ABSTRACT
The landsystems concept was initially popularized in the reports of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization for the mapping of large, sparsely populated areas in Australia in the 1940s (e.g. Christian and Stewart, 1952). Following the pioneering work of Bourne (1931), Unstead (1933) and Veatch (1933), these surveys were stimulated by the desire to evaluate the agricultural potential of large expanses of land. They sought to classify land based upon a landsystems approach, which recognized a landsystem as an area with common terrain attributes, different to those of adjacent areas. The areal coverage of a landsystem was therefore dictated by the size of the terrain attributes and could range from tens to hundreds of kms2. A recurring pattern of topography, soils and vegetation was regarded as characterizing a landsystem. Theoretically, each landsystem should contain a predictable combination of surface features (landforms) and associated soils and vegetation types. During the preliminary stages of mapping, the topography and/or geomorphology is usually the most significant criterion employed in differentiating landsystems.
