Do old survey plans help us discover what happened to Western New South Wales when Europeans arrived?

After 150 yr of European occupation, the landscapes of semi-arid W NSW have changed substantially; the fundamental cause is grazing by domestic stock. Comparison of early survey plans with contemporary surveys of "Myall', a typical sheep property near Wilcannia, are used to determine the nature of changes and their magnitude. Overall, no changes can be detected. However, at least 20 000 posts were used to fence the property. Extrapolating to the entire Western Division, this represents c10 ⁷ posts and a similar number of trees killed. Continued grazing of domestic stock at currently acceptable levels is effectively preventing regeneration of many trees and shrubs. Given that future expansion of national parks and nature reserves is limited politically, off-reserve conservation on grazing properties will be essential. However, the present and likely future financial position of most graziers is so parlous, that this is the most pressing issue for nature conservation. -Author