Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
European) counterparts, use biological and environmental interpretations to
counter-argue that there was an expansion of Australian Acacia and Eucalyptus in
the Old World, including southern Africa (Crosby, 1986; Tomlinson, 1988: 89;
Beinart and Middleton, 2004: 6, 10; Kull and Rangan, 2008; Radkau, 2008: 21-22,
159; Carruthers and Robin, 2010: 48-49).
Scholars more specifically examining the historical origins and development of
state and private forestry in South Africa have not seriously analysed the diffusion
or biological fecundity of Australian trees. Their efforts have focused on detailing
the histories of individual species or genera, the intellectual origins of forestry laws
and silvicultural models (Brown, 2001: 427-447; 2003; Barton, 2002: 98-103;
Rajan, 2006; Bennett, 2010: 27-50) and the social history and effects of forestry
policies on marginalised groups (Witt, 2002, 2005; Tropp, 2006; Pooley, 2010;
Showers, 2010). Except for Barton's, which focuses on southern African-India
connections, studies of forestry development have argued that South African
foresters modelled their theories and practices directly upon German and French
scientific precedents (Brown, 2001: Rajan, 2006: 78-79, 433; Showers, 2010: 305).
Brown, drawing upon the work of Rajan, uses a diffusionist model to explain
the origins of forestry:
An international model for forest management was thus being promoted -
emanating from the European metropole and exported to the colonial
periphery, where it was adapted to meet local conditions. The Cape was not
a unique recipient of this transfer of technical knowledge.
(Brown, 2001: 433)
This continental model gave professional foresters the power to create and manage
state forests, advocated the strict separation of state forests from private property,
and sought to convert existing diverse forests into homogeneous forests composed
of a single species. But rather than examining the actual practices used by foresters,
these studies trace South African forestry methods back to Europe by emphasising
that many of the first foresters studied in Europe and referred to Germany and
France frequently in their writings (Brown, 2003: 344-345; Rajan, 2006: 78-79.
For a critique, see van Sittert, 2004: 311).
This chapter revises and reorients our understanding of the history of Australian
trees in South Africa by challenging interpretations that argue that South African
foresters directly applied European silvicultural practices and theories. It also adds
a historical dimension that is lacking in many studies that emphasise biology and
the environment as the critical factors in the naturalisation of Australian trees in
South Africa. I argue that the widespread diffusion and naturalisation of Australian
trees in South Africa resulted from a globally unique, ultimately successful state-
sponsored research programme to select and then grow climatically suitable
Australian genera and species in plantations.
Rather than embracing European forestry, South Africans actively rejected many
European principles, such as the emphasis on managing large native forests; planted
Search WWH ::




Custom Search