1891
The plain upon which I had entered was covered all over with wombats, feeding vigorously like a flock of sheep. There were at least a hundred of those curious animals; some of them left off grazing and stood looking at the strange visitors, but not one attempted to run. I started off at a canter, thinking to give them a chase and have a little sport; but they only stared with innocent curiosity. Kitty knocked some of them over and sent them sprawling. It was not until I reached the other side of the plain, and was in the act of repeating the charge, that they seemed to realise their position and ran. They had burrowed little holes in various parts of the plain, not deep enough to give them shelter, but they scampered away to those holes, in which they buried their heads, leaving their bodies projecting all round; while others, unable to share a portion of the hole, contented themselves with hiding their heads between the shoulders of those that had been first there. It was the most amusing sight I ever saw – a circular bunch of about a dozen badgers or more without a head visible. I then got off my horse, kicked them, pulled them out by the legs, and tried to rout them, but all in vain; they persisted in making back to the group and hiding their heads. I had no time to watch further proceedings, as I was anxious to see all I could of Gunn’s Plains that evening, the weather being still doubtful. I passed on through splendid black level land, a little stony, with small gum trees growing thickly upon it, but quite clear of any undergrowth. In Mr. Gunn’s report he expressed a belief that the trees upon the low-lying land he went through were not more than twenty years old, and that it was covered with grass before that time, which is most probable, as fragments of grassy patches still remained, upon which the forest was evidently encroaching. He also found in his wanderings generally round Surrey Hills and the Leven that in none of the low-lying places were any signs of charcoal visible, from which he inferred that the absence of bush fires encouraged the growth of timber on plains that were once covered with grass . . . On returning to the big plain I found Mr. Calder, with Mr. Dooley and his assistants, had taken up their quarters for the night on its borders, the smoke from a fire they had just kindled enabling me to discover their whereabouts without any difficulty. The badgers had not learned discretion from my interview, for they allowed Mr. Carstairs to go up to them and slaughter one for our supper.
Bush Life in Tasmania: Fifty Years Ago,
Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London, 1891