stingless, some mammals had pockets, other laid eggs, it was warmest on the hills and coolest in the valleys..." (Crosby 7).

To make up for this great unfamiliarity with the Outback, European settlers brought with them plants and animals from Europe. Introduced animals and plants such as the cane toad and cactus soon began to multiply uncontrollably, leaving many problems for native Australians to deal with. In this way, the arrival of the Europeans resulted in the loss and endangerment of many rare and endemic species found in the Outback. An example of a foreign species that was introduced into the Australian Outback is the European rabbit. Only twenty years after a man named Thomas Austin brought the first group of rabbits into Australia for game purposes, the small mammal had grown in population so quickly that the collective rabbit population in Australia was referred to as the "grey blanket" (Dunlap 29). Attempts to shoot, poison, and even fence out the expanding rabbit population was only met with partial success. Rabbits were hard to shoot, they eventually grew immune to the strains of poison meant to kill them, and fencing them out failed because by the time these fences were completed, some rabbits had already crossed the border to the other side. (Dunlap 29; McKnight 332).

Picture of many rabbits plaguing the Outback

(Image source: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june052010/rabbits-oil-spill-dj.php)