How Did European Settlement Affect Australia's Flora And Fauna

Australia has experienced a massive environmental change since the first fleet in the 17th century. European settlement has had a significant influence on the flora and fauna within Australia. Early settlers believed that introduced species would ‘improve’ the ‘barren’ Australian landscape. Consequently, the introduction of these species has since proven to have an extreme effect on Australia’s native plants and animals, resulting in the extinction of certain species. Australia has since taken part in conservational efforts to minimise negative impacts to both flora and fauna. However, with the ever growing population danger to our native species is still imminent.

Australia is renowned for its unique collection of native flora and fauna.

Eight years later the first Fleet led by Captain Phillip established a penal colony in New South Wales. Despite the abundance of native foods, the British settlers believed that the Australian environment was to barren to provide an adequate supply of food. Since the only way to transport supplies in the 17th century was by ship, which took around eight months from England the British settles brought a number of supplies to allow them to be self- sufficient. They brought livestock, plants and seeds. This included goats, sheep, cows, horses, rabbits, hogs, and chickens. This was also when Prickly Pear and Spanish Reed were introduced. In order to farm in Australia, land was cleared to allow for grazing areas ad proved quite profitable due to forest logging. This early clearing and forest destruction was the beginning of a devastating trend which would have a massive environmental impact on Australia’s native flora and

The clearing of these natural environments resulted in the loss of natural habitats for many native animals, therefore numbers began to decline. Without their homes and sources of food extinction was imminent. Environmental studies suggest that 17 out of the 270 species of mammals which lived in Australia in 1788 are now extinct. These include the Darling Downs Hopping Mouse which was last recorded in the 1840’s, the Broad-face Potoroo last seen in 1875, and the Desert Bandicoot witch was recorded in the 1960’s. This is not including the four species of frog and 62 species of bird which are also thought to have succumbed to