The Conquest of the Prickly Pear

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by the Cinema Branch 1935. Directed by Bert Ive. Documents the biological control of the prickly pear by the Cactoblastis moth which was released in 1926. In the 1920’s Queensland and New South Wales had 24 million hectares infested with prickly pear and the infestation was increasing by 400,000 hectares annually, making land useless and uneconomical to clear.

[@TheEarthHistorysConfusing]

I remember my grandfather talking about how bad his home town of chinchilla qld was with the catus as a boy. It's still around and areas around Warwick qld are still fighting the tall ones. Nice share. Thanks

[@NFSAFilms]

Thanks for sharing your story Earth History.

[@TheEarthHistorysConfusing]

NFSA Films no worries. ;)

[@danrobinson572]

@@NFSAFilms great video and very interesting. They never taught us this in American schools. Can’t wait for the next video.

[@PhilipMeddows]

This is a national treasure. And thank you for not editing out the reference to Crown Land.

[@rob3518]

I’d of never known of this but for this old footage 👍

[@trackdusty]

It opened up HUGE acreages of country with top quality soils. The Brigalow. A huge breakthrough. Many of the children from existing properties settled there in the 50's & 60's.

[@stuartrutty8849]

it wood be great to be able to go back in time for a few hours to see these plants, how they were then everywhere, what a sight it must of been,

[@bigears4426]

Hopefully they can find something for the cane toad , like this

[@johnd8892]

With the success of the caterpillar on prickly pear cactus, a similar solution to the cane grub beetle to was rushed in. Likely due to insufficient testing, unlike the caterpillar, the Cane Toad was thought to be a solution without understanding the downsides. Perhaps some politicians got involved, with political and not scientific minds. So the cane toad problem is related to prickly pear. Some sloppy understanding, as is common in our low education media, out there think the Cane Toads were meant to deal with the caterpillars. Not realisong the cane grub beetle is a complete different species. Might have been a dangerous unchallenged joke though which goes down well with people not wanting a good story to get in the way of the facts. Media and politicians today are still full of rubbish.

[@johnd8892]

Some brilliant science applied back then with a huge economic and environmental benefit. Today we seem to value sports and other entertainment higher, more is the pity.

[@BGone-mb7wz]

Dunno about that. My understanding is one of these little critters developed the title of the 'cane grub' after the majority of it's food source (prickly pear) had been destroyed. The cane grub, was so devastating to the cane industry counter measures were employed to control it...the counter measure? THE CANE TOAD!

[@johnd8892]

@@BGone-mb7wz your understanding is wrong. Cactus solution is a caterpillar and moth. Cane was a beetle. Connection is that after the success with cactus some corners may have been cut with the beetle solution. Would love to know where in the joke media out there this rubbish you heard came from. Google prickly pear cane toad to see some reliable sources. Beetles are completely different species to caterpillars and moths.

[@johnd8892]

@@BGone-mb7wz At 5:30 in this vid you can see the insects were tested on sugar cane but died rather than eat it. Among the extensive rigorous testing to see that this would not cause problems with other plants. So no way were they a cane grub. These beetles larvae might have been called cane grubs : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermolepida_albohirtum#:~:text=Larvae%2C%20which%20are%20known%20as,most%20damage%20to%20the%20plant.

[@James_Bowie]

Heard about the prickly pear menace back in my school days but, until seeing this footage, I didn't have a real appreciation for how invasive it was. People who get upset when Border Control pings them for bringing in prohibited plant material should be made to sit and watch this.

[@hellie_el]

thank you for this excellent, interesting video. in these strange covid days, it is comforting to see that enormous problems can be tackled and solved.

[@abundantYOUniverse]

The Prickly Pear People persuaded people to persevere against this pernicious plant and once they placed pests on the prickly pears they pacified them and won!

[@HandyAndyTechTips]

Spraying arsenic pentoxide without the use of respirators. I'm glad to see that OH&S practises were being rigidly followed 🤣

[@abundantYOUniverse]

Awesome thanks!

[@alimcg2000]

Interesting but sad to see so much pollution! So beautiful today.

[@johnd8892]

You can imagine the gratitude the locals, struggling for a living in Depression era outback Queensland, and affected by this felt when the tide turned on this menace. So much so that in Boonarga, a memorial hall was dedicated to the caterpillar : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_Memorial_Hall#:~:text=This%20timber%20hall%20was%20completed,late%201920s%20and%20early%201930s. Rare for a memorial to be honouring an insect.

[@NFSAFilms]

That's interesting, thanks for letting us know.

[@danrobinson572]

A very interesting video. They never taught us this in school. Especially in America schools.

[@johnd8892]

Fortunate that in North and South America you had these caterpillars keeping the prickly pear under control. So Prickly Pear not so much of an issue perhaps. Thanks for allowing us in Australia to take some of your insects back then to manage the problem.

[@johnd8892]

With the success of the caterpillar on the problem of the prickly pear cactus, a similar solution to the cane grub beetle to was sought and rushed in. Likely due to insufficient testing, unlike the caterpillar, the Cane Toad was thought to be a solution without understanding the downsides. Perhaps some politicians got involved, with political and not scientific minds. So the cane toad problem is tenuously related to the prickly pear control solution. However some sloppy understanding, as is common in our low education media, out there think the Cane Toads were meant to deal with the caterpillars. Not realising the cane grub beetle is a complete different unrelated species. Might have been a dangerous unchallenged joke though, which goes down well with people not wanting a good story to get in the way of the facts. Media and politicians today are still full of rubbish that needs checking for facts.

[@ellejay2439]

Wow this was a great documentary. There’s so much to learn about Australian history. Look at those young chaps working hard packing the eggs. People were so hardworking back then. Could only wish the younger generation could learn a thing or two from them.

[@domenicozagari2443]

Prickly pear fruit is a dollar each.

[@BrassLock]

The *Prickly Pear Infestation Area* Map at 1:36 shows the total area of effective devastation of farm and grazing lands that had been established by European educated farmers, who followed the teachings of Mediterranean folk, who had no idea about Sub Tropical Australian conditions. As a result, the farmers became despondent, disillusioned, melancholic and depressed. After the moths and beetles killed the Prickly Pear, it looks like a huge success in eradication, resulting in the rehabilitated land being cleared of natural vegetation and trees. Subsequently it was ploughed deeply and a variety of crops considered valuable to humans was successfully cultured. Much of the land was farmed for cattle grazing, which grazed away their days happily munching the pastoral crops sown for their dietary needs. It was so delicious, and the cattle so numerous, with their cloven hoofs, they destroyed the structure of the ancient soil, which was blown into the Pacific Ocean, much to the surprise of the resident fish and coral. The coral (and of course the fish) began to decline at the same pace as the soil eroded. Eventually the whole of the "Rehabilitated Prickly Pear Lands" were declared *Drought Affected Areas,* and have been for over 11 seasons, resulting in farmers becoming despondent, melancholic and depressed. Such is the *Cycle of Life* in Sunny Queensland.

[@shannonpincombe8485]

We keep doing this. Stuff up...try to fix it. Stuff up....try to fix it.

[@bob_frazier]

Cool.

[@hoilst]

Please note the conquest is still pending...

[@qormi1000]

The fruit is delicious.

[@sarah-janegalipo3995]

But the pears taste soooo good

[@MECH-MASTER]

👍

[@earthgraphy1038]

Still see that plant around, its horrible