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"When New England was first settled by the Whites, they found the standing nets of the Blacks in many parts of the bush for the purpose of entrapping the wild animals - The tribes of Blacks met by appointment at these places at certain times driving from different directions their game before them, and this from a circle of many miles into these nets... Since the Whites have occupied the Pundarra & Byron plains Countries, the wild animals of every description have left the plains & frequented places occupied by civilised man, and have betaken to the mountains & unfrequented parts." The schoolmaster and chronicler William Gardner thus described the impact of the first twenty years of pastoralism. The Aborigines' hunting infrastructure was destroyed, and the wildlife on which they depended drastically reduced in the developed areas, remaining abundant only in 'the mountains and unfrequented parts'. This chapter takes up the theme of the diversity, distribution and human attitudes to New England's vertebrate fauna - its native and introduced mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs and fishes - with a particular focus on mammals. |
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