REMAKING WETLANDS - Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities - page 231

to both zoology and the methods of field naturalists (Winterhalder, 1993: 18-20;
Sinclair, 2001: 175-176 ). Ecology placed a central emphasis on the relationships
between organisms and their broader 'community' (Robin, 2007b: 159).
Within this context, the Wildlife Survey Section, led by Ratcliffe, was estab-
lished to undertake a biological survey of Australia. However, the resources of the
department were often claimed by the need for applied research and Ratcliffe
encouraged staff to incorporate ecology and conversation science into this research.
Indeed, a combination of ecology and agricultural economics became a central
concept in Ratcliffe's management of the Wildlife Survey Section (Robin, 1997:
70-71; Dunlap, 1999: 249-262; Mulligan and Hill, 2001: 182-183; Robin, 2007b:
161-163).
Frith's research on rice fields sought to bring together the 'ecology and
economics of wild ducks', reflecting this philosophy (Frith, 1957a: 33). The
ecological approach Frith took also meant that he followed the ducks off the farm,
so to speak, and he dedicated another paper to their breeding, food habits and other
aspects of behaviour (Frith, 1957b). From his work on ducks, Frith argued that
biologists needed to better understand ducks themselves in order to better know
how to act in their long-term interest (ibid.: 19; see also Frith, 1967; Frith, 1973).
Later Frith wrote:
There are two main sorts of wildlife problems; those where the animal is a
problem to man and those where man is a problem to the animal. The second
is by far the more common and nearly always the more important.
(unpublished topic manuscript, H. J. Frith, Files, AAS)
The intensification and expansion of agriculture after World War II raised concerns
among biologists and more widely about reductions in habitat for native animals
and birds. While new dams and irrigated farms were largely seen as central to
national development, they also 'set the context for the expansion of [protected]
parks and reserves that characterised conservation in this period' (Jarman and Brock,
2004: 7). This was reflected in the NSW Fauna Protection Act 1948 , which placed
a new emphasis on protecting habitat. The faunal reserves created under this Act
simultaneously created recreation areas for an increasingly urbanised population.
The Act established a Fauna Protection Panel and brought together previously
disparate laws about native birds and mammals, including pest control and wildlife
protection. In this and subsequent Acts, including the 1967 and 1974 National Parks
and Wildlife Acts , through which the NSW National Parks and Wildlife service was
created, birds and animals that were seen as agricultural pests were listed as
unprotected (Stubbs, 2001: 46; Jarman and Brock, 2004: 8-9). Ducks were, and
are, protected under state wildlife laws, except during declared open seasons. From
1995, a hold was placed on state-wide open seasons on ducks, effectively banning
this shooting sport in NSW. This ban responded to increasing concerns among
many groups about the ethics of hunting for sport (Kingsford et al ., 2000: 12; see
also Dickson et al ., 2009).