So its already May and so far I have been working on a schedule for completion of each chapter so that I can complete this PhD before my money runs out. Well, the schedule is there, typed out and printed, but curiously my thesis just doesn’t seem to be writing itself. So, my professor sent me away to do some work for him instead.
I was sent to Barrow Island, a small island off the coast of Western Australia about 1300 km from perth and 56km from the coast. I’ll tell you a little about the island; it is about half the size of Singapore and is what is called a Class A Reserve in WA. This means that it is a reserve that is more like a preserve, it is off limits to everyone except those with special work or research permits. Paradoxically, back in the 1950’s it was actually developed by the state government for oil drilling and refining. I was skeptical at first as to how a Class A reserve could possibly be an oil field island as well. But the fact that it is used for drilling (so public access is banned) and as a fully protected reserve, it has the last surviving populations of some marsupials no longer found on the Australian mainland.
The main reason for many of the population decimations on the Australian mainland has been the introduction of predators and competitors brought by the colonialists. Things such as rabbits, feral pigs and sheep directly compete with marsupial herbivores for scarce resources and feral cats and foxes gobble up the weakened populations. This has become such a vast problem for Australia as cats, foxes and rabbits have moved deep into the outback, far from human habitation, making it a herculean task to try and remove these animals from the land. As a result there are few wild (mainland) populations of many marsupials such as the burrowing bettong, the bilby, the quokka, the chuditch etc. And many don’t realize Western Australian fauna is very different from Eastern Australian fauna due to long separation by vast dry plains and deserts.
But I digress, Barrow is still a working oilfield but due to the highly controlled activity on the island and the absence of previous human settlement, the impact of the oil wells on the island’s vertebrate fauna appears to be negligible. So, we were up there to check out the invertebrate fauna to be able to assess any possible future impact on the island. The following are just some pictures of the landscape and some friendly inhabitants. It was a spectacular place, warm and balmy and perhaps an insight into what some parts of Western Australia were like before the white man cameth.
I was sent to Barrow Island, a small island off the coast of Western Australia about 1300 km from perth and 56km from the coast. I’ll tell you a little about the island; it is about half the size of Singapore and is what is called a Class A Reserve in WA. This means that it is a reserve that is more like a preserve, it is off limits to everyone except those with special work or research permits. Paradoxically, back in the 1950’s it was actually developed by the state government for oil drilling and refining. I was skeptical at first as to how a Class A reserve could possibly be an oil field island as well. But the fact that it is used for drilling (so public access is banned) and as a fully protected reserve, it has the last surviving populations of some marsupials no longer found on the Australian mainland.
The main reason for many of the population decimations on the Australian mainland has been the introduction of predators and competitors brought by the colonialists. Things such as rabbits, feral pigs and sheep directly compete with marsupial herbivores for scarce resources and feral cats and foxes gobble up the weakened populations. This has become such a vast problem for Australia as cats, foxes and rabbits have moved deep into the outback, far from human habitation, making it a herculean task to try and remove these animals from the land. As a result there are few wild (mainland) populations of many marsupials such as the burrowing bettong, the bilby, the quokka, the chuditch etc. And many don’t realize Western Australian fauna is very different from Eastern Australian fauna due to long separation by vast dry plains and deserts.
But I digress, Barrow is still a working oilfield but due to the highly controlled activity on the island and the absence of previous human settlement, the impact of the oil wells on the island’s vertebrate fauna appears to be negligible. So, we were up there to check out the invertebrate fauna to be able to assess any possible future impact on the island. The following are just some pictures of the landscape and some friendly inhabitants. It was a spectacular place, warm and balmy and perhaps an insight into what some parts of Western Australia were like before the white man cameth.
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