{"id":883886,"date":"2026-09-08T01:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T01:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883886\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T01:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T01:28:15","slug":"new-art-exhibition-to-shine-spotlight-on-invasive-weed-driving-out-native-species-in-alice-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883886\/","title":{"rendered":"New art exhibition to shine spotlight on invasive weed driving out native species in Alice Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Western Arrernte artist Carita Coultard, painting bush tucker that has been found across the nation’s central desert for millennia is a chance to celebrate the region’s bounty, but it also comes with an alarming message.<\/p>\n

Her watercolour work depicts different foods she remembers collecting as a child in Hermannsburg, about 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, which she laments “we don’t see around anymore”.<\/p>\n

As the artist describes each plant, offering their names in English and her first language \u2014 including “the bush onion (yalka), the bush potato (lutjia) and all these sultanas (kutjirra ntjirrka)” \u2014 she points the finger at the invasive weed, buffel grass, for wiping them from the landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Carita<\/p>\n

Carita Coultard says buffel grass has wiped out many of the plants that feature in her paintings. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

“I think about in childhood we used to just go around, walk around and get all these bush foods, but we can’t see it now,” Coultard said.<\/p>\n

“We don’t see them anymore around, especially around in the Alice area; like maybe way, way from town area, way up bush you might find some.<\/p>\n

“It’s so sad we can’t even see.<\/p>\n

“It’s just no good at all \u2014 buffel grass is everywhere growing.”<\/p>\n

A wet winter in the Alice Springs region has created prime conditions for buffel grass to flourish.<\/p>\n

The hardy, drought-resistant grass was declared a weed in the Northern Territory in 2024 and spreads easily, smothering native plants and fuelling fire.<\/p>\n

Introduced to control erosion and feed cattle in the 1960s, buffel grass spread from Central Australia and is now found in all states and territories except Tasmania and the ACT.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

Carita Coultard’s paintings are on display at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens from today. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

To highlight concern over the invasive weed, Coultard and a group of artists have created an exhibition that opened at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs today.<\/p>\n

The works have been painted on buffel paper handmade in the Many Hands art centre studio.<\/p>\n

“You can just cut it all down in pieces \u2026 just boil it all in a pot \u2026 we just leave it to soak down, get real fluffy \u2026 blend it and then put on the mesh and put it outside to let it dry,” Coultard said.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

The artworks are painted on material hand made from buffel grass. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

“The first lot was so rough. It was testing, trying to bring it smooth.<\/p>\n

“We don’t have a proper machine. We can just do what we can do here.”<\/p>\n

Buffel busting ahead of fire season<\/p>\n

In another part of Alice Springs, a group of volunteers are battling buffel along the Todd River.<\/p>\n

Its rampant run has sparked concerns of a big fire season, where excess fuel loads and predictions of a hot El Nino summer have residents on high alert.<\/p>\n

Landcare volunteer Steve Eldgridge says he has seen change over the past 20 years where “buffel grass has really started to take over and what we see now is almost a monoculture”.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben McIntyre and Steve Eldgridge have joined a weekly “buffel bust” to clear an area of more than 100 square metres near the centre of town. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

“Our aim is really to protect these huge \u2026 lovely big old red gums that grow along the Todd River,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously with so much grass growth underneath, they’re at real risk of fire and we just want to stop that happening.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen so many of these 300, 400-year-old trees burn down and we’re left with very few of them now.”<\/p>\n

Since May, a weekly “buffel bust” has seen volunteers clock around 150 hours to clear an area of about 5 hectares near the centre of town.<\/p>\n

Charles Darwin University professor Kamaljit Sangha co-authored an economic impact assessment commissioned by the NT government that looked at the cost and benefits of the spread of buffel using a model of the grass established in 1,000 hectares.<\/p>\n

“We looked more from societal perspective thinking whole of the society, including the pastoral sector, the conservation, tourism, public and the Indigenous sectors,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Declared a weed in the NT in 2024, the hardy, drought-resistant buffel grass spreads easily, smothers native plants and fuels fire. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

“We know that buffel grass has spread into other landscapes where it’s not wanted, so the costs are about 60 times higher than the benefits that accrue to the pastoral sector.”<\/p>\n

She said the results were conservative and a key recommendation included a coordinated approach to managing the weed.<\/p>\n

“The costs are going to be huge because there is no natural barrier for buffel not to spread to other places,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just the cost with the spread of buffel for biodiversity, the most important thing is the public costs for managing fire in the landscape.”<\/p>\n

Not yet a weed of national significance<\/p>\n

In response, NT Lands, Planning and Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne has written to the federal government seeking funding to support buffel management.<\/p>\n

But the federal government is in the final stages of assessing if buffel will be declared a weed of national significance.<\/p>\n

In late July, the National Biosecurity Committee found the invasive grass met the criteria but cited “a need to undertake further work”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The federal government is considering declaring buffel a weed of national significance. (ABC News: Emma Masters)<\/p>\n

A statement through Weeds Australia said consensus was not reached as: “Buffel grass presents a unique and complex case that requires further consideration. It is a highly valued pasture for the cattle industry. Conversely, buffel grass has significant negative impacts.”<\/p>\n

A committee working group has been holding stakeholder meetings in every affected state, but a meeting hasn’t been scheduled in the NT.<\/p>\n

The Department of Agriculture said the committee will refer to the Territory government’s buffel grass strategy and plan as it makes a final decision, which is expected by the end of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Western Arrernte artist Carita Coultard, painting bush tucker that has been found across the nation’s central desert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[24261,64,63,236758,453683,75,41196,453682,154256,2400,14160,128,453685,453684],"class_list":["post-883886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alice-springs","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-buffel-grass","tag-bush-tucker","tag-environment","tag-indigenous-art","tag-indigenous-bush-foods","tag-invasive-weed","tag-native-species","tag-plants","tag-science","tag-weed-of-national-significance","tag-western-arrernte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}