Stock Routes and the Stock Route Network

The stock routes of Queensland are an invaluable economic, community and environmental resource. They have an enduring function in allowing transfer of stock from properties to market and from properties in drought to properties with pasture. They have suffered lamentably from under-investment by governments and neighbouring landholders; the encroachment of weeds; drought; and incompatible agistment (static grazing).

In the 1990s and 2000s, a coalition of civil society groups advocated for the secure retention and better management of the Stock Route Network (SRN) and the Travelling Stock Routes (TSR) network of New South Wales. This webpage preserves some of the documents, maps and photographs produced by the group. We can be quite certain that these Networks will always be vulnerable to both neglect and attempts to privatise, and so the arguments presented in these materials will always be of contemporary value.

We thank Grahame Rogers, former Secretary of the Coalition, for safe-keeping these documents and making them available to QSN.

Documents will be uploaded to this page incrementally.

OVERVIEWS

General Overview and Objectives:

• as at February 2009
• as at February 2010

“Brief Statement” of values as at March 2010

“The Environmental Case for Converting Stock Routes into ‘Protected Corridors for Travelling Stock and Biodiversity’ under Climate Change” – webpage of Birds Australia Southern Queensland as at April 2008.

DEFINITIONS AND MAPS

In 2004 the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy published maps of the Queensland stock routes, by local government area. See https://scienceqld.org/government-resources/.

THE ROMANCE AND THE REALITY

Edited by Rodney Edwards, this 127-page book has a wealth of scientific and practical information:

Covers     Pages 1-48 (36.1MB)    Pages 49-74 (18MB)    Pages 75-127 (32.5MB)

QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT REPORTS

Guideline for agistment permits – 2003

Guideline for travel permits – 2003

Land Protection Bill 2001 – Explanatory Notes.

MANAGEMENT PLANS

Site Management Plans for travelling stock reserves – Murray Rural Lands Protection Board Monaro Vale TSR No 38012, October 2004

Bendemere Shire Council Stock Route Network Management Plan (draft) 2005-2009

Murilla Shire Council Stock Route Network Management Plan (draft) 2005-2009

Tara Shire Council Stock Route Network Management Plan (draft) 2004-2008

Waggamba Shire Council Stock Route Network Management Plan (draft) 2005-2009

Warroo Shire Council Stock Route Network Management Plan (draft) 2005-2009.

POLICIES AND SUBMISSIONS

Waggamba Shire Stock Route and Camp and Water Reserve Assessment

Bird Surveys in Travelling Stock Routes and Reserves on the [NSW] Northwest Slopes and Plains: Perspectives on the Conservation Value of TSRs,  September 2021

Local Government Association of Queensland  Stock Route Management Position Paper,  December 2003

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS AND ARTICLES

Flora and Fauna Habitat Assessment of Travelling Stock Reserves in the Murray Rural Lands Protection Board,  April 1999

The Conservation and Identification of Biodiversity on Travelling Stock Routes and Reserves of north-west New South Wales.

Department for Environment and Heritage (SA): Heritage of the Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks: Part of the Far North & Far West Region,  December 2002

Cumberland Bird Observers Club Newsletter  “The Conservation Value of Travelling Stock Routes“, Peter Metcalfe, February 2004

Rangelands Monitoring:  Developing an Analytical Framework for Monitoring Biodiversity in Australia’s Rangelands, John Woinarski, October 2000

Biodiversity survey (birds) Crow’s Nest

TSR CONFERENCE April 2008

Conference Programme, National Parks Association of New South Wales 9th April 2008

Henry Nix: Connections Fenner School and Society Australian National University

Peter Spooner:  The long paddock in the 21st century:  changing values and opportunities

Malcolm Petrie:  Queensland Stock Route Management Plan A Local Government Perspective

Craig Magnussen:  Stock Route Network Management – The Queensland Approach

Clyde Alchin:  What are TSRs in New South Wales

Tim Seears:  TSR Management in the 21st Century

Bob Sutherst and Evan Cleland:  A Protected Corridor for Travelling Stock and Biodiversity

Mason Crane:  Hanging On:  Squirrel Gliders of the Woodlands of the Western Slopes

Toni McLeish: Grassy Box Woodland Conservation Management Network

Rod Fensham:  Plants on Queensland Stock Routes

Ian Hunter:  TSRs in New South Wales

Position Statement of the Coalition for Conserving the Queensland Stock Route Network (SRN) and the NSW Travelling Stock Routes (TSRs).

STOCK ROUTES COALITION

Postcard and leaflet

The Stock Routes Coalition and its policies including Scientists’ Statement

Reports (fragmentary)

Newsletters 4 and 5