Magnus Redin, despite his impressive resume, stammered a bit and was obviously uncomfortable in briefing Kristiana. Kristiana reacted by trying to put him at ease with the suggestion that they just have a conversation about Tasmania instead of a boring, formal briefing.
She started out with "I was told that you lead two of the three expeditions into the interior of Tasmania".
Yes. Two of the three in the last twenty years. There were several others in the last 200 years.
How many people did you have ?
Eight the first time, twelve the second time.
Did they all return safely ?
Erik Johansen broke a leg and had to be carried out in the second expedition. We all got scrapes and rat bites or cat scratches. Those critters are pretty aggressive at times.
I know that you have no pets in the South, but did you visit cats and rats in the Antarctic zoo before you left. Were the ones in Tasmania any different ?
Very ! They are bigger and I guess you could say rougher. No one feeds them like they do in the zoo.
Do you see any human Tasmanians ?
Only in the distance. They run when they see us coming. We looked around some of their old campsites - not much there.
Are there many trees in Tasmania ? (Knowing the answer).
No Kristiana. We were told that they cut most of them down to sell for money when they ran out of coal and metals to sell. Australia could not feed itself even before the Great Hunger so they sold stuff to get stuff - and that included buying food.
Then, the historians told us, during the Great Hunger, many Australians came to Tasmania and tried to raise more food - and cut down more trees. And they killed and ate every cow, sheep and dog. Everything bigger than a cat was eaten. And lots of birds too.
The insects got out of control - and so did the rats. New trees could not grow, the seeds and shoots were eaten. And without enough trees, the rats ate the young birds. And without enough birds, the insects ate everything, including the crops. The Ozies kept chopping down trees though for fires and weapons. They all pretty much killed and ate each other. Not the only land to do so.
Today, the grass is short because the insects eat it. Lizards and other insects eat most of the insects and the rats eat some. The rats eat mainly insects and any edible vegetation left over plus some lizards. The cats eat the rats & lizards and the humans left eat the rats and the cats and lizards too if they are hungry.
Not many birds left. We hardly ever saw one fly by.
We found a nesting place on a cliff where rats and cats could not get to the birds, but we counted only 62 nests there. That was all that could fit.
What type of birds ?
Birds that ate rats, small cats and lizards. They seem to have also eaten the birds that eat insects - or just beat them out for the nesting places.
How did this compare to pictures of the Old World Tasmania ?
Night and Day ! A few times we were able to compare Old World pictures with what we saw on our expedition. The mountains and cliffs are still there - but little else. It must have been a Garden of Heaven before ! Today, I much prefer our forests of Antarctica. It is a rough and tough land in Tasmania today - insects crawling everywhere into everything - hard to survive.
What do we know about the Tasmanian aborigines ?
We have been visiting Tasmania for about 200 years. By all accounts there were more humans there when we first visited. They still had dugout canoes made from big trees back then and even villages that they would live in for a season. A station we had set up did some trading with them. Old doctors reports said that they suffered from vitamin deficiencies, particularly Vitamin C, even back then. The rats and insects seemed to get to the sources of Vitamin C before the aborigines did.
But even back then, nothing could be planted because the rats and insects would get it first.
So, are the humans dying out ?
We cannot be sure, there is simply not enough data to reach a conclusion. But yes, personally, I think that the Tasmanians are slowly dying out. Perhaps the last one in another hundred years - who knows ?
Could we settle Tasmania ?
I have thought about that quite a bit.
We could found a settlement if we imported all the food except fish - and cats and rats. The key to growing food appears to be bringing back large numbers of insect eating birds.
There are more than enough insects for them to eat. They just need safe nesting areas and safety from the few meat eating birds on Tasmania.
I might set up a settlement around an old hydroelectric plant, rehabilitate it and use the energy for power intensive industry. Aluminum smelting or something. Put up an electric fence around the perimeter to limit the cats and rats that can get in. At the same time, set up platforms for insect eating birds to nest in and import some.
If meat eating birds bother them, then reduce their numbers near the settlement. Meat eating birds have enough cats and rats, so they may not bother insect eating birds.
Plant trees if we can feed the trees a poison that will keep insects from eating their leaves but not harm us or birds. I read about some such poisons in the Old World. Then grow trees for insect eating birds to live and nest in.
Slowly, over many years, perhaps half a century, we could create several hundred square kilometers where crops could be grown. The land is fertile enough in spots, and wet enough and mild enough for many types of Old World crops. But it will take a great sustained effort to do this.
Tasmania does not seem to have so many of the Old World poisons that cause birth defects and sterility in people. The Old World records we have show that no nuclear reactors were ever built on Tasmania. So the great effort may be worthwhile.
Some day in the future, Antarctica may start to freeze again. Tasmania could be our refuge. Tasmania also offers a base for trading in both the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.
"So you think that it is worth making the effort to settle Tasmania ?"
"Worth" implies value, as well as costs. What are our values - what do we value ?
We have land and ecosystems enough for at least another million citizens in East Antarctica, and more in West Antarctica. So we do not hunger for land today and will not tomorrow.
Sometime, perhaps in the next thousand years, all of the winter snows will not melt in a cool summer, and the glaciers will start returning. Then we shall need a new home. But Tasmania is too small for that unless we shrink our population significantly.
Tasmania would allow us to grow more Old World crops - but is that better than trading for them with the Zealanders ?
Tasmania would be a good base, just above the wild Southern Ocean, for trade into the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
The citizens that migrate to Tasmania will, in time, become another people. Do we want, is it wise, to add a "T" to US&A ? And will they even chose to stay in our Union ?
She was surprised at the astuteness of Magnus's geo-political analysis. Which made his next question even more startlingly.
"Pardon me, Ms. President, but why would we want to talk to all of those. Alien Monsters ?"
I mean, it will be half a lifetime between one question and one answer - and they are nothing like us AT ALL. I get shivers every time I think of them. And who knows what wired ideas they will force into our heads!
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