Ants in Victoria and Australia: Tiny Engineers of Country
Ants are among the most abundant and ecologically significant insects in Australia, including Victoria. From the meat ants (Iridomyrmex purpureus) that build sprawling mounds on the open plains to the tiny sugar ants (Camponotus spp.) that patrol eucalyptus canopies, these creatures are tireless workers whose activities shape soils, seed dispersal, and food webs (Shattuck 1999).
For Aboriginal communities, ants were not only part of everyday observation but also teachers, food sources, and beings of story, linked to resilience, cooperation, and survival (Massola 1968). Across Australia, ants appear in Dreaming stories, seasonal calendars, and totemic identities. Colonists, meanwhile, marvelled at their numbers and destructive power, often recording them as curiosities of the new land (Balme & Beck 2002). Today, ants continue to be recognised as keystone species, vital to ecosystem function and symbols of adaptation.
Diversity of Ants in Victoria and Australia
Australia is home to over 1,300 described species of ants, with hundreds more yet to be formally recorded (Andersen 2000). Victoria alone supports a rich variety across forests, grasslands, wetlands, and urban areas.
Meat Ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus): Common across open plains and woodlands. Builds large gravel mounds. Important scavenger and predator.
Bull Ants (Myrmecia spp.): Large, aggressive ants with strong stings, some over 2.5 cm long.
Sugar Ants (Camponotus spp.): Found in forests and urban areas, often foraging for nectar.
Green Tree Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina): Found in northern Australia but culturally significant across the continent.
Honey Ants (Melophorus spp.): In arid regions, workers store nectar in swollen abdomens, harvested by Aboriginal peoples as a sweet food (Balme & Beck 2002).
Ecology and Behaviour
Ants are among the most important “engineers of Country” (Andersen 2000):
Soil turnover: Ant nests aerate and fertilise soils.
Seed dispersal (myrmecochory): Many plants rely on ants to bury seeds with fatty appendages, ensuring germination.
Predators and scavengers: Ants regulate insect and carrion populations.
Food for others: Birds, reptiles, echidnas, and marsupials feed on ants.
Supercolonies: Meat ants dominate landscapes with vast interconnected colonies (Shattuck 1999).
Without ants, Australian ecosystems would collapse—so central are they to nutrient cycling and reproduction.
Ants in Aboriginal Culture
For Aboriginal communities, ants were integrated into food, law, and ceremony (Massola 1968; Clarke 1990):
Food source: Honey ants, larvae, and pupae provided energy-rich food.
Seasonal indicators: Nest behaviour predicted rainfall or heat.
Totems: Some clans carried ant responsibilities as part of kinship law.
Story and law: Ant Dreamings taught cooperation and persistence.
Medicine and ceremony: Ants and their secretions were sometimes used in remedies or invoked symbolically.
Wadawurrung Country and Ant Knowledge
On Wadawurrung Country, covering the volcanic plains, Geelong, and Ballarat:
Meat ants as markers: Their large gravel mounds dotted the plains and were seasonal/weather indicators.
Food: Ant larvae were collected, though honey ants were more common further inland.
Stories: Wadawurrung teaching stories used ants to show that communities thrive through cooperation and balance.
Totemic value: While less recorded, ants were recognised as beings that embody community responsibility (Clark 1990).
Case Study: Meat Ant Mounds on the Volcanic Plains
The Victorian Volcanic Plains, stretching across Wadawurrung Country near Geelong and Ballarat, are one of the most significant landscapes for meat ants (Iridomyrmex purpureus).
Ecological significance: Meat ant supercolonies maintain open grasslands by suppressing other insect populations and aerating soil. Their activity directly influences the growth of native plants like murnong (yam daisy).
Cultural role: Wadawurrung people observed meat ant mounds as seasonal markers. In oral traditions, when ants sealed their nests, it was a sign of coming rain. The sight of their tireless activity was used as a lesson about work, responsibility, and contribution to community.
Colonial disruption: Settlers often saw these mounds as obstacles to ploughing and sheep grazing. They attempted to destroy them, but meat ant colonies proved resilient (Rolls 1969).
Modern importance: Today, these mounds are recognised as part of the living geology of the volcanic plains. Conservationists argue that protecting ant colonies also supports grassland biodiversity, echoing Aboriginal teachings about ants’ central role.
This case shows how ants connect ecological balance with cultural story, making them both natural engineers and spiritual teachers.
Ants in Colonial Records
Colonists noticed ants immediately:
Curiosity and nuisance: Painful bull ant stings and meat ant mounds as obstacles (Rolls 1969).
Scientific fascination: Specimens were sent to European museums.
Folklore: Newspapers described ants as both pests and “marvels of industry.”
Colonists rarely understood the cultural significance ants held.
Symbolism and Meaning
Aboriginal peoples: Ants = cooperation, resilience, and food law.
Colonists: Ants = pests, curiosities, metaphors for labour.
Science: Ants = keystone species, vital engineers (Andersen 2000).
Conservation and Diversity
Habitat loss: Plains and wetlands reduced.
Invasive ants: Argentine ants displace natives (Shattuck 1999).
Climate change: Alters cycles of breeding and foraging.
Protecting ants means protecting ecosystem health and cultural continuity.
Conclusion
Ants are tiny yet vital engineers of Country. They build soils, disperse seeds, feed countless animals, and teach cultural lessons of law, responsibility, and cooperation.
For Aboriginal peoples, including the Wadawurrung, ants were seasonal markers, food sources, and spiritual messengers. For colonists, they were curiosities or pests. For science, they are keystone species sustaining biodiversity.
The meat ant mounds of the volcanic plains show how ants remain central to both ecology and culture. To honour ants is to recognise the unseen workers of Country, whose collective strength sustains life.
References
Andersen, AN 2000, The Ants of Northern Australia: A Guide to the Monsoonal Fauna, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Balme, J & Beck, W 2002, Australian Archaeology: A Reader, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Clark, ID 1990, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900, Monash Publications in Geography, Melbourne.
Massola, A 1968, Bunjil’s Cave: Myths, Legends and Superstitions of the Aborigines of South-East Australia, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.
Rolls, EC 1969, They All Ran Wild: The Animals and Plants that Plague Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Shattuck, SO 1999, Australian Ants: Their Biology and Identification, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.