11
As it is impracticable to list all aerial photographic sorties flown in Australia spe-
cially for photo-interpretation, a limited list of examples will be quoted. The Bureau of
Mineral Resources has found panchromatic colour to be superior to black-and-white pan-
chromatic photography for lithological and structural interpretation near Cloncurry and
Alice Springs and has compared panchromatic and infra- red colour (false colour) films
covering.irrigated areas of Victoria. Black-and-white enlargements at 1:3128 are used by
the Department of Agriculture, New South Wales to obtain annual orchard planting statis-
tics of fruit and vines in the Murrumbidgee irrigation area. In South Australia, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture has used black-and-white panchromatic photographs in a census of
horticultural plantings in the Murray River irrigation areas and has compared large-scale
panchromatic and infra-red colour for identifying horticultural crops. In Western Australia,
vegetation mapping of the State is proceeding at a scale of 1:250 000. Compilation is from
black-and-white aerial photographs supplemented by botanical surveys in the field. The
State and University agricultural departments in Western Australia have investigated the
use of large-scale aerial photographs in the evaluation of selected rangeland sites (see
Carneggie et al., 1971), and have examined multi-band photography for the discrimination
of Septoria disease.
In Victoria, the Department of Agriculture in association with the School of Forestry,
University of Melbourne have carried out preliminary investigations using multi-band photo-
graphy in the detection of ‘barley yellow dwarf’ and ‘bare patch’ of cereals. In Queensland,
the Divisions of Plant Industry and Tropical Pastures, C.S.I.R.O., and several other
agencies are using panchromatic and infra-red colour transparencies and prints, in con-
junction with field traverses, to map virgin vegetation. Both film-filter combinations are
being used by the Woodland Ecology Unit, C.S.I.R.C., to follow detailed changes of
vegetation in semi-arid Queensland after the chemical killing of the woody species.
The Forestry and Timber Bureau of the Department of National Development is
examining the potential of colour photography for forest-type mapping and species identi-
fication in New South Wales and Queensland and has compiled a vegetation map of part of
Norfolk Island. In separate investigations, the Forestry and Timber Bureau and the School
of Forestry, Melbourne University, are using 70 mm photography in stocking counts of young
radiata pines and in studying the seasonal variation in the colour of eucalypt crowns.
The Commonwealth Bureau of Roads has investigated the role of multi-band photo-
graphy and significance of photographic scale in traffic studies. The Forests Department,
Western Australia, is comparing panchromatic and infra+ed black-and-white photography
and infra-red and panchromatic colour photography of an area of 9 000 ha of Jarrah forest
(Eucalyptus marginata). This is part of an overall programme to computer-map ecological
and edaphic information. Many organisations, including all forest departments and several
C.S.I.R.O. divisions have continued to use existing small-scale photogrammetric photo-
graphs in their field surveys. For example the Division of Geomechanics, C.S.I.R.O., has
used photographs, usually at a nominal scale of 1:84 000, in studying terrain for engineer-
ing purposes in several Australian States.
Dr. J. A. Howard
(References Overleaf)
