[By Pennie Scott 8th April 2025] -- Colonialism is alive and far too well as it continues to lack curiosity and certainly any care for the remaining species which dare live in agricultural areas.
For around 25 years I’ve been fascinated by the words people choose to use and, as ‘agriculture’ is my realm, this is where the use of certain words in specific lexicons underpin the behaviours of too many land owners and managers who believe there is a war to be fought.
Right from when the first white settlers moved their mobs of sheep across the verdant landscapes of ‘thigh-high swaying grasses in park-like estates’ over eastern Australia, the relationship between colonialists and this new series of landscapes was tenuous.
This country was sharper, harsher, meaner, wilder and more unpredictable than what the pastoralists, shepherds and crop-men had been used to in a more temperate climate with reliable rain fall. Even the animals were beyond comprehension; when a platypus was sent back to the British Museum in the early 1800’s, the scientists believed a trick had been played upon them - that body parts from three seperate animals had been cleverly stitched together as a joke.
Fear causes certain reactions and responses in people, and fear of the unknown in this ‘vast brown land’ justified domination and total control over the variety of ecological systems in a plethora of climatic and geographic situations across this huge island continent. In addition, according to Paul Collins, ‘humans are profoundly manipulative; we seemingly cannot leave things alone’.
He continues, ‘We see Nature as as an object to exploit, control and, above all, to develop. We are apparently unable to let reality be. We seem determined to rearrange the natural world to suit our needs and, it is this apparently compulsive human manipulation that leads directly to environmental destruction’.
Colonial mindsets fit into Collins’ observations as the collective history of the English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Danes and Germans have similar patterns, and hugely disturbing outcomes for the original inhabitants who dared get in their way. “My God, man, the timber was the most extraordinary I’ve ever seen’ said one English chap to another as they gazed upon the abundant stands of Mountain Ash, White Cedar and Jarrah forests with hand-rubbing glee of what their monetary value would fetch ‘at home’.
The value of the forests in their entirety was beyond their comprehension (or care) to imagine the wholistic ecological services these extensive plant communities provided in tandem with human and non-human species which had continuous connection for thousands of years.
Collins describes ‘we seem to be an incurably anthropocentric species. While all species are self-centred, human beings manifest a peculiar ‘autism’ that often blinds us to the full effects of our actions and this autism is our most destructive device’. (What I find even more galling is that the above colonialists did not recognise their own kind as the same species, believing the natives were ‘wasting these resources’ while left in situ.)
It is alleged that only humans have the ability to self-reflect (another blog on tbis soon) and, even then, this ‘ability’ doesn’t seem adequate for anthropocentric behaviours which believe in the model of scarcity, justifying it is ‘every man for himself’ so that if I don’t get in first, some other bastard will and I’ll miss out. These beliefs and subsequent behaviours are typical of warfare, especially against Nature.
