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Influencing land use in pastoral Australia
Journal of Arid Environments (1979) 2, 279-288
Influencing land use in pastoral Australia * Michael D. Youngj The impact of Australia's land administration policies on arid land development and use is discussed with reference to the arid zone. Australia has made many mistakes in establishing methods of wise land use. The experience gained from these lessons is discussed so that other countries may benefit from the mistakes which have been made and from the principles which underlie Australia's current policies.
Introduction In Australia the arid zone is defined as that area of Australia which receives insufficient rainfall to allow pasture improvement or cropping without irrigation. This definition has two connotations; the first is associated with the biological effectiveness of rainfall and the second is associated with the social and economic structure of Australia. This definition acknowledges the extensive rather than intensive nature of Australian arid land use and also the regional differences in the seasonality and variability of rainfall. The southern region receives a predominantly winter rainfall with the frequency of summer rain increasing northward. In the north of Australia almost all rainfall falls during the hot summer months when evaporation is highest (Perry, 1977). The vegetation ranges from chenopod shrublands (Atriplex and Maireana spp.) in the south, to semi-arid woodlands (Acacia and Eucalyptus spp. over Eragrostis and Aristida spp.) to the east, Mitchell grass plains (Astrebla spp.) in the north and low woodlands (Acacia spp.) and spinifex grasslands (Triodia spp.) in the centre (Moore & Perry, 1970). The arid zone of Australia is bounded to the south by the 250 mm rainfall isohyet, to the east by the 500 mm rainfall isohyet and to the north by the 750 mm isohyet. As arid Australia's climate and natural vegetation are not homogeneous some areas are better suited to cattle and others to sheep; sheep are generally better suited to the southern regions of arid Australia and cattle to the northern regions (see Fig. 1). The distribution of sheep in Australia is also regulated by a vermin-proof fence which excludes the Australian wild dog, the dingo (Canis familiaris dingo) from our sheep areas (Young, 1979b). Approximately 70 per cent of Australia is either arid or semi-arid and 26 per cent of this land is unoccupied. Another 9 per cent comprises aboriginal reserves and national parks. The remaining 65 per cent is grazed by either sheep or cattle. Throughout Australia's arid zone there are also many mineral deposits which have had a major influence on the location of towns and cities within the region. Many of these large mining towns justify the provision of services which the pastoral industry alone could not support (Young, 1979b).
* An earlier draft of this paper was presented to a Regional Workshop on Applied Agricultural Research in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas sponsored by UNDP at Santiago, Chile, in 1978. t Rangelands Research Laboratory, CSIRO Division of Land Resources Management, Private Bag, P.O., Deniliquin 2710, Australia. 0140-1963/79/030279+10 $02.00/0 10
© 1979 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited
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• N
NATIONAL PARKS ABORIGINAL RESERVES 500km
UNOCCUPIEO LAND CATTLE PREDOMINATELY SHEEP
Figure 1. Land use in arid Australia. The figures on the boundary of the arid zone indicate the mean annual rainfall in millimetres (after Young, 1979b).
Land use in arid Australia Unlike most of the semi-arid and arid areas of the world, the Australian arid zone is very sparsely settled comprising only 234,000 people, slightly less than 2 per cent of Australia's population. Approximately 140,000 of these people are associated with the region's mining and tourist industries and only 96,000 are either directly or indirectly associated with pastoral production in the arid zone (Young, 1979b). The structure of Australian society has tended to keep people out of the arid zone rather than to encourage them to use it (Heathcote, 1964). In 1977 there were 3843 stations (arid zone farms) within the arid zone; 2170 sheep stations, 909 beef cattle stations and 764 stations carrying both sheep and beef cattle (unpublished data, A.B.S., 1978). The majority of these stations lease exclusive grazing rights from the government. Sheep stations range in size from 3000 to 15,000 sheep with few larger ones carrying up to 80,000 sheep. Cattle stations range in size from 1000 cattle to 100,000 cattle (8000-800,000 sheep equivalents) (Kelly, 1971). The few cattle stations which carry in excess of 14,000 cattle are leased by companies from the government. Australia has a relatively developed economy and, because of this, most of the produce from the arid zone is exported outside the region to urban Australia and to other countries. The movement of meat and wool to distant markets is achieved by an efficient transport network. The main disadvantage of this system is that it tends to isolate the small number of people who live in the arid zone from the majority of Australians living in coastal urban centres. As a result, most Australians are unaware of, and insensitive to, the problems of our arid pastoral industry. On the other hand, this system has enabled the establishment of a very strong arid zone market economy. Pastoralists usually own part or all of the improvements
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on their stations and borrow money for the purchase of livestock, etc. Each station is run as a commercial venture and the objective is to produce meat and wool for sale. This emphasis on a market economy causes people to leave the region whenever conditions decline. Unlike many arid areas of the world Australia does not associate drought with famine (Tribe, 1977). By world standards, Australia has a relatively efficient pastoral industry. On most stations, in excess of 4000 sheep are managed by one man and the more efficient are now managing in excess of 8000 or 9000 sheep per man. This has been achieved by the extensive use of fencing and by the development of management techniques which require a minimum input of labour. Sheep are only handled two or three times a year and rotational grazing is rarely practised. Most research has concentrated on ways to reduce the quantity of inputs, particularly labour, required to produce meat and wool; ways to increase livestock productivity per head and ways to preserve the arid zone's resource base, its vegetation. Australian research has found that it is virtually impossible to increase the productivity of its arid zone. One of the greatest impacts of this research has been a decline in the number of people required to manage livestock and hence an exodus of people from the arid zone. This has also precipitated a decline in both the number of people living in, and the function of, pastoral towns (Young, 1978).
Arid land administration in Australia Almost all of arid Australia is owned by the government and only grazing rights are leased to pastoralists. Land administrators are responsible for overseeing the use of these leases, organizing their transfer, the enforcement of conditions and covenants restricting land use and the protection of pastoralists' rights (Young, 1979b). Australia's arid land is still held under leasehold title as our early politicians in the 19th century believed that the arid zone would be developed into agricultural farms. Early accounts of attempts to do this are horrifying and much damage was done to our more productive arid lands (Meinig, 1962). The choice of a leasehold system of arid land management is an historical accident which has enabled administrators to manipulate market forces, to control individual land transactions and to control arid land use. It is difficult to evaluate objectively whether this system has been best for arid Australia, but it has stood the test of time and is still preferred by our land administrators (Young & Vickery, 1978). Australia's arid zone is distributed amongst five states which are each responsible for the administration of their own arid lands. New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia have established separate bodies to manage their arid areas, independent of other agricultural and urban lands. The Northern Territory has established a Land Board which is responsible for all land in Northern Territory. As the Northern Territory is almost entirely arid, the Land Board is effectively only responsible for arid land management. The fifth state, Queensland, administers all its agricultural, arid and urban land under one authority. New South Wales and South Australia have established totally independent authorities to administer their arid rangelands; they are the Western Lands Commission in New South Wales and the Pastoral Board in South Australia. Western Australia has established a Pastoral Appraisement Board within its Department of Lands and Surveys.
Different methods of influencing development There are two main types of lease in Australia which permit grazing in the arid zone. They are term leases and perpetual leases. Perpetual leases do not expire and their tenure is very similar to that of a restricted freehold title. The only states which grant perpetual leases are New South Wales and Queensland and they only grant them over areas of fully developed
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arid land. The other states, i.e, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, do not issue perpetual leases as they have found that as social and economic conditions change it is often necessary to alter the conditions under which new leases are issued. Term leases are generally granted for between 30 and SO years. To ensure that there is no period of uncertainty towards the end of a lease, all states allow pastoralists to apply for a new lease before their old one expires (see Table 1). The conditions and the likelihood of the term lease being renewed vary amongst the states and depend on their development policies at the time of renewal. The use of lease conditions to guide arid zone land use and development has been a predominant feature of Australian arid land administration.
Table 1. Predominant types of lease in Australia's arid rangelands State
Most common term of lease
New South Wales
Perpetual
Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Western Australia
50 years 30 years 42 years 50 years
Maximum area
Period when new lease may be applied for
Perpetual leases never expire 2D--40th year 1,290,000 ha 1 living area approximate1y*t 2D-30th year 35th year No limit 30th year 400,000 hat
2 home maintenance areas"
• The area of land which will support one family is approximately equal to a home maintenance area and a living area. t This only applies to developed areas which may be converted to freehold or perpetual lease; larger undeveloped areas may be leased for up to 50 years. t A newlease maynot be issuedto coveran area of land whichis not capable of carryingat least 1200cattle or 6000 sheep. On the assumption that small family stations will use arid zone resources to their maximum potential, two states, New South Wales and Queensland, have both introduced policies of closer settlement. These closer settlement policies restrict the area of land which may be leased by a person to that which is sufficient to support one family. Although these policies were initially successful the problems arising from them are immense and, in retrospect, great damage has been done to a lot of land and to many families. The policies of closer settlement which were introduced in the 1920s and 1930s developed a very uniform and, hence, a very inflexible community structure. In particular, in New South Wales, all properties are now approximately the same size and, hence, few pastoralists are in a position to buyout those which have become uneconomic (Young, 1978). Social scientists are investigating the process by which rural adjustment occurs. Preliminary results stress the importance of establishing a dynamic community structure which is able to adjust to the pressures placed upon it. New South Wales achieved its closer settlement by withdrawing land from pastoralists who leased large areas. This was first done in 1902 and then again in 1934, 1942 and 1949. The last in 1949 withdrew from lease all land held by any pastoralist in excess of two home maintenance areas. A home maintenance area is defined as that area of land which is sufficient to support a family in fair and average seasons (Young, 1979a). The other state which has tried to achieve closer settlement is Queensland. Queensland has established a very complex system of land tenure aiming to develop small individual stations managed by resident pastoralists. Pastoral development holding leases are initially granted for large areas of poor quality land which is in need of development. These leases are usually taken up by companies or wealthy individuals for a term of 30 years. When a lease contains very extensive development conditions and an abnormally high amount of capital is required, a term of up to SO years may be granted. Once developed, a pastoral development holding is subdivided into several grazing selections or preferential pastoral
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holdings which are subject to size constraints and may not be held by companies (Young, 1979a). Queensland will not allow any person to manage more than one living area of developed land. A living area is slightly larger than a home maintenance area and is defined as that area of land which, allowing for the variability of seasonal conditions, will provide a man with a means to an adequate income, enough savings to enable him meet adverse seasonal conditions, and the cost of developing and maintaining the land at a high rate of production (Young & Little, 1979). The difference between a living area in Queensland and a home maintenance area in New South Wales arises from the fact that average seasons and conditions are rarely experienced in the arid zone whereas prolonged droughts followed by a period of good rainfall are far more common. The use of legislation to establish a population of small arid zone stations managed by individual pastoralists has been widely rejected by Australian scientists. As Holmes puts it, ' ... too small an area calls for ruthless exploitation of vegetational resources and eventual abandonment of the land altogether' (Holmes, 1938). Similarly, Payne, a prominent Queensland land administrator, wrote ' ... in every aspect of land administration a margin in favour of the settler should be left for the eventuality such as seasons and fall in prices •.• two prosperous and contented settlers are far better than three disheartened strugglers' (Payne, 1959). Development in the arid zone usually means greater subdivision of the land and, hence, a more intensive use of it. Generally, the greater the intensity of land use the greater the likelihood that people will be pressured into using it beyond its potential. When the resource base is not resilient the result of over development is usually degradation. In the past many people have over-estimated the limited potential of Australia's arid zone resources.
Pastoral management strategies in arid Australia In a market economy like Australia's, a pastoralist must continually adjust his resources in response to the four variables which affect his annual income. They are: the effective rainfall he receives, the condition of his pastures, market prices and the external cost of the goods and the services purchased by him. In the past, pastoralists have tended to be concerned with the condition of their livestock rather than their vegetation. Today government advisors working in rangeland extension are trying to emphasize the importance of the condition of vegetation rather than the condition of livestock. They believe that by the time a decline in livestock condition is observed, considerable damage will have already been done to a station's pasture. Extension workers stress the long-term cost of degrading pasture condition in order to solve a short-term problem. They believe that a pastoralist with an astute and accurate perception of the ecosystem he manages will not degrade it. In South Australia pastoralists are now being encouraged to install photopoints throughout their stations. It is hoped that the resulting photographic records will encourage pastoralists to pay greater attention to the condition of the vegetation on their stations. Pastoralists have no control over rainfall or the market prices they receive. The only other variable they can influence is pasture condition and the cost of the services they buy; hence they tend to repair fences and carry out other improvements during times of high prices and spend little during periods of low prices. Similarly, they tend to hire and dismiss staff in response to seasonal and market conditions. This is only possible in the areas which have not been closely settled as large stations are the only ones which employ labourers. In the closely settled areas the strategy has been to find an off-farm job (Young, 1978). Recent declines in market prices and increases in costs have highlighted the disadvantages of establishing small single family stations. These stations, because of their small size, are relatively inflexible. In times of stress, pastoralists on small stations are faced with the decision of either buying additional land or finding off-farm work and neglecting the work which is essential to the long-term survival of their stations.
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A pastoralist who is already in difficulty is rarely in a position to buy additional land. In closely settled areas all stations are the same size, making it very difficult for a pastoralist to sell out as there are few neighbours in a position to buy him out. Closer settlement in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, has tended to lock people into the land. Government policies are now being enacted to try to rectify this situation.
Stocking strategies For administrative purposes land administrators usually define the carrying capacity of a station as a fixed figure. This tends to imply that, irrespective of seasonal conditions, the stocking rate on anyone station does not alter from year to year. Normally a pastoralist adopts a certain strategy which reflects the way in which he will react to certain markets and climatic forces placed upon him. The strategy which the pastoralist adopts reflects his attitude to risk and also his attitude to the uncertain climatic and financial market in which he lives. In general, pastoralists who live on larger stations tend to be more conservative in their management, that is, more risk averse, than those on small stations who are forced to take larger risks and hence stock at higher levels in order to maintain the level of income they desire (Francisco & Anderson, 1972). Most small stations in arid Australia do not lease sufficient land to allow them to adopt conservative, risk averse management strategies. Most rangeland scientists generally believe that the smaller the station the higher the stocking rate. Australia has learnt that if one puts pressure on pastoralists, they in turn put pressure on the land.
Influencing arid land use Arid land administrators and extension personnel in Australia attempt to influence land use in three ways. First, by attempting to persuade pastoralists to adopt new management strategies; second, by trying to manipulate the financial environment in which pastoralists work; and third, by trying to prevent or enforce certain patterns of land use.
Persuasion The use of conventional extension methods in which one tries to inform pastoralists and influence their management strategies has been relatively unsuccessful in arid Australia as there is very little technical information which can be extended to pastoralists and because most Australian arid zone research has been associated with long term rather than the short term problems of arid land use. Thus, an extension officer approaching a pastoralist tends to be confined to talking about his long-term problems rather than the ones which are of the most concern to him-his short-term social and financial problems. In response to the ineffectiveness of conventional arid zone extension and the desire of land administrators to become involved in land management, there now appears to be a new trend to employ rangeland scientists as land administrators. New South Wales' Western Lands Commissioner is a range scientist and he has recently appointed another range scientist to the Western Lands Commission. Similarly, South Australia appointed a range scientist to the Pastoral Board in 1977 and Western Australia has begun detailed surveys of all Western Australian pastoral stations in collaboration with its Department of Agriculture. Australians are beginning to see land administrators as 'land managers' rather than 'rent collectors'. There is a growing tendency for the separate roles of extension officer and land administrator to be combined in the arid areas of Australia. South Australia has made the greatest step in this direction. Its administrators believe that bad land management is often caused by heavy debts and poor financial management (Everett, 1977). The South Australian Pastoral Board is now running management schools throughout its arid zone. The Board
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has also established a close relationship with the Commonwealth Development Bank and is now negotiating loans for its pastoralists. Part of the success of such programs may be attributed to the structure of the Pastoral Board which is directly responsible to the state Minister for Lands. A similar situation exists in New South Wales where the Western Lands Commissioner is responsible directly to his Minister for Lands. Such structures of direct responsibility permits those in authority to spend between 30 and 50 per cent of their time in the field talking to and working with pastoralists. This degree of contact develops a detailed personal knowledge of the region's problems and makes way for the establishment of the rapport which is essential for effective extension.
Manipulation Land administrators have frequently manipulated land use by introducing subsidies for specific periods of time, particularly during periods of drought. In an attempt to minimize desertification and to ensure the continuity of the pastoral industry, it is normal for the transport of breeding stock to non-drought areas for agistment* to be subsidized. For example, the New South Wales government pays 50 per cent of the cost of transporting breeding stock to and from an officialdrought area. Similar policies exist in all other states. In Western Australia, to allow the vegetation time to recover after a drought, freight subsidies are only paid for livestock which are returned to a drought declared area at least 12 months after a drought has broken. In periods of drought and very low cattle prices, subsidies may also be paid for cattle to be shot and buried. Carry-on loans at concessional interest rates and rental concessions are also provided to pastoralists during drought periods (Young, 1979b). The income received by pastoralists in arid Australia is usually very variable and to minimize the impact of our progressive taxation system on them the Australian government has recently introduced a system of income equalization deposits. In a year of high income pastoralists may deposit a sum of money with the government, receive interest on it at a value which reflects its concessional nature, and avoid paying tax on it until they choose to withdraw it. This money is usually withdrawn during periods of low income and the tax paid on it is minimal. Pastoralists are also permitted to pay tax on the lowest of their annual income and the average of their last 5 years income. Land use is also manipulated by supplying a large infrastructure of roads and stock routes throughout the region. This is often done at considerable expense to the government for little return (Young, 1979b).
Regulation In Australia it is usual to regulate land use by restricting the type of people who may lease land, the area of land they may manage and by attaching conditions to leases. Regulation is most effective when accurate records can be kept and usually ineffective when detection involves fieldwork. As a result, attempts to enforce closer settlement by regulating the maximum area of land which one person may hold have been relatively successful in Australia while attempts to regulate over-grazing have been relatively unsuccessful. By the time overgrazing is detected the damage to a station's vegetation has already been done (Williams,
1978).
One unique solution to this problem has been introduced in Western Australia. On the premise that viable stations are less likely to overgraze the land, recently legislation has been enacted to ensure that any new stations which are created will be large enough to be viable. In Western Australia a new lease may not be granted to pastoralists who cannot safely run at least 6000 sheep or 1200 cattle and because of the current financial situation prospective pastoralists are discouraged from leasing less than 12,000 sheep areas. Unfortunately, in practice, it is impossible to force pastoralists managing small stations to leave the industry • Temporary depasturing of livestock on another pastoralist's station for a fixed fee.
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and it is also impossible to force adjacent stations to buyout their neighbours, thus the impact of this policy will be a slow one. A second policy in Western Australia restricts the maximum area which any pastoralist may lease to 400,000 ha, which is approximately 50,000 sheep areas. This policy prevents the creation of very large stations and probably increases the number of pastoralists who are in a position to acquire small uneconomic holdings. These enlightened policies contrast very strongly with those of New South Wales-a state which is desperately trying to recover from its earlier closer development policies (see Fig. 2). 30
NEW SOUTH WALES: Assessedcarrymg capacity - 7·0 million sheep (1760 stations)
20 10
., 0'
o
C
SOUTH AUSTRALIA Assessed carrying capacity - 3· 2 million sheep (224 stations)
o '"
~IO
WESTERN AUSTRALIA Assessed carrying capacity - 6·0 million sheep (480 stations)
o
~
~
W
00
Sheep equivalents ('0005)
Figure 2. Distribution of station size in southern arid Australia. (Source: unpublished data supplied by various State departments.) The Northern Territory has approached the problem of maintaining a viable pastoral industry in a different way. Its administrators believe that the main problem associated with arid land use is fragmentation. Legislation has been enacted which prevents the lease of an area which does not comprise an economic unit to anyone who does not own an adjacent area of land. Further, such leases are only issued on the condition that both areas are consolidated into one holding (Young, 1979a). Experience in New South Wales and Queensland has shown that once fragmentation has begun it is very difficult to stop. The policies of closer settlement introduced in New South Wales and Queensland have shown that the size of a living area changes with time. New South Wales' Western Lands Commissioner recently wrote, '... changes in economic circumstances have resulted in a large proportion of the family units established over the 40 years prior to 1960 becoming sub-standard in terms of today's home maintenance requirements' (Condon, 1978). In an attempt to rectify this situation a large number of properties have been subdivided to provide additional land within a 'reasonable working distance' (officially 30 km) of the sub-standard holdings. Today it is quite common for one pastoralist to lease two or more small pieces of additional land near his main holding. The result is an increasingly inefficient allocation of land and an increasing need for land reform. In South Australia there has been no attempt to regulate station size and, as a result, the most common station size is that which is just viable-3000-S000 sheep. Although no research has been conducted on the population dynamics of stations it is tempting to conclude that the new system in Western Australia will lead to a population of stations which is
INFLUENCING LAND USE IN PASTORAL AUSTRALIA
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more dynamic and in a better position to respond to the continually changing pressures placed upon it. Experience has shown that the optimal size of a station changes with time and that it is important to establish a structure which is capable of adjusting rather than one which is optimal at anyone point in time.
Enforcing and regulating development Throughout Australia's relatively short history, Australians have tried, time and time again, to develop arid Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory with little success. People without an intimate knowledge of the arid zone generally fail to realize that it has little potential for development (Davidson, 1972). It has been our experience that development often leads to degradation and that it is often better to conserve what we have than to develop it. Generally non-degraded arid ecosystems have low persistence and suffer heavily whenever man tests their resilience. Further, the costs of mistakes are high and recovery usually requires extensive periods of destocking. All station leases contain conditions which require certain forms of development. The development which is required varies radically amongst the states. Some states require a certain amount of money per hectare to be spent on improvements while others specify the actual work which must be done. Western Australia requires its pastoralists to prepare a 5-year development plan and complete an annual return outlining all the improvements which have been made. In practice it is very difficult to enforce development and in the Northern Territory it has been necessary to introduce legislation which permits a moratorium on a station's conditions for up to two years. Legally, a station lease should be forfeited whenever a pastoralist fails to comply with the conditions of a lease. In practice this is rarely done. South Australia has recently introduced legislation which allows its administrators to fine a pastoralist who fails to comply with the conditions of a lease. They claim that the presence of this legislation has had a beneficial effect-although it has yet to be tested in court (Young, 1979). There are two concepts of development in arid Australia. The first is limited development to allow use and the second is extensive development to allow maximum use. In retrospect the second has been unsuccessful.
Arid Australia's experiences Australia has learnt that if one puts pressure on people, they, in turn, put pressure on the land. For this reason most Australian land administrators believe that it is wiser to establish structures which regulate themselves. Their desire to do this has led them actively into extension on a personal basis-their aim is to assist pastoralists to manage arid land wisely rather than to prevent them from abusing it. In Australia it has been our experience that it is very difficult to develop the arid zone, very unwise to force development on it and impossible to use it beyond its potential.
References Condon, R. W. (1978). Land tenure and desertification in Australia's arid lands with particular reference to Western New South Wales. Search, 9(7): 261-264. Davidson, B. R. (1972). The Northern Myth: Limits to Agricultural and Pastoral Development in Tropical Australia (3rd eOO.). Carlton: Melbourne University Press. xxii + 298pp. Everett, R. A. (1977). Pastoral Management in the Arid Zone. Paper presented to the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, Adelaide, February 1977. Francisco, E. M. & Anderson, J. R. (1972). Chance and choice west of the Darling. Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 16(2): 82-93.
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Heathcote, R. L. (1964). Conservation or opportune use? The pastoralists' problem in semi. arid Australia. Advancement of Science, 21(9): 47-60. Holmes, M. (1938). The Erosion-Pastoral Problem of the Western Division of New South Wales. University of Sydney publication in Geography No.2. 51pp. Kelly, J. H. (1971). Beef in Northern Australia. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 230pp. Meinig, D. W. (1962). On the Margins of the Good Eearth: The South Australian Wheat Frontier 1869-1884. Adelaide: Rigby. 231pp. Moore, R. M. & Perry, R. A. (1970). Vegetation. In Moore, R. M. (Ed.), Australian Grasslands, pp. 59-73. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 455pp. Payne, W. L. (1959). Report on Progressive Land Settlement in Queensland by the Land Settlement Advisory Commission. Brisbane: Government Printer. 123pp. Perry, R. A. (1977). The evaluation and exploitation of semi-arid lands: Australian experience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 278: 493-505. Tribe, D. E. (1977). The conservation and improvement of resources: the grazing animal. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 278: 565-582. Williams, O. B. (1978). Desertification in the pastoral rangelands of the Gascoyne Basin, Western Australia. Search, 9(7): 257-261. Young, M. D. (1978). The Influence of the Arid Pastoral Industry on the Structure of Remote Communities. Paper presented to the joint Australia-United States Seminar on Present and Future Settlement Systems in Sparsely Populated Regions, Flinders University, Adelaide, July 1978. Young, M. D. (1979a). Differences between States in arid land administration. CSIRO Division of Land Resources Management. Land Resources Management Series No.4, Melbourne, 1979. Young, M. D. (1979b). Resource management of Australian arid lands. In Golany, G. (Ed.), Urban and Regional Planning in the Arid Zones: The International Experience. (In press.) Young, M. D. & Little, A. K. (1979). Summary of sections of the Land Acts of New South Wales (Western Division), Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia. In Young, M. D. (1979a). Young, M. D. & Vickery, J. (1978). An Overview of Land Tenure and Administration in Australia's Rangelands. Proceedings of the 1st International Rangelands Congress, Denver, Colorado, August 1978.
Influencing land use in pastoral Australia * Michael D. Youngj The impact of Australia's land administration policies on arid land development and use is discussed with reference to the arid zone. Australia has made many mistakes in establishing methods of wise land use. The experience gained from these lessons is discussed so that other countries may benefit from the mistakes which have been made and from the principles which underlie Australia's current policies.
Introduction In Australia the arid zone is defined as that area of Australia which receives insufficient rainfall to allow pasture improvement or cropping without irrigation. This definition has two connotations; the first is associated with the biological effectiveness of rainfall and the second is associated with the social and economic structure of Australia. This definition acknowledges the extensive rather than intensive nature of Australian arid land use and also the regional differences in the seasonality and variability of rainfall. The southern region receives a predominantly winter rainfall with the frequency of summer rain increasing northward. In the north of Australia almost all rainfall falls during the hot summer months when evaporation is highest (Perry, 1977). The vegetation ranges from chenopod shrublands (Atriplex and Maireana spp.) in the south, to semi-arid woodlands (Acacia and Eucalyptus spp. over Eragrostis and Aristida spp.) to the east, Mitchell grass plains (Astrebla spp.) in the north and low woodlands (Acacia spp.) and spinifex grasslands (Triodia spp.) in the centre (Moore & Perry, 1970). The arid zone of Australia is bounded to the south by the 250 mm rainfall isohyet, to the east by the 500 mm rainfall isohyet and to the north by the 750 mm isohyet. As arid Australia's climate and natural vegetation are not homogeneous some areas are better suited to cattle and others to sheep; sheep are generally better suited to the southern regions of arid Australia and cattle to the northern regions (see Fig. 1). The distribution of sheep in Australia is also regulated by a vermin-proof fence which excludes the Australian wild dog, the dingo (Canis familiaris dingo) from our sheep areas (Young, 1979b). Approximately 70 per cent of Australia is either arid or semi-arid and 26 per cent of this land is unoccupied. Another 9 per cent comprises aboriginal reserves and national parks. The remaining 65 per cent is grazed by either sheep or cattle. Throughout Australia's arid zone there are also many mineral deposits which have had a major influence on the location of towns and cities within the region. Many of these large mining towns justify the provision of services which the pastoral industry alone could not support (Young, 1979b).
* An earlier draft of this paper was presented to a Regional Workshop on Applied Agricultural Research in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas sponsored by UNDP at Santiago, Chile, in 1978. t Rangelands Research Laboratory, CSIRO Division of Land Resources Management, Private Bag, P.O., Deniliquin 2710, Australia. 0140-1963/79/030279+10 $02.00/0 10
© 1979 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited
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M.D. YOUNG
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NATIONAL PARKS ABORIGINAL RESERVES 500km
UNOCCUPIEO LAND CATTLE PREDOMINATELY SHEEP
Figure 1. Land use in arid Australia. The figures on the boundary of the arid zone indicate the mean annual rainfall in millimetres (after Young, 1979b).
Land use in arid Australia Unlike most of the semi-arid and arid areas of the world, the Australian arid zone is very sparsely settled comprising only 234,000 people, slightly less than 2 per cent of Australia's population. Approximately 140,000 of these people are associated with the region's mining and tourist industries and only 96,000 are either directly or indirectly associated with pastoral production in the arid zone (Young, 1979b). The structure of Australian society has tended to keep people out of the arid zone rather than to encourage them to use it (Heathcote, 1964). In 1977 there were 3843 stations (arid zone farms) within the arid zone; 2170 sheep stations, 909 beef cattle stations and 764 stations carrying both sheep and beef cattle (unpublished data, A.B.S., 1978). The majority of these stations lease exclusive grazing rights from the government. Sheep stations range in size from 3000 to 15,000 sheep with few larger ones carrying up to 80,000 sheep. Cattle stations range in size from 1000 cattle to 100,000 cattle (8000-800,000 sheep equivalents) (Kelly, 1971). The few cattle stations which carry in excess of 14,000 cattle are leased by companies from the government. Australia has a relatively developed economy and, because of this, most of the produce from the arid zone is exported outside the region to urban Australia and to other countries. The movement of meat and wool to distant markets is achieved by an efficient transport network. The main disadvantage of this system is that it tends to isolate the small number of people who live in the arid zone from the majority of Australians living in coastal urban centres. As a result, most Australians are unaware of, and insensitive to, the problems of our arid pastoral industry. On the other hand, this system has enabled the establishment of a very strong arid zone market economy. Pastoralists usually own part or all of the improvements
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on their stations and borrow money for the purchase of livestock, etc. Each station is run as a commercial venture and the objective is to produce meat and wool for sale. This emphasis on a market economy causes people to leave the region whenever conditions decline. Unlike many arid areas of the world Australia does not associate drought with famine (Tribe, 1977). By world standards, Australia has a relatively efficient pastoral industry. On most stations, in excess of 4000 sheep are managed by one man and the more efficient are now managing in excess of 8000 or 9000 sheep per man. This has been achieved by the extensive use of fencing and by the development of management techniques which require a minimum input of labour. Sheep are only handled two or three times a year and rotational grazing is rarely practised. Most research has concentrated on ways to reduce the quantity of inputs, particularly labour, required to produce meat and wool; ways to increase livestock productivity per head and ways to preserve the arid zone's resource base, its vegetation. Australian research has found that it is virtually impossible to increase the productivity of its arid zone. One of the greatest impacts of this research has been a decline in the number of people required to manage livestock and hence an exodus of people from the arid zone. This has also precipitated a decline in both the number of people living in, and the function of, pastoral towns (Young, 1978).
Arid land administration in Australia Almost all of arid Australia is owned by the government and only grazing rights are leased to pastoralists. Land administrators are responsible for overseeing the use of these leases, organizing their transfer, the enforcement of conditions and covenants restricting land use and the protection of pastoralists' rights (Young, 1979b). Australia's arid land is still held under leasehold title as our early politicians in the 19th century believed that the arid zone would be developed into agricultural farms. Early accounts of attempts to do this are horrifying and much damage was done to our more productive arid lands (Meinig, 1962). The choice of a leasehold system of arid land management is an historical accident which has enabled administrators to manipulate market forces, to control individual land transactions and to control arid land use. It is difficult to evaluate objectively whether this system has been best for arid Australia, but it has stood the test of time and is still preferred by our land administrators (Young & Vickery, 1978). Australia's arid zone is distributed amongst five states which are each responsible for the administration of their own arid lands. New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia have established separate bodies to manage their arid areas, independent of other agricultural and urban lands. The Northern Territory has established a Land Board which is responsible for all land in Northern Territory. As the Northern Territory is almost entirely arid, the Land Board is effectively only responsible for arid land management. The fifth state, Queensland, administers all its agricultural, arid and urban land under one authority. New South Wales and South Australia have established totally independent authorities to administer their arid rangelands; they are the Western Lands Commission in New South Wales and the Pastoral Board in South Australia. Western Australia has established a Pastoral Appraisement Board within its Department of Lands and Surveys.
Different methods of influencing development There are two main types of lease in Australia which permit grazing in the arid zone. They are term leases and perpetual leases. Perpetual leases do not expire and their tenure is very similar to that of a restricted freehold title. The only states which grant perpetual leases are New South Wales and Queensland and they only grant them over areas of fully developed
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arid land. The other states, i.e, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, do not issue perpetual leases as they have found that as social and economic conditions change it is often necessary to alter the conditions under which new leases are issued. Term leases are generally granted for between 30 and SO years. To ensure that there is no period of uncertainty towards the end of a lease, all states allow pastoralists to apply for a new lease before their old one expires (see Table 1). The conditions and the likelihood of the term lease being renewed vary amongst the states and depend on their development policies at the time of renewal. The use of lease conditions to guide arid zone land use and development has been a predominant feature of Australian arid land administration.
Table 1. Predominant types of lease in Australia's arid rangelands State
Most common term of lease
New South Wales
Perpetual
Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Western Australia
50 years 30 years 42 years 50 years
Maximum area
Period when new lease may be applied for
Perpetual leases never expire 2D--40th year 1,290,000 ha 1 living area approximate1y*t 2D-30th year 35th year No limit 30th year 400,000 hat
2 home maintenance areas"
• The area of land which will support one family is approximately equal to a home maintenance area and a living area. t This only applies to developed areas which may be converted to freehold or perpetual lease; larger undeveloped areas may be leased for up to 50 years. t A newlease maynot be issuedto coveran area of land whichis not capable of carryingat least 1200cattle or 6000 sheep. On the assumption that small family stations will use arid zone resources to their maximum potential, two states, New South Wales and Queensland, have both introduced policies of closer settlement. These closer settlement policies restrict the area of land which may be leased by a person to that which is sufficient to support one family. Although these policies were initially successful the problems arising from them are immense and, in retrospect, great damage has been done to a lot of land and to many families. The policies of closer settlement which were introduced in the 1920s and 1930s developed a very uniform and, hence, a very inflexible community structure. In particular, in New South Wales, all properties are now approximately the same size and, hence, few pastoralists are in a position to buyout those which have become uneconomic (Young, 1978). Social scientists are investigating the process by which rural adjustment occurs. Preliminary results stress the importance of establishing a dynamic community structure which is able to adjust to the pressures placed upon it. New South Wales achieved its closer settlement by withdrawing land from pastoralists who leased large areas. This was first done in 1902 and then again in 1934, 1942 and 1949. The last in 1949 withdrew from lease all land held by any pastoralist in excess of two home maintenance areas. A home maintenance area is defined as that area of land which is sufficient to support a family in fair and average seasons (Young, 1979a). The other state which has tried to achieve closer settlement is Queensland. Queensland has established a very complex system of land tenure aiming to develop small individual stations managed by resident pastoralists. Pastoral development holding leases are initially granted for large areas of poor quality land which is in need of development. These leases are usually taken up by companies or wealthy individuals for a term of 30 years. When a lease contains very extensive development conditions and an abnormally high amount of capital is required, a term of up to SO years may be granted. Once developed, a pastoral development holding is subdivided into several grazing selections or preferential pastoral
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holdings which are subject to size constraints and may not be held by companies (Young, 1979a). Queensland will not allow any person to manage more than one living area of developed land. A living area is slightly larger than a home maintenance area and is defined as that area of land which, allowing for the variability of seasonal conditions, will provide a man with a means to an adequate income, enough savings to enable him meet adverse seasonal conditions, and the cost of developing and maintaining the land at a high rate of production (Young & Little, 1979). The difference between a living area in Queensland and a home maintenance area in New South Wales arises from the fact that average seasons and conditions are rarely experienced in the arid zone whereas prolonged droughts followed by a period of good rainfall are far more common. The use of legislation to establish a population of small arid zone stations managed by individual pastoralists has been widely rejected by Australian scientists. As Holmes puts it, ' ... too small an area calls for ruthless exploitation of vegetational resources and eventual abandonment of the land altogether' (Holmes, 1938). Similarly, Payne, a prominent Queensland land administrator, wrote ' ... in every aspect of land administration a margin in favour of the settler should be left for the eventuality such as seasons and fall in prices •.• two prosperous and contented settlers are far better than three disheartened strugglers' (Payne, 1959). Development in the arid zone usually means greater subdivision of the land and, hence, a more intensive use of it. Generally, the greater the intensity of land use the greater the likelihood that people will be pressured into using it beyond its potential. When the resource base is not resilient the result of over development is usually degradation. In the past many people have over-estimated the limited potential of Australia's arid zone resources.
Pastoral management strategies in arid Australia In a market economy like Australia's, a pastoralist must continually adjust his resources in response to the four variables which affect his annual income. They are: the effective rainfall he receives, the condition of his pastures, market prices and the external cost of the goods and the services purchased by him. In the past, pastoralists have tended to be concerned with the condition of their livestock rather than their vegetation. Today government advisors working in rangeland extension are trying to emphasize the importance of the condition of vegetation rather than the condition of livestock. They believe that by the time a decline in livestock condition is observed, considerable damage will have already been done to a station's pasture. Extension workers stress the long-term cost of degrading pasture condition in order to solve a short-term problem. They believe that a pastoralist with an astute and accurate perception of the ecosystem he manages will not degrade it. In South Australia pastoralists are now being encouraged to install photopoints throughout their stations. It is hoped that the resulting photographic records will encourage pastoralists to pay greater attention to the condition of the vegetation on their stations. Pastoralists have no control over rainfall or the market prices they receive. The only other variable they can influence is pasture condition and the cost of the services they buy; hence they tend to repair fences and carry out other improvements during times of high prices and spend little during periods of low prices. Similarly, they tend to hire and dismiss staff in response to seasonal and market conditions. This is only possible in the areas which have not been closely settled as large stations are the only ones which employ labourers. In the closely settled areas the strategy has been to find an off-farm job (Young, 1978). Recent declines in market prices and increases in costs have highlighted the disadvantages of establishing small single family stations. These stations, because of their small size, are relatively inflexible. In times of stress, pastoralists on small stations are faced with the decision of either buying additional land or finding off-farm work and neglecting the work which is essential to the long-term survival of their stations.
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A pastoralist who is already in difficulty is rarely in a position to buy additional land. In closely settled areas all stations are the same size, making it very difficult for a pastoralist to sell out as there are few neighbours in a position to buy him out. Closer settlement in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, has tended to lock people into the land. Government policies are now being enacted to try to rectify this situation.
Stocking strategies For administrative purposes land administrators usually define the carrying capacity of a station as a fixed figure. This tends to imply that, irrespective of seasonal conditions, the stocking rate on anyone station does not alter from year to year. Normally a pastoralist adopts a certain strategy which reflects the way in which he will react to certain markets and climatic forces placed upon him. The strategy which the pastoralist adopts reflects his attitude to risk and also his attitude to the uncertain climatic and financial market in which he lives. In general, pastoralists who live on larger stations tend to be more conservative in their management, that is, more risk averse, than those on small stations who are forced to take larger risks and hence stock at higher levels in order to maintain the level of income they desire (Francisco & Anderson, 1972). Most small stations in arid Australia do not lease sufficient land to allow them to adopt conservative, risk averse management strategies. Most rangeland scientists generally believe that the smaller the station the higher the stocking rate. Australia has learnt that if one puts pressure on pastoralists, they in turn put pressure on the land.
Influencing arid land use Arid land administrators and extension personnel in Australia attempt to influence land use in three ways. First, by attempting to persuade pastoralists to adopt new management strategies; second, by trying to manipulate the financial environment in which pastoralists work; and third, by trying to prevent or enforce certain patterns of land use.
Persuasion The use of conventional extension methods in which one tries to inform pastoralists and influence their management strategies has been relatively unsuccessful in arid Australia as there is very little technical information which can be extended to pastoralists and because most Australian arid zone research has been associated with long term rather than the short term problems of arid land use. Thus, an extension officer approaching a pastoralist tends to be confined to talking about his long-term problems rather than the ones which are of the most concern to him-his short-term social and financial problems. In response to the ineffectiveness of conventional arid zone extension and the desire of land administrators to become involved in land management, there now appears to be a new trend to employ rangeland scientists as land administrators. New South Wales' Western Lands Commissioner is a range scientist and he has recently appointed another range scientist to the Western Lands Commission. Similarly, South Australia appointed a range scientist to the Pastoral Board in 1977 and Western Australia has begun detailed surveys of all Western Australian pastoral stations in collaboration with its Department of Agriculture. Australians are beginning to see land administrators as 'land managers' rather than 'rent collectors'. There is a growing tendency for the separate roles of extension officer and land administrator to be combined in the arid areas of Australia. South Australia has made the greatest step in this direction. Its administrators believe that bad land management is often caused by heavy debts and poor financial management (Everett, 1977). The South Australian Pastoral Board is now running management schools throughout its arid zone. The Board
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has also established a close relationship with the Commonwealth Development Bank and is now negotiating loans for its pastoralists. Part of the success of such programs may be attributed to the structure of the Pastoral Board which is directly responsible to the state Minister for Lands. A similar situation exists in New South Wales where the Western Lands Commissioner is responsible directly to his Minister for Lands. Such structures of direct responsibility permits those in authority to spend between 30 and 50 per cent of their time in the field talking to and working with pastoralists. This degree of contact develops a detailed personal knowledge of the region's problems and makes way for the establishment of the rapport which is essential for effective extension.
Manipulation Land administrators have frequently manipulated land use by introducing subsidies for specific periods of time, particularly during periods of drought. In an attempt to minimize desertification and to ensure the continuity of the pastoral industry, it is normal for the transport of breeding stock to non-drought areas for agistment* to be subsidized. For example, the New South Wales government pays 50 per cent of the cost of transporting breeding stock to and from an officialdrought area. Similar policies exist in all other states. In Western Australia, to allow the vegetation time to recover after a drought, freight subsidies are only paid for livestock which are returned to a drought declared area at least 12 months after a drought has broken. In periods of drought and very low cattle prices, subsidies may also be paid for cattle to be shot and buried. Carry-on loans at concessional interest rates and rental concessions are also provided to pastoralists during drought periods (Young, 1979b). The income received by pastoralists in arid Australia is usually very variable and to minimize the impact of our progressive taxation system on them the Australian government has recently introduced a system of income equalization deposits. In a year of high income pastoralists may deposit a sum of money with the government, receive interest on it at a value which reflects its concessional nature, and avoid paying tax on it until they choose to withdraw it. This money is usually withdrawn during periods of low income and the tax paid on it is minimal. Pastoralists are also permitted to pay tax on the lowest of their annual income and the average of their last 5 years income. Land use is also manipulated by supplying a large infrastructure of roads and stock routes throughout the region. This is often done at considerable expense to the government for little return (Young, 1979b).
Regulation In Australia it is usual to regulate land use by restricting the type of people who may lease land, the area of land they may manage and by attaching conditions to leases. Regulation is most effective when accurate records can be kept and usually ineffective when detection involves fieldwork. As a result, attempts to enforce closer settlement by regulating the maximum area of land which one person may hold have been relatively successful in Australia while attempts to regulate over-grazing have been relatively unsuccessful. By the time overgrazing is detected the damage to a station's vegetation has already been done (Williams,
1978).
One unique solution to this problem has been introduced in Western Australia. On the premise that viable stations are less likely to overgraze the land, recently legislation has been enacted to ensure that any new stations which are created will be large enough to be viable. In Western Australia a new lease may not be granted to pastoralists who cannot safely run at least 6000 sheep or 1200 cattle and because of the current financial situation prospective pastoralists are discouraged from leasing less than 12,000 sheep areas. Unfortunately, in practice, it is impossible to force pastoralists managing small stations to leave the industry • Temporary depasturing of livestock on another pastoralist's station for a fixed fee.
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and it is also impossible to force adjacent stations to buyout their neighbours, thus the impact of this policy will be a slow one. A second policy in Western Australia restricts the maximum area which any pastoralist may lease to 400,000 ha, which is approximately 50,000 sheep areas. This policy prevents the creation of very large stations and probably increases the number of pastoralists who are in a position to acquire small uneconomic holdings. These enlightened policies contrast very strongly with those of New South Wales-a state which is desperately trying to recover from its earlier closer development policies (see Fig. 2). 30
NEW SOUTH WALES: Assessedcarrymg capacity - 7·0 million sheep (1760 stations)
20 10
., 0'
o
C
SOUTH AUSTRALIA Assessed carrying capacity - 3· 2 million sheep (224 stations)
o '"
~IO
WESTERN AUSTRALIA Assessed carrying capacity - 6·0 million sheep (480 stations)
o
~
~
W
00
Sheep equivalents ('0005)
Figure 2. Distribution of station size in southern arid Australia. (Source: unpublished data supplied by various State departments.) The Northern Territory has approached the problem of maintaining a viable pastoral industry in a different way. Its administrators believe that the main problem associated with arid land use is fragmentation. Legislation has been enacted which prevents the lease of an area which does not comprise an economic unit to anyone who does not own an adjacent area of land. Further, such leases are only issued on the condition that both areas are consolidated into one holding (Young, 1979a). Experience in New South Wales and Queensland has shown that once fragmentation has begun it is very difficult to stop. The policies of closer settlement introduced in New South Wales and Queensland have shown that the size of a living area changes with time. New South Wales' Western Lands Commissioner recently wrote, '... changes in economic circumstances have resulted in a large proportion of the family units established over the 40 years prior to 1960 becoming sub-standard in terms of today's home maintenance requirements' (Condon, 1978). In an attempt to rectify this situation a large number of properties have been subdivided to provide additional land within a 'reasonable working distance' (officially 30 km) of the sub-standard holdings. Today it is quite common for one pastoralist to lease two or more small pieces of additional land near his main holding. The result is an increasingly inefficient allocation of land and an increasing need for land reform. In South Australia there has been no attempt to regulate station size and, as a result, the most common station size is that which is just viable-3000-S000 sheep. Although no research has been conducted on the population dynamics of stations it is tempting to conclude that the new system in Western Australia will lead to a population of stations which is
INFLUENCING LAND USE IN PASTORAL AUSTRALIA
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more dynamic and in a better position to respond to the continually changing pressures placed upon it. Experience has shown that the optimal size of a station changes with time and that it is important to establish a structure which is capable of adjusting rather than one which is optimal at anyone point in time.
Enforcing and regulating development Throughout Australia's relatively short history, Australians have tried, time and time again, to develop arid Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory with little success. People without an intimate knowledge of the arid zone generally fail to realize that it has little potential for development (Davidson, 1972). It has been our experience that development often leads to degradation and that it is often better to conserve what we have than to develop it. Generally non-degraded arid ecosystems have low persistence and suffer heavily whenever man tests their resilience. Further, the costs of mistakes are high and recovery usually requires extensive periods of destocking. All station leases contain conditions which require certain forms of development. The development which is required varies radically amongst the states. Some states require a certain amount of money per hectare to be spent on improvements while others specify the actual work which must be done. Western Australia requires its pastoralists to prepare a 5-year development plan and complete an annual return outlining all the improvements which have been made. In practice it is very difficult to enforce development and in the Northern Territory it has been necessary to introduce legislation which permits a moratorium on a station's conditions for up to two years. Legally, a station lease should be forfeited whenever a pastoralist fails to comply with the conditions of a lease. In practice this is rarely done. South Australia has recently introduced legislation which allows its administrators to fine a pastoralist who fails to comply with the conditions of a lease. They claim that the presence of this legislation has had a beneficial effect-although it has yet to be tested in court (Young, 1979). There are two concepts of development in arid Australia. The first is limited development to allow use and the second is extensive development to allow maximum use. In retrospect the second has been unsuccessful.
Arid Australia's experiences Australia has learnt that if one puts pressure on people, they, in turn, put pressure on the land. For this reason most Australian land administrators believe that it is wiser to establish structures which regulate themselves. Their desire to do this has led them actively into extension on a personal basis-their aim is to assist pastoralists to manage arid land wisely rather than to prevent them from abusing it. In Australia it has been our experience that it is very difficult to develop the arid zone, very unwise to force development on it and impossible to use it beyond its potential.
References Condon, R. W. (1978). Land tenure and desertification in Australia's arid lands with particular reference to Western New South Wales. Search, 9(7): 261-264. Davidson, B. R. (1972). The Northern Myth: Limits to Agricultural and Pastoral Development in Tropical Australia (3rd eOO.). Carlton: Melbourne University Press. xxii + 298pp. Everett, R. A. (1977). Pastoral Management in the Arid Zone. Paper presented to the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, Adelaide, February 1977. Francisco, E. M. & Anderson, J. R. (1972). Chance and choice west of the Darling. Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 16(2): 82-93.
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Heathcote, R. L. (1964). Conservation or opportune use? The pastoralists' problem in semi. arid Australia. Advancement of Science, 21(9): 47-60. Holmes, M. (1938). The Erosion-Pastoral Problem of the Western Division of New South Wales. University of Sydney publication in Geography No.2. 51pp. Kelly, J. H. (1971). Beef in Northern Australia. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 230pp. Meinig, D. W. (1962). On the Margins of the Good Eearth: The South Australian Wheat Frontier 1869-1884. Adelaide: Rigby. 231pp. Moore, R. M. & Perry, R. A. (1970). Vegetation. In Moore, R. M. (Ed.), Australian Grasslands, pp. 59-73. Canberra: Australian National University Press. 455pp. Payne, W. L. (1959). Report on Progressive Land Settlement in Queensland by the Land Settlement Advisory Commission. Brisbane: Government Printer. 123pp. Perry, R. A. (1977). The evaluation and exploitation of semi-arid lands: Australian experience. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 278: 493-505. Tribe, D. E. (1977). The conservation and improvement of resources: the grazing animal. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 278: 565-582. Williams, O. B. (1978). Desertification in the pastoral rangelands of the Gascoyne Basin, Western Australia. Search, 9(7): 257-261. Young, M. D. (1978). The Influence of the Arid Pastoral Industry on the Structure of Remote Communities. Paper presented to the joint Australia-United States Seminar on Present and Future Settlement Systems in Sparsely Populated Regions, Flinders University, Adelaide, July 1978. Young, M. D. (1979a). Differences between States in arid land administration. CSIRO Division of Land Resources Management. Land Resources Management Series No.4, Melbourne, 1979. Young, M. D. (1979b). Resource management of Australian arid lands. In Golany, G. (Ed.), Urban and Regional Planning in the Arid Zones: The International Experience. (In press.) Young, M. D. & Little, A. K. (1979). Summary of sections of the Land Acts of New South Wales (Western Division), Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia. In Young, M. D. (1979a). Young, M. D. & Vickery, J. (1978). An Overview of Land Tenure and Administration in Australia's Rangelands. Proceedings of the 1st International Rangelands Congress, Denver, Colorado, August 1978.