In the few decades from the 1850s, Colonial Australia experienced massive changes.  The social and economic changes that went hand in hand with large population growth have received much attention.  Much less attention has been given to the accompanying changes wrought on the natural environment.   However, the natural environment was an important topic for contemporary newspaper reporters, some of whose writings provide vivid descriptions and valuable first-hand accounts of the changes as they were happening.

This paper presents an account of some of these environmental changes through the eyes of Charles de Boos, one of the major reporters of this period.  His writings for the Melbourne Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald, as well as some of his novels, constitute a rich archive that is essentially unknown.  Here, one illustration must suffice: “No doubt it must have been a picturesque spot when first opened as diggings, but now every charm has been destroyed by the ruthless hand of the miner … I think that of all the diggings I have visited in New South Wales, that of Muckkrawa has been the most completely ransacked”