Pastoralism

In the early 1800's John Macarthur started breeding sheep. In 1803 he went to Britain to sell his fine wool and found huge success (Steven 1967). His success kicked off a surge of pastoralism. Pastoralism is the term used for raising livestock when it is the main way of earning money (Merriam-Webster 2014). South Australia particularly has a large pastoral history. In 1894 the state passed its first act concerning pastoralism. The act established at board of people who administered the pastoral lands. In 1936, nearly 40 years later, the act was revised. It  required pastoral owners to have their land inspected to check for overstocking and sustainable usage of the land. When teaching about Australia's pastoral history it is important to include information about sustainability. Sustainability is very relevant to history because one can look at how something used to be and compare it to how it is now (PIR 2013). Here is a child-friendly youtube clip on sustainability.

CSIRO is an organization that works to maintain sustainable pastoral lands. To do this CSIRO has three things that is needed: "achieve a high standard of natural resource management, recover pastures in poor condition, and develop strategies that better cope with climate variability" (CSIRO 2014). In order to achieve these three goals CSIRO has been using simulation models in hopes that sustainable solutions will be found to fix current issues. These simulations are also being used to understand different natural effects such as grazing and wild fires, on arable lands.

Example of what pastoralism looks like (Consolidated Pastoral Company, n.d.)

References:
Consolidated Pastoral Company n.d., http://www.pastoral.com/en [Accessed 12 May 2014]

CSIRO 2014, Sustainable Pastoralism in the Rangelands and Savannas, http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Food-and-Agriculture/SustainablePastoralism.aspx [Accessed 12 May 2014].

Government of South Australia 2013, Pastoral Land                                                                               Management, http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory/left_nav/natural_resources/pastoral_land_management       [Accessed 12 May 2014].

Pastoralism 2014, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pastoralism [Accessed 12 May 2014].

Steven, M 1967, Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macarthur-john-     2390 [Accessed 12 May 2014].

WorldfromaboveHD 2013, Sustainability: told as a Children's Fairy Tale with Beautiful Montage (HD), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWQuU0sHPw. viewed 19 May 2014