Walking with Archibald Menzies

In light of the recent eclipse of the sun which was visible over in Queensland, I was amazed when reading Archibald Menzies' diary of his arrival in King George Sound: 'On the morning of the 28th of Sep'r [1791] the sun rose eclipsed which was distinctly visible to us'. Menzies was the botanist (and surgeon) on board the Discovery, commanded by Captain George Vancouver on the 1791-1795 voyage from England to explore the Pacific region and the northwest coast of North America, via Australia and New Zealand. They spent some days exploring and collecting in this area from 27 September to 13 October 1791.

This amazing time lapse photograph of the eclipse by Ben Cooper

He describes a romantic landscape, after climbing a 'small prominence from which we had a full view of the Basin & a considerable tract of country beyond it ... was pleasantly diversified with groves of trees hills and valleys forming a rich & picturesque prospect boldly drawn by nature's manly pencil, but the inland country was one continuous forest of trees' . I was surprised that nature had a manly pencil - I thought nature was aligned to the feminine - or perhaps it was, but it was men who observed, drew, used her?

John Sykes, 1791

A Hut of King George III Sound 

on the South-west Coast of New Holland

They came across several deserted Aboriginal encampments, the first was a single hut on the edge of a grove of trees. The second was a group of twenty six 'scattered about in the skirts of a small wood … separated a little distance from one another & formed somewhat like beehives with a large opening on one side which faces to the south west in all of them … in two instances we  observed double ones, that is, two joined together with one opening or door common to both … there was a fireplace near each of them … Many of the stems of the trees bore evident marks of fire, some were even hollowed out by it’ . Interestingly, today there are houses nested in among these same groves, although I expect few of the original trees survive to this day.

Sykes, Alexander, Landseer 1798.
A deserted Indian village in King George 111 Sound,
New Holland

Groves of mixed karri, swamp yate and housing
Little Grove 

Generally, Menzies and his companions seemed to have little trouble walking through the country, there being 'many spots of rich pastures abundantly cropped with excellent grasses and a variety of herbaceous plants' . The going was occasionally tough and he has a quaint way of putting difficulties 'We traced this brook ... a task of no little labor on account of the density & luxuriancy of its crop of brushwood & long grass'. The grasses were frequently up around a metre high, in extensive valley meadows that were interspersed with wooded clumps of trees or bushes, and generally 'though trees and bushes were scattered over it, yet they were not apparently so thick as to form any obstruction to our investigation' .

Meadows today in Torndirrup N.P.

Menzies writes of seeing evidence of fire just about where ever he goes; 'Many of the stems of the trees bore evident marks of fire, some were even hollowed out by it' and 'The frequent marks of fire & general burnt state of the country every where round the Sound was a subject of much conversation amongst us'. They couldn't be sure about the causes of the fires, putting it down to 'a combustible quality in the earth' or 'elementary fire' or to the 'disposition of the natives who are fond of kindling frequent fires' . Although they did not see this for themselves, as they saw no Aborigines during their stay there, they were aware that Captain Philip, during his time in Botany Bay, had 'occular demonstration' of frequent firing of the country by the local inhabitants. Menzies reasoned that the 'general conflagration' could be more reasonably be explained by firing by Aborigines than 'by the aid of any supernatural cause' .

Banksia illicifolia in recently burnt country, Torndirrup N.P.

In The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage explains the use of fire by Aborigines to maintain complex mosaic landscapes that maximise utility and game availability. Today in the south west, fire is used to maintain mosaic landscapes for biodiversity and for fire control. It makes sense that fire should have been used as a tool, not only for attracting and trapping game, but more simply as a mechanism to keep the country traversable. If you have ever tried to bush bash on foot through thick scrub that has not seen a fire for some years you will know what I mean.


Menzies, Archibald, 1790 - 1794, Journal of Archibald Menzies, surgeon and botanist on board Discovery, Empire Online.