The arrival and distribution of buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) in Australia and its continuing spread in central Australia

Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) arrived in Australia when camels were imported for riding and to carry goods across the outback for explorers, surveyors, construction projects, mines and pastoral enterprises. Camel saddles were filled with plants from the cameleers’ countries of origin, buffel grass being amongst the species that were released when saddles were refilled. A widely cited origin story for the first point of arrival of the grass in Australia, in Wallal in Western Australia between 1870 and 1880, is not supported by contemporary evidence, nor is the account of where it was first collected for wider distribution. Buffel grass is likely to have arrived with camel imports into Port Augusta or Melbourne in the 1860s. Later importations of robust African cultivars are summarised before the consequences for central Australia are considered, as exemplifying the wider Australian experience. ‘Shot gun mixes’ of multiple cultivars in addition to locally naturalised varieties were distributed to 70 sites across the southern Northern Territory during the 1960s. Following major rainfalls in the mid-1970s, buffel grass spread extensively in the region and populations continued to expand with subsequent high rainfall events. Buffel grass was recognised as a significant environmental weed by the 1990s. It appears that hybridisation has occurred amongst introduced cultivars and locally naturalised varieties, and that the originally planted cultivars are now uncommon in the modern environment. As a consequence of multiple introductions and hybridisation, buffel grass is genetically highly variable and capable of adapting to new environments.