Joan Bradley - Australian Conservationist Extraordinaire

Using her ecological savvy, Joan Bradley figured out how to restore large tracts of Australian bushland that have been ravaged by introduced species. A conservationist extraordinaire, this is Joan’s story…

The name Joan Bradley is synonymous with bush regeneration in Australia. First publicized in the 1960’s, the ‘Bradley Method’ of bush regeneration is still the most successful way to conserve Australian bush. But to understand Joan’s important contribution to science, you have to know a bit about the Australian bush.

The Australian bush is unique, as it’s located on an island continent, disconnected from the large ‘Gondwana’ landmass for millions of years. As such, the bush has developed in isolation, and many plant species are found only in Australia. These unique plant species support animals that are also unique to the Australian land mass. You don’t find kangaroos anywhere else, do you ??!

Also, the Australian climate is particularly harsh. Strong direct sunlight, vast deserts, both dry and wet rainforest areas, and even areas in the north where the Aborigines recognize six seasons (wet through dry and everything in between). So you can imagine how disruptive introduced plant species would be to the native bushland. They disrupt the delicate ecological balance between native vegetation and animal life, leading to declining native populations.

Unfortunately, Australia has many ‘weed’(non-native) plant species that are rampant, as well an introduced rabbits, foxes, wild cats, toads, goats, camels etc etc. And it’s these introduced species that decimate the native plant (and animal) species as well as change the native habitat so that the native species are unable to survive. To combat this effect, Australians face huge challenges controlling introduced species – particularly weeds. And it was here that Joan made her mark.

In the 1960, when women were not accepted in the scientific field, Joan doggedly experimented with bush regeneration. Using her extensive knowledge of Australian native bush and incredible work ethic, she trialed many methods of regeneration, trying to determine what would work best. Finally, after years of work, Joan developed and published the very successful Bradley Method of bush regeneration. It was Joan’s understanding of ecology, willingness to work hard, and exceptional patience, that were so notable. As restoring degraded areas of bush (forest) is not for the faint at heart. It is a daunting task that often defeats the most dedicated conservationists.

However, Joan figured out that native plants will re-grow after weeds are hand-cleared from small patches of bush. What a lot of hard work you say ! Yes, that is exactly the point. There are no shortcuts to Joan’s method, but….. it works. It works so well, that in 1976 the National Trust in New South Wales, Australia employed Joan to restore large tracts of bushland using her method.

Following Joan’s successes restoring larger tracts of bushland, government agencies and community groups recognized The Bradley Method as the best way to re-grow native bushlands. Their adherence to these principles continues today, proving how successful and well regarded the method has become.

Although Joan contributed immensely to conservational science in Australian, she was very well known for her cheerful and extroverted personality. And as you can well imagine, her motto of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ helped, too !