ABSTRACT
The Otways formed a vital water catchment for Geelong and inland pastoral areas, whereas Gippsland was relatively unimportant for water supply until the twentieth century. In the hill country and tablelands, water transport along the many streams was impractical due to waterfalls, rapids, uneven flow and numerous submerged logs. The timber of the Otways may have been of higher quality than that burnt in Gippsland, where it was claimed, ‘the greater part was useless for milling purposes’. Public policy in terms of timber conservation in New South Wales was dominated by a debate about ringbarking. Advocates of this practice emphasised how it was cheap and quick, whereas opponents focused on its wanton destructiveness, loss of valuable timber and effect on water catchments. The links between deforestation and reduced water supply had become apparent through the cases of a number of island colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
