History and Geology

1802 – Matthew Flinders climbs tallest peak in the You Yangs, now known as Flinders Peak, as part of his exploration of Port Phillip Bay.

1830s - 40s – Settlers arrive in local region, where farmers favoured grasslands and grassy woodlands as easiest to clear and then establish crops and pasture. Original stocking rates of domesticated grazers were unrealistically high, which had a severe impact on native vegetation, especially following droughts. Selective grazing also radically altered plant communities, along with the use of agricultural chemicals and practices, and changes in fire regimes.

1850s - 60s – Widespread felling of trees for fuel, fences, buildings, gold rushes, ringbarking trees for better livestock forage, plus removing fallen timber and dead trees. 

1859 – Land purchased by Robert Chirnside at Little River. Later, the Chirnside family joins the Acclimatisation Society, a group who were responsible for the introduction of exotic plants and animals, supposedly to be of benefit to the new settlement.

1860s – European Rabbit introduced which further exacerbates grazing pressure, as little natural regeneration of native plants is possible where rabbits are present.

1870s – Arrival of Red Fox, a highly efficient predator of small and medium sized animals. Farm cats and dogs also went feral. Presence of rabbits leads to higher population densities of feral predators, resulting in even more predatory pressure on native fauna.

1872 - 73 – Mount Rothwell homestead constructed for Chirnside family.

1885 – Armytage family (nearby farmers at Wooloomanata Station) releases 300 cats into the You Yangs to try to control rabbit numbers. Feral animal control programs inadvertently killed many thousands of other native animals.

Late 1800s - Conversion to crops and grazing almost complete. Real impact on vegetation communities probably will be never known because flora had already disappeared before botanical inventories could be compiled. Only small isolated native vegetation remnants left, which can then only support small populations of animals. Lessens species ability to recover from drought, fire or predation. Isolation means less likely for recolonisation from and/or dispersal to other populations. Inbreeding depressions occur, so that these isolated populations become less fit through loss of genetic diversity. Local extinctions then occur.

Early 1900s – Rufous Bettongs last sighted in Victoria.

1930s – Red-bellied Pademelons last sighted in Victoria.

1950s – Eastern Quoll last sighted in Victoria