Backbencher

Lecture Two was titled Geography: Taylor & Cumberland after the two foremost geographers in Australia and New Zealand. After looking at some pictures Dr. Isern had that gave us a better idea of what the two islands actually looked like, we were introduced to some of the prominent landforms of Australia and the great variation of ecosystems that exist on the island with the most telling statistic being that Australia is the driest continent on earth. This dryness has effected the landscape greatly forcing it's inhabitants to adjust to it. New Zealand is described by the two terms Felden (areas suitable for agriculture) and the Arden (areas NOT suitable for agriculture). This simple description, however, misses on of the most recognizable plant formation, the tussock grassland. This formation has evolved over centuries of control through fire, where the land was periodically burned to renew the plantgrowth and maintain the formation. Both Nations have also been altered greatly by the outside introduction of exotic species such as rabbits and red deer prompting creative management strategies on both islands. Finally, we were introduce in earnest to both Taylor and Cumberland. Taylor's theory of environmental determinism where all important aspects of human culture must conform to the environments demands was at first shunned, but later proven true in Australia. Cumberland on the other hand believed that when humankind converted a landscape for their uses, the outcomes were always detrimental to the landscape. However, with the unusual situation of fire management in the tussock formations showed his theories weakness.

This lecture was interesting to me due to the fact of how much it differed from views held in our country. In the US the environmental determinist theories of Walter Webb were accepted and praised sometimes even after they were proven to be only a small part of the picture. The human fingerprint on the land is also often seen as a negative but like in New Zealand the practice of burning the landscape to renew the vegetation is gaining acceptance by some. This lecture also reminded me of one of my favorite Simpsons episode. Bart is sent to Australia to apologize for a prank he has pulled. Bart unknowingly brings in his pet bullfrog but when he gets of the plane it escapes. By the end of the episode the Family is escaping and from the birdeye view of the plane you can see the countryside ravaged by billions of bullfrogs, how they spawned asexually I will never know.