Species Introduced during Colonisation
Introduced Weeds and the Ruin of Native Flora in Victoria: Colonisation, Ecology, and the Loss of Balance
The arrival of Europeans in Victoria in the early 1800s did not just change the social and political landscape — it transformed the ecological balance of Country.
With ships, livestock, and imported crops came a flood of foreign plants: grasses, thistles, clovers, and shrubs that escaped cultivation and overwhelmed native ecosystems.
To the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Gunditjmara, and other First Nations communities, these introduced weeds represented more than an environmental change — they symbolised the disruption of law, balance, and reciprocity that had governed the land for tens of thousands of years.
What was once a rich mosaic of murnong fields, kangaroo grass plains, and eucalyptus woodlands became dominated by European weeds — plants that outcompeted native species, altered soils, and destroyed the delicate ecological relationships that sustained food, medicine, and culture.
This article explores the key invasive plants that reshaped Victoria’s Country, the cultural and ecological consequences of their spread, and the continuing efforts to heal the land through restoration and Indigenous knowledge.
Before the Weeds: Balance and Biodiversity
Before colonisation, Victoria’s ecosystems were among the most diverse in the world.
Fire-stick farming maintained open grasslands rich in Murnong (Microseris walteri), Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra), Wallaby Grass (Rytidosperma spp.), and Everlastings. Wetlands brimmed with Water Ribbons (Triglochin spp.) and Old Man’s Weed (Centipeda cunninghamii), while coastal zones thrived with Pigface (Carpobrotus rossii) and Warrigal Cabbage (Tetragonia tetragonioides).
Each plant was part of a cultural system of management — harvested, burned, or left to rest according to seasonal law.
When colonists introduced non-native plants for grazing, agriculture, and aesthetics, these systems collapsed, and Country itself began to show signs of sickness.
The Invasion of Weeds
European Grasses and the Loss of Native Plains
When settlers arrived, they replaced native grasses with European pasture species such as Ryegrass (Lolium perenne), Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), and Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica).
These grasses spread aggressively, choking out slower-growing native species.
The replacement destroyed the murnong fields that once stretched across the volcanic plains of Wadawurrung Country. Livestock compacted soils and uprooted tubers, causing rapid decline.
By the 1850s, explorers noted that “the yam daisy is all but gone,” replaced by clover and thistle (Gott 2019; Pascoe 2014).
Native fauna such as bandicoots, emus, and kangaroos lost key food sources.
Fire regimes changed, as European grasses burned too hot or too frequently for native seeds to survive.
Thus began a cascading loss — of plants, animals, and the cultural knowledge connected to them.
Thistles and the Seeds of Colonisation
Scotch Thistle (Onopordum acanthium), Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), and Artichoke Thistle (Cynara cardunculus) were among the earliest weeds introduced, often in contaminated grain shipments.
Their sharp spines made them inedible to stock and dangerous to handle. By the 1870s, entire pastures in western Victoria were overtaken.
For Indigenous communities, thistles signified the hardness and hostility of new Country — symbolic of displacement and pain. They replaced edible and medicinal herbs like Native Mint and Old Man’s Weed, altering local plant chemistry and soil health.
As they spread, the diversity of edible greens — vital for Indigenous diet and ceremony — declined sharply (Clarke 2009).
Gorse and Blackberry: Walls Across Country
Introduced as hedgerows by European farmers, Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) quickly escaped cultivation.
By the late 19th century, they formed impenetrable thickets along creeks and hillsides — blocking access to traditional fishing sites and waterholes.
Gorse altered fire patterns, burned hot and fast, and displaced native wattles and tea-trees. Blackberry outcompeted native shrubs such as Bearded Heath and Cherry Ballart, reducing nesting sites for small birds and mammals.
For the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples, who had relied on waterways for food and ceremony, these plants became physical and symbolic barriers to Country — “walls of the coloniser’s plants” (Museums Victoria 2023).
Willows, Boxthorn, and the Death of Rivers
Willows (Salix spp.), planted for shade and bank stability, and African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum), introduced as fencing, are among Victoria’s most destructive riparian weeds.
Willows suffocate river systems: their dense roots alter water flow, block fish passage, and starve aquatic ecosystems of oxygen. Boxthorn forms thorny thickets that exclude native birds and small marsupials.
Traditional reedbeds of Cumbungi (Typha spp.) and Water Ribbons — once used for food, fibre, and medicine — have been replaced by these invaders, breaking the ecological link between water and culture.
The rivers of the Kulin Nations, once open and life-giving, became choked with foreign roots (DEECA 2022).
Paterson’s Curse and Capeweed: Toxic Beauty
Paterson’s Curse (Echium plantagineum) and Capeweed (Arctotheca calendula) were introduced as ornamental flowers from Europe. Their purple and yellow blooms spread rapidly, covering millions of hectares of Victoria’s pastures.
While beautiful to the eye, both plants are toxic to stock and suppress native growth. Their shallow roots deplete soil nutrients, preventing the regrowth of murnong, daisies, and other native forbs.
They also symbolise the false beauty of colonisation — colourful invaders masking deep ecological harm (Clarke 2009; CSIRO 2020).
Cultural and Ecological Consequences
The spread of weeds destroyed more than ecosystems — it dismantled cultural landscapes.
Loss of bush foods: Species such as murnong, warrigal cabbage, and native peas disappeared from accessible areas, severing food sovereignty.
Erosion of healing plants: Medicinal herbs like Old Man’s Weed and Native Mint were replaced by toxic or useless weeds.
Disrupted fire regimes: European grasses fuelled unnatural wildfires, damaging soil microbiomes and destroying slow-growing native seeds.
Cultural disconnection: Access to sacred sites, rivers, and plant gathering areas was blocked or transformed.
For First Peoples, this was not only environmental degradation but the unmaking of Country’s body — a breakdown of the reciprocal relationship between people, plant, and place.
Restoration and Indigenous Knowledge
In recent decades, Indigenous communities, scientists, and landcare groups have worked to heal Country through weed removal and replanting of native species.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation leads restoration projects at Lake Connewarre, Breamlea, and the Barwon River, removing gorse, blackberry, and boxthorn while reintroducing native grasses and bush foods.
Budj Bim and Wannon River restoration programs integrate traditional burning with modern weed management, restoring eel habitats and plant balance.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Museums Victoria collaborate with Traditional Owners to map cultural plant species and reintroduce them into education gardens (RBGV 2023; DEECA 2022).
This new model — blending ecological science and Indigenous law — reframes weed management as cultural healing, not just conservation.
Scientific Understanding of Weeds
Weeds disrupt ecosystems through several key mechanisms:
Competition: Outcompete native plants for light, nutrients, and water.
Allelopathy: Release chemicals that inhibit native seed germination (e.g. Paterson’s Curse).
Soil change: Alter pH and microbial communities essential for native plant symbiosis.
Fire alteration: Create fuel loads that change the frequency and intensity of burns.
Faunal disruption: Reduce native food and habitat for pollinators, birds, and marsupials.
Indigenous knowledge, however, reads these effects through the lens of Country’s imbalance — weeds represent a physical manifestation of broken relationships between human stewardship and land (Atkinson 2002).
The Path Forward: Healing Country
Healing the damage caused by weeds requires returning ecological and cultural balance.
Key principles emerging from Indigenous-led restoration include:
Reintroduction of fire as medicine: Controlled cultural burning to restore grassland biodiversity.
Seed banking and cultural propagation: Collecting native seed for community-led replanting.
Cultural education: Teaching youth to recognise both native and invasive species as part of truth-telling about colonisation.
Collaborative governance: Ensuring Traditional Owners lead restoration on Country.
By replanting murnong, kangaroo grass, and warrigal cabbage where thistles and gorse once grew, communities reassert the right to care for and heal Country — closing the loop that colonisation tore open.
Conclusion
The weeds that now cover much of Victoria’s plains, rivers, and coasts are more than ecological problems — they are historical witnesses to dispossession and imbalance. Each thistle, willow, and blackberry tells a story of how Country was taken, and how its body was wounded.
But the land’s capacity to heal remains strong. Indigenous knowledge offers the blueprint: to observe, care, and replant with reciprocity. The removal of weeds is not just environmental repair — it is a form of truth-telling, ceremony, and renewal.
By restoring native flora and honouring the law of Country, Victorians can begin to transform weeds from symbols of ruin into catalysts for restoration and unity.
References
Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.
Clarke, PA 2009, Australian Aboriginal Ethnobotany: An Overview, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
CSIRO 2020, Managing Invasive Species and Restoring Native Flora in Southern Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Canberra.
DEECA Victoria 2022, Victorian Weed Management and Cultural Landscape Restoration, Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action, Melbourne.
Gott, B 2019, The Yam Daisy: A History of Aboriginal Plant Use in Victoria, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Museums Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Plant Knowledge and Environmental Change Collections, Museums Victoria, Melbourne.
Pascoe, B 2014, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, Magabala Books, Broome.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) 2023, Flora of Victoria: Invasive Weeds and Native Recovery Programs, RBGV, Melbourne.
Written, Researched, and Directed by James Vegter (25 October 2025)
MLA — Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
www.magiclandsalliance.org
Copyright MLA – 2025
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.