Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
ABC News
ABC News
National
Oliver Chaseling

Photographer David Hancock's 30-year journey documenting Australia's wild buffalo

Wild herds of buffalo can cause major damage to fragile aquatic ecosystems. (Supplied: David Hancock)

Ever since the buffalo was introduced to Australia nearly 200 years ago, its relationship with the land has been a complicated one.

Small herds were imported from Asia by the British in the early 19th century, as a food source.

However, when colonists abandoned their northern settlement on Cobourg Peninsula in 1849, those herds were released into the wild.

Springs are especially susceptible due to lack of water flow. (Supplied: David Hancock)

The colony was the third failed attempt at colonisation of the Northern Territory's Top End, where the British had hoped to gain control of Dutch trading routes.

Disease, malnutrition and cyclones made it too challenging.

While the harsh conditions were too much for colonists, the rugged savannas and wetlands of Arnhem Land – with similar climates of Timor and Indonesia – proved perfect for the buffalo.

An estimated feral population of nearly 200,000 can be now be found across the entire northern-most half of the Northern Territory.

The vast wetlands of north-west Arnhem Land are a perfect habitat for buffalo. (Supplied: David Hancock)

New beginnings in an ancient land

For photographer David Hancock, his connection with the wild buffalo of Northern Australia began in the 1970s, during the cattle industry's push towards a live export trade.

He was documenting a national program to eliminate both tuberculosis and brucellosis from livestock, where culling of buffalo was used to stop the spread of disease on to domesticated cattle.

It led him on a 30-year journey documenting the species in the Top End, which has been published in a book named Nganabbarru, the Bininj-Kunwok word for buffalo.

"I was pretty tired of working down South, it was all pretty dull really," Mr Hancock said.

"It was really good to come up and get out bush – I had some friends who had musterers as friends, and they had helicopter pilots as friends.

"As it turned out, they were keen to have a photographer out there on those musters, because there was so much happening that they couldn't photograph."

The Arafura Swamp is one of the largest paperbark swamps in Australia, and under threat from feral buffalo. (Supplied: David Hancock)

The decades-long photography project has taken him to some of the most remote and beautiful parts of the country.

"It's just confirmed my love and appreciation of the Top End flood plains," he said.

"The one area that I really have a lot of concern about is the Arafura Swamp — this is one of the biggest paperbark swamps in Australia.

"It's just the most amazing place, and buffalo have intruded into there. They're still in probably one of the most pristine environments in Australia and it'd be a shame to see it [be damaged]."

To catch buffalo, musterers use vehicles with large metal claws on the outside. (Supplied: David Hancock)

Significance reflected in rock art

Following their release from abandoned British colonies, swamp buffalo became a formidable foe for the various First Nations groups across the top end.

The significance of first contact with the large beasts is reflected in rock art paintings of Djabidjbakalloi, where life-size images of buffalo appear alongside images of boats, horses and guns, sites which Mr Hancock was able to photograph thanks to Warddeken IPA rangers.

"You've got to remember that Aboriginal people are the ones most impacted by buffalo, he said.

"When they got here in the early to mid 1800s, there hadn't been a large animal in Northern Australia since megafauna, which was 50,000 years before.

"And these were people who didn't have guns, and they just had to deal with these big animals.

Keith Nadjamerrek examines a 5-metre drawing of a buffalo at Djabidjbakalloi near Gunbalanya. (Supplied: David Hancock)

"In many ways, the buffalo has become part of their traditions and mythology. Particularly in that rock country of Western Arnhem Land you see a lot of drawings of Buffalo.

"Those animals must have made a huge impression on people right from the beginning."

Mustering of a domestic buffalo herd at Swim Creek. (Supplied: David Hancock)

A compelling animal

As buffalo herds spread further throughout Arnhem Land, Aboriginal people were at the forefront of turning environmental disaster into economic opportunity.

Tom Dawkins, the chief executive of the NT Buffalo Industry Council, said the buffalo hide industry that began in the 1880s was the result of different Aboriginal groups seizing the chance to generate income from animals that were not owned by pastoralists.

"David makes the point that buffalo were seen as no one's property," he said.

"Whereas sheep or cattle were always seen as being owned by someone, you wanted to be very careful going after livestock like that, but buffalo were seen as sort of more accessible in that respect.

"That was a huge part of the history, and what drew a lot of Aboriginal people to work with them. And there's some extraordinary stories about the careers that were carved out."

Rangers in remote communities are able to supply residents with fresh meat after culling. (Supplied: David Hancock)

Similar circumstances prevail today, where buffalo producers see skyrocketing beef prices and increasing numbers of feral buffalo as an enormous opportunity to supply a growing Asian market for cheap protein and mitigate their environmental impact.

Darwin photographer David Hancock. (Supplied: David Hancock)

"I think in every regard it is a very compelling proposition, because we do have those market imperatives, export revenue for the Territory, food security for our neighbours," he said.

"But we're also talking about doing that in a way that provides employment, economic activity and dividends for traditional owners.

"In a way that represents sustainable land management and offsetting environmental damage from overstocking. It is a very compelling industry."

Dawkins said that culling feral populations should be used as an absolute last resort, given the growing profitability of the live export market. 

"We're very concerned about the dangers of wild dogs and feral pigs with shoot-to-waste programs — they exacerbate those problems," he said.

"The challenge for our industry is to continue to work with government, traditional owners, the Northern Land Council and all stakeholders to ensure that that shoot-to-waste is only ever the last resort, and that we have created every chance to find an economic solution there, before we resort to that sort of measure, which seems terribly outdated and unacceptable."

Some experts estimate there are nearly 200,000 wild buffalo in the Northern Territory. (Supplied: David Hancock)

Much like Mr Dawkins and other farmers who work closely with buffalo, photographer David Hancock holds the creatures in high regard, despite their impact on what he describes as one of the most magnificent landscapes in the world.

"In a domesticated situation as proven in Asia, buffalo live with families," he said.

Between British colonists, Aboriginal hunters, photographers and farmers, the complex mythology of these destructive yet gentle beasts lives on in the Territory.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.