Background Information
The background information provided in the following section includes the environmental and historical background of the study area and surrounding region. The environmental conditions outlined below include the geology, flora, fauna and climate of the study area. These environmental conditions influenced the past land use of the study area by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and, in turn, the history of pre- and post-Contact periods in the City of Monash.
Pleistocene and Early Holocene
The Pleistocene and early Holocene (Glossary) environment in the study area region was one of gradual and continuous change. Aboriginal people are known to have occupied southeastern Australia during the late Pleistocene (c.40,000 to 10,000 years BP) from archaeological evidence at Keilor (Coutts et. al. 1976, 1978) and Hunter Island (Bowler 1976).
During the Pleistocene, sea levels were in general much lower than present. About 18,000 years BP sea levels began to rise slowly and it was not until about 10,000 years BP that Port Phillip Bay became inundated by the sea (Marsden and Mallet 1975: 114-116). About 5,000 to 6,000 years BP, the sea reached a maximum of 1.5 to 2m higher than at present. The archaeological implications of these periods are that they provide different sets of resources for the human populations inhabiting the area. The effect of these climatic changes would have significant impact for the study area in terms of exploitation by Aboriginals throughout the past 40,000 years. In a study of pollens from forest areas in southeastern Australia (Dodson et al 1988), a general picture of climatic change in the region of the study area has been formulated.
Briefly these changes are:
- 20,000 to 15,000 years - Dry, cold and windy with reduced vegetation and water sources
- 15,000 to 12,000 years - Drier still but slightly warmer
- 8,000 to 5,000 years - Wetter and warmer than at present
- 5,000 to present - Cooler and drier
The past climate indicates that due to more moderate conditions, the last 12,000 years may have been more conducive to intensive exploitation of the region by Aboriginal people than the earlier period between 12,000 and 20,000 years.
Geology
The geological history of the Melbourne region began with relatively uninterrupted deposition of marine sediments occurring from the Early Ordovician to Mid Devonian into a basin (the Melbourne Trough or Zone) (VandenBerg et al 1988: 103). Silurian deposits occur in the study area in the north and east in a narrow strip west of and parallel to the Dandenong Creek floodplain.
The deposits are made up of mudstone, sandstone and conglomerates. The Silurian deposits on the hills are thinly covered by fluviatile sands and gravels (Hills 1975: 320). The deposits are dissected by a series of anticlines and synclines (VandenBerg et al 1988: Fig 4.1). The Tertiary deposits over all of the southern study area are made up of marine and non-marine deposits. Both deposits include sand and silt, with the marine deposits containing limestone, calcareous sand and marl, and the non-marine deposits containing gravel and clay (Douglas and Ferguson 1988: Geological Map of Victoria).
The erosion of the Wheelers Hill fault line and sedimentary deposits and deposition of alluvial sediments (VandenBerg 1973:25) have formed the Dandenong Creek valley. The creek and floodplain are of Quaternary colluvial and alluvial deposits consisting of sand, silt, clay and gravel (Douglas and Ferguson 1988: Geological Map of Victoria). The study area is within the Coastal Plains section of the Victorian physiographic division of the Southern Lowlands and is situated between the Port Phillip and Western Port Sunklands. The Beaumaris Monocline, which extends from Port Phillip Bay to northwest of Mount Dandenong, separates higher coastal plains from the downwarp in the Carrum Swamp area (Hills 1975: 190, 319-320 and Fig. XIII-51).
Dandenong Creek flows for about 53km southwards from its source in the foothills of Mount Dandenong. Prior to European settlement, the creek flowed into Carrum Swamp, though since the construction of a major drainage channel, it now flows into Patterson River and then into Port Phillip Bay. Scotchmans and Damper creeks both flow southwest into Gardiner's Creek, which in turn, flows into the Yarra River and to Port Phillip Bay.
Within the study area, sections of these creeks have been altered by channeling and underground pipelines (Wilde 1996: 102; James Patterson pers. comm. 27 May 2002; Patrick Mallon, pers. comm. 14 June 2002).
Climate
The climate of the study area is characterised by mild wet winters and moderate summers with short dry periods. The average temperatures range from a winter minimum of 5°C to a summer maximum of 26°C (LCC 1973: 60). The annual average rainfall ranges from 600 to 900mm (Bureau of Meteorology web page: Victoria/Climate Averages).
Flora
In 1853, Eugene Bellairs was sent to survey the parish of Mulgrave. During this survey he noted the flora of the parish included stringybark, messmate, peppermint and ti-tree forests in the centre and north of the parish where the soil consists of clay combined with sand, gravel and some sandstone.
To the south and east were less forest and more native grasses and scrub (Priestly 1979: 2). Gott (nd. see Appendix 3) used Bellairs' survey, Sutton's 1911 mapping of the 'Sandringham Floristic Formation' and other early naturalist notes into the area to reconstruct the original vegetation of the City of Monash. From this reconstruction Gott notes that the original vegetation communities were roughly separated by their geological context with heath vegetation on the Tertiary sand, open forest and grass on Silurian hills and riparian and swamp vegetation along the creeks (Gott nd: 2, 4). Heath vegetation was characterised by a diverse range of low shrubs and a lack of trees and included species such as, Sweet Wattle (Acacia suaveolens), a dwarf form of Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata), Common Heath (Epacris impressa), Prickly and Heath Tea-tree (Leptospernum continentale and L. myrsinoides).
The open forest was characterised by eucalypt and wattle species with an understorey of dense scrub or grass (Gott nd: 2-3). The creeks consisted mainly of riparian woodland characterised by River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) and a variety of Melaleuca and tea-tree (Leptospernum) species. The creek banks in this region once supported a variety of riparian and swamp species; rushes and sedges including tangled lignum (Muehlenbeckia cunninhamii) and common reed (Phragmites australis) in the water and on flood plains. Many species of flora found in the City of Monash were utilised by Aboriginal people (see Resources Available to the Aboriginal People). Today, most of the original vegetation has been completely removed by residential development, wetland drainage, vegetation clearing and major hydrological changes. Remnant vegetation occurs in small pockets along the Dandenong Creek corridor and in Valley and Portsmouth reserves (Patrick Mallon pers. comm. and e-mail, 14 June 2002).
Fauna
The Dandenong Creek and its extensive wetlands would have provided habitat for a large number and great variety of fauna, many of which would have congregated seasonally. Prior to European settlement, animals such as kangaroos, possums, wallabies, emus and many species of small marsupials and waterfowl would have been common in the woodland and along the creeklines. As the abundance of fauna in the Dandenong Creek flood plain would have been seasonal, the greatest concentrations would have occurred near the creek during summer.
Faunal studies of Dandenong Creek have been undertaken in the past (ESAP 1988:23-24, CFL 1988:12) and indicate that few native species now exist in the area. Mammals that remain are ringtail and brushtail possums and echidnas, and more than 20 bird species. Only 5 species of native fish were identified in Dandenong Creek. The Dandenong Creek, like others throughout the region, once teemed with blackfish. These and other aquatic resources (like eels and crustaceans) were once abundant in this stream.