More than half a century ago, workers left behind two potted cacti on an outback sheep station.
It should have been a harmless mistake.
But those cacti became ground zero for what is now a sprawling infestation choking up grazing country and infiltrating waterways.
Peter Whip co-owns the property, Leander, now a cattle and goat station, outside Longreach in western Queensland.
He said it was like an “atomic bomb of weed” had taken over the landscape.
“It went from that one pot plant like 60 years ago to now being over potentially 100,000 acres [40,000 hectares],”
he said.
“On the southern side, there’s another cactus, jumping cholla, both equally as nasty.”
Peter Whip is concerned the cacti will spread through waterways into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in SA. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)
Prolific spreaders
Leander is the epicentre of a decades-long struggle to contain just two species: the jumping cholla and coral cactus.
Both non-native types of cacti are categorised as restricted invasive plants under the Biosecurity Act 2014.
In Queensland, it’s illegal to sell invasive cacti online, in markets, or nurseries.
They can damage the region’s biodiversity, harm animals and take over pastures for feeding stock.
Cacti are spreading rapidly across part of outback Queensland. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)
Now a team of landholders, conservation groups, and the local council is working to bring the cacti under control before the plants reach Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre waterways in South Australia.
They are backed by $166,900 of state government funding.
“It spreads prolifically, that’s the drama,”
Mr Whip said.
“Animals spread that cactus, it came up through Dingo Creek originally.
“If we can’t stop the spread of it in the Darr and the Thomson [rivers] it’ll be all the way to Lake Eyre in South Australia.”
A prickly problem
How do you control a plant that spreads so easily?
Contractor Chris Woodfield said it involved “a lot of long days”.
“Mark your paddocks out in sections and concentrate on one section at a time to get a good coverage of it,” he said.
It’s a gruelling task. Mr Woodfield hand sprays individual clumps with a water-based chemical from a four-wheeler.
Chris Woodfield has spent his days driving his four-wheeler around Leander spraying cacti. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)
He covers more than 400 hectares a day, out of Leander’s 11,000 hectares.
“It can be as big as a pinhead to bloody half the size of a car,”
Mr Woodfield said.
The spraying is by hand because an aerial load wouldn’t cover each plant thoroughly enough.
“It spreads from nodules hooking onto kangaroos, animals, vehicles, all sorts of things,” Mr Whip said.
“A bloody prickly little bugger,” Mr Woodfield agreed.
They also use a cactus-eating insect, the cochineal bug, which has been moderately successful at keeping infestations at bay.
Coral cactus is a restricted invasive species according to the Biosecurity Act 2014. (Supplied: Georgia Whip)
Mr Whip said while they were using the bugs on clusters, spraying was also necessary.
“What we’ve learned is the problem is way bigger than we thought,”
he said.
Challenge for the owners
Mr Whip’s son Toby is also part-owner of Leander with his wife Georgia and they are raising their two children on the property.
“It started from a plant across the road on a camp and ended up washing down the river, and now our place and the Darr and all surrounding properties are full of it,” Toby Whip said.
They have already had cows turn up with bits of cactus lodged in their bodies and worry their working dogs will get injured.
“You hear stories about people who have lost their entire farms to cactus,” Georgia Whip said.
Georgia and Toby Whip took over Leander 18 months ago. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)
“On a lot of western-themed things there are cactuses — I can’t bring myself to wear or buy it.”
Despite the scale of the project, the Whips are eager to tackle the thorny challenge.
“It’s a great place to be, it’s worth fighting for,”
Mrs Whip said.
A message for cactus lovers
Leander is a cautionary tale about the impact of one poorly placed cactus.
It has led to renewed calls for education about a plant often spruiked as a beginner-friendly, low-management option at nurseries.
Elizabeth “Thumper” Clark owned the Leander property for 40 years with husband Peter.
Peter and Elizabeth “Thumper” Clark moved to Leander in 1978. (ABC Western Qld: Grace Nakamura)
“Don’t bury it, give it to someone who can destroy it by fire or poison,”
she said.
The avid gardener said she and Peter had spent $750,000 of their own money trying to control the outbreak, from spraying with diesel to rallying their neighbours for “land care days” or “cactus killing days”.
The Clarks used to hold “land care” days on Leander when people would come and help control the cactus. (Supplied: Elizabeth Clark)
To this day, cactus still makes her “hair stand on end”.
She recalled she once skewered a cactus on a meat hook in the shed in a “fit of rage” and forgot about it, then rediscovered it seven years later still alive.
“You could make a nightmare film out of it,”
she said.
Leander’s past and present landowners are urging cactus owners to hand their plants in to the local council or conservation group, rather than throw them in the dump.
