Things that bite, scratch and sting
1860 to 1880:Sandy Blight and nettles test surveyors' resilience
Every profession has its drawbacks but surveying has more than most. As it is an outdoors occupation, surveyors are affected by nature's beasts. These ranged from crocodiles and snakes, right through to leeches, ticks, scrub itch, flies, mosquitoes and sandflies. These inhabited different parts of Queensland in different seasons.
Sandy Blight
Road surveyor A.C. Macmillan, while working west of Townsville on the Burdekin River in 1866, gives a vivid description of the effects of 'sandy blight' on himself and his assistant Alexander Jardine.
27 January 1866 – slightly better. About 10am, Mr Gary arrived and told me that Jardine was now two days bad with blight, camped six miles from this, and that the whole party were out of rations. None to be had here, decided upon sending the man on to the Range for flour, etc and first got him to start myself on the track with sulphate of zinc.
Arrived at the tents somehow during the day. Found Alic as bad as myself, all but blind with nothing to eat – my ride in the sun having played the duce with my optics. Found it impossible to go back to the station, so stretched myself down and in spite of the intense pain, neither of us could help laughing when attempting to drop the solution into each others eyes. It found its way to the mouth instead . . . some two days later. Sandy blight is a hundred times the most painful affliction a man can possibly have. Macmillan AC 1866
Sketch by surveyor A.C.Macmillan - administering a solution to combat Sandy Blight.Courtesy Mr L. Macmillan
Nettles
Macmillan's job took him all over North Queensland locating roads through all types of country, including the rainforest areas behind Cardwell. In a letter to his boss, Fred Byerley, he describes the effects of the stinging tree:
The Scrub on Range is a dense scrub in which the Nettle or Stinging Tree flourishes, retarding the cutting of a track very much from the danger to man and horse if stung by it. It was in this scrub that the packhorse was stung, got mad, and died within two hours. Macmillan AC 1866
1881 to 1900: Flies, mosquitoes and leeches
Flies and mosquitoes
On the western plains, Watson in the 1880s, describes the effect of flies and mosquitoes:
In the approach of the rainy seasons in these parts the experiences of the traveller and residents are very unwelcome as regards flies, sandflies, and mosquitoes, the only successful remedy found being that of the smoke of cowdung.
The flies will eat the eyes out of a horse's head, and when a dish of mutton chops are placed on the table, the chops become invisible through the swarms of flies thereon, so that the unwary bushman who fails to protect his eyes with a veil finds himself suffering from 'bung blight', which often times develops into sandy blight and severe ophthalmic diseases.
Sandflies will run horses fifty miles off a station and scatter them all over the country. On one night our camp was overwhelmingly beset with mosquitoes, which bit through blankets and every other covering except our boots.
The country not being stocked, there was no cowdung mosquito fuel available, and the atmosphere being calm, the mosquitoes were masters of the situation. At breakfast next morning I reminded my assistants that if John Wesley were present he would suggest that before eating, those who had indulged in profanity at the mosquitoes should wash their mouths, to which one of them unhesitatingly replied: 'I would like to have seen John Wesley encamped here last night without cowdung.' Watson GC 1880
After rains in the western areas of Queensland, the grass grew long and green and became the breeding grounds for millions of bush flies. Any cuts on the hands, arms or legs would become infected from the flies. This was commonly known as 'Barcoo rot'. There was occassional vomiting that accompanied the sores. This was referred to as 'Barcoo spew'. Morell CL 1909
Leeches
The continually wet rainforests caused Surveyor Waraker different troubles while surveying along the Johnstone River in 1882:
It rains nearly every day. In fact I am always wet to above my knees. Leeches in the scrub very bad; my legs are all sore with them, as I can’t help scratching and the more I scratch the more I itch. Waraker 1882
1901 to 1920: Combatting infestations of Prickly Pear
Governor Arthur Phillip is credited with the introduction of a variety of Prickly Pear from Rio de Janeiro in 1787. He had hoped to establish a cochineal industry in the new colony in order to dye his soldiers' coats red. The crushed bodies of the female cochineal beetle make a red dye used for colouring material.
In order for the beetle to survive in Australia, Phillip had to introduce its food plant - the Prickly Pear.
In 1884 a Brisbane newspaper reported large areas of infestation in the scrubs of the Darling Downs. However, it was not until 1893 that it was declared a noxious weed in Queensland.
In 1901, the Queensland government addressed the problem of the pear by passing a private Bill. This legislated that selectors of Prickly Pear selections were only charged a peppercorn for rent. In return, selectors were to clear the land of pear.
Surveyor Leahy and party contending with the Prickly Pear
Courtesy Mr P Leahy
When the selections were surveyed, the dense pear formed an inhospitable barrier through which the surveyor had to clear his boundary line. Innovative surveyors had special leather suits tailored for them to wear while working in the pear, but some just put up with the prickly plant.
Surveyor Tom Clappison, left, cutting the pear Courtesy Mr P Rea
When hand-removing and chemical (arsonic pentoxide) means proved too costly and unable to cope with the extent of the problem, a biological solution was sought and tested. The larvae of the cactoblastis moth proved successful in eating the pear and thus destroying it.
Last updated: 17 June 2009