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Effects of Pastoralism and Rabbits on the Economy and Culture of the Diyari People of N orth‐ E astern S outh A ustralia
Author(s) -
Cooke Brian
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/aehr.12067
Subject(s) - pastoralism , desertification , livestock , geography , settlement (finance) , ethnology , socioeconomics , ecology , history , sociology , biology , forestry , world wide web , computer science , payment
The contraction of A boriginal people from S outh A ustralian deserts is associated with E uropean pastoral expansion. Confined to areas near water, livestock damaged vegetation locally, but introduced rabbits, not reliant on drinking water, spread well beyond pastoral settlement. Thus, rabbits caused almost universal desertification and were an equal factor in disrupting the former food web that sustained A boriginal people. Within 30 years of the rabbits' arrival, important totemic animals like rabbit bandicoots had disappeared, leaving the people not only short of traditional game but also culturally bereft. A comparative economic approach to A boriginal totemism explores changes in both ecological and cultural contexts.