By Emily O’Gorman
Available now: http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/21/pid/6650.htm
Flood Country examines changing understandings of the rivers, floods and floodplains of the Murray-Darling Basin since 1850. It examines many tensions, ranging from early exchanges between Aboriginal people and settlers about the dangers of floods, through to long running disputes between graziers and irrigators over damming floodwater, and conflicts between residents and colonial governments over whose responsibility it was to protect townships from floods.
Flood Country draws on the author’s doctoral research, undertaken in the School of History at the Australian National University. The final stages of research and writing were carried out at Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research at the University of Wollongong as part of a postdoctoral candidacy. Flood Country is available now from CSIRO Publishing.
Emily O’Gorman is an Associate Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research at the University of Wollongong.