Albert Morris - Land Reclamation

Land Reclamation

Over some sixty years of settlement the landscape around the Barrier Ranges had progressively been denuded by pastoral activity, by exotic animals such as rabbits and feral goats, by mining and its residues, and by the presence of a large settlement of people and their animals.

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."

Several failures at establishing a barrier to the wind and sand in his garden inspired Morris to experiment with plants that might be grown in arid regions. In this work, he was assisted by Edwin Ashby, a fellow Quaker and Adelaide naturalist, who had developed a system of watering to optimise survival of plantings in arid regions. He continued his work of propagation, purchasing adjoining land so he could expand his nursery and garden. Morris also started to make field trips into the country around Broken Hill, studying and collecting specimens of the local flora.

He made a collection of about 8000 specimens from Broken Hill and western New South Wales, which was donated to the Waite Institute in South Australia. He was noted for his generosity and hospitality to fellow naturalists and others working at Broken Hill. Among those he helped was the noted botanist and writer Thistle Harris.

In 1920 with W.D.K. McGillivray he helped establish the Field Naturalists' Club and remained its secretary until his death in 1939. One of the members of the field naturalists was Maurice Mawby (a junior member) who was a great supporter of Morris's work and who later managed the Zinc Corporation Mine at Broken Hill. Morris became widely recognised for his work 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.

While he trained and worked as an assayer at the Central Mine, it was as a botanist and conservationist that he is best remembered. His enduring legacy at Broken Hill was the 'green belt' of revegetation and regeneration around the city that he conceived and worked to establish.

In 1936 changes in the management of the Zinc Corporation resulted in the appointment of A.J. Keast as manager of the mine. Keast along with W.S. Robinson the Managing Director of the Zinc Corporation was keen to improve working and living conditions for miners at Broken Hill. They saw the need to control the dust and sand which continually moved about the mining area. Mawby introduced Morris to Keast. Morris advised him that he could certainly provide the answer to the problem of the dust that the company wished to solve, for it was something he had advocated for many years -planting indigenous species that would check the wind and control the soil; using strategically placed barriers to shield plants from the winds; and fencing to exclude stock and rabbits.