Albert Morris

Albert Morris, environmentalist, metallurgist and self-taught botanist, was born in South Australia in 1886. He was a pioneer of desert regeneration and was the creator of ‘The Greening of the Hill’. With his wife Margaret, Albert established native flora and fauna reserves around Broken Hill that reduced the impact of mining, pastoralism and deforestation. 

Albert Morris grew up witnessing the proliferation of new mining leases, along with the devastation of his beloved desert landscape and the extinction of wildlife: the disappearance of Old Man saltbush, the hardy native ground cover that desert rodents feed on, and the felling of the mulga trees and Red River Gum which provided food for bees, butterflies, possums, flying foxes and birds. He was distressed by the hunting and poisoning of the wedge-tailed eagle, which was known to occasionally kill lambs. By 1900 the natural ecosystem of the desert plains west of the Darling, including Broken Hill, was under strain from grazing and the introduction of non-native foxes and rabbits. 

These ecological changes led to catastrophic dust storms. In 1920 Albert and Margaret Morris established the Barrier Fields Naturalists’ Club. The members collected and propagated seeds that would benefit the regeneration of the city.  

In the mid-1930s, mining giant the Zinc Corporation Limited partnered with Albert and Margaret to create a regeneration reserve by the planting of native trees and flora in a fenced-off zone around the new Zinc Corporation site to the north-east of the city. The success of this venture resulted in the formation of a regeneration area that now encircles Broken Hill and has significantly improved the environmental wellbeing of the city.  

Albert Morris did not enjoy good health and died young at the age of 54. Margaret, just as driven and hardworking, continued his work with the Barrier Field Naturalists’ Club. Broken Hill would not be what it is today without their passion and vision, and their dedication to the city. 

Audio transcript available.