Appetite for grass: Re‐engineering landscapes of Otago and Southland 1864–1914

Abstract

Family farms of southern New Zealand, by effective integration of their biological engines—equine, ovine and bovine—sustained a rising productivity for half a century. In response to demand in the North Atlantic core, settlers on a South Pacific frontier were converting indigenous landscapes of tussock, scrub and wetland to introduced grasses. The comments that farmers entered to a daybook or reported to a journalist demonstrate a systems understanding. The changes in landscape and diet were part of a worldwide trend towards dependence on grass, recognized today as a source of severe environmental costs.

Celebrating 75 years of geography teaching and research at the University of Otago

“…This has included participation in interdisciplinary projects with historians and geographers from other institutions, leading to publications such as Making a New Country (2013) and Seeds of Empire (2011). To this may be added Peter Holland's (2013) Home in the Howling Wilderness and a more recent suite of papers on processes of landscape change in southern New Zealand (e.g., Holland & Olsen, 2019, 2020).…”

A local focus: Implementing policies for land-use change in the Wairoa District

“…To early European settlers, New Zealand presented a "Frontier of Opportunity" (Holland and Olson, 2020). In response, through experience, experimentation, entrepreneurship, and the application of technology, they shaped land-use to meet their needs.…”