Paradise Down Under

This is an idea I've had in my head for a while but finally put some writing down on it in between my NBM writing.
I wanted to have Europeans reach Australia to discover a lush, jungle world, very similar to the Amazon and write an alternate history from there. The actual POD occurs very far in the past, but once it happens, Australia is the only area affected and the 'butterfly net' will apply until contact by Indonesians around 1100-1300. Though a larger butterfly net will apply for the rest of the world until European contact.

Please let me know if you all think this is a bit too ASB for a POD, as I know keeping humans off Australia may seem fairly implausible. But if enough people like the idea, then I'll carry on with it.

Anyway enough of that and now here is the first step in Paradise Down Under.


1. In The Beginning


55,000 BC [1]

Picture if you will, South East Asia as it was thousands of years ago. The level of oceans was far smaller and much of modern day Thailand and western Indonesia is linked into one large continental mass known as Sunda. Across from this New Guinea and Australia are linked to make the continent of Sahul. In between lie the rest of the Indonesian islands and a series of straits.
Groups of early human settlers have been migrating south east from India and are beginning to explore the seas and straits between the two continents. One of the earliest groups makes the long 90 mile sea journey to Sahul’s western coast, but intense storms batter the fleet of small ships, sinking most of them. The survivors make land, but only eke out an existence before all dying out. Another migration occurs, but is also hit with storms and the fleet is pushed north towards Sulawesi. These early humans give the ocean we know as the Timor Sea and Eastern Indian Ocean, the name Raging Waters. They tend to avoid it and migration is focused north and eastwards. Over time humans make it to western New Guinea, but they avoid travelling southwards. By the time they have expanded to any significant degree the last glacial period is coming to an end and the seas are rising.

6000 BC

The part of Sahul that would be Australia has remained unsettled by humans for a long time, except for a few small enclaves south of modern day Timor. The rising sea levels have been isolating the human settlements throughout South East Asia and by 6000 BC Australia’s land bridges to New Guinea have been severed. Australia remains an abundant land of lush flora and fauna. Vast plains of savannah and light woodlands make up much of the west, with flocks of giant kangaroos and thunder birds [2]. In the centre of the island continent is a vast jungle teeming with life. This jungle stretches from north to south and reaches all the way to modern day New South Wales. This jungle is teeming with life, giant wombats are hunted by marsupial lions, the Quinkana crocodile is the apex predator of the jungles, while massive snakes prey on the unwary
In the northeast are rock lands and heavy woods where the Varanus goanna claims a status as the largest predatory lizard at 7 metres. Koalas one third bigger than their modern cousins climb the trees and many other giant birds and reptiles exist. This is an Australia untouched by human hands, with a vast ecological eco-system and fauna which continues to flourish. The marsupial, birds and reptiles retain their immense size and Australia does not undergo desertification. Welcome to the southern continent that has remained untouched by human hands for millennia, welcome to Paradise Down Under.


[1] Around this time is when Australia is believed to have first been settled. A large part of the reason Australia is a desert is thought to be due to many of these settlers starting large forest fires for clearing land and moving game. This got out of control and destroyed the whole eco-system, resulting in most of Australia as a desert. In addition this also wiped out much of the mega fauna and mass extinctions of all kinds of plant and animal life. Since the goal of this TL is too have a lush Amazonian style Australia, the easiest way to do this is too restrict the human settlement of the continent.

[2] A large carnivorous, flightless bird, official classification Dromornis stirtoni. This bird was the biggest flightless bird that ever existed.
 
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Heres an image of what Sunda and Sahul would have looked like

Map_of_Sunda_and_Sahul.png
 
Keeping us humans out of Australia is more or less plausible (after all, there wasn't lot of contact between Asia and Australia after end of the last ice era). Maybe, it'd be easier to do if Australia was situated some 100 or 200 kilometers farther south, because with glacial period narrow straits between two continents (as in OTL) people would later or earlier stumble upon great Southland.
However, Australia (or even eastern half of it) as wet, lush jungle is almost certainly implausible. There is simply not enough rainfall (and too much sunshine) to sustain jungle/dense forest anywhere beyond Northern Queensland, south-east corner of the continent and (maybe) Perth's outskirts. It doesn't mean that your idea of Australian Paradise is implausible, though. Great unspoilt savannah with occasional islands of primeval jungle could be decent Paradise, too.
Overall, great idea, tukk123.
What do you plan to do with alt-Australia after development of ocean-worthy ships? No later than 17th century, the Europeans (and, quite possibly, even earlier, Indonesians) would discover Southern Paradise. Do you hope to preserve its unique ecosystem from plundering? Or you are planning to have them fight for Australia's riches?
 
Maybe if you move it a bit further south you can deflect a sliver of the circumpolar current northwards. That will serve several purposes:

It will increase the separation between Sunda and Sahul, helping to keep humans away.

The current will push boats and rafts northeast and away from Sahul. A fast current will make the crossing far more difficult.

Where the cold current hits the warm water between the two, you'll get unbelivably bad weather, fogs, and storms.

The cold current running nortwards will give up a lot of moisture that can be blown in over the continent, making it much wetter.
 
However, Australia (or even eastern half of it) as wet, lush jungle is almost certainly implausible. There is simply not enough rainfall (and too much sunshine) to sustain jungle/dense forest anywhere beyond Northern Queensland, south-east corner of the continent and (maybe) Perth's outskirts. It doesn't mean that your idea of Australian Paradise is implausible, though. Great unspoilt savannah with occasional islands of primeval jungle could be decent Paradise, too.
Overall, great idea, tukk123.

Seconded. "Paradise Australia" will be more grassland than jungle, and even then, significant swathes of desert will remain due to global weather patterns and the like. Still, if you bear these changes in mind, this could be a great TL.
 
Ok, so it seems that moving Australia south by a bit would be more helpful in ahcieving the result. There is some belief that the fire burnings disruopted the ecology of Australia so much that it prevented what could have been monsoon lke weather

From wikipedia

Australia's tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity a marked feature of a greater part of the continent. These cold waters produce precious little moisture needed on the mainland. A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers[1] investigated the desertification of the interior, and suggested that one explanation was related to human settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented monsoons from reaching interior Australia.

But its probably best for the purposes of this TL to move it further south. I was concerned about doing that, as this has a much greater impact on the world, but I'm wiliing to ignore it, if its makes a more plausible version of the Australia I have invisioned.

The POD will be the splitting of Gondwana and Australia drifts slightly further south then it did in OTL
 
Even if you do move it south, I'm still thinking savannahs. Also, Kangaroos can't exactly be well-suited for dense jungles, so if you want them, I'm thinking you'll really need savannahs (and savannahs are really good paradises).
 
2. First Contacts


300 BC
Moa Island
Torres Straits

Nadu scanned his boat and was pleased. He had gathered many of the strange, delicious fruit and was sure that everyone in the village and even the whole island would be pleased. This fruit was incredibly sweet and hopefully with what he had brought back he would be able to plant it in his village. He would much rather grow it at home than have to sail far south every time he wanted it. The land to the south was far bigger than his island home and covered in vibrant jungles. And while the fruit may have grown large and plentifully there were dangers as well.

He had nearly had his arm bitten off by a lizard almost as long as he was tall, when he was picking the fruit. It had slowly crept down the tree toward him and he had luckily seen it before it got too close. He had seen several other strange creatures in the jungle as well. The biggest snake had ever seen was curled around a large grey furred thing, which he couldn’t quite make out properly [1].

The pool of water he had been near had also attracted a large slumbering beast, which didn’t look like anything Nadu had ever seen before in his life. He was careful not too disturb it, as despite its gentle looking nature, it was easily big enough to charge him down if it was angered. He watched it take its water and then it lumbered off into the trees. The way it ploughed through them, left little doubt in his mind that he was smart to leave it well enough alone [2]. But if he had been there with a group of hunters from his village, they could have possibly killed it. That could wait for another time. Others from his village would want to visit the land to the south when they heard about it from him, but he would do his best to warn them that it was a land that belonged to nature. It would be best for his people to take what useful plants they could and try to make them grow in their land to supplement the farming they already had.


26 February 1606
Zeeland River [Pennefather River, Queensland]

Willem Janszoon was impressed with what he had seen so far. Wet jungles hugged most of the coastline had come across so far, but penetrating in south west, had revealed plains of savannah, much like central Africa. Janszoon was almost ready to believe that this was the legendary Terre Australis that so many explorers had searched for without success. But he was sure that this place was connected to New Guinea. The jungles were so similar, even much of the animal life was new. His scientific officer had nearly passed out from exhaustion, since he had neither eaten nor slept, too busy cataloguing and writing all the different creatures he witnessed.

But Janszoon couldn’t help feel as if he was disturbing something he shouldn’t be. His men had found no evidence of any human settlement whatsoever, not even tribal savages. If this land was devoid of humans, then it was free for the taking. And from what he had seen so far, it would indeed be a rich prize to take and the Dutch East India Company would be sending many more ships here. Still he would continue mapping the northern coast further east and search for signs of any native tribes. If there were none it would mean the company would have to start right from scratch. They would have to find the wealth, minerals and resources themselves rather than via trade and it would take longer to develop.
He had already identified some potential things that could be useful. The feathers of the large birds on the savannah could be traded. They were larger and brighter in colour than any other bird he had seen. If his men could capture one, that would be even more useful, but he wasn’t sure he fancied keeping it alive on the ship long enough to get back to Banda. They ideal thing would be if they could find gold or silver. If he could find that, then with a land of empty of humans, the company would be able to mine the area completely unrestrictedly. He called over the captains of his ships, to order their men to start looking for any rich mineral deposits in the any of the rivers.
[3]


[1] The snake was eating a giant koala.

[2] Nadu has seen a Diprotodon, or Rhinoceros Wombat.

[3] This is the POD from a European point of view. Janszoon lost men to the Aborigines and decided that the land was too swampy and infertile. The land here gives him a very different impression.
 
I think that if northern Australia was lush and fertile it would be colonised by Asians during the bronze age.
 
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