Brett J. Stubbs

The Essential Oil of Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Nees and Eberm.—Variation in Oil Composition Throughout the Tree in Two Chemotypes from Eastern Australia

Abstract The camphor tree, Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Nees et Eberm., is a major environmental weed in parts of eastern Australia, particularly in northeastern New South Wales. It occurs in this region in two chemotypic forms, discriminated on the basis of leaf oil: camphor and 1,8-cineole. Oil was extracted from various parts of trees of each of these chemotypes: leaf, fruit, branch, trunk and root. Analysis of the oil revealed that, for the camphor-type, camphor content was greater in leaves than in other tree parts, where cineole and safrole were also present in substantial proportions; and, for the cineole-type, 1,8-cineole, which with lesser quantities of sabinene and citronellol dominated the leaf oil, is reduced in significance in the trunk where camphor is also an important constituent.

From "useless brutes" to national treasures: a century of evolving attitudes towards native fauna in New South Wales, 1860s to 1960s.

The emergence of native fauna as a theme in conservation is used to explore the changing relationship between nature and human culture in late nineteenth century and early to mid-twentieth century Australia. Ideas about fauna conser vation are traced through a century-long stream of protective legislation and associated parliamentary debate in the colony of New South Wales. During this period, animal protection legislation evolved in purpose from the protection of introduced game in the 1860s, to the protection of native birds, and eventually to the protection of other native fauna, particularly marsupials. In doing so, it conflicted with laws which encouraged the destruction of marsupials in the interests of agricultural and pastoral production.

Riparian Vegetation Change on the Clarence River Floodplain

The natural streamside levees on the floodplain of the Clarence River in subtropical eastern Australia were occupied by riparian rainforest prior to European settlement. They were almost completely cleared for agriculture over a ten-year period from 1857 as a direct consequence of changes to land ownership laws. The floodplain is now a highly developed landscape, with the riverside levees occupied by roads, houses and agriculture, with minimal remnant vegetation. Comparison of 343 sites from 1942 and 2001 aerial photographs using GIS show that there has been an increase in overstorey riparian vegetation density and riparian width, both from very low bases. Ground surveys record that the overstorey riparian vegetation is predominately native with a weedy mid-stratum. Species diversity is low and targeted plantings may be required to provide a pool of rainforest species to start the slow process of recreating this important area of biodiversity. The majority of the increase in the width of riparian vegetation is due to the streams in the floodplain becoming narrower. This is caused by a combination of stream meander and infrastructure protection works. This study highlights the interaction of erosion, stream meander, infrastructure protection and riparian vegetation, and the implications for those managing floodplain streams.

Tied houses, taxes, and technology: concentration in the brewing industry of New South Wales, 1882 to 1932.

The brewing industry in New South Wales reached its numerical peak of about eighty breweries in the 1880s, and then declined to five breweries by the 1930s. Three of these, controlled by two firms, supplied virtually the whole state. This numerical ebb represents a process of industry concentration, driven by the necessity to maximize efficiency through economies of scale. This article examines increased concentration through cost pressures which encouraged it, and transport and other improvements which facilitated it. The former included: restrictive licensing, licence reduction, and diminishing demand, and the consequent need to tie hotels to secure markets; the colonial beer duty, the federal beer excise, and related government supervision; and the introduction of new technology to the brewing industry to satisfy changing fashions. Accompanying its numerical decline went a spatial contraction, the result of market expansion by Sydney breweries, facilitated by rail transport and by improvements in the chemical stability of beer.

Forest conservation and the reciprocal timber trade between New Zealand and New South Wales, 1880s to 1920s

A substantial inter-colonial timber trade between hardwood-scarce New Zealand and softwood-scarce New South Wales developed in the late nineteenth century. The northern coastal area of New South Wales, that colonys main timber-producing district, supplied mainly ironbark (Eucalyptus paniculata, E. crebra and E. siderophloia) for use in New Zealands railways, bridges and wharves. North-eastern New South Wales was also that colonys most important dairying district, and kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), a New Zealand softwood timber, was imported for the manufacture of butter boxes. The magnitude of this two-way trade created domestic timber shortages on both sides of the Tasman Sea, and stimulated conservation efforts from the early years of the twentieth century. Anticipated shortages of kahikatea also forced the New South Wales dairying industry to seek alternatives, including the arguably less suitable indigenous hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), for its butter boxes.