reeds
chapter six
Marshes by-pass channel in 2008.
Macquarie Marshes
‘Birds of the Macquarie Marshes’ sign overlooking dead trees. Dams, earthworks, cuttings and diversions altered the floodplains and these trees are thought to have died from too much water.
A healthy section of the Marshes
Reeds gathered for Aboriginal cultural activities
A grazing property near the Southern Marsh
A ringbarked tree on a former sheep station near the Marshes
A dry Burrendong Dam during drought. The dam is at the headwaters of the Macquarie River.
Wailwan men during a ceremony, 1898, Quambone Station. Image: Photo published by Charles Kerry & Co. Powerhouse Museum Tyrrell Collection.
Wailwan men engaged in ceremonial activity, 1898, Quambone Station. Image: ‘Aboriginal Bora, Arrival of the King’. Photo published by Charles Kerry & Co. Powerhouse Museum Tyrrell Collection.
A stone tool found at the Macquarie Marshes
Erosion reveals the ancient campfires of the Wailwan.
Fears of hungry Asian hordes returned after World War II. The article asks, ‘Could we, with 7,000,000 people, hope to hold Australia as a White Reserve against the coloured masses of the Orient?’
Source: “Seven Million – Not Enough!”. Argus (Melbourne), 17 November 1945, 1.
There was a travelling stock route here once and overgrazing left the area vulnerable. The scald was littered with small clusters of charcoal and fossilised fat – the old campfires of the Wailwan.