Backbencher

In 1930s the sugar cane crop in Australia was trying to compete with the world price of sugar. The cane grubs and beetles, however, were detrimental to this goal. Cane Toads is a movie about the biological control of these pesky bugs. On June 23, 1935 102 cane toads arrived in North Queensland from a colony in Hawaii. The biological control did not work, however. The cane toads and cane beetles had completely different lifestyles. The cane beetle survived before the cane plant flowered, while the cane toad preferred the cane plant after it had leafy bush. The cane beetle could fly, the cane toad couldn't. Because each toad was able to lay up to 40,000 eggs in one summer, the cane toad population flourished. In 1945 a pesticide eliminated the cane beetle and left Australia with a cane toad problem.

What happened to the cane toad is something of a contest between Australians. Many Australians find the cane toad a pest and dangerous. It does after all have a poison that could have detrimental effects for a young child. Others fought to commemorate it with a bust, making it an iconographic image of the area. They lost that idea however. They did manage to get several songs about cane toads into the film, however.

Cane Toads was a remarkably interesting movie, complete with quirky humor that only the Australians can bring. It also posed to questions of non-native species integrating into once pristine landscapes and the "what comes next" scenario on how to deal with introduced species. Cane Toads showed Australia as a land of opportunity but also as a testing ground. This film raised many questions that would be perfect for further study about the cultural and environmental make-up of Australia. The question left burning at my mind after watching this movie was how is the cane toad problem going to be combated? Will Australia be forced to enter another species to become the hunter of the cane toad?