Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick has seen a lot of change over the past 50 years.(ABC Radio Hobart: Zoe Kean)
For the past 50 years, ecologist and botanist, Jamie Kirkpatrick has been returning to study sites on The Queens Domain — monitoring how the park has been bursting back to biodiverse life after two centuries of hard use.
The Queens Domain, or The Domain as Hobartians call it, contains a nationally significant grassland and is home to endangered species — just a half-hour stroll from the Hobart CBD.
Careful monitoring is producing positive results in The Domain.
"Grasslands in south-eastern Australia have been almost totally wiped out because they happen to be on the best soils," says Professor Kirkpatrick, of the University of Tasmania.
"They were occupied initially for pastoralism, then for agriculture or urban [development]."
Visiting The Domain's rare grasslands with Professor Kirkpatrick involves getting on hands and knees to search for tiny native herbs or bandicoot diggings. He knows the scientific name of every plant species and greets them like old friends.
“[The Domain] was the first place that I started long-term monitoring; it's one of the places in Tasmania I'm very strongly attached to," he says.
Greg Lehman, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Aboriginal Leadership at the University of Tasmania, says the area was managed by Aboriginal people for "tens of thousands of years".
"The Domain is one of the last places that the Muwinina people, the traditional owners of the area, nipaluna, occupied," Professor Lehman says.
"They continued to camp on The Domain right up until the late 1820s … and there are remains of their living places in the form of middens all around the lower slopes of The Domain.
"In the Hobart area, it's the last surviving cultural landscape that has been created by Aboriginal burning over millennia."
Historical writings, maps and artworks have provided Professor Kirkpatrick with hints as to what the area looked like.
Early writings describe "a gentleman's park", with red-green kangaroo grass swaying under "spreading umbrageous trees".
The kangaroo grass was kept short with pademelons, wombats, wallabies, and kangaroos constantly grazing the lawn.
Since those days, The Domain has undergone a lot of change.
Once Hobart Town formed, The Domain was used to graze livestock, "both legally and illegally", Professor Kirkpatrick says.
Hungry livestock gobbled many of the trees and shrubs and, by the 1850s, the native grasses were feeling the strain of the 'uncontrolled commons'.
Stock was taken off The Domain in the 1940s, but by then there were no kangaroos, wallabies or pademelons.
Mainland eucalypts were planted on The Domain in the 19th century in an effort to beautify the park.
Without hungry marsupials to keep the plants in check, The Domain "took off" and, by the time Professor Kirkpatrick first surveyed the place in 1974, there was a lot of invasive gorse and south African bone seed.
Gorse was common on The Domain when Professor Kirkpatrick first started monitoring in the 1970s.
The spiky invasives formed thickets that pushed out native plants and animals.
Since the 1970s, City of Hobart workers and volunteers have made these species almost rare, but an unexpected species has started causing problems: the she-oak.
She-oaks are native to Tasmania but were historically quite rare due to fire and grazing from marsupials.
In recent decades, their numbers have exploded on The Domain.
Professor Kirkpatrick likens she-oaks to "shiraz" because it "is a marvellous tree in moderation" but does cause problems in excess.
The needles of she-oaks are so thick smaller plants cannot grow through them.
They are thirsty plants, leaving the soil dry for other species. Their needles create a thick mat that is high in nitrogen but hard for any young plants to germinate in.
She-oak needles are modified stems that form a thick mat under trees
For several years, City of Hobart workers have been busy removing she-oaks to return the landscape to grassy woodlands — and they are seeing results.
Matthew Bartlett is happy to see the grassland bouncing back on the she-oak-free side.
"You can see how, as soon as you open all the natives, the grasses and sedges take off — they love it," Mr Bartlett says.
Once banished, wallabies and pademelons are also coming back in force — as are more vulnerable species such as the southern brown and eastern barred bandicoot.
Eastern barred bandicoots keep the soil healthy and create space for new plants to sprout.
Professor Kirkpatrick describes the return of the bandicoot as "absolutely gobsmacking", and says their presence is helping the grassland repair.
Over 50 years, Professor Kirkpatrick has seen grassland recover from ploughing, which makes the ground unsuitable for many native grasses
Their diggings create space for invertebrates to live in and new plants to germinate. Each year a large population of bandicoots can turn over 2 to 4 per cent of the ground. Professor Kirkpatrick says this is "really important" for the health of the soil.
Tiny, native plants such as orchids, lilies, and billy buttons that thrive between clumps of native grass are also returning.
A native lily called Early Nancy, Wurmbea Dioica, living among the grass.
"Some of them only survived under exotic trees and others managed to hang on growing in gravel heaps," Professor Kirkpatrick says.
This billy button gets a little extra protection with a strip of copper to keep slugs out and wire to keep hungry marsupials at bay.
Just like the rest of the world, climate change will challenge The Domain, so when Mr Bartlett makes management decisions for the park he likes to think "400 years" into the future — that's the life span of a eucalypt.
Thinning she-oaks at The Domain is a lot of work, but Matthew Bartlett and his team are starting to see results.
His team is now considering planting seeds from northern Tasmania that are better suited to hot dry conditions.
Fire is an important part of how the park is managed now, but Professor Lehman hopes that the City of Hobart will involve Tasmanian Aboriginal people in the burning regimes, "in a similar way as to how it was managed by Aboriginal people for many thousands of years".
"There is huge potential for the City of Hobart to build collaborative relationships with Aboriginal land managers,"
In Tasmania's Northern Midlands Aboriginal people work with landowners, and Dr Lehman hopes for something similar at The Domain.
No matter how The Domain is managed, it will be assiduously tracked by ecologists. But after 50 years it is not Professor Kirkpatrick getting his hands dirty.
"I'm passing the baton" he laughed. "I've got an honours student doing it now".
For the past 50 years, ecologist and botanist, Jamie Kirkpatrick has been returning to study sites on The Queens Domain — monitoring how the park has been bursting back to biodiverse life after two centuries of hard use.
The Queens Domain, or The Domain as Hobartians call it, contains a nationally significant grassland and is home to endangered species — just a half-hour stroll from the Hobart CBD.
Careful monitoring is producing positive results in The Domain.
"Grasslands in south-eastern Australia have been almost totally wiped out because they happen to be on the best soils," says Professor Kirkpatrick, of the University of Tasmania.
"They were occupied initially for pastoralism, then for agriculture or urban [development]."
Visiting The Domain's rare grasslands with Professor Kirkpatrick involves getting on hands and knees to search for tiny native herbs or bandicoot diggings. He knows the scientific name of every plant species and greets them like old friends.
“[The Domain] was the first place that I started long-term monitoring; it's one of the places in Tasmania I'm very strongly attached to," he says.
Greg Lehman, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Aboriginal Leadership at the University of Tasmania, says the area was managed by Aboriginal people for "tens of thousands of years".
"The Domain is one of the last places that the Muwinina people, the traditional owners of the area, nipaluna, occupied," Professor Lehman says.
"They continued to camp on The Domain right up until the late 1820s … and there are remains of their living places in the form of middens all around the lower slopes of The Domain.
"In the Hobart area, it's the last surviving cultural landscape that has been created by Aboriginal burning over millennia."
Historical writings, maps and artworks have provided Professor Kirkpatrick with hints as to what the area looked like.
Early writings describe "a gentleman's park", with red-green kangaroo grass swaying under "spreading umbrageous trees".
The kangaroo grass was kept short with pademelons, wombats, wallabies, and kangaroos constantly grazing the lawn.
Since those days, The Domain has undergone a lot of change.
Once Hobart Town formed, The Domain was used to graze livestock, "both legally and illegally", Professor Kirkpatrick says.
Hungry livestock gobbled many of the trees and shrubs and, by the 1850s, the native grasses were feeling the strain of the 'uncontrolled commons'.
Stock was taken off The Domain in the 1940s, but by then there were no kangaroos, wallabies or pademelons.
Mainland eucalypts were planted on The Domain in the 19th century in an effort to beautify the park.
Without hungry marsupials to keep the plants in check, The Domain "took off" and, by the time Professor Kirkpatrick first surveyed the place in 1974, there was a lot of invasive gorse and south African bone seed.
Gorse was common on The Domain when Professor Kirkpatrick first started monitoring in the 1970s.
The spiky invasives formed thickets that pushed out native plants and animals.
Since the 1970s, City of Hobart workers and volunteers have made these species almost rare, but an unexpected species has started causing problems: the she-oak.
She-oaks are native to Tasmania but were historically quite rare due to fire and grazing from marsupials.
In recent decades, their numbers have exploded on The Domain.
Professor Kirkpatrick likens she-oaks to "shiraz" because it "is a marvellous tree in moderation" but does cause problems in excess.
The needles of she-oaks are so thick smaller plants cannot grow through them.
They are thirsty plants, leaving the soil dry for other species. Their needles create a thick mat that is high in nitrogen but hard for any young plants to germinate in.
She-oak needles are modified stems that form a thick mat under trees
For several years, City of Hobart workers have been busy removing she-oaks to return the landscape to grassy woodlands — and they are seeing results.
Matthew Bartlett is happy to see the grassland bouncing back on the she-oak-free side.
"You can see how, as soon as you open all the natives, the grasses and sedges take off — they love it," Mr Bartlett says.
Once banished, wallabies and pademelons are also coming back in force — as are more vulnerable species such as the southern brown and eastern barred bandicoot.
Eastern barred bandicoots keep the soil healthy and create space for new plants to sprout.
Professor Kirkpatrick describes the return of the bandicoot as "absolutely gobsmacking", and says their presence is helping the grassland repair.
Over 50 years, Professor Kirkpatrick has seen grassland recover from ploughing, which makes the ground unsuitable for many native grasses
Their diggings create space for invertebrates to live in and new plants to germinate. Each year a large population of bandicoots can turn over 2 to 4 per cent of the ground. Professor Kirkpatrick says this is "really important" for the health of the soil.
Tiny, native plants such as orchids, lilies, and billy buttons that thrive between clumps of native grass are also returning.
A native lily called Early Nancy, Wurmbea Dioica, living among the grass.
"Some of them only survived under exotic trees and others managed to hang on growing in gravel heaps," Professor Kirkpatrick says.
This billy button gets a little extra protection with a strip of copper to keep slugs out and wire to keep hungry marsupials at bay.
Just like the rest of the world, climate change will challenge The Domain, so when Mr Bartlett makes management decisions for the park he likes to think "400 years" into the future — that's the life span of a eucalypt.
Thinning she-oaks at The Domain is a lot of work, but Matthew Bartlett and his team are starting to see results.
His team is now considering planting seeds from northern Tasmania that are better suited to hot dry conditions.
Fire is an important part of how the park is managed now, but Professor Lehman hopes that the City of Hobart will involve Tasmanian Aboriginal people in the burning regimes, "in a similar way as to how it was managed by Aboriginal people for many thousands of years".
"There is huge potential for the City of Hobart to build collaborative relationships with Aboriginal land managers,"
In Tasmania's Northern Midlands Aboriginal people work with landowners, and Dr Lehman hopes for something similar at The Domain.
No matter how The Domain is managed, it will be assiduously tracked by ecologists. But after 50 years it is not Professor Kirkpatrick getting his hands dirty.
"I'm passing the baton" he laughed. "I've got an honours student doing it now".