Albert Morris

Albert Morris (13 August 1886 in Bridgetown, South Australia – 9 January 1939, Broken Hill, New South Wales), was a highly acclaimed amateur Australian botanist, landscaper, ecologist, conservationist and pioneer developer of the re-vegetation technique natural regeneration, who also utilised restoration principles that are today known as ecological restoration.

Memorial to Albert Morris, "Nature's Friend"

Early life

Albert was born in Bridgetown, South Australia to parents Albert Joseph Morris and Emma Jane (Smith).[1] His family was confronted with the economic depression in South Australia in the late 1880s, and Morris's father sought work in the new mines of the Barrier Ranges and moved his family to Thackaringa, New South Wales, and then to nearby Broken Hill, New South Wales, to live.[2] Broken Hill was to become Albert's permanent home.

Early in life, Albert developed a keen interest in plants. It is possible that a serious injury to his foot in his early childhood, which prevented him from taking part in the bustle of childhood activity, contributed to his independence and self-containment, and to an increasing interest in botany. However, it is documented that his father, Joe Morris, was an "enthusiastic" botanist and young Albert was his "offsider", so this was a more likely source of his botanical interests, as well as innate talent and an interest in the subject.[3] By the time he was undertaking technical school studies in metallurgy and assaying, Morris had developed a small garden and nursery, and contributed to the cost of his fees by selling plants (pepper trees) that he had grown. Morris took up work with the Central Mine at Broken Hill, eventually becoming chief assayer for this mining company.[4]

Albert Morris and Ellen Margaret Sayce (1887-1957) were married on 13 April 1909. Margaret (Morris) was a dressmaker, and developed extensive interests and skills in art, botany, conservation and journalism.[5][6] She was a member of the Society of Friends, (Quakers). Albert's formative years were spent as an Anglican and "some years" after his marriage he converted to Quakerism.[7] They built a cottage in Cornish Street, Railway Town (a suburb of Broken Hill). This was an area of Broken Hill that was extremely exposed to the fierce westerly winds of the region and the resultant soil erosion and drifting sand; trees had been cut for fuel and years of overstocking and the rabbit plague had denuded the land. Broken Hill was severely affected by drifting sand and dust, which in summer became major dust storms, making work and domestic life difficult.[8]

The Broken Hill work of Albert Morris

Amenity and ecological restoration

From time immemorial the Traditional Owners and carers of the lands around Broken Hill were the Wilyakali clan, members of the Barkandji (or Paakantyi) Nation, of the Barka (aka Darling River). Squatter pastoralists forcibly dispossessed the Barkandji, and the Wilyakali, of their lands, disrupting their deep relationship with Country, from ca.1860 onwards.

By ca.1900, the once well managed, vegetated, indigenous fauna rich and soil stable landscapes of the Barrier Ranges had progressively been exploited, and devastated, by pastoral overstocking, exotic animals such as rabbits, foxes and feral goats, mining and its residues, and the impacts of a large urban settlement of people and their stock. Natural recovery from these detrimental impacts was inhibited by the semi-arid climate which consisted of low average rainfall of 250mm pr annum and high summer temperatures.[9]

As early as 1908, newspaper comments indicated that the sheet erosion around Broken Hill had already begun. Morris described the degraded landscape in these terms: "The extending country stretched for miles without a vestige of any green thing and each stone or old tin had a streamer of sand tailing out from it. The fences were piled high with sand, inside and out and it looked as if the intended railway lines would just be buried every dusty day, which was every windy day".[10]

Albert was concerned about the detrimental impact that the local erosion and sand storms had on the amenity of his fellow citizens of Broken Hill, as houses and gardens were smothered in sand. He lamented the loss of indigenous fauna species due to the destruction of their natural habitats, and the breakdown of local ecosystems and their beauty. He looked for ways to manage these issues.[11]

Several failures at establishing a barrier to the wind blown sand deposits in his garden inspired Morris to search for plants that could be grown in the prevailing tough arid conditions and control erosion by binding the bare soil.[12] He, and Margaret, began to acquire expertise with botanical taxonomy and systematics, and by the mid 1920s Albert was corresponding with other Australian botanists.[13] Albert established a home nursery, purchasing adjoining land so he could expand it and his garden. He and Margaret, made field trips into the country around Broken Hill, studying and collecting specimens of the indigenous flora and observing the local ecosystems.

Barrier Field Naturalists Club

In 1920, with Margaret Morris and W.D.K. McGillivray (1868-1933), a local doctor and also a prominent Australian ornithologist and natural scientist, Albert helped establish the Broken Hill-based Barrier Field Naturalists Club, serving as its secretary until his death in 1939.[14] Margaret also served on the executive of the club. Club members were interested in natural sciences such as botany and geology, and also history, conducting regular field trips and lecture series. Albert and Margaret were prominent members.

As well as Margaret's diverse contributions, it is important to note that throughout the 1920s and 1930s Albert's botanical, conservation, tree plantation and regeneration work was strongly stimulated and supported by the many talented members of the Field Naturalists Club, people such as Dr. William MacGillivray, his son Dr. Ian MacGillivray, Edmund Dow, Maurice Mawby and many others.[15] Morris became widely recognised for his botanical expertise, urban tree plantation work, his propagation and contributions of plants to residents and civic bodies in Broken Hill, and for his firm belief in the possibility of re-establishing vegetation around the city by fencing and allowing the native vegetation to naturally regenerate.

Botany, ecology, conservation, restoration

As well as his talents as a botanist, ecologist and conservationist, Albert is best remembered and celebrated for the natural regeneration area encircling the city, now known as the "Broken Hill regeneration area", that he conceived and worked to establish.

Morris achieved national and international recognition as an expert on arid zone Australian flora, and corresponded with many prominent Australian botanists.[16] He, with Margaret, made a collection of about 8000 plant specimens, the bulk of which was donated to the Waite Institute in South Australia in 1944. This collection is now predominantly held by the State Herbarium of South Australia with some specimens held by other state collections, including the Royal Botanic Garden of NSW.[17] He and Margaret were noted for their generosity and hospitality to fellow naturalists and others working at Broken Hill. Among those they befriended was the noted botanist and author Thistle Harris, who worked in Broken Hill as a teacher c.1930.[18]

By 1936 Albert Morris had acquired considerable expertise in the distinct fields of arid zone tree plantation establishment, and arid zone natural regeneration. His expertise in natural regeneration was based on the field knowledge that he had acquired on Barrier Field Naturalists Club outings into the surrounding countryside from 1920 onwards, and his deep botanical knowledge of arid zone flora species.[19] His own home nursery experiments with sand stabilising plants such as saltbush, further enhanced his regeneration and restoration knowledge.[20] Broad acreage field trials conducted in 1935-36 on local pastoral stations, that involved fencing to exclude stock and rabbits in order to facilitate natural regeneration of the indigenous flora, convinced him of the efficacy of the natural regeneration method of degraded land restoration.[21]

Albert was also possessed of extensive administrative and communication skills. His professional employment as an assayer involved responsible administrative duties, and he utilised this experience to good effect in his volunteer conservation work. As secretary of the Barrier Field Naturalists Club, he corresponded with and lobbied New South Wales state government ministers, and other representatives of industry and government bodies, on conservation and restoration matters.

In particular, in 1935, he wrote on behalf of the Barrier Field Naturalists to the New South Wales state government, urging the government to establish a fenced natural regeneration area around Broken Hill.[22] In April 1936, on behalf of the Barrier Field Naturalists Club, Albert and other members presented detailed submissions on soil and flora conservation, and restoration techniques, to the New South Wales Erosion Committee.[23] In May 1936 Albert and the Club commenced lobbying the state government to fence two water reservoir sites in Broken Hill, in order to exclude stock and rabbits and allow the indigenous flora there to naturally regenerate. Due to Albert's persistence, this work was approved in September, 1937, and the fencing was done in April, 1939, shortly after his death.[24]

Tree plantations and regeneration reserves

In 1936 the Zinc Corporation, another Broken Hill mining company, had developed extensive plans to construct a new mine complex on a bare, desert like piece of ground to the south-west of Broken Hill, and engaged the honorary services of Albert Morris to advise on the establishment of tree plantations there, to protect the new mine works from sand-drift and the strong local westerly winds. Construction of these tree plantations, which were to be irrigated with waste water and established by traditional planting methods, but using native Australian vegetation including saltbush, a method Morris had experimented with, commenced in May, 1936.[25]

As anticipated by the knowledgeable Morris, the initial fencing of the proposed tree plantation areas facilitated rapid and substantial natural regeneration within the still unplanted, and otherwise bare, fenced enclosures, of native grasses and forbs germinating from seed stored in the soil.[26] Crucially, this regrowth of native vegetation persisted as a result of foraging livestock and rabbits having been excluded by the new fencing.

Morris seized on this significant (approx. 22 acres) demonstration of natural regeneration principles, and convinced the Zinc Corporation mine manager, A.J. Keast, to obtain the backing of senior Zinc Corp management, (WS Robinson)and other mining companies in Broken Hill, to undertake a new project, the trial fencing of regeneration reserves to the south-west of the city, reserves which would utilise natural regeneration, and not planting, as their primary method of re-vegetation.[27] It is important to note that Morris had fully anticipated and predicted the natural regeneration within the tree plantation fenced areas; as mentioned he had already observed and confirmed this process in previous broad acreage field trials, and was aware of the ways in which indigenous flora seed could be naturally stored in the soil, be dispersed by wind, germinate, and thrive after relatively small amounts of rainfall.[28] For the times, this was pioneering knowledge, and largely originated from Albert's detailed botanical studies of the local flora.

The Broken Hill regeneration area: 1936-58

Work on the tree plantations, which were located close to the Zinc Corporation mining, office and residential complex, continued, but Morris was now also managing, again in an honorary capacity, the new project, the construction of fenced regeneration reserves along the south-west perimeter of Broken Hill. This work, which ultimately comprised the first stage of the current Broken Hill regeneration area, commenced in the spring of 1936 and was completed in February, 1937.[29] Further reserves were added between 1937 and 1939, so that the entire south and westward aspects of Broken Hill were protected from wind driven sand-drifts by naturally regenerated indigenous vegetation of the type that naturally occurred on the site.

Sadly, Albert Morris died in January, 1939, after several months of illness, but he did live to see substantial evidence of the success of his regeneration work. Indeed, the successful vegetation regeneration within the initial set of regeneration reserves was highly praised by the visiting South Australian Erosion Committee (June 1937), and by mid-1937 the Zinc Corporation, impressed with the vegetation regrowth within the first set of regeneration reserves, was planning the construction of new reserves to the north-west of the city, and this work was completed by early 1938. Before he died, Albert was also aware that a Broken Hill community progress association had successfully obtained funds from the state government to finance the construction of a regeneration reserve to the south of the city in 1938-39.[30] Unfortunately, Albert did not live to see the beneficial effect that the good rains of 1939 had on the reserves.

The Second World War (1939-45) delayed the further development of more regeneration reserves. The experienced Margaret Morris was prominent in the botanical management, study and documentation of the reserves during this challenging period, successfully promoted their benefits with regular newspaper articles, and authored an influential article in the Australian Journal of Science.[31] In her articles, Margaret emphasised the natural resilience of the regeneration reserves, successfully predicting that they would survive the fierce drought of 1940, and was unstinting in her generous acknowledgement of the contributions made by members of the Broken Hill community, the mining industry and Broken Hill Council. The Barrier Field Naturalists Club also continued its involvement with the reserves, with members conducting botanical surveys of the thriving natural flora and advocating for the extension of the regeneration area. The Mine Managers Association of Broken Hill financed the upkeep of the regeneration reserves, and Broken Hill Council managed this work.[32]

The citizens of Broken Hill suffered severely from the effects of the drought of 1940, and further prolonged dry periods in the early to mid-1940s, with enormous dust storms ravaging the city. Due to the success and popularity of the regeneration reserves, from 1946 the city administration lobbied the New South Wales government to complete the encirclement of the city with further regeneration reserves, and these were constructed to the north and east of Broken Hill between 1950 and 1958.[33] The regeneration reserves created between 1936 and 1958 now primarily comprise the current Broken Hill regeneration area, with minor adjustments having being made over the years.

Re-vegetation techniques used

It has in the past, and still is very often mistakenly assumed, that a planting technique was utilised to initially establish all of the regeneration reserves. It is correct that the Zinc Corporation tree plantations of 1936-37, separate and relatively small projects located immediately adjacent to the urban area and piped water resources, were irrigated, and their vegetation established by the manual planting of thousands of trees, with saltbush also being planted. However it is clear from the documentation of the time that the regeneration reserves, as distinct from the tree plantations, utilised principles of natural regeneration, and not planting, to initiate re-vegetation, and also principles of what is today known as the contemporary restoration concept ecological restoration.[34] See also: http://seraustralasia.com and bush regeneration.

Albert Morris was interested in achieving broad acreage arid zone re-vegetation, both for amenity and conservation purposes, and it would have been impossible to achieve this, given the prevailing dry, hot and often drought stricken environment, by utilising a planting technique. To propagate, manually plant and keep hydrated until they were established, the tens of thousands of trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs, spread over many hundreds of rugged hectares, necessary for such a project would have required enormous resources and funding; it is unlikely that such a project would even be feasible today. It was clearly his intention that the establishment of vegetation in the regeneration reserves was to be primarily left to the factors associated with natural regeneration: germination of existing, naturally deposited and wind dispersed seeds of the local flora, the regrowth of established but degraded in ground rootstocks, and the local rainfall of approximately 250mm per year.[35] Crucially, fencing around the reserves excluded the livestock and rabbits that had previously decimated this indigenous flora. Spreading of seed by hand, and the ploughing of moisture impermeable claypans (aka scalds), were techniques also contemplated by Morris.[36] Relatively little or no tree or shrub planting was done in order to establish the regeneration reserves, except in an undefined section of regeneration reserve no. 2, which was also irrigated, as this reserve was adjacent to the small and irrigated tree plantation no. 1, now known as Albert Morris Park.[37] Some planting was carried out by community members along water courses and in claypans, and extensive tree planting was carried out along some road verges from approximately 1939 onwards.[38]

Remembrance and celebration

The regeneration area still encircles Broken Hill today, providing the city with an attractive ring of natural vegetation. It is managed by Broken Hill City Council, with the crucial support of Landcare Broken Hill and members of the Barrier Field Naturalists Club. The regeneration reserves were recognised as cultural heritage items by the New South Wales National Trust in 1991.[39] In 2015 the City of Broken Hill was declared a place of national heritage values by the Australian government. As part of this recognition, Albert's achievements, and the Broken Hill regeneration reserves, were listed as heritage values of the city.[40]

The work of Albert Morris was valued and commemorated by the citizens of Broken Hill. In 1941 an impressive water fountain, dedicated to his memory and funded by public subscription, was installed outside the Technical College, Argent Street, Broken Hill. In 1944 Margaret Morris opened the Albert Morris Memorial Gates, which are now located in Wentworth Road, Broken Hill. The John Scougall Gates, named after Jack Scougall, a foreman of works on the regeneration reserves and later manager of the Zinc Corporation nursery, stand nearby.

A consortium of Australian ecological restoration organisations initiated the Albert Morris Award for an Outstanding Ecological Restoration Project in 2017, to mark the eighty year anniversary of the completion of the first regeneration reserves in 1937. In August, 2017, the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators, Broken Hill City Council, The Barrier Field Naturalists Club, Landcare Broken Hill and Broken Hill Art Exchange, came together with many visitors and local residents in Broken Hill to mark this event, with field trips and an inaugural Albert Morris Ecological Restoration Award dinner. The Award dinner recognised the skills, dedication and community spirit of Albert Morris, Margaret Morris and their many colleagues in the Barrier Field Naturalists Club, the contributions of Broken Hill citizens and community members, and the contributions of the mining industry of Broken Hill, Broken Hill City Council and the New South Wales state government, to the regeneration area project.[41] At the Award dinner the inaugural Albert Morris Award for an Outstanding Ecological Restoration Project was presented "to the Broken Hill Regeneration Reserves Project itself and all those who made it happen from 1936-1958 and those who are still making it happen".[42] The actual award is a sculpture crafted by Badger Bates, a distinguished Barkandji (Paakantji), Broken Hill artist. The sculpture is titled 'Regeneration’ and is made from the wattle "Dead Finish", Acacia tetragonophylla.[43] The 2018 Award was presented at the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia Conference held in Brisbane, September, 2018, to Murray Local Land Services, recognising the Murray Riverina Travelling Stock Reserves Project.

In 2015, the Wilyakali clan, and the Barkandji Nation, after eighteen years of challenging legal proceedings, were successful in establishing their Native Title claim to their traditional lands along, and extending from, the Barka (Darling River).

The South Australian work of Albert Morris

In 1932 Essington Lewis, famed manager of the Australian industrial and mining corporation, Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP), invited Albert Morris to visit South Australia and investigate the possibility of establishing tree plantations at the companies' corporate towns of Whyalla and Iron Knob, for amenity purposes. During a series of visits between 1932 and 1937, Morris (the historical documentation does not record participation by Margaret Morris in the S.A. projects), successfully established an Australian flora plant nursery in Whyalla and developed plantations of Australian flora there and at Iron Knob. He also advised the municipal council of Port Pirie on the possibility of establishing plantations there, although no actual work appears to have been undertaken.[44]

Morris initiated two natural regeneration projects in Whyalla, approximately between 1935 and 1937 (precise dates unknown). At Hummock Hill, fencing of the bare site to exclude dairy cattle led to the regeneration of the indigenous flora. The second project was located on the current site of the Ada Ryan Gardens in Whyalla, and involved the management of invasive beach sand dunes, by fencing to exclude rabbits and cattle, allowing the indigenous flora to recover. By 1939 both projects were being hailed as major successes, with tangible outcomes being evident.[45]

References

• AABR News October 2017 "The inaugural Albert Morris Ecological Restoration Award" http://www.aabr.org.au/learn/publications-presentations/aabr-newsletters/
• Ardill, Peter J. (2017) "Albert Morris and the Broken Hill regeneration area: time, landscape and renewal". ed. 3. Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR) Sydney. http://www.aabr.org.au/morris-broken-hill/ ISBN 978-0-6482924-1-8
• Ardill, Peter J. (2018) "The South Australian arid zone plantation and natural regeneration work of Albert Morris". Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR) Sydney http://www.aabr.org.au/morris-broken-hill/ ISBN 978-0-6482924-2-5
• Ardill, Peter & Brodie, Louise ed. (2018) "Albert Morris and the Broken Hill regeneration area. Essays and supplementary materials commemorating and celebrating the history and eightieth anniversary of this project". Australian Association of Bush Regenerators Inc (AABR) Sydney. ISBN 978-0-6482924-0-1
• Beadle, N.C.W. (1948) "The Vegetation and Pastures of Western New South Wales". Department of Conservation of NSW. Sydney. NSW.
• Briggs, Barbara (2017) Bush Regeneration at Broken Hill:‘radical for their time’ "Australasian Plant Conservation" pp.7-9 26:3 Dec 2017-Feb 2018.
• Kennedy, B.E. (1986) 'Morris, Albert (Bert) (1886–1939)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/morris-albert-bert-7659/text13397, published first in hardcopy 1986, accessed online 18 June 2018.This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, (MUP), 1986
• CHAH (2016): Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. Australian National Herbarium Biographical Notes: Morris, Albert (1886 - 1939) http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/morris-albert.html
• Jones David S. (2011). Re-Greening ‘The Hill’: Albert Morris and the transformation of the Broken Hill landscape. Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 31: 181–195.
• Jones, David (2016). "Evolution and significance of the regeneration reserve heritage landscape of broken hill: History, values and significance" [online]. Historic Environment, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2016: 40-57. Availability: <https://search.informit.com.au
• McDonald, Tein (2017) "Report on the Albert Morris Inaugural Award" in "Australasian Plant Conservation" pp.9-10 26:3 Dec 2017-Feb 2018.
• McDonald, Tein, (2017a) “How do the Broken Hill Regeneration Reserves stand up as an Ecological Restoration project?” AABR News. No. 132, April, 2017. Australian Association of Bush Regenerators. Sydney. Australia. http://www.aabr.org.au/learn/publications-presentations/aabr-newsletters/
• McDonald, Tein, (2017b) “Would the Broken Hill Regeneration Reserves meet today’s National Standards?” AABR News. No.134, 2017. Australian Association of Bush Regenerators. Sydney. Australia. http://www.aabr.org.au/learn/publications-presentations/aabr-newsletters/
• Morris, A.(1938) "Broken Hill Fights Sand-Drift" in "Plant life of the West Darling", Barrier Field Naturalists Club compiler (Broken Hill, NSW, 1966)
• Morris, M. (1939) "Plant Regeneration in the Broken Hill District" The Australian Journal of Science pp.43-48. October.
• Morris, M (1966) "Biographical Notes" in ″Plantlife of the West Darling" ed. Barrier Field Naturalists Club. Broken Hill
• Webber Horace, 1992 The Greening of the Hill - Re-vegetation of Broken Hill in the 1930s published by Hyland House

Specific

1. Kennedy 1986
2. Kennedy 1986
3. "Comments of readers: Appreciation of Late Mr A Morris" in "Barrier Miner" 14/01/39
4. Kennedy 1986
5. Ardill 2017
6. Morris 1939
7. Morris, M. 1966
8. Morris, M. 1966
9. Beadle 1948; Ardill 2017
10. Morris, A. 1938
11. Morris, A. 1938; Ardill 2017
12. Morris, M. 1966
13. Morris 1966; Ardill 2017
14. Morris M. 1966; Ardill 2017
15. Ardill 2017
16. Jones 2016
17. CHAH 2016
18. Ardill 2017
19. Ardill 2017
20. Morris, M. 1966; Ardill 2017
21. Ardill 2017
22. Ardill 2017
23. Ardill 2017
24. Ardill 2017
25. Ardill 2017
26. Morris, A. 1938
27. Morris, A. 1938; Ardill 2017
28. Ardill 2017
29. Ardill 2017
30. Ardill 2017
31. Ardill 2017; Morris, M. 1939
32. Ardill 2017
33. Ardill 2017
34. Morris, A. 1938; Ardill 2017; McDonald 2017a; McDonald 2017b
35. Morris, A. 1938
36. Morris, A. 1938
37. Ardill 2017
38. Morris, M. 1939
39. Jones 2016
40. Jones 2016
41. McDonald, M. 2017
42. Ardill & Brodie 2018
43. AABR News October 2017; Ardill & Brodie 2018
44. Ardill 2018
45. Ardill 2018