The Place for a Village: How Nature Has Shaped the City of Melbourne [Book Review]

2010·0.56 MB·English

by  Ian Endersby

Book Reviews
The Place for a Village:
how nature has shaped the cityofMelbourne
byGary Presland
Publisher;Museum Victoria, Melbourne, 2009. 2ndedn, 265pages,paperback,
colourillustrations. ISBN97S0980619027RRP$39.95
Gary Preslands book aims to reconstruct the
naturalhistoryofthe Melbourneareaasitwas
atthetimeofthearrival ofthefirstEuropeans. iinhita)staUnammpiinmrUinttgitnn«tarb«lAwhimMautnvsohfapMe<)dtI>kueurlwaeu.^a.pmeu.c'kh7ulmu*
From those lost landscapes and ecosystems it 1
should bepossible to deduce howthe physical
developmentofMelbourneanditssuburbswas
influenced. It should also allow an interpreta-
tionofaboriginallifeatthetime. The Place for a Village
The thesis ofthebook can be seen as a series
huwrtaiuuha?NhapedthecityofMeiKssme
ofequations:underlyinggeologyleadstotopog-
raphy and soils; topography plus climate influ-
enceshydrology;topography(includingaspect)
plussoilsand climateinfluencevegetation;veg- GaryPr«i*iui
etation (as food and shelter) plus climate (sea-
sonality) determines the fauna. This ecological
model is further complicated by climate gradi-
ents and feedback loops such as that ofplants
andanimalsaffectingtheformationofsoils.
Melbourne’s landscape contains four physio-
graphic units; the Nillumbikterrain ofSilurian
sediments,volcanic flows. Tertiarysandstones, ' >
and Quaternary alluvial deposits. Geological 'll -rf'
processes working on these formations give
risetothetopographyasweknowit.The Dan-
denong rangesareoutsideofthestudyareabut
have a strong influence on climate and water- rainfall that has had the greatest influence on
ways.Tliegeologicalfeaturesoftheledgeotba- Melbourne’sshape.
salt which separated fresh waterfrom salt near Chapter 3 gives a masterly reconstruction
where QueensStreet crossestheYarra, and the of streams and wetlands, tracing their routes
basalt plains to the west ofthe city with their which now may be in underground drains or
luxuriant cover ofnative grasses, were instru- diverted. Majoralterations, particularlyforthe
mentalinattractingEuropeansettlementtothe Yarra,aredocumented.
site. Soil types and a.spect have driven the way Theoriginalvegetation is reconstructed from
thecityhasspread. historical information, remnant vegetation on-
While wind, rainfall, humidity and baro- site, and regional vegetation associations. Ex-
metric pressure were recorded from the earli- tensiveuseismadeoftheEcologicalVegetation
est times, the science ofmeteorology only ar- Class nomenclature. Original plant communi-
rived with George Neumayer in 1857. There tiesarededuced forthe major topographicter-
is a strong rainfall gradient across Melbourne, rains; Silurian sediments.Tertiarysands.Basalt
almost doubling from the basalt plains in the plains. Quaternary alluvium, wetlands and
westto the higher countryin theeast, and it is
214 TheVictorian Naturalist
BookReviews
coastal areas. Plant lists for some ofthese are awarded the Community History Award for
giveninappendices. 2009,anaccoladewelldeserved.
Finally, in Chapter 5, all ofthe components A couple of small criticisms: I would have
arebroughttogethertodescribetheanimallife found the large numbers easier to read ifthey
with examples ofmammals, birds, fishes, rep- had not lost their commas, and faint captions
tiles,amphibians,insectsandspiders. topicturesandquotationswerealmostillegible
Nowwe have a reconstruction ofthe natural to myeyes. Typographicalerrors were present,
historyofearlyMelbourne basedon itsabiotic butpleasinglyfew. Iamalittlesuspiciousofthe
and biotic ecological components and their record ofBrush TurkeyAlectra lathami forthe
myriad interactions. Part 2 uses this back- MerriCreek.
ground to examine seven topics including the Buyorborrowacopyforitsmethodologyand
lifestyle ofthe aboriginal people, why the city its conclusions; it is a valuable contribution to
is located where it is, modification ofour riv- thesenseofplaceforthoselivingin Melbourne.
ers, and the way the shape ofMelbourne has
evolved. IanEndersby
Sothatisthethrustofthebook. Itiswellpro- 56LookerRoad
duced with numerous relevant coloured plates Montmorency,Victoria3094
ofmaps,scenes,vegetationandanimals. Itwas
Invisible connections: whymigrating shorebirds need the Yellow Sea
by van de Kam (Photographs), P Battley, B McCaffery, D Rogers,
J
J-S Hong, N Moores, J Yung-Ki, J Lewis and T Piersma
Publisher: CSIROPublishing, Collingwood, 2010. 160pages,paperback;
colourphotographs. ISBN9780643096592. RRP$49.95
This book has been inspired by the awesome authorswarnusthattimeisrunningouttosave
feat ofshorebird migration, and by a deepen- migratoryshorebirds usingtheYellowSea,and
ing concern over the loss of key migratory they describe the gradual raising ofawareness
stopover sites. It is the product of a passion- among the peoples ofthe Flyway to the story
ate group ofworld renowned scientists and a ofmigrationandthevalueofthe‘invisiblecon-
worldrenownedphotographer,who havededi- nections’theyprovide.
cated large portions oftheir professional lives Eight chaptersdescribethelifehistoryofmi-
to documentingthewonderand demise ofthe gratory shorebirds, the habitats they use, the
Yellow Sea, perhaps the most important link need for conservation action and some ofthe
in the migratory pathway used by shorebirds, initiatives that have been invoked to help save
known as the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. these birds. The content is as international as
This book represents a major achievement in the birds it describes, ranging from the arid
diplomacy and collaboration (forewords from coastsofAustralia to thearctictundras. Books
Australia, China and South Korea), and seems such as this, written by a group ofconcerned
clearly targeted at the general public, presum- scientists and conservationists, could fall into
ably to inspire, educate and empower. Key thetrapofzealousadvocacyin whichthetruth
among the threats to shorebird sites in the is melded to serve the desired outcome; how-
Yellow Sea is reclamation, an ancient practice ever, theauthorshave keptiton solidscientific
which has reachedan incredible and worrying ground.Cuttingedgeresearch ispresentedand
scale, and which threatensa numberofspecies contextualisedinareader-friendlymannerthat
and populations of migratory shorebirds. The is highly accessible to the average reader. It is
Vol 127 (5) 2010 215