Book Review: The Biggest Estate on Earth by Bill Gammage

“To the people of 1788,

Whose land care is unmatched,

And who showed what it is to be Australian”

“The Biggest Estate on Earth” by Bill Gammage was published in 2011, and has become one of the best examples of research on Australian pre-Colonial history. The title is in reference to the unique idea of the book, that the whole Australian continent conformed to the land management techniques of the First Australians. One of the major issues that European Australians have faced since 1788 (The arrival of the first fleet) is our understanding of the Australian landscape and the First Australians. Gammage outlines the reasons for this and explores the true history of Australia, from a time where there are no written records and personal accounts have been lost. “The Biggest Estate on Earth” is a science and history book about Australian land management techniques before colonisation, but is also a powerful theoretical examination of what it means to be an Australian traditionally, and in the modern era.

Considering how well researched and relevant this book is to the common Australian, it is important reading for people who feel they do not know enough about indigenous culture, society and history. It is not a unique issue that the Australian population at large has a very basic, and often times ignorant view of the first Australians. Indigenous populations in other places around the world that have gone through colonisation such as Canada, New Zealand and the USA also suffer the consequences of a simple and inaccurate view of their history. First Australians are tarnished by the idea that their culture existed in a stagnant point in time since its conception – that the reason for an absence of technological achievements or societal progression is that they are simple people by nature and unmotivated to achieve new things. It is the responsibility of all Australians, whether descending from an immigrant ancestry or Indigenous themselves, that they learn the history of, and understand the meaning of First Australian culture.

One of the most striking features of this book is its collection of primary sources that provide visual descriptions of the Australian landscape before 1788. According to Gammage and referenced with evidence, the most common description of the Australian Environment by British settlers after the word “Bush”, was that of an English “Gentleman’s Park” which feature vast green lawns, with trees scarcely dotted along the terrain. This is significantly different to the way that the Australian environment currently appears, being either vast, thick rainforests or dry, clear grazing lands and desert. The title of the book is in reference to the fact that this kind of land management was not localised to specific tribal regions sparsely situated across the continent. Gammage shows that the entire continent conformed to this land management, in such a fashion that the early scientists that arrived from Britain were dumbfounded by the garden-like appearance of the nature, and slowly discovered that it was due to the land management of the First Australians. It was with fire that they shaped the landscape – regular controlled burnings that were conducted with precision of timing allowed them to manage where their food would grow, and where their prey would congregate. With fire they managed the cycle of the land, so much so that the land now has a heavy dependence on controlled burnings, the lack of which has had profound negative effects. One of the most damning scientific statistics that the book cites is that since the end of World War II, 1/3 of the world’s mammal extinctions have been Australian species. Because controlled burnings are now no longer reducing dry shrub and grasses in an orderly manner, when a wildfire is sparked through natural or intentional causes, the ensuing bushfire creates vast destruction that does far more damage in the form of fauna population destruction than it could ever hope to recuperate when regrowth begins. Along with scientific research, Gammage dedicates a chapter of the book to examine what we can learn from early Colonial Art.

Martha Berkeley, Mount Lofty from the Terrace, Adelaide, c1840

*This painting shows the grassy Mount Lofty and the plains beneath it from the perspective of North Terrace in 1840. This painting may come as a surprise to readers who have walked the Mount Lofty trail in recent times - a trail that is now defined by its thick shrub and Rainforest.

One of the most prominent ideas that I gathered from this book is that Australia has traditionally been the land of fire. In times before Colonists arrived with European farming techniques, fire was friend to the people and the environment, having formed a mutual relationship together over the thousands of years of controlled burnings. Not only was it not a destructive force to be feared as it is today, it symbolised the new cycle and encompassed the idea of the Dreaming that was held by almost all tribes across the continent. The Dreaming is a religious and philosophical way of life that guided the first Australians for thousands of years. The central idea of the Dreaming is one of complete sustainability and abundance, that wherever the Nomadic tribes moved, they would leave a trail of land that was neither better, nor worse than the condition in which it was when they arrived. Understanding the Dreaming helps one understand the true value of first Australian societies. The common view that is held by people such as our Prime Minister Tony Abbott that the Australian continent was “unsettled” in any way before 1788 is rooted in the idea that the value of a society is measured by the amount that it resembles traditional western civilisation. This style of civilisation was incompatible with Australia, the land of fire and Dreaming. First Australians did not manage the same technological advancements or forge vast cities, but they have existed in complete symbiosis with the land, and enjoyed the abundance of its spoils since the last Ice Age. This is in stark contrast to the society in which we live, which is driven by incredible technology, but relies on the destruction of the natural environment for capital gains and is fraught with ever increasing poverty. Perhaps we have an important lesson to learn about moving forward into the future from the example of the first Australians, and the humility and wisdom of the Dreaming.

This book is an important addition to Australia’s historical understanding of the First Australians. It teaches us the nature of our landscape, and identifies a complexity and wisdom in their societies that has been neglected to be understood by our European nation. Gammage ends the book beautifully with this last passage:  “There is no return to 1788. Non-Aborigines are too many, too centralised, too stratified, too comfortable, too conservative, too successful, too ignorant. We are still newcomers, still in wilderness, still exporting goods and important people and values. We see extinctions, pollution, erosion, salinity, bushfire and exotic pests and diseases, but argue over who should pay. We use land care merely to mitigate land misuse. We champion sustainability, which evokes merely surviving, whereas in 1788 people assumed abundance, and so did Genesis. We take more and leave the future less. Too few accept that this behaviour cannot survive the population time bomb. When the time comes to choose between parks and people, species and space, food and freedom, 1788’s values will be obliterated … We have a continent to learn. If we are to survive, let alone feel at home, we must begin to understand our country. If we succeed, one day we might become Australian.”

Tom Russell, July 2014

Image Sourced from: http://www.fiveaa.com.au/photo_mt-lofty-from-north-terrace-1840_331798