Acclimatisation aim in 1860s to bring British birds to the South Australian colony for agriculture, ornament
Blackbirds are among introduced species that have made themselves at home in South Australia.
Acclimatisation – a move to bring out birds and other creatures from the British isles and introduce them to South Australia – gathered interest in colony in the 1860s.
George Francis, first director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, told an 1862 meeting of the Adelaide Philosophical Society that “the swallow, the water wagtail, the titmouse, and the house sparrow were likely to be very useful in destroying the insects which pestered the fields and gardens. Then pheasants, ducks, geese, pigeons, and many other birds might be introduced as birds of ornament.”
Several notable early South Australian colonial settlers, including Thomas Elder, Joseph Fisher, V. J. Magarey and F. J. Sanderson, imported some British birds and animals for themselves. At an 1863 auction of a shipment from Britain, “astounding” prices were paid for common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds.
In 1863, the vessel Orient brought out “English songbirds imported for private speculation”. The Advertiser reported that Charles Goode, of the firm of Goode Brothers, and an Orient passenger had bought “some larks, thrushes, and other birds in England, with a view of letting them free in the colony, but most of them unfortunately died on the passage.”
Parr and Luxmoore at the exchange auction mart sold, “under instructions from Captain Harris” from the Orient, “Gold Fish, Fancy Rabbits (lop ears and others), Carrier and White Pouter Pigeons, Blackbirds, Canaries, Linnets and Sparrows”.
The auction attracted a large crowd to bid for items including a sparrow that was the sole survivor out of 100. A couple of blackbirds sold for 68 shillings, a goldfinch canary for 35 shillings and other birds for high prices.
Auctioneer “Mr. Parr dwelt facetiously upon the qualities of sparrows, considered as the farmers' friend, although as the sparrow he sold was warranted to be the ‘only one in the colony’, it is difficult to see how the race of sparrows is to be thereby introduced. A smaller difficulty presents itself with regard to the blackbirds, which, the fortunate purchaser was assured, were both cocks!” The Advertiser said.
The colonists’ lack of appreciation of local nature and its workings extended through the 19th Century.
South Australian governor Thomas Fowell Buxton (1895-98) noted the lack of kangaroos in the far north and along River Murray he saw “a very zealous desire to shoot the shags and everything: The cormorant, the ibis, spoonbill and heron”. Buxton firmly believed the contention that the shags killed all the fish wasn’t correct. The fish and the shags depended on each other. Shags were useful in removing the weaker fish.
