Endangered Animals and Birds of Victoria: Colonisation, Loss, and the Imbalance of Country

The colonisation of Victoria in the 19th century brought one of the fastest waves of ecological and cultural disruption on Earth. Within decades of European settlement, species that had thrived for tens of thousands of years under Indigenous stewardship vanished or declined across the plains, forests, wetlands, and coasts of southeastern Australia.

This was not only an environmental tragedy but a cultural one. For Indigenous peoples — including the Wadawurrung, Woiwurrung, Bunurong, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Gunditjmara — every species is a relation, a teacher, and a part of law. Their disappearance fractured both ecosystems and the spiritual fabric of Country itself (Clark 1990; Broome 2005).

Historical Context: Colonisation and the First Wave of Extinction in Victoria

Early Impacts on Country

The colonisation of Victoria from the 1830s onward reshaped landscapes that had been finely balanced through tens of millennia of Indigenous care.

· Habitat loss: Sheep and cattle grazing destroyed the grasslands of the Western Plains and the murnong (yam daisy) fields that fed both people and animals (Gott 1983).

· Overhunting: Kangaroos, emus, ducks, and swans were hunted for sport and trade. The fur and feather trade targeted possums and waterbirds.

· Introduced predators: Foxes, cats, and rats, brought for pest control and companionship, became lethal threats to small marsupials and ground-nesting birds (Coman 1999).

· Suppression of cultural fire: Indigenous mosaic burning practices, especially on Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung lands, were replaced by total fire bans or uncontrolled wildfires, unbalancing the ecological rhythm that sustained biodiversity (Gammage 2011).

Losses and Declines in Victoria

· Eastern barred bandicoot: Once abundant around Geelong and Hamilton; extinct in the wild by the 1980s, now surviving only through captive breeding and reintroduction.

· Bettongs and potoroos: Formerly common on the Victorian Volcanic Plain, their decline followed fox introduction and vegetation clearing.

· Bush stone-curlew: Once a familiar night caller across Wadawurrung Country, now mostly absent from Victoria’s mainland.

· Orange-bellied parrot: Migrating between Tasmania and coastal Victoria, now critically endangered, with fewer than 150 individuals remaining (DELWP 2021).

Each loss was not just biological — it was cultural, erasing songs, stories, and totemic responsibilities that connected people to place.

Wadawurrung Country: A Case Study in Ecological Change

Stretching from the You Yangs and Ballarat to the Barwon River, Geelong, and the Bellarine Peninsula, Wadawurrung Country once supported thriving populations of marsupials, birds, and aquatic species.

· Grassland ecosystems: Before colonisation, vast areas between the Moorabool and Leigh rivers were home to bettongs, bandicoots, and plains wanderers. These animals played crucial roles as “soil engineers,” aerating the ground and dispersing native seeds.

· Wetlands and estuaries: The Lake Connewarre wetlands and Barwon estuary teemed with fish, eels, swans, and ducks. These were seasonal food sources managed through intricate cultural rules and taboos.

· Cultural disruption: When grazing, ploughing, and foxes arrived, native animal numbers plummeted. Wadawurrung people recall the “silence of Country” — when the voices of birds like the curlew and the brolga disappeared, signalling imbalance (Clark 1990).

Today, remnants of these ecosystems survive in protected areas such as Serendip Sanctuary and the Bellarine Wetlands, where restoration projects reconnect wildlife with traditional knowledge.

Other Victorian Regions and Indigenous Perspectives

Gunditjmara Country (Budj Bim Region)

· The Budj Bim eel aquaculture system, over 6,000 years old, was one of the most sophisticated examples of sustainable food engineering (McNiven 2012).

· The arrival of cattle, drainage works, and pollution disrupted eel migration. Restoring the site through Indigenous leadership has revived both ecological and cultural resilience.

Dja Dja Wurrung and Woiwurrung Regions (Central Victoria)

· Grassland species like the plains wanderer and striped legless lizard have declined drastically due to cropping and overgrazing.

· Dja Dja Wurrung people are reintroducing cultural burning to restore native grasslands and reduce dominance of invasive weeds.

Bunurong Country (Coastal and Wetlands)

· Coastal bird species, including hooded plovers and pelicans, have suffered from human disturbance, dogs, and coastal development.

· Indigenous ranger groups along the Mornington Peninsula are now protecting nesting grounds using traditional monitoring combined with modern science.

Scientific and Ecological Dimensions

The Web of Loss

In Victoria, the extinction of small marsupials like bettongs, potoroos, and bandicoots caused soil compaction, reduced fungal growth, and altered plant communities (Johnson 2006). These cascading effects weakened the entire ecosystem, making it more prone to drought, erosion, and invasive weeds.

Predator Imbalance

When colonisation reduced dingoes, introduced foxes and cats filled the gap, devastating populations of native prey.

· Dingoes once maintained ecological order; their removal symbolised the colonial suppression of natural balance — and mirrored the suppression of Indigenous law (Saunders et al. 1995).

Wetland Collapse

Draining of coastal and inland wetlands in the Barwon, Gippsland, and Murray systems destroyed fish nurseries and bird habitats. For Indigenous communities, the loss of eel and fish runs disrupted not only diet but also ceremony and trade routes.

Cultural, Anthropological, and Psychological Dimensions

Cultural Law and Totemic Loss

For Indigenous communities, each animal and bird carries ancestral and moral significance:

· The eagle (Bunjil) is lawgiver and protector.

· The crow (Waa) represents balance and trickster energy.

· The curlew, now largely vanished, was once a messenger between the living and spirit worlds.

When these beings disappear, so too do the stories, songs, and responsibilities that maintain cultural order. For the Wadawurrung, Woiwurrung, and Gunditjmara, the silence of once-familiar species represents both ecological collapse and spiritual grief.

Ecological Grief

The term ecological grief (Cunsolo & Ellis 2018) captures the emotional and collective sorrow of losing the voices of Country. Indigenous peoples across Victoria express this grief not only as sadness, but as a motivation to heal land — through conservation, ceremony, and education.

Modern Conservation and Indigenous-led Restoration

Across Victoria, efforts to restore endangered species increasingly centre Indigenous knowledge:

· Eastern barred bandicoot reintroduction programs on Wadawurrung Country combine predator fencing with traditional ecological storytelling.

· Budj Bim restoration projects are reviving eel populations and reinstating water flows under Gunditjmara guidance.

· Cultural burning programs led by Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung communities are restoring biodiversity in forests once thought degraded beyond recovery (Gammage 2011).

Nationally, parallels exist across other First Nations:

· Noongar fire programs in Western Australia are reducing bushfire risk and bringing back orchids and marsupials.

· Yolngu land management in Arnhem Land integrates Indigenous and Western science to protect turtles and shorebirds.

Conclusion

The story of endangered animals and birds in Victoria is inseparable from the story of colonisation. It tells of imbalance — of how the removal of Indigenous management and the introduction of new species fractured ancient relationships between land, life, and law.

From the loss of the bandicoots and curlews of Wadawurrung Country to the threatened parrots of the coast and the eels of Gunditjmara waters, these changes remind us that ecological collapse is also cultural collapse.

Yet recovery is possible. Across Victoria, Indigenous-led restoration projects show that healing Country heals people — reawakening language, ceremony, and biodiversity together.

To protect endangered species is to restore harmony: to listen again to the silenced voices of Country and ensure that balance, once broken, can be renewed.

References

Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Clark, ID 1990, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900, Monash University, Melbourne.
Coman, BJ 1999, Tooth and Nail: The Story of the Rabbit in Australia, Text Publishing, Melbourne.
Cunsolo, A & Ellis, N 2018, ‘Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss’, Nature Climate Change, vol. 8.
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) 2021, Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Program, Victorian Government, Melbourne.
Gammage, B 2011, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Gott, B 1983, ‘Murnong—Microseris scapigera: A Study of a Staple Food of Victorian Aborigines’, Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 2.
Johnson, CN 2006, Australia’s Mammal Extinctions: A 50,000-Year History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
McNiven, IJ 2012, ‘The Budj Bim Eel Traps: World Heritage Aboriginal Aquaculture’, Antiquity, vol. 86.
Olsen, P 1995, Australian Birds of Prey: The Biology and Ecology of Raptors, UNSW Press, Sydney.
Saunders, G et al. 1995, Managing Vertebrate Pests: Foxes, Bureau of Resource Sciences, CSIRO, Canberra.

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (16 September 2025)

MLA

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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges 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 respect 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 their respective communities.

Endangered Animals and Birds of Victoria