What was the area of major vegetation groups in prior to European settlement?
The material below is an extract from the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 report. For ease of cross reference, figure, table and section references pertain to the chapter structure of this report. The Further Information section provides links to the full graphics version of the material below and the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 report. Pre-European vegetation of Australia has been reconstructed using a variety of interpolation and modeling techniques from mapping and information on the present types and extent, historical records and early aerial photographs. It is assumed that Australia had experienced no significant clearing other than changes due to fire regimes prior to European settlement. The underlying data used to describe the pre-European vegetation is in many cases the same as that representing the present vegetation. Some States and Territories have assumed that vegetation types mapped as pre-European vegetation also approximate the present veg
