The Nullarbor is the world's largest piece of limestone.The vegetation consists mainly of “ bluebush and saltbush plants, hardy shrubs that are drought-resistant and salt-tolerant." The area is arid and almost treeless. The karst stretches over 200,000 km² (77,200 sq miles). Some of the “the worlds largest semi-arid cave karst system ” is protected by National Parks.
Aboriginal people have occupied it for 1200 generations, “compared with a maximum of 8 generations of European occupation.” The Nullarbor Plain has many indigenous historical sites, five known cave art sites and numerous hand stencils (pdf). Preserved meteorites are in the area.
Additionally the fragile limestone caves have been found to be an “palaeontological "treasure trove" “ of extinct marsupial lions.
The Great Australian Bight “receives very little...runoff “ and is home to whales, sharks, albatrosses, leafy sea dragons.
The most recent occupants (and visitors) tend to be only mobile in motor-cars. "Most people try to traverse the [Nullarbor] journey as quick as possible and they just endure it..” Maybe this is not a remark about the Nullarbor, but about a way of perceiving the environment (in Australia) when racing to get to 'it' or 'getting away from it all'. Knowledge and a positive disposition to the land (scape) would probably aid 'seeing'/understanding. The inability to see 'country', makes Australians pop BIG artifacts into the landscape, usually after it has been shaved. Then there is a reason to travel to 'it' and pay for 'it'.
The answer to the 'unused space' of the Nullarbor is to put “the world's biggest golf course” on top of it. It will be “ three times the size of Japan, twice the size of Texas.. 1,300 kilometres across the Nullarbor Plain”. “..Hopefully this is the catalyst for actually slowing people “ are the hopes of the tourism industry.
Already impacts by increasing visitor numbers is resulting in damage. The N.P. is the size of Tasmania and enforcement is limited by staffing. Golfing is associated with huge water needs and mostly toxic run offs. This would impact significantly on the diverse marine and terrestial flora and fauna of the area.
Could the Federal Government not fund its unique natural assets, instead of furthering another unsustainable venue, that might eliminate what is special about Australia. Local or o.s. tourists are unlikely to visit such a venue. Keep the natural, indigenous, paleontological heritage of the Nullarbor plain as an asset.
Ecological Communities - A Biological Survey of the Nullarbor Region, S.A.gov
The Nullarbor Plain - world’s largest limestone karst landscape, The Wilderness Society
Great Australian Bight, BBC documentary
Cave art in Australasia, Robert G. Bednarik
Image: Eora handstencil on Sydney sandstone
“A man is in a serious condition in a Brisbane hospital after a dangerous pesticide leak in a shipping container at Fisherman Islands at the Port of Brisbane.” The toxin “is believed to contain the chemical endosulfan”.
