'I put the juicy bits in there too': Uncovering the past in new book

That's just one of the fascinating pieces of history uncovered in a new booklet that shines a light on what Warrnambool's landscape was like before Europeans arrived.

Professor Rob Wallis' Natural History in the 19^th Century was produced with the help of the Warrnambool and District Historical Society and looks at the region's early natural history.

"I've had a long interest in nature," he said.

Professor Wallis was the president of the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria which was first started in 1880 - the oldest continuing conservation organisation in Australia.

He has been president of the Warrnambool group for 12 years and since he semi-retired he has been delving into the region's history.

The change in attitudes over the years has stood out, he said.

"Originally the zoological society was called the acclimatisation society and was all about introducing animals from Europe and releasing them here," Professor Wallis said.

"So when Thomas Austin finally succeeded in releasing his rabbits, he was appalled that people had the temerity to go and shoot them to eat.

"So he convinced the government to put a five-pound fine on them."

That equates to more than $1000 in today's dollars.

He said it wasn't until landowner Niel Black complained to the government about how rabbits were overrunning Noorat in the 1870s that the government decided to do something about controlling what had by then become a pest.

"There was no control. Foxes hadn't been introduced then. They didn't come in until about 1880. They just ran rife," Professor Wallis said.

There were newspaper reports about sparrows being released and bred in Warrnambool, and there was a five pound fine for killing them too.

Professor Wallis said some of those early naturalists had no reference material to work on and yet they were remarkable in the work they did and what they discovered.

One of those was Warrnambool's Henry Watts who collected diatoms - tiny little microscopic algae - from the Hopkins River mouth, Stingray Bay and Lady Bay. He sent them to England in 1859 along with a letter asking for them to be identified.

The diatoms turned up years later and, after being auctioned in London the 1970s made their way back to Australia. But it was only recently they were rediscovered in Warrnambool.

"We're now analysing them 170 years later to see if the fauna has changed - and it looks like it has," Professor Wallis said.

Mr Watts was dubbed the father of Victorian phycology which is the study of algae.

"A very famous man," Professor Wallis said.

But it's not just his work with nature that Professor Wallis has written about, it's his private life as well.

"I put the juicy bits in there too," he said.

"He became bankrupt. He was a shoemaker and had a shop in Liebig Street. (He) gave that up and then he made perfume with flowers but he couldn't support his wife and kids and was threatened with jail so he fled to Sydney."

But Mr Watts eventually returned to society and became a very eminent member of the field naturalists in Melbourne.

Copies of Professor Wallis' booklet are available at History House or by emailing the historical society on: warrnamboolhistoricalsociety@hotmail.com.