Herbert Demarz In Pindan Country, Dampierland, Western Australia.

Summary

Book caption: Dampierland or the West Kimberley is a low-lying region covered largely with sandy plains or alluvial river plains deposited by the Lennard and Fitzroy Rivers. The sandy plains which make up most of the western part of Dampierland are typically covered with an unusual formation known locally as pindan. Like the sandplains of the southwest it is frequently burnt, but there the resemblance ends. Pindan is 3-layered. When mature as shown here, it consists of a dense layer of wattles 5-6 m tall engulfing a number of scattered small trees of Eucalyptus setosa, Gyrocarpus americanus and others, and suppressing a ground layer of soft and curly spinifex (Triodia pungens, Plectrachne pungens). Periodic fire destroys the wattle layer, after which the pindan has the aspect of a tropical savanna, but gradually the wattles regenerate and a return is made to the previous aspect.