Dr Brian Cooke ‘Effects of pastoralism and rabbits on the economy and culture of the Diyari People in north-east South Australia’

Rabbits are well known pests of agriculture and the environment but it seems that nobody has ever considered how these invasive animals might have destroyed the economy and culture of Aboriginal people so closely associated with the plants and animals that sustained them. The loss of bilbies and bettongs, now extinct over much of inland Australia, meant more than just the loss of a supply of meat or trade items, but also the loss of totems, and a loss of faith in age-old ceremonies that were thought to maintain plant and animal populations.  The exploration of information available from sources such as explorers’ journals and Lutheran missionaries in north-eastern South Australia provides new insights.

Brian is a retired CSIRO scientist and current adjunct at the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. In 1993 Brian headed the research group responsible for the introduction of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (calicivirus), and he retains a close interest in pest rabbit control and management and in biological control of invasive species. He mainly works on the epidemiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus documenting the consequences and benefits of its 1995 introduction into Australia, and its co-evolution in relation to apparent development of resistance in the rabbit host. He is developing a broad theoretical framework for understanding the epidemiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease as an example of how newly emergent viruses interact with and are often limited by other related viruses. This work is important for the long-term biological control of rabbits in Australia and also for their conservation in Europe. Brian shares his research time between the Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, and working with colleagues from Biosecurity, South Australia and the University of Adelaide and participating in collaborative research in Europe with partners in Germany, Portugal and Spain.