The Port Adelaide Torpedo Station (a facet of the late 19th-century Jervois
Defence Plan for Adelaide, South Australia at the time of the Russian Scare)
has many clumps of boxthorn & other types of non-indigenous flora (pampas
grass, pig face, olives, prickly pear) scattered around the site which is quite
arid & sandy.  It is possible that some of these are ancestors of original and
deliberate plantings at the Station although all easily migrate through birds &
cuttings.  The Station had a live-in commandant/caretaker along with his family
so it's a good bet some stuff was deliberately planted there.  The boxthorn
would certainly fit with the plantings of the same era forts in Victoria.  

The Torpedo Station is adjacent to Torrens Island which housed Adelaide's main
Quarantine Station (and an internment camp during WWI).  The area of the
Station is also littered with the bleached bones of numerous sheep.  It is
uncertain if the area was used for agistment after the Station was
de-commissioned during WWI or if the animal remains date from the time of the
working Station. 

Martin Wimmer


>  
> Interesting discussion re the animals for the explosives factory.  I 
> was interested to see Iain's comments re: the grass around the forts. 
>  
> I might offer another perspective though on keeping the vegetation 
> down around the forts.  Most of the original documentation 
> (Scratchley)  I have seen for the forts in the 19th century around 
> Port Phillip Bay (Victoria) specifically stipulated that weeds and 
> other vegetation should not be cropped lower than about 6inch, and 
> that low shrubs and heath should be encoraged to grow as camouflage to 
> avoid their detection from the sea.  I would be very interested to see 
> if this varied from directions for other forts, as this suggest 
> regional variation in this type of defence policy.
>  
> The seaward cliffs and parts of the moat at Fort Queenscliff (Port 
> Phillip Heads) were planted with boxthorn as a barrier to attack. Has 
> anyone else come across the use of boxthorn to protect defensible 
> areas? An early form of "barbed wire" entanglements?
>  
> Iain, what period were you talking about, and did where did that apply 
> to?
>  
>  
>
>
> Dr Brad Duncan,
>
> Manager - Metropolitan Heritage Programs
>
> Aboriginal Affairs Victoria
>
> Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD)
>
> Level 9, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
>
> GPO 2392, Melbourne Victoria 3001
>
> Tel: 03 9208 3265,
>
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
> Fax: 03 9208 3292
>
>
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