Brush from Kangaroo Island
Broombush Country (Mallee) near Lameroo in SA
NOTE: OLD INFORMATION - CURRENT 1999
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Brush from Kangaroo Island |
Broombush Country (Mallee) near Lameroo in SA |
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| Broombush Country (Mallee) near Lameroo in SA | Broombush | ||||
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| Foliage of 'broombush' ( left) and 'silver-broom' (right) | Stem Textures of 'Broombush' (left) & 'Silverbroom' (right) |
Brush is cut from the Melaleuca uncinata species of flora native to the mallee areas of Australia. It grows as a multi-stemmed bush, with stems from as small as a few millimetres in diameter and 900mm or so in length to quite thick stems in older plants reaching 25 to 30mm in diameter and over 2 metres in length. The form of the branches are such that they have a bushy end and when bound in bunches can make a rudimentary broom or foxes tail. The cut branch stems taper in diameter from the cut end to the tips and numerous fine branches and filaments occur along each to give the 'bushy' appearance. |
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The stem colourings vary from almost black to light grey, to mottled black and grey, to reddish and silver depending upon the locality from which they come.
The most commonly available brush from the mainland has dark grey stems whilst light grey material mainly comes from Kangaroo Island. The bushy ends are mostly olive to dark green when freshly cut and turn rusty brown and then grey depending on the period in outdoor storage. When stored under cover the brush can maintains its colour for years.
Source: extracts from "Broombrush Harvesting in Southeastern Australia" by JCZ Woinarski.
"...Broombush or broom honey-myrtle (Melaleuca uncinata) is distributed widely in mallee areas of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, with outlying pockets occurring in Queensland. It occurs as a dominant shrub or sub-dominant under mallee eucalypts."
"Where dominant it forms a vegetation type with low structural and floristic diversity and most plants are more or less uniform in height and plant species other than broombush are rarely abundant...."
"....Typically broom occurs in discrete patches with various other mallee types interspersed. In some areas the patches are abrupt while in others there is a gradual transition between vegetative types such that broombush may occur as a minor component of other vegetation associations...".
"...Regeneration of broombush is predominantly vegetative (obligate root resprouter) although some minor seedling growth may occur. The proportion of individual plants regrowing following cutting, burning or frost damage is very high (>90%). An average height of 1 m is attained after about 5 years and of 2 m after about 10 to 15 years...".
The industry in each state is characterised by a number of small scale, individual contractors and land owners who cut brush from native stands.
In South Australia brush is cut on private land under permit under the Native Vegetation Act and managed by the Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs. An "Application to Clear Native Vegetation" is lodged under the Act together with a Management Plan which include property details aerial photographs, a description of remnant vegetation and details of proposed clearance. Brush permits can be applied for by the landowner or cutter/agent, but the applications are signed by the landowner. Brush cutters include landowners but much of the cutting is done under royalty payment by cutters on a per bundle basis to landowners.
Since 1983, no cutting of broombush has been allowed on unallotted Crown Land and is prohibited in National Parks and Wildlife reserves. Cutting is also not allowed on private land holdings subject to heritage listing (ie where payents have been made to landowners by the State Government to so encumber the property).
The stems of the bush are cut near their bases primarily using machette (or home made blades constructed from chaff cutter blades or similar) but chainsaws or hydraulic guillotines (on extension shafts using a power back-pack) are also used.
Cutting occurs throughout the year (although some permits require a halt during breeding season). Individual patches are usually worked over before moving on to the next patch and within a patch about 50 - 70% of broombush plants are usually cut. After cutting, stems are gathered by hand into metal cradles to form bundles of from 15 to 30kg. These are loaded onto trailers towed by truck or tractor and stored at a base camp prior to delivery to individual fencing contractors.
Cutters report that the configuration of subsequent shooting and regrowth is maximised by complete cutting of the bush just above ground level. They have observed that if parts of the bush are left uncut, the number of shoots are reduced and often the shoots from the base wither in favour of growth from the remaining stems. They report that for every stem cut near the base many new shoots result. For that reason most cutters maintain that broombush needs to be cut first and regrow to achieve the best brush for commercial fencing use.
From an ease of packing perspective, fencing contractors prefer brush to be of from 1400mm to 1800mm in length and with stems ranging in diameter from pencil thin to about 15mm in diameter. Most contractors do not like rugged, 'bony' brush (brush with little 'fluff' or fine material along the stems), brush with 'berry', or twisted, bent or forked stems. The latter attributes make it more difficult for the packer to gather handfuls of brush for placement, harder to pack the brush tightly and without daylight showing through the fence and to provide a straight, flat surface finish. Ideal stems for ease of new fence packing are straight, long and fluffy and without berry. For repair work the light grey colouring of Kangaroo Island brush is ideal in matching aged, bleached brush in old fences being restored or repaired. The colour of brush stems varies widely from the lighter Kangaroo Island brush to black, red and mottled gey-black brush from various parts of the mainland. 'Silver broom' is also available but not well regarded by fencers as it tends to break down more quickly.
From the perspective of the life of a fence there is much to be said for the more 'rugged' brush as the timber is harder and less 'sappy'. In practice most contractors receive in a single shipment a range of bundle sizes, brush lengths and qualities and a variability from one shipment to the next. A part of the art of the brush fencing trade is the securing of reliable, good quality and good sized bundle, brush supplies.
Contrary to popular belief scrub is not cleared for brush supply purposes, rather most brush is cut from selective bushes and man handled out of the scrub to a loading point. Often permits restrict the methods of retrieval of the brush from where it is cut, to reduce the damage caused by vehicles and also restrict periods of cutting so as not to interfere with the bird breeding season.
Cut bushes are allowed to regrow over a 10 to 12 year period before re-cutting. After such a period it is often difficult to see where cutting had taken place previously. Areas are often lost to brush harvesting, however, after they have been cleared for general farming purposes.
Some illegal cutting ("moonlighting") in heritage areas and parks does occur and is a problem that needs to be addressed. Because brush contractors are nearly all small operators, the resources and commitment to date have been lacking as an industry to effectively support the regulatory bodies.
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In 1998 an informal association, the Brush Contractors Co-operative Group was formed and it is hoped that this group can provide some positive assistance to the regulatory bodies to ensure the environmental sustainability of the industry.
Attempts at establishing commercial brush plantations have been made with little success to date. One problem has been the bush configuration and it has be said that brush needs to stressed (fire, drought etc) or be cut once to achieve a suitable degree of bushiness.
Update July 2006 - Plantation Brush has been successfully grown on a commercial scale and will be harvested for the first time using a mechanical harvester, within the next 12 months.
The current SA Government forms required to apply for a permit to cut brush are shown below. The application to 'Clear Native Vegetation' is something of a misnomer, as brush is cut from the bushes which then reshoot and regrow. Even when the bush is cut off completely above ground, the bushes regrow and cutters indicate that a greater number of new shoots form when the each bush is cut completely, rather than selective branches. Most land that is lost to brush cutting is through clearance for farming purposes rather than through brush harvesting.
Please note that these forms were current at the time of writing and the Heritage and Biodiversity: Native Vegetation Section of the Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, should be consulted with regard to any proposed application on tel 8204 9164, fax 8204 9160, www.denr.sa.gov.au
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© Copyright, Adelaide Brush, 1999 ;Fairview Park, South Australia 5126; Tel +61 8 82513309, Fax. +61 8 82893155, Mobile 0418841889.
