tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/sydney-546/articles
Sydney – The Conversation
2024-03-20T00:50:29Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225895
2024-03-20T00:50:29Z
2024-03-20T00:50:29Z
Squatting, kidnapping and collaboration: Australia’s first women’s shelters were acts of radical grassroots feminism
<p>50 years ago, there wasn’t a single women’s shelter in Australia. </p>
<p>Then feminists squatted two terraces in Sydney, opening “Elsie”, Australia’s first domestic and family violence refuge. </p>
<p>Commissioned by Elsie co-founder Anne Summers, I’ve recorded oral histories with the women who built and sustained Australia’s refuge movement.</p>
<p>Australia’s refuge movement is a story of courageous grassroots feminist activism.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-whitlam-government-gave-us-no-fault-divorce-womens-refuges-and-childcare-australia-needs-another-feminist-revolution-202238">The Whitlam government gave us no-fault divorce, women's refuges and childcare. Australia needs another feminist revolution</a>
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<h2>Choose to act</h2>
<p>In the 1970s in Australia, there was nowhere for women experiencing male violence at home to go. </p>
<p>One night almost exactly 50 years ago, around 40 women’s liberation activists changed that, claiming squatters’ rights over two derelict Glebe terraces. They broke a window, changed the locks and turned on the gas and water, opening “Elsie”, Australia’s first women’s refuge.</p>
<p>As Elsie worker Ludo McFerran explained, Elsie’s mission was a “space for women, run by women”, which the residents would control. Elsie did not offer “charity”, the founders aimed at “change”, and therefore refuges would one day become obsolete.</p>
<p>Cooma, Kamilaroi woman Mary Ronyane, who today manages Wilcannia Safe House, proposed that Elsie was created because, when together women draw from their strength, they can “make a choice”. They chose to act.</p>
<p>McFerran described the refuge work as “highly vulnerable”. At the beginning, the work was entirely voluntary, and refuge work never proved a lucrative career.</p>
<p>The activists sacrificed all their time, energy, health and often their safety. In the “wild west”, as McFerran described it, perpetrators would “regularly turn up, threaten to burn the house down and kill everyone inside.” </p>
<p>There was no legal protection for residents or workers, so when perpetrators failed to return children after visits, workers would “go and try find them” and where possible “grab the kids back and make a run for it.”</p>
<p>Desperately trying to cover the operating costs, some of the workers started dealing marijuana to pay for necessities. Sydney’s artists and intellectuals started seeking out “Elsie Pot”. </p>
<p>With an intention to secure funding, the activists started encouraging various government ministers to come and see the conditions Elsie’s residents were enduring. Founder Christina Gibbeson told me how she kidnapped Doug Everingham, the minister for health at the time. She forced her way into a car carrying Everingham and instructed his driver to take them to Elsie. She mused:</p>
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<p>“I would’ve gone to jail for it today, I suppose.”</p>
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<h2>Ceding power and privilege</h2>
<p>Australia’s early refuges operated collectively. Everyone was obliged to scrub bathrooms and care for resident children. Decisions took time and often went to a vote. Former resident and worker, Bundjalung woman Christine Robinson, believes “at Elsie, we all had a say and a voice.” </p>
<p>The founders recognised residents’ insights and skills that came with their life experience. In 1980, six years after Marrickville refuge opened, the refuge’s residents informed staff that it was time for them to leave and let them take the reins, and they did.</p>
<p>The activists wanted liberation for all women, not just those who looked like them. Women’s Halfway House worker Di Otto noted that they viewed the refuge “as a site in which they could make contact with women outside of [their] circles […] and work towards a collective and inclusive liberation.”</p>
<p>Vivien Johnson shared:</p>
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<p>[…] [us] middle class white women were consistently confronted by our class prejudices [and] with the racism we held towards the women with whom we claimed to be equal with.</p>
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<p>Christine Robinson believes Australia’s refuge movement “valued diversity.”
She explained that Elsie’s staff all learned how to sit with, and learn from, fellow feminists calling out their racism.</p>
<p>Robinson explained at Elsie, she and fellow Aboriginal leaders had a platform to culturally educate their non-First Nations colleagues, whom she described as a “captive audience”, “trying” to get it right. </p>
<h2>Space for activism</h2>
<p>Elsie’s founders sought to cultivate an environment in which residents could build confidence and reclaim control over their lives. In 1975, Bobbie Townsend, a working-class woman, arrived at Elsie with two children.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small, brown terrace house with two pillars and a screen door" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582446/original/file-20240318-22-m91mul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The original Elsie Refuge, before it relocated, as taken in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(1)Elsie-2.jpg">Sardaka/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Townsend believes the late night discussions at Elsie’s dinner table “saved her”, and shared:</p>
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<p>[…] for 26 years nobody had asked me what I thought about anything […] The first time someone asked me in a collective meeting what I thought, I didn’t know what to say […] Elsie was about taking control.</p>
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<p>Robinson, like Townsend, also a resident turned staff member, reflected that “Elsie gave women power to make decisions for themselves.”</p>
<h2>Today, there is nothing quite like Elsie</h2>
<p>The founders all described an atmosphere of hope. Under Whitlam, things were possible. </p>
<p>McFerran explained that today, tendering practices have forced out community-run refuges. Run by Christian, centralised institutions, few refuges observe the grassroots collectivist principles that animated the movement’s early years. </p>
<p>While Elsie still opens its doors to victim-survivors today, it is run by St Vincent de Paul.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma McNicol does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
50 years ago, the first shelter for women experiencing domestic violence was established in Sydney. It’s opening was far from a ribbon-cutting affair, but it’s legacy is long and powerful.
Emma McNicol, Research Fellow at Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220044
2023-12-18T16:17:12Z
2023-12-18T16:17:12Z
A new supercomputer aims to closely mimic the human brain — it could help unlock the secrets of the mind and advance AI
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566252/original/file-20231218-15-hajmbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C9%2C6470%2C3940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-touching-digital-human-brain-cell-582507070">Sdecoret / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A supercomputer scheduled to go online in April 2024 will rival the estimated rate of operations in the human brain, <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/world_first_supercomputer_capable_of_brain-scale_simulation_being_built_at_western_sydney_university">according to researchers in Australia</a>. The machine, called DeepSouth, is capable of performing 228 trillion operations per second. </p>
<p>It’s the world’s first supercomputer capable of simulating networks of neurons and synapses (key biological structures that make up our nervous system) at the scale of the human brain.</p>
<p>DeepSouth belongs to an approach <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-021-00184-y">known as neuromorphic computing</a>, which aims to mimic the biological processes of the human brain. It will be run from the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems at Western Sydney University.</p>
<p>Our brain is the most amazing computing machine we know. By distributing its
computing power to billions of small units (neurons) that interact through trillions of connections (synapses), the brain can rival the most powerful supercomputers in the world, while requiring only the same power used by a fridge lamp bulb.</p>
<p>Supercomputers, meanwhile, generally take up lots of space and need large amounts of electrical power to run. The world’s most powerful supercomputer, the <a href="https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/compute/hpc/cray/oak-ridge-national-laboratory.html">Hewlett Packard Enterprise Frontier</a>, can perform just over one quintillion operations per second. It covers 680 square metres (7,300 sq ft) and requires 22.7 megawatts (MW) to run. </p>
<p>Our brains can perform the same number of operations per second with just 20 watts of power, while weighing just 1.3kg-1.4kg. Among other things, neuromorphic computing aims to unlock the secrets of this amazing efficiency.</p>
<h2>Transistors at the limits</h2>
<p>On June 30 1945, the mathematician and physicist <a href="https://www.ias.edu/von-neumann">John von Neumann</a> described the design of a new machine, the <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/194089">Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (Edvac)</a>. This effectively defined the modern electronic computer as we know it. </p>
<p>My smartphone, the laptop I am using to write this article and the most powerful supercomputer in the world all share the same fundamental structure introduced by von Neumann almost 80 years ago. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/von-neumann-architecture">These all have distinct processing and memory units</a>, where data and instructions are stored in the memory and computed by a processor.</p>
<p>For decades, the number of transistors on a microchip doubled approximately every two years, <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/591665">an observation known as Moore’s Law</a>. This allowed us to have smaller and cheaper computers. </p>
<p>However, transistor sizes are now approaching the atomic scale. At these tiny sizes, excessive heat generation is a problem, as is a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which interferes with the functioning of the transistors. <a href="https://qz.com/852770/theres-a-limit-to-how-small-we-can-make-transistors-but-the-solution-is-photonic-chips#:%7E:text=They're%20made%20of%20silicon,we%20can%20make%20a%20transistor.">This is slowing down</a> and will eventually halt transistor miniaturisation.</p>
<p>To overcome this issue, scientists are exploring new approaches to
computing, starting from the powerful computer we all have hidden in our heads, the human brain. Our brains do not work according to John von Neumann’s model of the computer. They don’t have separate computing and memory areas. </p>
<p>They instead work by connecting billions of nerve cells that communicate information in the form of electrical impulses. Information can be passed from <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/brain/brain-physiology/action-potentials-and-synapses">one neuron to the next through a junction called a synapse</a>. The organisation of neurons and synapses in the brain is flexible, scalable and efficient. </p>
<p>So in the brain – and unlike in a computer – memory and computation are governed by the same neurons and synapses. Since the late 1980s, scientists have been studying this model with the intention of importing it to computing.</p>
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<img alt="Microchip." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The continuing miniaturisation of transistors on microchips is limited by the laws of physics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-presentation-new-generation-microchip-gloved-691548583">Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Imitation of life</h2>
<p>Neuromorphic computers are based on intricate networks of simple, elementary processors (which act like the brain’s neurons and synapses). The main advantage of this is that these machines <a href="https://www.electronicsworld.co.uk/advances-in-parallel-processing-with-neuromorphic-analogue-chip-implementations/34337/">are inherently “parallel”</a>. </p>
<p>This means that, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.95.3.933">as with neurons and synapses</a>, virtually all the processors in a computer can potentially be operating simultaneously, communicating in tandem.</p>
<p>In addition, because the computations performed by individual neurons and synapses are very simple compared with traditional computers, the energy consumption is orders of magnitude smaller. Although neurons are sometimes thought of as processing units, and synapses as memory units, they contribute to both processing and storage. In other words, data is already located where the computation requires it.</p>
<p>This speeds up the brain’s computing in general because there is no separation between memory and processor, which in classical (von Neumann) machines causes a slowdown. But it also avoids the need to perform a specific task of accessing data from a main memory component, as happens in conventional computing systems and consumes a considerable amount of energy. </p>
<p>The principles we have just described are the main inspiration for DeepSouth. This is not the only neuromorphic system currently active. It is worth mentioning the <a href="https://www.humanbrainproject.eu">Human Brain Project (HBP)</a>, funded under an <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/content/fet-flagships.html">EU initiative</a>. The HBP was operational from 2013 to 2023, and led to BrainScaleS, a machine located in Heidelberg, in Germany, that emulates the way that neurons and synapses work. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/science-development/focus-areas/neuromorphic-computing/hardware/">BrainScaleS</a> can simulate the way that neurons “spike”, the way that an electrical impulse travels along a neuron in our brains. This would make BrainScaleS an ideal candidate to investigate the mechanics of cognitive processes and, in future, mechanisms underlying serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
<p>Because they are engineered to mimic actual brains, neuromorphic computers could be the beginning of a turning point. Offering sustainable and affordable computing power and allowing researchers to evaluate models of neurological systems, they are an ideal platform for a range of applications. They have the potential to both advance our understanding of the brain and offer new approaches to artificial intelligence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Domenico Vicinanza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Neuromorphic computers aim to one day replicate the amazing efficiency of the brain.
Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217544
2023-12-13T02:27:15Z
2023-12-13T02:27:15Z
Brio, style and close reading: a collection of essays celebrates a remarkable publication
<p><a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/sydney-review-of-books-critic-swallows-book/">Critic Swallows Book</a> collects 22 diverse essays from the <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com">Sydney Review of Books</a> (SRB) to celebrate its ten-year anniversary. Established in 2013, the SRB is devoted to long form criticism and is an open access, online-only publication.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2146774/catriona-menzies-pike/">Catriona Menzies-Pike</a>, who edited the SRB from 2015 to 2023, (and is the editor of this collection) argues this has contributed to the SRB’s unique character, allowing for more experimentation with the subjects and forms of reviewing. </p>
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<p><em>Review: Critic Swallows Book: Ten Years of the Sydney Review of Books – ed. Catriona Menzies-Pike (Giramondo)</em></p>
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<p>Short form reviews are a vital part of the promotional life cycle of books. The place of longer review essays is less clear. They often emerge months after their subjects are first published. They may be best enjoyed after audiences have already read the book, or even serve as a substitute for reading it at all. The greater space and freedom the SRB allows its reviewers encourages diverse, thoughtful readings and this anniversary volume features a wide range of writing. </p>
<p>The collection begins and ends with powerful pieces of cultural criticism by Aboriginal writers. Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann’s essay from 2016 demonstrates how the abuse, imprisonment and denial of history and identity suffered by Australia’s Indigenous people can be understood as a campaign of terrorism. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ali-cobby-eckermanns-she-is-the-earth-is-unlike-any-other-book-in-australian-literature-206087">Ali Cobby Eckermann's She is the Earth is unlike any other book in Australian literature</a>
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<p>Paola Balla’s brief meditation on the environmental impact of colonialism was written during the bushfires of early 2020. It closes the collection with a haunting coda that wrestles with the prospect of a different kind of erasure. </p>
<p>The SRB’s excellent series of writings on place are represented by the late Ross Gibson’s Flowcharts and Suneeta Peres da Costa’s A Home in Ananda and the World. These essays touch upon the colonial and more contemporary histories of the Sydney suburbs of Alexandria and Annandale respectively. They also reflect on the authors’ personal connections and associations within those spaces. </p>
<p>Ben Etherington’s series of <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/project/critic-watch/">Critic Watch</a> features, which examine issues and trends in Australian literary criticism, have been a consistent highlight of the SRB. The collection includes his 2020 essay The Living and the Undead, which compares the public responses to the passing of poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Murray_(poet)">Les Murray</a> and writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudrooroo">Mudrooroo</a> (born Colin Johnson), who died within months of each other in 2019. </p>
<p>Etherington argues that the generally warm and celebratory memorialisation of Murray – and even some of the more critical assessments of his legacy – reaffirm both his position in the national canon, and the literary personality that he cultivated. His work and character are now fixed in public memory. </p>
<p>He compares this with the absence of almost any notice of Mudrooroo’s passing. Once a writer of considerable fame and influence, Mudrooroo is now principally remembered for the controversy surrounding his <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2015&context=kunapipi">disputed claim</a> to Aboriginal descent. Etherington explores how this reduces Mudrooroo’s diverse writing to the subject of historical study. Murray’s “living” corpus can still be appreciated and contested on its own terms, but Mudrooroo’s work has been rendered strangely “undead”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-his-last-poems-les-murray-offers-a-gentle-gracious-bow-of-farewell-and-just-a-few-barbs-176535">In his last poems, Les Murray offers a gentle, gracious bow of farewell, and just a few barbs</a>
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<p>The remaining essays focus on the core business of the SRB: reviewing books. The chosen authors often use the form of the review essay to explore their subjects within in broader cultural and literary contexts. They also tend to reflect on unexpected associations evoked by the text, or upon the experience of reading itself, in ways that give each critical piece a very personal voice. </p>
<p>For example, the 2016 essay Expert Textpert by James Ley (now an editor at The Conversation but not involved with this article), moves from an extended anecdote about the author being belligerently challenged to explain the “use” of literature as a young man, to a consideration of three books about reading and criticism. Ley’s memory of an aggravating encounter is used to illustrate the difficulty of making a case for the value of serious and thoughtful reading in a “flattened” contemporary world that is increasingly focused on immediate benefits. </p>
<p>Other critics in the collection showcase the wide range of approaches that can be taken to the task of reviewing. In Verisimilitude, Melinda Harvey discusses Rachel Cusk’s writings by replicating the technique of Cusk’s <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/series/outlinetrilogy">Outline trilogy</a> of novels. Harvey’s essay is delivered through a series of remembered conversations, which tease out recurrent themes and resonances in Cusk’s work. </p>
<p>Other highlights, for me, were Jeanine Leane’s rigorous reading of Evelyn Araluen’s 2021 poetry collection <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/dropbear">DropBear</a>, Tom Clark’s exploration of JRR Tolkien’s extended afterlife and Oliver Reeson’s review of Yves Rees’ 2021 memoir <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Yves-Rees-All-About-Yves-9781760879310/">All About Yves: notes from a transition</a>. It was also nice to see Ivor Indyk’s 2013 essay on Murray Bail included as a reminder of high standard of writing and criticism established in the first few months of the SRB. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-30-years-after-mabo-what-do-australias-battler-stories-and-their-evasions-say-about-who-we-are-187110">Friday essay: 30 years after Mabo, what do Australia's battler stories – and their evasions – say about who we are?</a>
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<p>It is worth mentioning Menzies-Pike’s own essay in this collection, from which it takes its title. She offers a strikingly critical assessment of Trent Dalton’s literary bestsellers <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460757765/boy-swallows-universe/">Boy Swallows Universe</a> (2018) and <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460753903/all-our-shimmering-skies/">All Our Shimmering Skies </a>(2020). To quote Philip Roth’s memorable characterisation of a negative review in <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-anatomy-lesson-9781446401255">The Anatomy Lesson</a> (1983), it would make “Macduff’s assault on Macbeth look almost lackadaisical”. </p>
<p>Menzies-Pike takes issue with Dalton’s overwrought prose style and what she sees as a heavy reliance on crude contrasts and mawkish sentimentality in his narratives. However, she also questions why his novels have not been more extensively examined by critics. She concludes their sheer popularity and sales mean their literary quality has been taken as “self-evident” in many quarters.</p>
<p>Menzies-Pike notes the value of criticism is it can assert values other than those simply “decreed by the market”. The fear of being accused of snobbery or elitism may deter serious interrogations of Dalton’s novel. However, this means important questions of representation in the work of one of Australia’s most successful literary novelists go unchallenged. The essay is argued with such brio and clarity even some fans of Dalton’s work may enjoy it. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The cover of Critic Swallows Book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562319/original/file-20231129-21-gddlnk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Giramondo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critic Swallows Book is not the first edited collection to emerge from the SRB. <a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/the-australian-face-essays-from-the-sydney-review-of-books/">The Australian Face</a> (2017) focused on Australian literature. <a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/second-city-essays-from-western-sydney/">Second City</a> (2021) collected writings on western Sydney. <a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/sydney-review-of-books-open-secrets-essays-on-the-writing-life/">Open Secrets</a>(2022) took writing and cultural labour as its unifying subject. </p>
<p>While not meant to be a “best of” compilation of the now thousands of essays published on the SRB, its 22 entries are extremely well chosen. Taken together they ably illustrate the breadth and quality of writing that makes the SRB a remarkable publication.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Novitz has contributed seven essays to the Sydney Review of Books between 2013-2022. </span></em></p>
Twenty two essays marking the tenth anniversary of the Sydney Review of Books make for a diverse, thoughtful collection.
Julian Novitz, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218829
2023-12-07T23:36:02Z
2023-12-07T23:36:02Z
Australia’s first mobile cooling hub is ready for searing heat this summer – and people who are homeless helped design it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564053/original/file-20231206-19-ykkamk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3498%2C2323&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sunset-busy-roads-major-cities-135274718">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Heatwaves are a major public health hazard. Socially disadvantaged people are especially exposed to extreme heat and other impacts of climate change. Many people experiencing homelessness – <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing/estimating-homelessness-census/latest-release">more than 120,000</a> on any given day in Australia – are exposed to extreme temperatures sleeping on the street, in cars or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666535223000964">tents</a>, or in overcrowded and substandard housing. </p>
<p>Researchers are working with people experiencing homelessness, St Vincent’s Hospital and the City of Sydney to design, deliver and evaluate a mobile “cooling hub” this summer. The Bureau of Meteorology is <a href="https://media.bom.gov.au/releases/1205/the-bureau-forecasts-an-unusually-warm-summer/">predicting</a> an unusually hot summer. The pilot project in Surry Hills will use low-cost strategies, including misting fans, to keep 54 people at a time cool on the hottest of days.</p>
<p>We’ll use the <a href="https://heatwatch.sydney.edu.au">HeatWatch</a> app, developed by the University of Sydney, to know when to set up the cooling hub. It’s the first time the app, as a preparedness tool, and a mobile hub like this have been deployed in Australia. Renewable energy will power the hub, so this response isn’t itself contributing to climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Australia showing chances of exceeding median maximum temperatures in summer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564054/original/file-20231206-35091-smw7n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a hotter-than-usual summer across Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks/?msdynttrid=JZ63jjeqFdOIivfF1EiqYZgQ8jlNnCpStkMT7GaPC7c#/temperature/maximum/median/seasonal/0">Bureau of Meteorology</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cruel-summer-ahead-why-is-australia-so-unprepared-219015">Cruel summer ahead – why is Australia so unprepared?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Homelessness increases heat risks</h2>
<p>Climate change represents a <a href="https://www.ama.com.au/position-statement/ama-position-statement-climate-change-and-human-health-2004-revised-2015">health emergency</a>. The extremes of climate change can be devastating for the <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307351">health of people experiencing homelessness</a>. They are more exposed to heat as it can be very <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22950903/">hard for them to find cool spaces</a>, particularly in cities. </p>
<p>People in this situation are also more likely to be vulnerable to the impacts of heat, as many have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5803132/">chronic health conditions</a>, such as heart disease. Some <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26073686/">medications</a>, for both physical and mental health conditions, can reduce a person’s ability to regulate their body temperature.</p>
<p>Extreme heat places enormous strain on a person’s body, including their <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4950975/">heart</a>. It can <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01208-3/fulltext">lead to serious illness</a> and even death. </p>
<p>Severe heat also creates significant costs. In a 2020 Sydney heatwave, the cost of treating heat illness in just two people who were homeless was <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16565">A$70,184</a>. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/climate-change#tab=tab_1">estimates</a> climate change will cause 250,000 deaths a year from 2030, at a cost of US$2-4 billion ($A3-6 billion). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1491518074297761796"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/homelessness-today-sees-workers-and-families-with-nowhere-stable-to-live-no-wonder-their-health-is-suffering-202955">Homelessness today sees workers and families with nowhere stable to live. No wonder their health is suffering</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ensuring the hub meets people’s needs</h2>
<p>Our team plans to help hundreds of people stay cooler and safer in Sydney this summer. The cooling hub has been <a href="https://mhcc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CMHDARN-Co-design-kickstarter-FINAL.pdf">co-designed</a> with people experiencing homelessness. This process will help ensure the hub meets the needs of the people it’s meant to assist at times of extreme heat. </p>
<p>People with experience of homelessness worked with researchers and health workers to determine where to set up the cooling hub, what to include inside, how to make the community aware of the service, and how to reach out from the hub and bring people to it. For example, for many people experiencing homelessness, being able to access health care, connect with others, bring their pets and store belongings are all important. </p>
<p>The cooling hub will be set up at Ward Park, Surry Hills, and will be open in the daytime during extreme heat. It will comprise a marquee and low-tech equipment that maximises cooling and health support. The hub can be set up quickly and easily and relocated as required. </p>
<p>Nurses, doctors and peer support workers of St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Homeless Health Service and City of Sydney public liaison officers will staff the hub. They will provide <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01209-5/fulltext">evidence-based</a> cooling strategies and monitor body temperature, blood pressure and heart and breathing rates to identify early signs of heat illness. </p>
<p>People who are at high risk of heat illness will leave the hub with a pedestal or handheld fan and water spray bottle. All will receive information on how best to stay cool. </p>
<p>Hub users will be advised to stay hydrated and in the shade, limit activity in the heat of the day and remove heavy clothing. Each of these measures can be very effective in keeping cool.</p>
<p>The hub will also offer food and opportunities to access social and housing supports. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"950461821286170624"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/melbourne-now-has-chief-heat-officers-heres-why-we-need-them-and-what-they-can-do-192248">Melbourne now has chief heat officers. Here's why we need them and what they can do</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Creating a blueprint for others</h2>
<p>In 2021, St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and others set up a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15686">vaccination hub</a> for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID pandemic. The lessons from that initiative were written into a <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/314543">blueprint</a> for others to use.</p>
<p>Our evaluation of the cooling hub will include satisfaction and experience surveys along with environmental and health data to estimate its acceptability, effectiveness and cost efficiency. This will include its impact on attendances for heat illness at St Vincent’s Hospital emergency department. </p>
<p>Drawing on what is learned, we will write a cooling hub blueprint for other services to apply. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/efforts-to-find-safe-housing-for-homeless-youth-have-gone-backwards-heres-what-the-new-national-plan-must-do-differently-210704">Efforts to find safe housing for homeless youth have gone backwards. Here's what the new national plan must do differently</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Climate justice in action</h2>
<p>People experiencing homelessness are poorly represented in disaster planning. The consequences can be devastating. Yet simple preventive strategies, carefully applied with communities, are likely to reduce the health impact of heatwaves. </p>
<p>Heat is one of the many impacts of climate change that are not felt equally. People who are most <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9780367441265/learning-live-climate-change-blanche-verlie">disadvantaged</a> bear the greatest cost.</p>
<p>A climate justice response to climate change is essential, one that works with the most disadvantaged people in our community to meet their needs. Our initiative will provide a blueprint for co-designing a cooling hub with disadvantaged people and responding to their needs in the climate crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Jane Currie holds an honorary appointment with St Vincent's Hospital Sydney for the purposes of research. For this cooling hub pilot project, she received funding from the City of Sydney, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney and Queensland University of Technology.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Associate Professor Jo River, UTS and Northern Sydney Local Health District, has expertise in co-design research and received funding from the City of Sydney and St. Vincent's Hospital Sydney for the cooling hub co-design pilot project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Timothy English is the Humanitarian Settings Co-lead for the Heat and Health Research Incubator at the University of Sydney and received funding from the City of Sydney and St Vincent's Hospital Sydney for this cooling hub pilot project.</span></em></p>
The pilot project opening in Sydney will use the best available evidence to keep vulnerable people cool on the hottest of days.
Jane Currie, Professor of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology
Jo River, Associate Professor, Mental Health Drug and Alcohol, UTS & Northern Sydney LHD, University of Technology Sydney
Timothy English, Lecturer, Co-lead of the Humanitarian Settings research theme within the Heat and Health Research Incubator, Sydney School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215423
2023-11-01T02:30:58Z
2023-11-01T02:30:58Z
Bennelong and Phillip: wrestling with our historical assumptions through the entangled lives of two very different men
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555748/original/file-20231025-15-ucb047.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C3976%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A portrait of Bennelong, pre 1806, attributed to George Charles Jenner and William Waterhouse and on right, Captain Arthur Phillip, 1786, painted by Francis Wheatley.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-items/portrait-bennelong">Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite the inherent chance and coincidence of Australian history, there’s a certain sense of inevitability when we trace our national narrative in hindsight. The sequence of chapters in our textbooks and syllabuses seems logical and coherent. Colonisation follows European imperialism and exploration. Suffrage follows the discovery of gold. Federation is realised after a growing national consciousness.</p>
<p>There’s a reason historians construct timelines: drawing a thread between moments turns the past into a sequence that forms the skeleton of our stories. We make narratives out of stuff that happened over time.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Bennelong & Phillip: A History Unravelled – Kate Fullagher (Simon & Schuster)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>That form of chronological sequencing isn’t innate, however. Western historical practice feels natural because it’s the way many of us have learnt history. The discipline is presented and understood “chronologically” – but its intrinsic nature belies the attention required to craft and curate a seamless logic of time.</p>
<p>As postcolonial scholars such as Dipesh Chakrabarty and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-me-how-priya-satias-times-monster-landed-like-a-bomb-in-my-historians-brain-176023">Priya Satia</a> have shown, the discipline of history itself has helped fashion a sense of inevitability, especially in histories of colonisation and imperial expansion. Indigenous histories and perspectives have often been relegated to the fringes of national narratives or framed in predictable tropes that saw them overwhelmed by historical “progress”.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The cover of Bennelong and Phillip." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555752/original/file-20231025-21-i75r8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Bennelong-and-Phillip/Kate-Fullagar/9781761108174">Simon & Schuster</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How do we nudge at that overwhelming sense of inevitability? How might we inhabit the past and consider its chance and open-endedness, as well as its contrasting cultural readings?</p>
<p>Kate Fullagar’s important new work, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Bennelong-and-Phillip/Kate-Fullagar/9781761108174">Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled</a>, reaches into Australia’s early colonial history to tease out, quite literally, the threads of its past. In doing so, it brings a creative and original lens to a foundational relationship.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-me-how-priya-satias-times-monster-landed-like-a-bomb-in-my-historians-brain-176023">The book that changed me: how Priya Satia's Time’s Monster landed like a bomb in my historian's brain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The book focuses on the curious entanglement between Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, and Woollarawarre Bennelong, a Wangal man born around 1764, who grew up by the Parramatta River. </p>
<p>Phillip was a British Royal Naval Officer with an extensive military career, including serving in the Napoleonic Wars and conflicts over Spanish colonies in South America. In 1786 he was appointed to lead the First Fleet, that famous flotilla of eleven ships filled with convicts and soldiers that established a penal colony in New South Wales in 1788. </p>
<p>Representing the might of a global and acquisitive Empire, Phillip has also been remembered for how he guided the colony in its early years (despite famine and unrest, as well as unimaginable isolation), along with his commitment to “<a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/governor_phillip_and_the_eora">establishing and maintaining friendly and peaceful relations</a>” with Aboriginal people. His official orders to “conciliate their affections” and “live in amity and kindness with them” have framed the ways early Australian colonial histories presented Phillip as an emblem of the Enlightenment and loyal servant of the British Empire.</p>
<p><a href="https://bennelongrevealed.com/">Bennelong</a> was also a diplomat, a speaker of multiple languages and a curious, gregarious interlocutor. The historian Keith Vincent Smith described <a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/woollarawarre_bennelong">Bennelong’s childhood</a>, growing up on the banks of the Parramatta River spearing snapper and cutting sheets of bark to build his own <em>Nawi</em> canoe. He was initiated as a teenager, where </p>
<blockquote>
<p>scars were raised on his chest and arms and his upper front tooth was knocked out to show that he was a man. He could now take a wife and hunt kangaroos and dingoes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bennelong would have been about 24 when the First Fleet arrived. He was dramatically thrust into its world when kidnapped from a harbour beach in Manly in November 1789, along with Gadigal man Colebee, in a curious attempt to build relationships between the colonists and Aboriginal clans. </p>
<p>Despite that violent beginning, Bennelong became a critical member of that early intercultural dialogue and was also the <a href="https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/trailblazers/woollarawarre-bennelong/">first Aboriginal man to visit Europe and return</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of Bennelong wearing a European jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555751/original/file-20231025-15-1i1sae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portrait in profile of Bennelong dressed in a European jacket and neckscarf surrounded by an oval frame decorated with Aboriginal weapons and curios.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110351425">Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sailors-journals-shed-new-light-on-bennelong-a-man-misunderstood-by-history-111266">Sailors' journals shed new light on Bennelong, a man misunderstood by history</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Fullagar explores how the two men’s shared history did indeed shape Australia’s, but not simply in the way foundational narratives have tended to represent them.</p>
<p>Bennelong and Phillip’s life stories have been told and reproduced many times before – in histories, biographies and museum exhibits. Their figures grace our currency, monuments and galleries and their names mark our maps. They are perhaps better known as tropes than actual people – representing a curious, bifurcated tale of rationality and tragedy, Enlightenment and tradition, (colonial) beginnings and (Aboriginal) endings.</p>
<p>Yet when Phillip was speared through the shoulder at Kay-Yee-My (Manly Cove), in retaliation for Bennelong and Colebee’s kidnapping and imprisonment, no one could have known what lay ahead. Similarly, when the colony was experiencing famine and its very existence was uncertain, or when a smallpox epidemic wiped out approximately half of the surrounding Aboriginal clans, we cannot assume people knew what would come next.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing Aboriginal people spearing Governor Phillip." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555749/original/file-20231025-17-30uarf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail of a painting that shows the spearing of Governor Arthur Phillip, circa 1790, by the Port Jackson Painter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spearing_of_Arthur_Phillip.jpg">Natural History Museum/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s difficult to understand the precariousness and contingency of this history. To do this, Fullagar reaches back in time, but does so in reverse, by inverting the narrative of their relationship. She does this to tease out the lives of the two men in their own right and on their own terms. Critically, her book also exposes the architecture historians draw on, such as using hindsight and chronology, as well as narrative, to make a story appear seamless. </p>
<h2>Beginning at the end</h2>
<p>Bennelong and Phillip begins at the end, with the funerals of these two men, inviting us to think about how their contrasting but intersecting lives were remembered. Then we move back in time, event by event, chapter by chapter, through the colonial period and before it, to their beginnings.</p>
<p>It’s an inspired approach that forces readers to wrestle with our own historical assumptions. It makes clear that for this period in Australia’s colonial past, the story certainly isn’t one of linear progress, but a messy, often shared, series of entanglements.</p>
<p>Given the history discipline’s own legacy in advancing settler colonialism, policing whose stories can be told, how and by whom, Fullagar is acutely aware of its limitations in retracing this period. Can a work of history, even one as original and imaginative as this one, successfully reclaim this story from the dominant narrative of early Australia, where the settler colony’s success is assumed, because we’re still living in it? It’s a question she wrestles with throughout.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-remember-boorong-bennelongs-third-wife-who-is-buried-beside-him-107280">Why we should remember Boorong, Bennelong's third wife, who is buried beside him</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When so much Australian historiography has framed the colonial period as a set of “befores” and “afters”, “pre-history” and “history”, or “firsts” and “lasts”, this book throws the logical sequence of the colony on its head.</p>
<p>Fullager manages to reach back in time to disrupt and pick apart the past, without assuming she can inhabit the minds of these two men beyond her own lived experience and world view. In a memorable scene, she describes Bennelong’s visit to the London’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverian_collection">Parkinson Museum</a> in 1793, where he and his Wangal Countryman <a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/yemmerrawanne">Yemmerrawanne</a> were confronted with artefacts taken from Australia, including possibly spiritually potent objects and human remains.</p>
<p>She cleverly reframes and describes 18th century British culture and society as an ethnographical study, suggesting what it might have looked like through Bennelong’s eyes (subtly alluding to those early colonial accounts by <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tench-watkin-2719">Watkin Tench</a> and <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/collins-david-1912">David Collins</a>, which were full of cultural curiosity for the “other”). And she deftly manages and highlights the unevenness of the colonial archive, reminding us the inequity of our cultural memory doesn’t obviate the need to be attuned to a diversity of experience.</p>
<p>Bennelong and Phillip gives us a new, original lens onto this origin story. We see a larger, more complex picture of Phillip, for whom New South Wales was just one chapter of imperial service. And we’re offered a much richer, nuanced account of Bennelong, who Fullagar reads in context and on Country.</p>
<p>The book’s narrative reversal requires some skilful management to make sense. Fullagar uses helpful annotations at the beginning of each chapter, reminiscent of early colonial texts, which often included the same.</p>
<p>She also writes beautifully and clearly. That mastery of time and prose is essential, because this isn’t the sort of history book you can flick through on autopilot. Our narrative habit as readers to move forward through time is constantly being checked throughout. Maintaining that coherence requires work from the reader but, if this book is a little unsettling, that’s probably a good thing.</p>
<p>Bennelong and Phillip is a disciplinary accomplishment. Given its contribution to our national conversation, I was shocked to read reports of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/14/australian-catholic-university-condemned-over-totally-indefensible-cuts-to-humanities-programs">Australian Catholic University’s draft plans</a> to restructure more than 30 full-time equivalent jobs across the humanities, <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/western-civilisation-and-its-discontents/">Fullagar’s included</a>. In this ghastly “Hunger Games” scenario, colleagues compete for a reduced number of positions in their own area. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-research-shows-the-number-of-history-academics-in-australia-has-dropped-by-at-least-31-since-1989-213544">Our research shows the number of history academics in Australia has dropped by at least 31% since 1989</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given the heated debate around the Voice referendum, which demonstrated Australian history is very much still up for grabs, the sort of historical contemplation and reconfiguration Bennelong and Phillip provides is both critical and timely. I can’t think of a worse moment for a university to walk away from such important work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Clark has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
The heated debate around the Voice referendum demonstrated Australian history is still up for grabs. So Kate Fullagar’s new book, Bennelong and Phillip, is both critical and timely.
Anna Clark, Professor in Public History, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213252
2023-10-19T19:03:38Z
2023-10-19T19:03:38Z
Sydney Opera House at 50: a public appeal, a controversial build, a lavish opening – and a venue for all
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553902/original/file-20231016-19-mqol6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C5%2C1667%2C1065&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point Sydney, 1965.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/668796">City of Sydney Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It has an instantly recognisable silhouette that adorns tea towels, bottle openers and souvenir sweatshirts. </p>
<p>Miniature versions huddle in snow domes. You can build your own from <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/sydney-opera-house-10234">Lego</a>. Bidjigal artist and elder Esme Timbery constructed a replica in her trademark <a href="https://recollections.nma.gov.au/issues/volume_7_number_2/papers/displaying_the_decorative">shell art</a>. Ken Done put it on doona covers and bikinis. If you search the hashtag on Instagram, you will see over a million posts. </p>
<p>Fifty years ago today, after a prolonged and controversial period of construction, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in a lavish ceremony. </p>
<p>Spectators carrying flasks of coffee and cushions watched from the sidelines. More than 2,000 small boats viewed the ceremony from the water. </p>
<p>After the national anthem was played and nine F111 aircraft roared overhead, the crowd heard a didgeridoo and Aboriginal actor Ben Blakeney delivered a prologue “representing the <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110753207">spirit of Bennelong</a>”. </p>
<p>In her speech, the Queen remarked the Opera House had “captured the imagination of the world”. </p>
<p>The opening festivities gestured both to Australia’s deep Indigenous roots and white imperial origins. The building itself symbolised a new era of state investment in cultural infrastructure. This was a hallmark of the “new nationalism” in the 1970s: the arts were regarded as essential to Australia’s newly confident sense of national identity. </p>
<p>Today, the Sydney Opera House reminds us Australia can value culture for its own sake. But what did the Opera House mean to Australians when it opened 50 years ago?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/16-visits-over-57-years-reflecting-on-queen-elizabeth-iis-long-relationship-with-australia-170945">16 visits over 57 years: reflecting on Queen Elizabeth II's long relationship with Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Building the Opera House</h2>
<p>The campaign for an Opera House in Sydney was initiated by Sir Eugene Goosens, who came to Australia as conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1947. He found a sympathetic ear in Joe Cahill, the Labor premier who committed Bennelong Point to the project and launched an international competition to design the building in 1955. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553885/original/file-20231016-29-7ptq5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney Opera House under construction, 1964.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/668786">City of Sydney Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This part of the story is well-known (indeed, there was even an <a href="https://www.theeighthwondertheopera.com">opera</a>). Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s bold, avant garde design won the competition and construction began in 1961, funded – in a democratic touch – by the NSW government’s Opera House lottery.</p>
<p>Construction was plagued by difficulties and expanding costs. Utzon famously resigned from the project in 1966; Australian architect Peter Hall oversaw the construction of the interior. </p>
<p>In spite of the jokes and doubts, by the time the building was finished, Australians had embraced the Opera House as their own. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553887/original/file-20231016-23-pxqkiy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model of inside of Opera House from 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/577169">City of Sydney Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Queen tactfully acknowledged the building’s construction delays in her speech at the opening ceremony, <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110753207">suggesting</a> “every great imaginative venture has had to be tempered by the fire of controversy”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/40-years-on-how-gough-whitlam-gave-indigenous-art-a-boost-19749">40 years on: how Gough Whitlam gave Indigenous art a boost </a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cringe and strut</h2>
<p>As historians Richard White and Sylvia Lawson <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35026797/version/50553486?keyword=symbols%20of%20Australia">note</a>, while the Opera House was intended for all performing arts, the centrality of opera – with its expense and small audiences – made a symbolic statement a “new, more sophisticated Australia” had arrived. </p>
<p>As Australia sought to find an identity independent of Britain, the Opera House became a symbol of this new nationalist turn. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553901/original/file-20231016-17-nnw4d7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giraffe’s eye view of the city, Taronga Zoo Mosman, 1998.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/668525">City of Sydney Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some fitted the Opera House into older narratives of Britishness: in his book Sydney Builds an Opera House, Oswald Zeigler remarked we needed to thank Captain Arthur Phillip “for finding the site for this symbol of the Australian cultural revolution”. </p>
<p><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110752757">Gough Whitlam declared</a> it was </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a magnificent building, Our civilisations are known by their buildings and future generations will honour the people of this generation […] by this building. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In spite of this, there was still cultural cringe. The <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110753207">Canberra Times</a> reported the British media believed the Opera House was a sign that “the country had turned a corner artistically”. It was a telling sign of cultural cringe that their opinions were sought at all.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C1668%2C1100&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C1668%2C1100&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553898/original/file-20231016-15-7oxc83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sydney Opera House on its opening day, October 20 1973.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Ward, John Ward Collection - Shipping. City of Sydney Archives</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Opera House was part of an Australian cultural renaissance in 1973. The ABC broadcast an adaptation of Ethel Turner’s beloved Seven Little Australians. The bawdy Alvin Purple was a box-office smash. Patrick White became the first (and so far, only) Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The new wave of Australian drama was in full swing, and the Opera House’s opening season included a play by new wave star David Williamson alongside Shakespeare’s Richard II.</p>
<p>Historians have nominated many emblems for the new nationalist mood (from the new national anthem to The Adventures of Barry McKenzie) but I would suggest the Opera House embodies it best: the soaring sails, the bold, rich colours of the interiors, and John Coburn’s glorious, confident curtains for the performance venues.</p>
<h2>For the elite or for the people?</h2>
<p>There were always objections on the grounds that government investment would be better focused elsewhere, rather than on a performance venue for “elites”. These arguments are wearyingly familiar today. </p>
<p>Premier Joe Cahill rejected this charge from the outset: in <a href="https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/sydney-opera-house-the-gold-book/">1959 he declared</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the average working family will be able to afford to go there […] the Opera House will, in fact, be a monument to democratic nationhood in its fullest sense.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553903/original/file-20231016-17-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Opera House interior, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/668144">City of Sydney Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cahill’s insistence this was a building for everyone to enjoy and be proud of has been fulfilled by its creative use ever since. School children regularly perform; new audiences have been drawn by musicians of all genres, from punk to Prince. But the Opera House has also been a place for creative experimentation and innovative performance – as it should be. </p>
<p>Today, 50 years from its opening, the Sydney Opera House reminds us the state still has a role to play in supporting the performing and creative arts in Australia. This radiant, soaring building belongs to all of us: a great reason to celebrate its birthday.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-golden-mean-a-great-discovery-or-natural-phenomenon-20570">The Golden Mean: a great discovery or natural phenomenon?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Arrow receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Fifty years ago today, after a prolonged and controversial period of construction, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
Michelle Arrow, Professor of History, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214071
2023-10-19T19:03:31Z
2023-10-19T19:03:31Z
The dams are full for now – but Sydney will need new water supplies as rainfall becomes less reliable
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554636/original/file-20231018-25-7qn0od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C25%2C5555%2C3720&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Australia last went into El Niño, we had water supply issues in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.</p>
<p>Are we better placed now, after three wet La Niña years? Yes and no. Take Sydney as an example. After the big wet, Greater Sydney’s dams are <a href="https://waterinsights.waternsw.com.au/12964-sydney-drinking-water-catchment/storage">around 90% full</a>, holding more than four times the volume we use in a year. But hot, dry weather can drain them surprisingly rapidly through increased demand, increased evaporation and environmental flows in rivers such as the Nepean.</p>
<p>Hot weather also dries out the soil in water catchments. When it rains, dry soils soak up water like a sponge, preventing it from running off to waterways. This means there’s little runoff to replenish the dams. You need very intense rainfall to overcome this. </p>
<p>So despite Sydney’s full dams, it will inevitably face water supply shortages if El Niño returns for several years. That’s because the city of five million is highly dependent on rainfall, which isn’t always plentiful and doesn’t always produce runoff. </p>
<p>To fix this problem and future-proof supplies as climate change makes rainfall less reliable, we must draw more water from desalination plants and recycling schemes. </p>
<h2>Desalination</h2>
<p>The combined effects of a growing population and future periods of drought will increasingly challenge our ability to meet water demand from Sydney’s dams.</p>
<p>In 2010, Sydney’s first <a href="https://sydneydesal.com.au">large seawater desalination plant</a> came on line. At maximum production, it can provide 90 gigalitres of drinking water per year. This is about 15% of Sydney’s annual demand. </p>
<p>In the past, the desal plant has been turned off and on depending on rainfall. After the Millennium Drought broke in 2009, dams began refilling. Once Sydney’s dams were 90% full in 2012, the plant was switched off. In 2019, it was turned back on as drought intensified. One problem is that it takes months to restart a mothballed desalination plant. </p>
<p>If the desalination plant had been operating continuously at a low rate, it could have more quickly shored up supply shortages when the drought started in 2017.</p>
<p>To achieve full benefit, desal plants must be used to provide ongoing service, rather than just as an emergency drought-response solution. Keeping the plant running is also an effective way of maintaining the workforce and skills required to operate the plant when it’s needed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="room full of reverse osmosis tubes in a desalination plant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554676/original/file-20231019-29-pyeh6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Desalination plants often rely on reverse osmosis to remove the salt and other impurities from seawater.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Water recycling</h2>
<p>Many cities around Australia now have desal plants. Fewer have explored <a href="https://www.seqwater.com.au/purified-recycled-water">purified water recycling</a> from wastewater treatment plants due to unwarranted public scepticism. </p>
<p>Australia’s most significant purified recycled water project is Perth’s <a href="https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Groundwater/Groundwater-replenishment">groundwater replenishment scheme</a>, built to refill the aquifers on which the city draws much of its water. </p>
<p>Beginning in 2017, wastewater was purified and injected below ground into an important aquifer used for drinking water. The project was recently doubled in size, and now puts around 10% of Perth’s drinking water demand (28 gigalitres) back below ground annually.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-drought-is-affecting-water-supply-in-australias-capital-cities-127909">How drought is affecting water supply in Australia’s capital cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By 2035, <a href="https://www.watercorporation.com.au/About-us/Media-releases/2022/August-2022/Stage-Two-Groundwater-Replenishment-Scheme">Water Corporation aims</a> to recycle more than a third (35%) of treated wastewater. </p>
<p>Queensland has built but not fully used a far larger water recycling scheme, the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme. If it was used for drinking water as well as industrial use, it could add 80 GL a year to supply – more than a quarter of the water used by South East Queensland’s 3.8 million residents. That would be enough to <a href="https://www.seqwater.com.au/water-security">replenish supplies</a> in the region’s largest surface water storage, Lake Wivenhoe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fountain in Kings Park Perth, green grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554633/original/file-20231018-17-hr0obp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perth has had to shift from dams to groundwater to desalination and water recycling as climate change makes rainfall less reliable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what should Sydney do?</h2>
<p>Sydney relies on rainfall-dependent sources for about 80% of its drinking water supply.</p>
<p>If dry conditions continue, the city could be running short of water within three years, according to the <a href="https://water.dpie.nsw.gov.au/plans-and-programs/greater-sydney-water-strategy">Greater Sydney Water Strategy</a>. </p>
<p>To make sure that shortfall never arrives, Sydney needs to start building more rainfall-independent water supplies. This would help ensure full dams at the start of future droughts, allow more time to respond, and slow dam depletion rates during the drought. </p>
<p>Authorities could expand the desal plant. They could build a new desal plant. Or they could develop purified recycled water as an option. Each of these has costs and benefits which must be considered. </p>
<p>In reality, the city is likely to need all of the above. This is because there are limits to how much water can be delivered to any specific location in the supply network, so several water sources will be needed in different areas of Sydney.</p>
<p>The real question isn’t which one to choose. It’s which order to construct them in. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sydneys-dams-may-be-almost-full-but-dont-relax-because-drought-will-come-again-170523">Sydney's dams may be almost full – but don't relax, because drought will come again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Khan was a member of the Independent Metropolitan Water Advisory Panel appointed by previous NSW Minister for Water, Melinda Pavey MP to advise on the development and implementation of water plans for the Lower Hunter and Greater Sydney regions (2021-2023). He has previously received funding from Sydney Water. He is affiliated with the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.</span></em></p>
To build drought resilence, Sydney must invest in rainfall-independent water supplies.
Stuart Khan, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210467
2023-08-31T20:00:16Z
2023-08-31T20:00:16Z
Friday essay: traps, rites and kurrajong twine – the incredible ingenuity of Indigenous fishing knowledge
<p>Standing on a ferry chugging across Sydney Harbour, it’s still possible to imagine the city as it was in 1788 – before the span of the bridge, before the marinas and yachts, before buildings were planted onto that sloping, rocky landscape. Pockets of bush still reach down towards the water, where gums and angophoras curl around sandstone coves carved out by the sea water.</p>
<p>Ferries stop at Mosman, Manly and Milsons Point, where fishers share the wharf with boats and commuters. They perch on folding chairs next to white buckets of bait, or they plonk down on the wooden beams, rod in hand, their legs dangling over the edge as they sit.</p>
<p>Yet these places were also occupied, named and fished, long before “Sydney” appeared on any charts. And it’s at one of these harbour places, at Kay-ye-my, or perhaps Goram Bullagong (present-day Manly Cove and Mosman Bay), that our first story of Indigenous fishing is set. (After all, Kiarabilli or Kiarabily – the site of present-day Milsons Point and Kirribilli – is believed to translate into English as “good fishing spot”.)</p>
<p><em>Malgun</em> – the amputation of the joint of a young girl’s left little finger – is one of many Aboriginal fishing rites that took place and was practised along much of the east coast of what’s now known as Australia. Across the continent, diverse and adaptable fishing practices, recipes and rituals were a cornerstone of Indigenous life at the time of first contact – and many remain so to this day.</p>
<p>Like <em>keeparra</em> (the knocking out of teeth) and scarification, <em><a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/daringa">malgun</a></em> is a custom rich with significance, an offering to the spirits. In this case, the little girl would be forever linked with the fish she had literally fed. And as these girls grew into women, that connection to the underwater world was thought to offer good fortune and prowess with a fishing line. </p>
<p>It’s thought that <em>malgun</em> was also about the practicalities of fishing, since a shorter left pinky could apparently wind a hand line in more nimbly. The practice was observed among Aboriginal communities along the eastern seaboard of Australia (and featured around the country in various forms). But its meaning was frequently misunderstood in early colonial encounters and is still open for speculation.</p>
<p>To make the line, or <em>currejun/garradjun</em>, Gadigal fisherwomen used the bark or the tender fibres of young kurrajong trees, which they soaked and pounded or sometimes chewed, scraping off the outer layers with a shell. The pliable strands were then worked into <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publication/35662">fine strong thread</a>. The women cast out their handlines and quickly drew them back in on the strike, hand over hand, before the fish could shake off the hook.</p>
<p>I like to picture the women sitting on a beach or around a fire as they made their string, humming, singing and chatting. They rolled the fibres along their thighs methodically, slowly turning them into lengths of delicate but durable fishing twine. Even the name of this beautiful and distinctive tree provides a valuable historical link to a time when fishing dominated the physical, social and cultural life of coastal Aboriginal peoples. What they sang and nattered about, while swatting mosquitoes and shooing away curious children, we can only guess.</p>
<p>At the end of these lines, elegant fishhooks, or <em>burra</em>, made from carved abalone or turban shells were dropped over the side of their canoes, or nowies. In other parts of Australia, hooks made from a piece of tapered hardwood, bird talon or
bone have also been found. These “nowies were nothing more than a large piece of bark tied up at both ends with vines”, described the British officer Watkin Tench in his <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3534/3534-h/3534-h.htm">account of early Sydney</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the nowies’ apparent flimsiness, the fisherwomen were master skippers. They paddled across the bays and out through the Heads, waves slapping at the sides of their precarious little vessels. That mobility was essential for Aboriginal communities around the harbour – such as the Gadigal, Gayamaygal, Wangal, and Darramurragal – who needed to chase shoals and find new grounds if the fishing was quiet at particular times of the year. Small fires were lit in the nowie on a platform of clay and weed before the craft was launched into the water from a snug harbour cove. </p>
<p>Then the fisherwoman perched inside and paddled to a favourite spot or two, often with a baby cradled in her lap and an infant on her shoulders or crouched beside her. Out on the water, she chewed crustaceans and shellfish, spitting some out into the water before jigging her pearlescent hook up and down like a lure. </p>
<p>This sort of berleying was practised all around Australia in the hope of generating a bit more action – thousands of years before punctured tins of cheap cat food dropped off the back of a tinnie to attract fish became the norm. When the fisherwoman threw the line overboard, she waited for that strike and tug from a whiting, dory or snapper, which would be quickly hauled aboard and charred on the waiting fire. And she sang as she fished, as <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Grace-Karskens-Colony-9781742373645">Grace Karskens</a> describes in her wonderful book on colonial Sydney, her voice carrying across the bays and inlets and down through the water to the fish below. </p>
<p>Those fishing songs also captured the attention of colonists, such as the colonial judge advocate <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12565/12565-h/12565-h.htm">David Collins</a>, who described seeing Carangarang and Kurúbarabúla (the sister and wife of Bennelong, respectively) return from a canoe trip “to procure fish” and they “were keeping time with their paddles, responsive to the words of a song, in which they joined with much good humour and harmony”.</p>
<p>Some, like the French explorer Louis de Freycinet, were so transfixed by the songs they overheard bouncing over the water they attempted to write them down in <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#005-2">musical notation</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-on-listening-to-new-national-storytellers-61291">Friday essay: on listening to new national storytellers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fishing archives</h2>
<p>While women were the anointed shellfish gatherers in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as well as line fishers in the areas where that was practised, spearfishing was largely the preserve of men – and this continues to be the case today. Hunters stalked the water’s edge or stood in a canoe, looking for the telltale shadow of a dusky flathead or the flash of silver from a darting bream.</p>
<p>When the water was calm and clear enough, Aboriginal men around Warrane-Sydney Harbour and Kamay-Botany Bay were frequently seen lying across their nowies, faces fully submerged, peering through the cool blue with a spear at the ready. “This they do with such certainty, as rarely to miss their aim,” wrote the painter and engraver John Heaviside Clark in 1813. </p>
<p>At night, Aboriginal fishermen took the canoes out onto the water with their flaming hand torches held aloft. The <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/114667">light lured the fish to the boat’s side</a>, where they were speared by a barbed prong whittled out of bone, shell or hardwood. In the muddy mangroves of northern Australia, fires were sometimes lit on creek banks to attract barramundi, which swam towards the light and suffered the same fate. </p>
<p>Beautiful images from the early days of the colony demonstrate the country we can still see traces of today: folds in the landscape as it stretches out across the horizon, the bush reaching right down to the water’s edge, protected sandy coves perfect for camping and fishing. They also show us the centrality of fishing to
First Nations communities. These sources depict how Aboriginal people fished and what they caught, like a juicy snapper flailing on the end of a spear, or a fisherwoman managing both an infant and a fishing line in her nowie. The skill of these fishers and the abundance of fish are lasting impressions from these visual records.</p>
<p>While early colonial sketches and paintings give wonderful snapshots of Aboriginal fishers, they do so from a European perspective. Written accounts are similarly revealing, and we can be grateful for the faithful record of fishing practices and
winning catches they’ve produced. But we can’t forget that these people viewed First Nations societies through a distinctly colonial lens.</p>
<p>The early colonial view of Australia was mostly curious and enlightened, and colonists were often captivated by the extraordinary skills of Aboriginal fishers, as well as their depth of knowledge about their Country. Yet they were also
people of their time, who saw the British expansion in Australia as inevitable, and viewed Country as a resource awaiting exploitation.</p>
<p>Sometimes, vital Indigenous perspectives creep in. Scars on the mighty trunks of river red gums, or canoe trees, along the banks and flood plains of the Murray River reveal an Aboriginal presence long before any European record. Enormous
engravings of whales, fish and sharks etched into sandstone platforms around Sydney and into the rugged iron ore of Murujuga-Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia have a provenance thousands of years older than any colonial etching or
journal entry. Elaborate fish traps across the continent and the Torres Strait demonstrate intricate knowledge of seasonal and tidal fish aggregations.</p>
<p>Paintings in smoke-stained caves across northern Australia show equally distinctive Aboriginal readings of fishy feats and feasts. And the remnants of literally millions of seafood meals can be seen in middens around the continent
that cascade through dirt, sand and mud at the water’s edge. </p>
<p>These Indigenous archives give us a glimpse into fishing before European colonisation. They also reveal the ingenuity of pre-industrial First Nations communities, long before fish finders, weather apps and soft plastics.</p>
<p>Remnants of vast, curving fish traps, or Ngunnhu, made from river stones still lie near Brewarrina in central New South Wales. (There were even more Ngunnhu once, until they were pushed aside to make way for paddle-steamers taking the wool clip down to Adelaide in the late 19th century.)</p>
<p>In the early spring or during a large flow of fresh water after heavy rains, enormous numbers of fish would travel upriver, swelling the eddies and currents with a mass of writhing tails and fins. Aboriginal fishers – men and women from the Ngemba, Wonkamurra, Wailwan and Gomeroi nations – kept watch from grassy embankments above the river and, as soon as enough fish had entered the labyrinth of traps, they rolled large rocks across the openings, ensnaring them for a <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-756525252/view?partId=nla.obj-756525911#page/n0/mode/1up">seasonal fish feast</a>. </p>
<p>These traps and weirs were also an early form of fisheries management – well before government regulations and research organisations – and remnants can be seen right across central and western New South Wales. Juvenile fish were carried in curved wooden coolamons and released behind the barriers on the smaller tributaries as a way of boosting stocks and ensuring fish for seasons to come.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.budjbim.com.au/">Budj Bim</a> eel traps at Lake Condah in southwest
Victoria were designed, built and maintained by the Gunditjmara people, who operated the series of channels, locks and weirs. Built at least 6,600 years ago, the traps have been redeveloped several times over several centuries, and they
demonstrate an ecologically sustainable management of this freshwater eel fishery that was adapted and lasted for thousands of years. What’s more, they can still be seen today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-detective-work-behind-the-budj-bim-eel-traps-world-heritage-bid-71800">The detective work behind the Budj Bim eel traps World Heritage bid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other traps were less permanent, but just as effective. When particular waterholes were low in the Baaka-Barwon–Darling river system in New South Wales, Barkindji people living along the river used wooden stakes, logs and sometimes stones to build shallow pens that trapped fish, yabbies and eels for easy pickings.</p>
<p>The ill-fated explorer William John Wills described a similar “arrangement for catching fish” somewhere north of Birdsville around the Georgina River, where he camped with Robert O’Hara Burke and the rest of their party in January 1861. The
trap consisted of “a small oval mud paddock about 12 feet by 8 feet, the sides of which were about nine inches above the bottom of the hole,” he wrote. The “top of the fence” was “covered with long grass, so arranged that the ends of the blades overhung scantily by several inches the sides of the hole.”</p>
<p>Periods of drought and seasonal dry weather could change rivers from torrential, turgid flows to the most meagre trickle – a chain of muddy holes through the landscape. Across northern Australia, seasons of wet and dry charged the landscape with weather cycles that pushed water across the floodplains of the northern savanna in great sheets, and then inevitably dried them out again.</p>
<p>But even low water could mean good fishing, since the fish would be forced to aggregate in particular waterholes, where they could be readily trapped and caught. While the grass might be parched and brittle up on the banks, the water
below was teeming with life; that was the time when Aboriginal people walked along the creek bottom, muddying the water and forcing the fish to rise and take in air where they were easily speared, clubbed or netted. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Gunanurang.html?id=I2CaNAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Kimberley</a>, when the dry season came and the floodwaters finally receded, rolls of spinifex were used to entangle fish that had been trapped in the
remaining waterholes. </p>
<h2>Fishing objects and artefacts</h2>
<p>Artefacts such as spears, hooks and nets also help reconstruct some of the changing ways and means of Indigenous fishing that predate European colonisation and continue to be used and modified long after it. These relics are as beautiful
as they were effective. </p>
<p>Kangaroo tail tendon was used to bind fishhooks in northern Australia. The prongs of spears (fish gigs or fizgigs) were hardened and polished and then attached to the long shaft using pieces of thread daubed with resin.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, nets made from lengths of finely twisted twine were so carefully knotted together that when <a href="https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00101.html">Governor Phillip</a> showed them to the white women in the colony, the elegant loops reminded them of English lace. Those nets came in all shapes and sizes and were highly prized possessions. To strengthen the nets’ fishing powers, Aboriginal people sang to them: their music and words, literally singing in the fish, were like charms for the Dreaming that cascaded through the weave. </p>
<p>In the area of what’s now known as Sydney, coastal tribes used small hoop nets to pick up lobsters, which hid in underwater crevasses on the edge of the harbour and along the beachside cliffs. Catch-and-cast nets trapped small numbers of fish in creeks and waterholes near the coast and could also be used to carry a feed of fish as families walked back to their camps along the well-worn walking tracks.</p>
<p>Further inland, Aboriginal people made large woven river nets, which could be held by hand or propped up along the bank. Once fixed in place, groups of people waded through the murky water, loudly beating the surface and driving the startled
fish into the mesh. </p>
<p>The nets were usually about four metres long and one metre deep – sizeable enough, considering every strand was gathered, spun and woven by hand. But one extraordinary account from the explorer Charles Sturt described how his exploration party on the Wambuul-Macquarie River in western New South Wales discovered a fishing net some 90 metres long in a Wiradjuri village they came across.</p>
<p>Other fishing methods have been recorded and described in oral histories, or they’ve been passed down and are practised still. These practices are a form of embodied or “living archives”, which is how we know about them today. Stories
of women diving deep underwater for shellfish, walking out across the rocks at low tide pulling off abalone, or wading through billabongs to pick up turtles, are common in accounts from the time and these practices are still maintained by many
Indigenous communities around Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. </p>
<p>Given such longstanding fishing connections, “sea rights” have been increasingly recognised by governments in legislating fisheries management. Back on the beach or riverbank, a fire is inevitably on the go in anticipation of a <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/20120945CoastalHistory.pdf">fresh catch</a>. The fish is usually chucked on whole and eaten.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-moon-plays-an-important-role-in-indigenous-culture-and-helped-win-a-battle-over-sea-rights-119081">The Moon plays an important role in Indigenous culture and helped win a battle over sea rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some of the environmental knowledge used by Traditional Owners seems astonishing in today’s context of mass-produced fishing lures and frozen bait from the local servo. <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/114667">One account from northern Australia</a> described a particularly large Golden Orb spider carefully killed to preserve its abdomen, which was then gently squeezed to milk its adhesive goo. Small fish, attracted to the carcass, would then get stuck to the dead spider before being delicately lifted ashore by nimble
hands. </p>
<p>Fish poisoning, using various berries, roots, leaves and stems, was also common throughout Australia. In the Kimberley around the Goonoonoorrang-Ord River in
Western Australia, Traditional Owners such as the Miriuwung, Kuluwaring, Gajerrabeng used crushed leaves from the freshwater mangrove (malawarn) to poison their prey, sweeping branches through the water until stunned fish started floating belly up. </p>
<p>Along the east coast it was wattle leaves that did the damage. The sunny, fragrant puffballs of two common acacias (<em>Acacia implexa</em> and <em>Acacia longifolia</em>) belie their potency as a fish poison. Once absorbed through the gills, antigens from the bruised leaves were quickly catastrophic for fish in little waterholes and
billabongs. <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=QvwrAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">There are even accounts</a> of eels gliding out of the water and into the bush along the Clarence River in northern New South Wales (known as Boorimbah to the Bundjalung and Ngunitiji to the Yaygir) in an attempt to escape poisoning from Aboriginal fishers. </p>
<p>Although these poisoning methods apparently had no effect on the edibility of the fish, the trick was to carefully manage the immersion of these toxic branches in the water – giving just enough poison to stun the fish , but not enough to knock out the whole waterhole. </p>
<p>That intimate knowledge and understanding of Country and its seasons wasn’t readily apparent to the early colonists. Watkin Tench was so perplexed by the unpredictability of fishing in Australia that he complained about spending all night out on Sydney Harbour for little result. The “universal voice of all professed fishermen”, he lamented in the 1790s in A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, was that they had “never fished in a country where success was so precarious and uncertain”.</p>
<p>It was knowledge that came slowly to the colonists, over several generations. William Scott, the New South Wales colonial astronomer from 1856 to 1862, observed how the Worimi people were able to anticipate fishing seasons around Port Stephens on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. “By some unerring instinct the blacks knew within a day when the first of the great shoals [of sea mullet] would appear through the heads,” he explained.</p>
<p>For the Yolŋu in Arnhem Land, flowering of stringybark trees coincides with the shrinking of waterholes, where fish can be more readily netted and speared, or poisoned. And when the <a href="https://aiatsis.library.link/portal/Dharawal--seasons-and-climatic-cycles-compiled/8ypS2t3XXEc/">Dharawal people</a> of the Kamay and Shoalhaven region in New South Wales see the golden wattle flowers of the <em>Kai’arrewan (Acacia binervia)</em>, they know that the fish will be running in the rivers and prawns will be schooling in estuarine shallows. </p>
<p>In Queensland the movement and population of particular fish species have their own corresponding sign on land. The extent of the annual sea-mullet run in the cool winter months can be predicted by the numbers of rainbow lorikeets in late
autumn; if magpies are scarce in winter, numbers of luderick will also be low; and when the bush is ablaze with the fragrant sunny blooms of coastal wattle in early spring, surging schools of tailor can be expected just offshore. Although climate
change may shift these fishing markers in the natural world.</p>
<p>This knowledge was acquired by Australia’s Indigenous peoples through generations of observation and practice. What’s more, that deep understanding was as much about the spirit world as the natural. Neither can be properly comprehended
without reference to the other – although our own contemporary insights are often sketchy, since the sporadic observations of colonists are frequently the only available historical sources we have of Indigenous fishing practices, which had been developed over millennia.</p>
<p>Practical understanding was intimately entwined with spiritual readings of the land. First Nations Dreamings are systems of cultural values and observations: they created the world and are reflected in day-to-day observations of that life. These “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233438480_Saltwater_People_spiritscapes_maritime_rituals_and_the_archaeology_of_Australian_indigenous_seascapes">spiritscapes</a>”, as the archaeologist Ian McNiven has called them, infused Country with cosmology. The natural and spirit worlds were one and the same. Country wasn’t inanimate – it
could feel and do. And for many Aboriginal people to this day, that knowledge remains a shaping, dynamic belief system.</p>
<p>There are accounts on the South Australian coastline of Aboriginal people ritually singing in dolphins or sharks to herd fish into man-made or natural enclosures on the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas. In <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1756993">Twofold Bay</a>, on Yuin Country in southern New South Wales, dolphins were similarly used to herd fish, and a totemic bond between killer whales and Aboriginal people was also observed and documented. </p>
<p>Why did Aboriginal communities around Sydney avoid eating sharks and stingrays? The water was full of them, but they were only ever eaten during times of food scarcity. William Bradley, a first lieutenant on the First Fleet, observed Aboriginal people catching “jew fish, snapper, mullet, mackerel, whiting, dory, rock cod and leatherjacket” throughout the summer, but they didn’t keep the sharks or rays. “There are great numbers of the sting ray and shark, both of which I have seen the natives throw away when given to them and often refuse them when offered”, he noted.</p>
<p>In Lutruwita-Tasmania, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24046726">archaeological excavations of middens</a> suggest Palawa people mysteriously avoided eating finfish altogether for the 3000 years prior to colonisation, hunting mammals and scavenging shellfish instead. Was it spiritual? A response to some sort of poisoning event? Or an economic decision to harvest easier resources (such as seals and abalone)? Did the community lose their knowledge of fishing, as some have argued? Or did they perhaps dispose of the bones somewhere else? No one really knows. </p>
<p>Some forms of Indigenous fishing inevitably became lost as Traditional Owners were dispossessed and disenfranchised of their lands and fisheries following the expansion of the colonial frontier post-1788. Many Indigenous practices were eventually superseded by new technologies. Other Indigenous fishers became active in the establishment of the commercial fishing industry in Australia, maintaining strong links to traditional knowledges, as well as adapting to modern fishing approaches and technologies.</p>
<p>Indigenous peoples have played and continue to play a prominent role in the history of Australian fishing. </p>
<p>Despite the ruptures of colonisation, the cultural and social cleavages wrought by disease, as well as frontier violence and dispossession, they remain a visible and vital part of Australian fishing culture as commercial and recreational fishers, industry partners and Traditional Owners of the vast natural resource that is Australia’s fisheries.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-catch-9781761342202">The Catch: Australia’s Love Affair with Fishing</a> by Anna Clark (Penguin).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Clark has received funding from the Australian Research Council and is a member of the Recreational Fishing NSW Advisory Council. </span></em></p>
Across the continent, diverse, adaptable fishing practices, recipes and rituals were a cornerstone of Indigenous life at the time of first contact – and many remain so to this day.
Anna Clark, Professor in Public History, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208934
2023-07-04T02:49:50Z
2023-07-04T02:49:50Z
By gutting the Greater Cities Commission, the NSW government is setting up itself and Sydney for failure
<p>The Minns government’s <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/more-planning-resources-to-focus-on-delivery-of-new-houses-and-infrastructure">approach to planning Sydney</a> is troubling in terms of direction and substance. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/minns-abolishes-sydney-planning-agency-to-bring-control-back-in-house-20230627-p5djuh.html">announcement</a> that it will “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/03/chris-minns-nsw-premier-100-days-in-office-housing-gambling-education?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">fold</a>” the <a href="https://greatercities.au/about-us">Greater Cities Commission</a> back into the Department of Planning raises several red flags for planning in New South Wales. Staff will also be transferred to the department from the <a href="https://www.wpca.sydney/about-us/about-the-western-parkland-city-authority/our-role-and-vision/">Western Parkland City Authority</a>, which was overseeing the building of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/bold-and-innovative-planning-is-delivering-australias-newest-city-but-it-will-be-hot-and-can-we-ditch-the-colonial-name-203932">“third CBD” called Bradfield</a> near Western Sydney Airport.</p>
<p>The Greater Sydney Commission (as it was originally known) was <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/2015/57/">created</a> to resolve a series of <a href="https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/40-year-planning-strategies-is-there-a-point/">tricky planning problems</a>. Sydney was growing and an institution to manage this growth city-wide was deemed desirable. </p>
<p>The approach to the city’s development had been <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/35/4/649/5522167">top-down and siloed</a>. The Department of Planning made decisions in isolation from other departments and especially local councils. This approach was not delivering a healthy, liveable, growing city. </p>
<p>Understanding why planning works the way it does in NSW has been <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-13199-8">part of our research agenda for ten years</a>. What we have found, consistently, is a failure to invest real power and trust in those with the skills and mandate to make Sydney work.</p>
<p>The commission was not perfect, but it did make some progress towards breaking the silos between various authorities. Without a similar body that spans departments to deliver on the promise of more housing (or transport or hospitals or parks), the government is setting itself up to fail.</p>
<p>To demonstrate why, let’s unpack some of the challenges Sydney faces today.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1673553501996335104"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bold-and-innovative-planning-is-delivering-australias-newest-city-but-it-will-be-hot-and-can-we-ditch-the-colonial-name-203932">Bold and innovative planning is delivering Australia’s newest city. But it will be hot – and can we ditch the colonial name?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Housing</h2>
<p>Providing more <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-in-nsw-explained-in-9-charts-200523">affordable housing for Sydney</a> is more complex than <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-housing-supply-shouldnt-be-the-only-policy-tool-politicians-cling-to-72586">simply setting targets and building houses</a>. Blaming lack of progress on local councils is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/put-up-or-shut-up-labor-mayors-take-minns-to-task-over-housing-crisis-20230630-p5dkts.html">similarly simplistic</a>. </p>
<p>Removing proper assessment processes and rushing through residential rezonings is guaranteed to create poorly designed and built housing. Speed will not increase affordability. It will, however, result in housing that is isolated, car-dependent, poorly insulated and under-serviced. </p>
<p>It is time the state government <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-market-has-failed-to-give-australians-affordable-housing-so-dont-expect-it-to-solve-the-crisis-192177">questioned its creed that “the market”</a> will solve our housing crises. It needs to pay due attention to the inherent complexities of housing a growing population of more than 5 million people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-market-has-failed-to-give-australians-affordable-housing-so-dont-expect-it-to-solve-the-crisis-192177">The market has failed to give Australians affordable housing, so don't expect it to solve the crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The City of Sydney is not Sydney!</h2>
<p>The one upside of the pandemic for cities is that people began to look at the neighbourhoods around them. Suburbs started to be seen as places to be, rather than viewed from the window of the family car. </p>
<p>This shift could finally lead to the entrenched, monocentric view of Sydney being challenged. Questioning of the supremacy of the CBD creates an opportunity for this city’s middle and outer suburbs to <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/speech-growing-our-outer-suburbs-fairly-monday-19-november-2018">thrive</a>. </p>
<p>Pushing this vision forward has always been an aspiration. The true realisation of decentralisation needs more than centralised decision-making.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1673205702179844096"}"></div></p>
<h2>Transport planning</h2>
<p>Sydney grew up with the assumption of a universal need for access to the private car, and it shows. </p>
<p>While other cities in our position have started to challenge the car’s supremacy, our governments have continued to build freeways. We have invested in public transport infrastructure that goes places, but nowhere anyone really needs to go. The A$26.6 billon Sydney West Metro, for example, connects Sydney’s two central business districts, but <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/business/news-and-events/news/2023/01/09/taken-for-a-ride--the-real-cost-of-sydney-s-metro-railways.html">bypasses</a> the residential hot spots just west of the Parramatta CBD.</p>
<p>Transport planning consistently fails to respond to the needs of the community it’s meant to serve. It is based on outdated notions such as the value of travel time, ignoring the fact people travel the way they do for multiple reasons. Comfort, convenience and habit will <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-get-people-out-of-cars-we-need-to-know-why-they-drive-27279">often come before</a> a rational evaluation of whether it’s better to take the bus or the family car. </p>
<p>Furthermore, cost-benefit analyses fail to factor in the true costs and benefits of a sustainable transport system. The business case for investment in a bike network, for example, should includes savings to the health system from increased <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140519305110?casa_token=--p9efSvidkAAAAA:-9xAC5ox76-NYQWIw3gvPEFuh1wRciEUwJt1X29a5j24ihAds_6GCuyElbHfU7-aeho62HHq7w">physical activity</a>. And more investment in roads adds to health costs resulting from diseases related to physical inactivity, such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10557-019-06926-5">heart disease</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-get-people-out-of-cars-we-need-to-know-why-they-drive-27279">To get people out of cars we need to know why they drive</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Climate change</h2>
<p>Underpinning our housing, transport and connectivity woes is the fact that our <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/">planet is heating</a>. The way we live today in cities like Sydney is both contributing to the problem and preventing the adaptations that need to happen. </p>
<p>Since being elected, the Minns government has stayed silent <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-western-sydney-is-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change-more-than-the-rest-of-the-city-201477">on the risks of climate change for Sydney</a>. Yet <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/how-transmission-woes-are-frustrating-the-building-of-renewable-energy-20230622-p5dimm">making the transition</a> to a more resilient city will require skill across layers of society, including active engagement with the community and business.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-western-sydney-is-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change-more-than-the-rest-of-the-city-201477">Why Western Sydney is feeling the heat from climate change more than the rest of the city</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So, what next?</h2>
<p>All of these problems will only be resolved when we delve deeply into complexity. We need to respond to the diversity of urban fabrics that together form the whole vast city. </p>
<p>Sydney matters – as a place to live, do business and visit. It needs to be cared for by a body with its interests as its mandate. The housing shortage, car dependency, entrenched monocentricity and the climate challenge demand more than top-down, simple solutions. Middle ground is needed, and that ground is rapidly being lost.</p>
<p>The solution is to take the politics and functions of city planning seriously. We need to better understand that the way our cities are planned and managed determines our ability to deal with the urgent problems we face. </p>
<p>Planning can help us adapt to hotter climates by ensuring we have well-insulated homes powered by renewable electricity and accessible green spaces nearby. Our <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Planning-Australias-Healthy-Built-Environments/Kent-Thompson/p/book/9780367670924">cities can keep us healthy</a> by providing clean environments and local opportunities for keeping physically active and making social connections. And, of course, we depend on our planning system to collaborate on solving the housing crisis. </p>
<p>But none of these things happen without investments – effective planning takes time, power and funding. And these resources are best allocated to city-wide institutions that know and care about Sydney as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Harris receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Kent receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
The centralisation of planning power is exactly what Sydney doesn’t need. While not perfect, the commission broke the mould of top-down, siloed planning and broadened the focus across the whole city.
Patrick Harris, Senior Research Fellow, Acting Director, CHETRE, UNSW Sydney
Jennifer L. Kent, Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206490
2023-05-26T05:32:18Z
2023-05-26T05:32:18Z
Surry Hills was once the centre of New South Wales’ ‘rag trade’: a short history of fashion manufacturing in Sydney
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528481/original/file-20230526-20031-m2r2yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C1389%2C974&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Top Dog factory for men's hats, Surry Hills, 1941</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of New South Wales</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sydney has awoken to the smouldering ruins of its largest city fire in 55 years.</p>
<p>The “abandoned building” in Randle Street, Surry Hills, adjacent to Central Station was once the R.C. Henderson Ladies Hat factory, a six-storey brick structure built in 1912. </p>
<p>Empty for some time, the space was slated to become a boutique hotel. Full of wooden trusses and likely old machinery oil, the building collapsed in a spectacular bonfire.</p>
<p>How did Surry Hills come to be the centre of the fashion manufacturing industry, or “rag trade”, for New South Wales? </p>
<h2>Dressing in New South Wales</h2>
<p>Ready-made clothing developed in 1860s Australia with the uptake of <a href="https://www.singer.com.tr/en/corporate/history">Isaac Singer’s sewing machine</a>. As the population became more prosperous, it needed better clothes. </p>
<p>The New South Wales fashion industry was one of the most locally concentrated in Australia. Apart from some large men’s suiting and shirt factories, most men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and hats were made in or near Surry Hills. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ballarat House, housing Singer Sewing Machine factory, on Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills,1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Electric-powered machines that sped up production were introduced from 1914.</p>
<p>David Jones assembled its garments in a modern purpose-built factory in Marlborough Street, Surry Hills in 1915. </p>
<p>Until the 1980s, most Australians wore Australian-made clothes. High import duties meant there was enormous impetus for local production. Although many women made their own clothes, they rarely made men’s outer clothes. </p>
<p>As more women worked, they had less time and needed to buy store-bought clothes. </p>
<p>From 1928-68, the clothing and footwear sector was marked by small plants, low levels of capital investment, a rate of profit <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259389739_Refashioning_the_Rag_Trade_Internationalising_Australia%27s_Textiles_Clothing_and_Footwear_Industries">nearly 65%</a> above the average for all industries, high risk, uncertainty and, of course, regularly changing fashions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women in the foreground machining as storeman stacks the finished articles in the rack" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A factory in Surry Hills, 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, the industry favoured those with fashion and style knowledge: skilled owner-managers who understood craft skills and production. In 1939, 94% of establishments were operated <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259389739_Refashioning_the_Rag_Trade_Internationalising_Australia%27s_Textiles_Clothing_and_Footwear_Industries">by working proprietors</a>. </p>
<p>Personal interactions between boss and worker were close. The shop floor was often set up as a “family”, with all the tensions that entails.</p>
<p>The large CBD retailers enjoyed close relationships with the manufacturers. Buyers made frequent visits, sometimes daily. </p>
<p>In the 1940s, <a href="https://sa.org.au/interventions/rebelwomen/rebelwomen.pdf">half of the women</a> working in manufacturing in Sydney were working in the rag trade.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dressed-for-success-as-workers-return-to-the-office-men-might-finally-shed-their-suits-and-ties-153455">Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The look and feel of Surry Hills</h2>
<p>Surry Hills was covered in cheap terrace houses built as worker’s rentals from the 1850s. The new Central Station opened in 1906 on the site of a former cemetery. </p>
<p>As the terraces deteriorated, the area was widely considered a “slum”, finely captured in Ruth Park’s novel <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/harp-south-ruth-park/">The Harp in the South</a> (1948). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two storey terraces with cast iron on balconies with children in front playing with a go kart. Washing / laundry on balcony." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surry Hills terrace houses, photographed in 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Multi-storey factories allowing for multiple occupancies were the norm. </p>
<p>Women’s fashion was made in small batches with frequent variation. The goods were light and compact, meaning lifts and staircases could be used for deliveries. Equipment used in the industry was also light and easily installed on floors above ground level. </p>
<p>Surry Hills was the main buying centre for fashion; department store, suburban and country buyers would walk from factory to factory to inspect the goods.</p>
<p>Labour for the Surry Hills industry was drawn from the entire metropolitan area. Women immigrants made up 70% of employees. </p>
<p>Labour became less skilled as detailed hand-tailoring and dressmaking were superseded by machines in the 1950s.</p>
<h2>Post-war Surry Hills</h2>
<p>Between 1947 and 1966, <a href="https://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/bib/PR0000770.htm">1.8 million migrants arrived</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>Many worked in factories. A large proportion of the Jewish Europeans who arrived in the 1930s and 1940s <a href="https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/exhibition/dressing-sydney-jewish-fashion-story/">worked in the clothing industry</a>; in turn they employed many southern-European migrant women who arrived with little or no English.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holding up boxes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dora Grynberg (1913-2016) at her fashion business near Central Station, Sydney, c. 1940.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Sydney Jewish Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fashion and clothing knowledge enabled many Jewish migrants to re-establish their livelihoods and identities across the globe. <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6092570">Between 1938 and 1961</a>, Sydney’s Jewish population doubled. </p>
<p>Low rents due to deteriorating building stock and the lack of demand for office space in Surry Hills meant clothing manufacturing continued. Factory buildings replaced some terrace houses from 1958, when Surry Hills was zoned for “B class” industry.</p>
<p>European Jews, mainly from Poland and Czechoslovakia, acquired old properties and redeveloped them as two-storey factories. The owners occupied only a portion of the building and rented out the remaining space to fellow countrymen. The capital required to enter the industry was small; machines could be hired and floor space rented on a weekly basis. The average Sydney clothing factory employed 15 workers.</p>
<p>The number of married women working in Australia rose to <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/changing-female-employment-over-time">around 30% by 1966</a>. Fewer had time to do home sewing. This created opportunities for cheaper ready-to-wear lines that could keep pace with rapid fashion changes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The heritage-listed building destroyed in yesterday’s fire, 11-13 Randle Street, Surry Hills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The household spend on clothing, footwear and drapery climbed dramatically, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Out_of_Line.html?id=rOIAjM7TaEYC&redir_esc=y">tripling from 1946 to 1960</a>. </p>
<p>The shift to this ready-to-wear trade was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/jewish-fashion-story/4247088">amplified</a> by Jewish entrepreneurship and retailing. Jewish migrants introduced new and brighter colours into everyday clothing. They helped to create the demand for lighter clothes, such as finely knitted garments of contemporary European fashion, modern lines in coats, and the Swiss machine-lace that adorned the short mod-dresses of the 1960s. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-shift-australian-fashions-coming-of-age-19237">Global shift: Australian fashion's coming of age</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>End of the rag trade</h2>
<p>The Whitlam Government cut tariffs by 25% in 1973 to reduce inflation and as a new approach to national industry planning. At the time, fashion amounted to <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Refashioning-Rag-Trade-Internationalising-Australias/dp/086840540X">10% of Australia’s total manufacturing employment</a>. </p>
<p>The reduction of tariffs and subsidies, price gouging, discounting and off-shore production <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/130671">decimated the industry</a>. Employment fell by nearly one third in two years after 1973. The market share of imports doubled. Business people moved their capital from manufacturing into property.</p>
<p>Clothing production moved to areas such as Marrickville, with Vietnamese entrepreneurs and workers replacing the Greeks who had once worked in the trade there. By 1985, <a href="http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/ethbusiness_1.pdf">one third of workers</a> in the local clothing industry were Asian.</p>
<p>If we time travelled back to 1950 in Randle Street, the scene would be very different from today. </p>
<p>Rather than urban professionals and baristas, we would see rag trade seamstresses, finishers, designers, managers, retailers, salespeople and promoters. </p>
<p>We might see bundles of the new synthetic corded fabrics, satin lastex miracle yarn, sanforised shrunk fabrics and fiesta nylons. Or reps showing the new <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldner-richard-15195">Goldner Triflex zipper</a>, <a href="https://shazbeige.com/pdf/Perkal_Brothers_History.pdf">Perkal brothers</a> shoes, <a href="http://dressingsydney.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-theearly-1920s-brothers-max-and-sid.html">Rain'N Shine coats</a>, or <a href="http://dressingsydney.blogspot.com/2012/11/back-to-telling-you-about-some-of.html">Hestia</a> bras. </p>
<p>We would see many of Sydney’s 9,000 workers in clothing and tailoring, 4,300 in dress and hat-making, and 8,000 in shirt-making who spent their working lives in Surry Hills. With this fire, another piece of Sydney’s rag trade and workers’ history is lost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil received funding from UTS and the Sydney Jewish Museum for a large collaborative project 'Dressing Sydney: The Jewish Fashion Story' (2011). Many of the findings were published with the Sydney Jewish Museum as 'Dressing Sydney' (2012). The project also benefited from a UTS Grant ‘Culture, Work and Economy in the Surry Hills Clothing Trade, 1900-1990’. Participants: Peter McNeil, Paula Hamilton, Paul Ashton, Giorgio Riello, Roslyn Sugarman (SJM), Norman Seligman (SJM), Cameron White, Charles Rice. The publication received additional support from Dr Gene Sherman.</span></em></p>
A heritage-listed hat factory has burned down in Surry Hills. The suburb was once a hub of fashion manufacturing.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203153
2023-05-04T20:04:12Z
2023-05-04T20:04:12Z
Friday essay: peyotes in suburbia – the secret world of Sydney’s psychoactive cacti growers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523571/original/file-20230501-22-j5x0c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C76%2C3598%2C3560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before I met the cactus expert, I didn’t even know psychoactive gardens existed. Of course I wanted to see one. </p>
<p>So on a cool, rainy day in February 2022, I drove west to the foot of the Blue Mountains to visit Liam Engel. It took longer than I thought. There is something about Emu Plains at Penrith that is more relaxed than the inner city. Maybe it’s the bigger expanse of sky or the wider street verges. The earth smells good and you get the taste for a more rural life.</p>
<p>Liam works with Entheogenesis Australia an educational <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnobotany">entheobotanical</a> and psychedelic non-profit. He has spent time in Mexico and South America learning about cactus culture and has a large collection himself, with an even larger propagating garden.</p>
<p>Entheogenesis Australia is the heart of a community where like-minded, research oriented, plant people gather and contribute to education about, and communication of, plant information. The team are working on a book about common Australian psilocybin mushrooms. At the moment, Liam particularly wants to find <em>Pelecyphora aselliformis</em> seeds. </p>
<p>These seeds grow what some people might call a “false peyote” – a plant that looks similar to and grows in similar habitats to peyote and might be used as a peyote substitute due to its mescaline content. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524279/original/file-20230504-16-m5k4fd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liam Engel, founder of the Mescaline Garden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Liam’s garden at Emu Plains is abundantly full of <a href="https://cactusculture.com.au/shop/p/san-pedro-trichocereus-pachanoi">san pedros</a> (large cacti, with thick stems), peyotes and false peyotes (but not <em>Pelecyphora aselliformis</em>). It teems with innumerable seed-grown, cloned and grafted plants. The back yard has a pool surrounded by more san pedros. Liam tells me the conditions are perfect for cactus in western Sydney as the temperature often gets up in the high 40s. </p>
<p>I love the native <em>Callistemon brachyandrus</em> in Liam’s front yard because he has trimmed back all the branches and on some he has nailed round wood pieces and placed cactus on these little stands. The result is a cactus candelabra.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519440/original/file-20230404-20-ceruea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A backyard brimming with san pedros.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As I follow Liam around his property, I begin to understand that while he presents as a laid-back person with street cred, he also has an extremely sharp eye, and a keen intelligence. He is one of those people whose expertise, experience and knowledge creeps up on you. Liam has committed a lot of time and passion to being a crusader for safe and informed cactus care and consumption.</p>
<p>He is also a gardener. “This is nothing,” Liam says, as I gaze at all his garden beds and propagation trays. “Wait until you see the psychoactive gardens I’m about to take you to.”</p>
<p>I have to admit I am extremely excited to see the next two gardens, but I know I can’t share their locations or the names of the owners. Soon enough, we drive for about 20 minutes to meet Liam’s first friend. Let’s call him Graham (not his real name).</p>
<h2>An atmosphere of other-worldliness</h2>
<p>Graham has a large backyard with a shed and a greenhouse. He has a forest of san pedros, including what he tells me is called a TBM (<em>Trichocereus bridgesii monstrose</em>), otherwise called the “penis plant” or <em>frauenglück</em>, meaning “woman’s luck” or “happy woman” in German. The origin of this clone is unknown but it has spread throughout the world and I am told it is known for being “good food” and having potent mescaline content. </p>
<p>Mescaline produces altered awareness, a different sense of time passing, and changes to visual experiences. Sometimes perceptual experiences become enhanced, even euphoric. Some people I’ve spoken to have had bad reactions such as headaches and dizziness.</p>
<p>Today is a meet-the-mescaline-plants day. Clouds start to cover the garden and a few spots of rain fall. I want to photograph all the cacti. I ask Graham why he started his garden. His answer: “To eat it all.”</p>
<p>He first ate a cactus back in 2014. He had a few dud experiences, both brewing and eating it, but learned to choose the right plants and has grown his own ever since.</p>
<p>This is an understatement. His garden has hundreds and hundreds of plants. All in neat rows, some raised up in garden beds. Some eight to nine years old. Many in neat pots that have been grafted or cloned. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519218/original/file-20230404-26-6obvvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hundreds and hundreds of plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I can tell Graham doesn’t trust me. I don’t really blame him. I don’t look like part of the trusted psychoactive community because I’m not. I look privileged, middle-aged, white, a woman. So it’s not surprising that he is a little wary, but he offers me a wine.</p>
<p>I decline the wine as I have to drive home for my daughter round 6pm. But I feel really grateful to be in Graham’s garden, even if he keeps casting me sidelong glances. On the one hand, it is like every suburban garden in Australia with mown open lawns (in between the cacti beds), a squeaking metal gate and a redbrick house. On the other hand, it also has a subtle energy. Whatever it is, there is an atmosphere of other-worldliness. It’s almost as if the culture of another country has been plonked into a suburban Sydney location. An odd schism of sorts.</p>
<p>While Liam and Graham disappear into a shed and speak in hushed tones as they inspect something within, I wander into the greenhouse on the other side of the garden, which is full to the brim with san pedro with peyotes grafted on top. Peyote are tiny little button cacti that look like pin cushions.</p>
<p>When they come back, I ask Liam and Graham about these double plants. They explain the peyotes are very slow growing and so being grafted onto cactus makes their growth rate increase. Plus they look very cool. Graham’s greenhouse is in excellent order. Everything is neat and tidy, like the lawn and beds outside.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523574/original/file-20230501-24-hmu9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peyote: tiny little button cacti that look like pin cushions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Graham is a curious individual who says he wants “to try loads of different cacti” and “to brew them all up and see what they are all like”. </p>
<p>Liam tells me that Graham is, “well known and respected for being the terscheckii connoisseur because only [Graham] and Peruvian Indigenous people can be bothered to eat that one.”<em><a href="http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/8746/Trichocereus_terscheckii">Trichocereus terscheckii</a></em> is known to have mescaline – the active hallucinogenic ingredient for psychoactive experience – but is a much bigger and more difficult cactus to eat or brew than san pedro. </p>
<p>Graham cuts out the dark layer of green under the skin, avoiding prickles, and makes a cacti soup.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-humans-start-experimenting-with-alcohol-and-drugs-161556">When did humans start experimenting with alcohol and drugs?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519219/original/file-20230404-26-nq3k5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">San Pedro cactus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The greenhouse is full of variegated cactus and it is brimming with propagated plants in pots. There are bags of soil and stone and fertiliser and the air is cool and dry. There are plants from habitat (cuttings, not seed) and there is stuff from the Chacun Chacun tribe of Vilcabumba. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tierrasvivas.com/en/travel-blog/vilcabamba">Vilcabumba</a> is known as the lost city of the Incas in Peru, at the foot of the Andes Mountains. Even though we are in Sydney and even though Liam and Graham are not Indigenous people, there is still a strong sense, in this garden, of an older culture, an older place. Much of what makes up the garden has been brought from overseas and sent by express post.</p>
<p>“Don’t the drug dogs sniff it out at customs?” I ask.</p>
<p>“Border police are looking for drugs, not plants. You order ten and one might get through,” explains Graham. “But some of these are old and from Bendigo.”</p>
<p>Bendigo! I marvel that the Victorian city of Bendigo was a source of mother cacti, purebreeds.</p>
<p>Graham explains, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Bendigo garden is heritage now. Yeah, the owner was a cactus gardener, he got too old, he was a cactus import station back in the day, when it was legal. And they made it heritage, so it’s heritage now. In the 1930s, they sent a bunch of people down to South America to collect habitat pieces of cactus, but not long after that it became illegal and you couldn’t get anything imported into Australia by Australian law.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Liam explains that his favourite cactus, the san pedro, is considered to be a weed because it grows in great quantities, whereas peyote is more rare and very slow growing.</p>
<p>Graham breeds his plants, too: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yeah, they’ve got stigma, male and female, you get the pollen and put it on the stigma and yeah, that’s hybridisation. And you bag the flowers so the other pollen doesn’t get into there. Yeah, you get babies in between two plants. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. But the grafted plants, they are not so good for consuming.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Liam and Graham discuss which plants are psycholeptic (having a calming effect) while I busy myself taking photos and absorbing all the different specimens and species, shapes and combinations. I feel like I need to give the young people space to catch up. But soon enough Liam is bustling both of us out of Graham’s backyard and through his side gate back to the cars. “Quick, we’re late to visit the next garden,” he says.</p>
<p>Before we leave, Graham pulls out some succulent cuttings from a pot near the gate and gives them to me. Maybe he is not so wary of me, after all.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523572/original/file-20230501-20-8re5rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Closeup shot of young san pedro cactus growing on old stems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-promise-of-lsd-mdma-and-mushrooms-for-medical-science-100579">The real promise of LSD, MDMA and mushrooms for medical science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The oldest psychoactive garden</h2>
<p>Graham and Liam and I drive for another half hour through the suburbs of western Sydney. This time, eastwards. I suppose it might be time to wonder why I’m doing this.</p>
<p>Why am I roaming around the suburbs of Sydney seeking out gardens of psychoactive plants?</p>
<p>My plant project so far has been to respond to the collection at the <a href="https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/national-herbarium-of-new-south-wales">Sydney Herbarium</a>. That involved our team commissioning poets, filmmakers and artists to respond to plant specimens and to test out the strengths and weaknesses of such collecting institutions. We partnered with the herbarium and also with Bundanon, the old homestead of artist Arthur Boyd, south of Sydney. Bundanon has an exciting remit of environmental art and care. My overall research questions, shared with Bundanon, are about why plants are so important, and why colonial knowledge has left out a chunk of First Nations cultures, and why plant people are so interesting.</p>
<p>It is this last point that is driving me right now. Plant people are special. I had mentioned this to the curator down at Bundanon on one of our zoom calls, and she cried, “Yes of course they are more interesting!” </p>
<p>So I am not alone in my thinking. Plant people are different from mainstream people. This may be because some microdose or imbibe plants for an hallucinogenic experience and know things that others may not. Or maybe it’s because they spend so much time caring for plants. Either way, this is the position I have put myself in. That’s that.</p>
<p>So it’s drizzling with rain as we travel to this final garden but the weather is lovely and cool. I wonder what the cacti make of all the recent wet heat. We can refer to the owner of the next garden as James (not his real name) to protect his identity and also his garden, which is hugely valuable in terms of variety, quantity and dollars. </p>
<p>So we arrive at garden number three. Again, we have turned up at a lovely suburban house. The front gate has been left ajar, for us I guess, and halfway up the driveway an alarm goes off. I notice a sensor to the right and realise this is some serious security. With good reason, I soon find out. I hope there are no guard dogs and fall in behind Liam and Graham, just in case. If a chunk of flesh is going to be bitten, I’d rather it wasn’t mine. But there are no dogs.</p>
<p>A tall man wearing a baseball cap ambles towards us. He has a cactus shirt (so does Liam, by the way) and a gentle demeanour. This is James. First we move into the heart of the large garden, and pause, naturally gazing up towards a towering tree. Well, it’s not a tree. It’s a vine that has completely engulfed a tree. A tree and a vine as one!</p>
<p>It’s <a href="https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/ayahuasca/">ayahuasca</a>, a vine that is growing on a large pine. It’s enormous, two storeys high, and its healthy leaves are fluttering brightly in the rainy light of the late afternoon. It is beautiful as it rises up behind the house. This grand ayahuasca vine is probably near-strangling the pine. The four of us stare up at it in silence. I’m amazed at its excellent condition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ayahuasca-just-how-safe-is-this-psychoactive-brew-194475">Ayahuasca: just how safe is this psychoactive brew?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>James murmurs, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I secretly brought a piece of the ayahuasca plant back in my suitcase back in 1993, after visiting Peru. I stayed with a shaman. We slept on dirt and there was no power except batteries for a few hours per day, no electricity. But that guy [he gestures to vine] came back with me in my bag. I was young and silly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>James lifts up the skirt of the vine to show me the tangle of roots beneath. “Ayahuasca means divine,” he says.</p>
<p>His shaman taught him that the best way to prepare ayahuasca was to cut a length of vine that was the same diameter as the recipient’s thumb and then same length as their height. Different tribes do it differently, but that’s how he was taught. And that vine was mixed with five to ten <em>Psychotria viridis</em> leaves, which have the DMT alkaloid and look a little bit like a marijuana plant.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519216/original/file-20230404-28-gdtkan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The psychotria viridis plant is in this greenhouse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>James shows me a few pots of psychotria he has growing at the back of a small greenhouse. The plants are maybe 60 centimetres high. Apparently these are psychotria hybrids designed to cope with Australian conditions. James had brought leaves of these plants back from South America in his toothpaste container.</p>
<p>Liam, Graham and James start talking about the inbreeding and inappropriate naming of varieties of cactus in Australia. They seem particularly dissatisfied with a plant named “hope”. </p>
<p>I start to look at all James’ cacti. Huge old blue ones. Most of his collection is seed grown. He tells me that the v-marks on the cactus show their age. One “v” is one season of growth. Like the rings of a tree trunk. The gardeners start talking about a large cactus nursery called Hamilton’s and how they used to have the oldest and best cactus and peyote but someone tipped them off and plants were stolen.</p>
<p>We move to another part of the garden to see the large greenhouses and stop to talk to James’ mother. She is sitting in front of a round prickly cactus in a pot. The mound of cactus is three times the size of one I have at home. With gloves on, she is using huge tweezers to pull out weeds. James’ mother is 84 and has her hair pulled back in a complex bun.</p>
<p>She smiles and seems happy to meet her son’s friends. I wonder if she knows how immersed her son is in the psychoactive plant world. Does she approve, turn a blind eye, not really care?</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519441/original/file-20230404-28-uzlbrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An intense, widespread garden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This garden is intense and widespread and must be worth an absolute motza. But James starts to tell me a story that is incredibly important for people who use plant-based drugs.</p>
<p>A story that really makes you wonder about the human brain and how connected or disconnected or reconnected humans are, or could be, with plants. We are standing in his greenhouse, which has state of the art exhaust fans and temperature and humidity gauges and dehumidifiers. James explains that about three or four years ago, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had an aneurism. One day I was at work and thought ‘Something is wrong here.’ And then my gums were so sore, I had tears coming out of my eyes. And everyone is telling me, ‘Man, you don’t look good. Like, something is wrong. You’re really white and you’ve lost a shit ton of weight’. Because I used to be 100 kilos. <br></p>
<p>Anyhow, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m not feeling well. I’ll go home.’ So before I went to go home, I fainted. So I wake up and they said, ‘Oh yeah man, go home’ … Mind you, before this, I knew something was wrong so I went to tell the doctors. And they gave me an MRI. But they didn’t see anything.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>James went to three doctors. One said it was chickenpox. Another said it was measles. Basically he took himself to hospital twice, to no avail, and kept being sent home. Finally he went back to hospital and had a second MRI and at last the doctors could see the aneurism and operated, leaving him to recover for six months.</p>
<p>What is so interesting about this story is why James didn’t die. Few people survive a brain bleed, and James’s was six millimetres by nine millimetres and lasted three days. One doctor believes part of the reason is that James is ambidextrous. The second reason is that they discovered what James had been doing for the three days of brain bleeding, which was agonising and caused intense vomiting and sickness.</p>
<p>He had been consuming constant amounts of mushrooms and cactus and cannabis. Nonstop. He tells us that one of his doctors believed this slowed down the brain and probably slowed the bleed and probably delayed death until they worked out what was wrong. Of course, this makes me wonder if the magic mushroom, cannabis and cactus caused the bleed in the first place. There is a long history of medicine as cure/kill. Too little, and the medicine is not enough to cure. Too much, and the medicine acts as a poison.</p>
<p>Isn’t this the narrative that creates such fear? That we, as consumers, want solutions to our ailments but are wary of the side effects? These issues are true for both approved and unregulated medicines: the impact of certain drugs can’t be understood until a later stage. </p>
<p>Addictive drugs, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bex_(compound_analgesic)">analgesic Bex</a>, were not understood for years. Bex was a popular drug in the 1950s and 1960s and it wasn’t until 1975 that phenacetin was removed from Bex because it was deemed addictive and could cause kidney cancer. Do these stories strike a chord of terror among mums and dads?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-australian-medical-stories-everyone-should-know-27581">Five Australian medical stories everyone should know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The cactus fail</h2>
<p>The thing about taking psychoactive medicines is that there are all kinds of risks, including the risk of failure. What happens when nothing happens? Is this a reflection of the plant – that it deems the human subject unworthy of the experience they are looking for? Perhaps some people take these substances but it’s not meant to be, it’s not their time, the plant decides they are not ready. Or – maybe they dodged a bullet.</p>
<p>I had a friend and her husband over for dinner and was telling them about these amazing secret gardens I had visited and the generous people who owned and cared for them. My friend told me her eldest son had tried to eat a cactus once and had become very sick.</p>
<p>I immediately asked if I could talk to him. They agreed but requested that I use a pseudonym for him – so let’s call him Joe. I rang Joe the next day and asked him about his experience.</p>
<p>He explained that one of his close mates – let’s call him Jason – had been on holiday in South America and, in a Peruvian hostel, had taken san pedro cactus. Jason’s experience was euphoric and amazing. Jason had eaten a forearm’s length of cactus after taking off the skin and eating the green part above the white matter. This all sounded exactly like the process Liam and Graham had explained.</p>
<p>Jason had told Joe that while it was disgusting to eat, after a half hour the experience had kicked in and was completely joyful. So Joe decided to grow some cactus and thought about eating it. He bought one off eBay and grew it for many months. He had bought it as a san pedro and it seemed legitimate. Eventually there came the day that he wanted to take it. </p>
<p>So he de-spined the cactus, cut off a forearm’s length and planned to eat it on a weekend when he was not at work. However, on the Thursday night, he decided to eat a handful of it, just to test the waters. He went to bed and on Friday started to suffer agonising cramps. He had to work but was nauseated and cramped and the pain and exhaustion were insufferable.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523575/original/file-20230501-22-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Consuming cactus can lead to agonising cramps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By Friday night he called his mother for help and it eventually passed, after much vomiting and pain. I asked if he was disappointed. “Yes, because my friend had such a good experience so it was a bit of a bummer that I had no psychoactive experience.”</p>
<p>I just had one more question for Joe. Why did he want to take cactus in the first place? There are many other substances that are much less hard work. Joe explained that he was attracted to the idea of working straight with nature. He liked the idea of finding a plant and growing it himself, and then sourcing something directly from nature and preparing it himself. He felt an affinity with the idea of the ritual of preparation and cultural history and feeling connected to the thing that provides a different experience – the cactus.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524015/original/file-20230503-574-6p3lw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Joe is not alone. There is a large and growing interest in psychedelics and the reasons are a drug high, medicine, ritual, curiosity, therapy and a natural experience. A combination of these reasons for taking psychoactive plants is often at play. I am grateful to all these people for sharing their experiences with me. There is a lot of stigma attached to these kinds of activities. Like all negative stereotypes, these attitudes do little more than attract shame and then shameful secrecy. These issues are loaded with politics and the ethics of care.</p>
<p>Ultimately, though, they take us back to the herbarium. Is this information about psychoactive plants included in its data? And if not, should it be? In a way, the herbarium dances around the stigma around psychoactive plants for recreational use. Is that wise? </p>
<p>The herbarium wants to reduce harm and avoid injury, of course, but is there a risk that more harm is caused by a lack of information? The herbarium also doesn’t want to be seen to advocate for these elements of plant–human sociality. Nor do I. But the activity is there. It’s not entirely helpful to pretend it’s not.</p>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://unsw.press/books/the-plant-thieves/">The Plant Thieves: Secrets of Herbarium</a>, published by New South Books.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prudence Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
They tend backyards brimming with cactus varieties, consuming the produce. Prudence Gibson meets a hidden group of gardeners and ponders the allure – and – danger of psychoactive plants.
Prudence Gibson, Author and Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201477
2023-03-26T23:17:48Z
2023-03-26T23:17:48Z
Why Western Sydney is feeling the heat from climate change more than the rest of the city
<p>Global warming has led to higher summer temperatures across Sydney over the past 30 years. However, our data analysis shows very hot summer days are becoming much more common in Western Sydney than in coastal Sydney. These hotter summers are also getting longer.</p>
<p>Although January and February are usually the warmest months, Greater Sydney summers now extend from December to March. For example, the city’s <a href="https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/sydney-breaks-165yo-milestone-after-hottest-four-consecutive-days-in-march-on-record/news-story/d8a422664e86ec5bb78696d013fe756d">record-setting March</a> has been the hottest month this summer. <a href="https://australianinstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/P834-Out-of-Season-WEB.pdf">Summers are expanding and winters shrinking</a> across subtropical and temperate Australia.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/11/4/76">newly published analysis</a> of temperature data from 1962-2021 shows one in ten days in summer reached temperatures of 35.4°C or more in Western Sydney. That’s a full 5°C hotter than near the coast, where one in ten days exceeded 30.4°C. One in 20 days reached 37.8°C or more in the west – the equivalent figure near the coast was 33.6°C.</p>
<p>Furthermore, very hot days have become more common over the past 30 years in Western Sydney, but not near the coast. The difference in maximum temperatures between the regions can be as much as 10°C. </p>
<p>So what explains the startling difference between two parts of the same city?
In our research, we show the influence of four climate drivers: El Niño-La Niña, Southern Annular Mode, global temperatures and local Tasman Sea temperatures.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1494049823179546624"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/western-sydney-will-swelter-through-46-days-per-year-over-35-c-by-2090-unless-emissions-drop-significantly-177056">Western Sydney will swelter through 46 days per year over 35°C by 2090, unless emissions drop significantly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Extreme heat is getting worse in the west</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/11/4/76">our study</a>, we calculated the threshold values for the top 10% and top 5% of summer maximum temperatures (the 90th and 95th percentiles) recorded for coastal Sydney (at Observatory Hill) and Western Sydney (at Richmond, about 50km to the north-west) over the 60 years from 1962-2021. </p>
<p>Comparing the first 30-year period, 1962-1991, to the second 30-year period, 1992-2021, revealed a stark difference in maximum temperature trends in Sydney’s west and nearer the coast.</p>
<p>In Richmond, the number of days with temperatures above 35.4°C and 37.8°C increased by 120 days and 64 days, respectively. In contrast, Observatory Hill recorded decreases of 4 and 52 days in days above the 90th and 95th percentiles (over 30.4°C and 33.6°C). </p>
<h2>What explains these differences?</h2>
<p>Poorly planned development in the west and its distance from coastal sea breezes explains part of the disparity between inland and coastal Sydney. But we also found the increase in extreme heat in Western Sydney is due to Australian climate drivers being amplified by increased global and Tasman Sea temperatures. </p>
<p>Using machine-learning techniques, we were able to attribute temperature differences to the influences of these climate drivers and their interactions with each other. The results show common, highly influential climate drivers for both regions: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/about-ENSO-outlooks.shtml">Niño3.4</a>, (an indicator of sea-surface temperatures in the tropical central Pacific Ocean, which drive El Niño and La Niña events)</p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/history/ln-2010-12/IOD-what.shtml">Indian Ocean Dipole</a> (the difference in ocean temperatures between the eastern and western sides of the Indian Ocean)</p></li>
<li><p>the combination of the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/sam/">Southern Annular Mode</a> (the movement of winds and weather systems to Australia’s south) with the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/history/ln-2010-12/SOI-what.shtml">Southern Oscillation</a> (large-scale changes in sea-level air pressure between Tahiti and Darwin)</p></li>
<li><p>the combination of global temperature with the Southern Annular Mode. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Tasman Sea and global sea surface temperatures have had far more influence on coastal Sydney than on inland Western Sydney.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hYADNIiXVqI?wmode=transparent&start=30" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An increase in extreme heat days is having wide-ranging impacts on Western Sydney.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the importance of rising temperatures in Sydney and particularly in Western Sydney, there has been little focus on their links with large-scale climate drivers. Our findings underline the worsening situation in Western Sydney compared with coastal Sydney. </p>
<p>Studies that employ machine-learning techniques or comparative analyses are typically done in regions of smaller populations. Western Sydney is home to <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/rcegws/rcegws/About/about_greater_western_sydney">more than 2.5 million people</a>. </p>
<p>Its economic development and fast-growing population have led to higher concentrations of buildings and man-made surfaces, which absorb and retain more heat. Known as the <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Policy-and-Legislation/Resilience-and-natural-hazard-risk/Urban-heat">urban heat island effect</a>, it compounds the impacts of climate change. Development on this scale also presents complex challenges for policy planning and resource management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of new housing development" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517098/original/file-20230323-16-1k0hq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The growth of Western Sydney is driving an increase in built-up areas, like this housing estate, that absorb and retain more heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/half-of-western-sydney-foodbowl-land-may-have-been-lost-to-development-in-just-10-years-190148">Half of Western Sydney foodbowl land may have been lost to development in just 10 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does this mean for the people of Western Sydney?</h2>
<p>Identifying the climate drivers that most influence maximum temperatures is crucial for Sydney’s planning. It matters for infrastructure development, health and socioeconomic wellbeing in Western Sydney in particular. </p>
<p>Two-thirds of Sydney’s population growth by 2036 is projected to be in Western Sydney. By then an estimated <a href="https://westernsydney.org.au/blog/2022/4/22/j41ye3z8pwmrqgsk8gq8avw9ig8ynt">3.5 million residents</a> will be exposed to more extreme summer heat.</p>
<p>The escalating climate crisis is widening Sydney’s health and socioeconomic divide. Western Sydney has <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/rcegws/rcegws/About/about_greater_western_sydney">higher unemployment and a larger proportion of lower-income families</a> than the rest of the city. </p>
<p>It’s imperative to understand how Western Sydney differs from near-coastal Sydney, and to plan accordingly. Some local councils in the west, such as Blacktown, are already trialling <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/homes-aren-t-safe-western-sydney-preparesevacuation-shelters-for-hot-summers-20220505-p5aioj.html">heat refuges</a> to reduce the growing risks for residents.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1349466372024094720"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-western-sydney-residents-grapple-with-climate-change-they-want-political-action-200917">As Western Sydney residents grapple with climate change, they want political action</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Longer and more intense summers are driving longer heatwaves and droughts. It’s leading to more bushfires of greater intensity, such as the <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/309191">2019-20 bushfires</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/182988-policymakers-on-notice-human-induced-climate-change/">economic burden</a> of dealing with these disastrous events is increasing. <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/hitting-home-report-V7-210122.pdf">According to the Climate Council</a>, the costs associated with extreme weather events in Australia have more than doubled since the 1970s. Australians are now five times more likely to be displaced by such events than people living in Europe.</p>
<p>The urban heat island effect already <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/urban-heat-island-effect-western-sydney/">permeates Western Sydney</a>. Recent extreme temperatures have been close to the limits of human endurance. The human body’s ability to cool itself <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/HeatWatch-2022-WEB.pdf">declines above 35°C</a>, especially in humid conditions.</p>
<p>The impacts of more frequent extreme heat, compounded by heat island effects, are greatest for vulnerable populations such as children in classrooms without air conditioning or low-income family households. Their situation is in stark contrast to the experience of residents of cooler coastal areas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-hits-low-income-earners-harder-and-poor-housing-in-hotter-cities-is-a-disastrous-combination-180960">Climate change hits low-income earners harder – and poor housing in hotter cities is a disastrous combination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Very hot days in Western Sydney are typically 5 degrees hotter than parts of the city close to the coast and are becoming more common, but only in the west. Four climate drivers explain the difference.
Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Anjali Gupta, Lecturer, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Researcher, Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology Sydney
Joanna Wang, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Joshua Hartigan, PhD Candidate, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Lance M Leslie, Professor, School of Mathematical And Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194046
2022-12-14T19:03:04Z
2022-12-14T19:03:04Z
Sydney: A Biography is Louis Nowra’s love letter to his adopted city
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496938/original/file-20221123-14-r5kt5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C8870%2C5553&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney Opera House</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dietmar Rabich/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Louis Nowra’s inspired biography of Sydney starts with a surprise visit to the city. He grew up in a housing commission estate in Melbourne. In 1959, while on a trip with his father to Wollongong in a truck to pick up a load of coke (for fireplaces, not drinking), his father took a detour – to Sydney. Nowra was nine.</p>
<p>After being driven through congested inner-city streets, he found himself on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. His amazement rendered him speechless. The massive grey steel structure and granite pylons provided a stunning contrast to the emerald-green harbour. Nowra’s passion for Sydney had been ignited. Twenty years later he moved to the now chic but then bleak inner-city suburb of Chippendale. Later, he took up residence on the border of the inner suburbs of Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross, where he lives today.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Sydney: A Biography – Louis Nowra (NewSouth).</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496931/original/file-20221123-24-k7u3bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>British economic historian R.H. Tawney famously said that to understand more fully places they were studying, historians needed “a stout pair of boots”. Professor Manning Clark echoed this in his 1976 ABC Boyer lecture, A Discovery of Australia. Nowra knew this instinctively, though he doesn’t claim to be a historian. Over the course of his long career, he has made his name as a playwright, novelist and a writer of creative non-fiction.</p>
<p>Nowra began walking the maze of criss-crossing, twisting and turning streets, roads, laneways, alleys, steps and paths that made up the inner city. Sydney was a disorderly place. It was not like Melbourne, with its mid-19th century, grid-pattern layout. In 1883, in his book Town Life in Australia, Richard Twopenny noted that “there is a certain picturesqueness and old-fashionedness about Sydney, which brings back pleasant memories of Old England, after the monotonous perfection of Melbourne and Adelaide”.</p>
<p>But Europeans had not shaped the veins and arteries of Sydney, as Nowra tells us. They appropriated Aboriginal walking tracks and pathways. The great grass highway to the south became George Street. The track which was renamed the (now Old) South Head Road created the northern boundary of Centennial Park, the largest urban park in the southern hemisphere. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500878/original/file-20221213-14-bqi4g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of Mosman – Charles Meere (1940).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Officers, officials, free colonists and ex-convicts built willy nilly, ignoring every governor’s instructions about building standards and the width of thoroughfares. Sydney was an accidental city. It grew like topsy. This was to lend the city part of its charm.</p>
<p>Geography and chance also played a role in establishing a place that was originally going to be called Albion, a literary term for ancient Britain, until the colony’s first Governor, Arthur Phillip, decided that naming it after Thomas Townsend, the first Viscount Sydney – a powerful British politician – might help his career prospects. Botany Bay, which had been chosen as the site for a settlement, proved unsuitable. While sailing up one of the world’s most spectacular harbours to the north of Botany Bay, Phillip found a stream of fresh water, at a place the Indigenous people called Warrang.</p>
<p>Phillip and his officers set up camp on the eastern side of the stream, where the first Government House was built. Some of its foundations can be seen in the Museum of Sydney’s forecourt. This set in motion the evolution of Macquarie Street, home to some of Sydney’s finest colonial buildings: the Mint, the Rum Hospital (now part of NSW’s Parliament House), and convict architect Francis Greenway’s magnificent St James’ Church. The convicts and their jailers camped on the western side, which became known as the Rocks. Mercantile Sydney grew there.</p>
<p>Pollution and unpredictable climatic conditions eventually crippled the Tank Stream. But it delineated what was to become the spine of the city’s central business district. Depending on the weather, occasional tours of the now subterranean stream – a “smelly stormwater drain”, as Nowra describes it – are available. Tickets are obtained through a ballot.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=857%2C0%2C3990%2C1061&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=857%2C0%2C3990%2C1061&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496935/original/file-20221123-16-8ch6ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney Harbour Bridge at night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Antilived/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-clay-helped-shape-colonial-sydney-120580">How clay helped shape colonial Sydney</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A city of water and stone</h2>
<p>Nowra’s book is in part thematic. Water is a key theme. The Gadigal, the traditional owners of the land, were water people. For them, the harbour was a source of life. For the colonists, water could be treacherous. </p>
<p>A chapter on the tragedy of the Dunbar highlights the fear of ocean voyages and shipwrecks in the 19th century and beyond. In 1857, 121 people drowned during a storm when the ship’s captain accidentally ran the vessel into the sandstone cliffs at the Gap at Watsons Bay. Only one person survived. The incident has survived in the popular imagination. In 1930, Woollahra Council put the ship’s anchor on permanent display near the site of the wreck. An annual memorial service is still held at St Stephens Anglican Church in Camperdown.</p>
<p>Water was a source of other threats. During the 19th century, nervous colonists built fortifications around and on the harbour to defend themselves from invaders. Russians were expected after hostilities broke out with Britain in 1876. Bare Island in Botany Bay was constructed in response to this event. Over a century later, the island featured in the movie Mission Impossible 2. Nowra often connects places to popular culture, photography, literature and art.</p>
<p>And then there’s Sydney’s famous beaches – Bondi, Manly, Coogee and Cronulla. Nowra spends a chapter on the long history of beach culture, from passive engagement with the water to the rise of surfboard riding, introduced to Sydneysiders in 1914 by the young Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahannamoku. He discusses Max Dupain’s photograph Sunbaker (1937) and Charles Meere’s painting Australian Beach Pattern (1940), both iconic images of the myth of the beach and body culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500846/original/file-20221213-26864-iq7995.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sunbaker – Max Dupain (1937).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Australia/Public Domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sandstone is another important theme. Hawkesbury sandstone is found extensively across the Sydney basin. Sandstone caves and shelters provided housing for Aboriginal people for around 30,000 years. There is an abundance of rock art, most of which is hidden out of respect for these sacred items and for their protection. </p>
<p>The colonists hewed the stone to build the city. Much of it was taken out of quarries at Pyrmont and Ultimo. Many of Sydney’s grand Victorian and Edwardian public buildings are made of the yellowish, or at times greenish or grey stone. So too were bridges, churches, warehouses, stairs, street curbing, and the old sea walls built around the harbour to contain it. </p>
<p>The harbour is pushing back, slowly eroding the heavy blocks.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-revisited-parramattas-archaeological-past-to-reveal-the-deep-time-history-of-the-heart-of-sydney-169827">We revisited Parramatta's archaeological past to reveal the deep-time history of the heart of Sydney</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A playful history</h2>
<p>Nowra uses a broad brush. His Sydney essentially takes in the inner-city suburbs of Woolloomooloo, the Rocks, Walsh Bay, Ultimo, Surry Hills, Chippendale and Redfern. It is bounded to the north by the harbour, as he acknowledges in the author note. </p>
<p>But Sydney is a city of many suburbs – 658 of them – and on a few occasions he travels out into some of the more distant ones. The chapter Mortdale, AKA Valley of the Dead recounts a recent summer excursion with Iranian photographer Ali Nasseri to this southern Sydney suburb. Quoting architect, urbanist and writer Elizabeth Farrelly, Nowra highlights a classic inner-city take on the outer suburbs. “The suburbs,” Farrelly wrote, “are about boredom, and obviously some people like being bored and plain and predictable. I’m happy for them.” </p>
<p>Farrelly seems to have changed her mind more recently, but this refrain has been circulating in the culture for over a century. Hugh Stretton strenuously repudiated it in his 1970 book Ideas for Australian Cities. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500860/original/file-20221213-22107-y9vmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Louis Nowra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NewSouth Publishing</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nowra’s view is more playful. While he ultimately finds Mortdale unmemorable, it has its charms. The journey through Tempe and Wolli Creek opens his eyes to the massive contemporary redevelopment of these patchwork areas of old grey terraces, poor bungalows and worn-out paddocks. At Mortdale, he finds the culture is diverse, as are the inexpensive and generous food offerings. The main street gently throbs with all sorts of activities. And there is a sense of community – something that ebbs and flows in the inner city as money and property rights erase or ignore memories and traces of the past.</p>
<p>Nowra also has a chapter on A Day in Concord – a middle-class, 1920s suburb – though places like Concord and Mortdale are fascinating side trips in his book. He could have gone to Cabramatta, Harris Park or Campsie for other suburban experiences.</p>
<p>Sydney has numerous other faces, many of which Nowra unmasks. His book outlines a long history of corruption. For a decade from 1965, Sir Robert “Bob” Askin, the 32nd Premier of New South Wales, was a close friend to organised crime. Crown Casino was connected in recent years to money laundering. Police corruption was also rife until the 1990s, notably around Darlinghurst and Kings Cross – the subject of an earlier book by Nowra, and the first book in the trilogy of which Sydney: A Biography is also a part.</p>
<p>Then there is iconic Sydney – the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Luna Park and, for Nowra, the gleaming, green-grey tower of Crown Casino. Nowra acknowledges that a lot of people hate the city’s tallest building with as much passion as he hates the sculpture of Governor Macquarie in Hyde Park North, which he deems “the worst public sculpture in Sydney”. But this has no bearing on Nowra’s deep love of his adopted city. The epigraph from former Prime Minister Paul Keating captures his attitude: “If you don’t live in Sydney, you’re camping out.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ashton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Louis Nowra’s thematic history of Sydney is playful and inspired.
Paul Ashton, Professor of Public History, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194451
2022-11-30T00:54:22Z
2022-11-30T00:54:22Z
‘A three-storey, luminous birdcage with suspended hanging gardens and an extensive crypt below’: Sydney Modern is open at last
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498091/original/file-20221129-13475-4rvz7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C8100%2C5359&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aerial view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Sydney Modern Project had the odds stacked against it since its inception in 2013. It has surely been the most controversial state gallery extension to be built in Australia. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/people/art-gallery-of-nsw-executive/dr-michael-brand/">Michael Brand</a> – a Canberra-born, ANU and Harvard trained art historian with an outstanding museum career in Australia and America – was appointed as director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2012. This was on the retirement of Edmund Capon, who held the post for the preceding 33 years. </p>
<p>Brand <a href="https://www.thecultureconcept.com/sydney-modern-designing-an-art-museum-for-the-21st-century">launched</a> the unfunded plan for a new building in 2013, the Tokyo firm SANAA <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tokyos-sanaa-architects-win-art-gallery-of-nsw-sydney-modern-design-competition-20150527-ghamun.html">won</a> the architectural competition in 2015 and construction commenced in 2019 with a budget of A$344 million. The knives were quickly out for Brand and his project. </p>
<p>Some, like Paul Keating, did not like the location and called it a “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/paul-keating-slams-art-gallery-of-nsw-expansion-as-land-grab-masquerading-as-art-20151124-gl6xuz.html">gigantic spoof</a>”. </p>
<p>Others did not like the design; a <a href="https://www.cultureheist.com.au">book</a> was published by a former gallery employee attacking the project; and the new culture at the gallery. Prominent people in the Sydney art scene lined up to attack the project and the director.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498092/original/file-20221129-18-o0inje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There were some people who simply did not like Brand. He is a reserved, scholarly individual with a brilliant eye, in total contrast with the flamboyant, media savvy Capon. </p>
<p>There were faults with the original architectural design and significant modifications were implemented before construction commenced.</p>
<p>There were also external circumstances that impacted on the project: the murky world of NSW state government politics, bush fires that shrouded Sydney in smoke, COVID-19. </p>
<p>However, Sydney Modern, now that it is open, is a spectacular achievement. The floorspace of the gallery has almost doubled, creating a gallery precinct (Brand prefers to call it a “gallery campus”) with two buildings connected by an art garden. </p>
<p>On one side we have the stately neo-classical building that looks like a traditional 19th century art gallery with a series of extensions by Andrew Anderson, on the other side, a new 21st century structure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interior view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building , featuring Takashi Murakami Japan Supernatural: Vertiginous After Staring at the Empty World Too Intensely, I Found Myself Trapped in the Realm of Lurking Ghosts and Monsters 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved, 2022, photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-walking-into-a-crystal-our-first-preview-of-the-art-gallery-of-nsws-new-sydney-modern-190746">'Like walking into a crystal': our first preview of the Art Gallery of NSW's new Sydney Modern</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A luminous birdcage</h2>
<p>The new building may be described as a three-storey, luminous birdcage with suspended hanging gardens and an extensive crypt below. The main architectural concept is that of three limestone-clad, cascading pavilions leading down towards the water with a huge supporting rammed earth wall. </p>
<p>Below is the crypt, locally called the “tank”, in recognition of its origins as a fuel storage reservoir secretly and speedily constructed at the start of the second world war to store fuel for Allied shipping. </p>
<p>It reminds me of the huge water cisterns in Istanbul constructed by the Byzantines to store water for the city. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Adrián Villar Rojas The End of Imagination 2022 in the Tank at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Adrián Villar Rojas, photo © Jörg Baumann</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The tank is presently occupied by Adrián Villar Rojas’ “time-travelling sculptural forms” dramatically lit by constantly changing light
sources. The smoke and mirrors display is deliberately disorientating, evoking more of a mood than a visual assessment of the artwork.</p>
<p>In the upstairs birdcage, it is very easy to orient yourself and be aware of your location and the various possible exits. In the crypt all is murky and unpredictable as you gradually negotiate the spaces and dodge the pillars and protruding sharp edges of the sculptures.</p>
<h2>Indigenous art at the heart</h2>
<p>Although there is an emphasis on Indigenous art with the transfer of the Yiribana Gallery from the basement of the old building to the entry gallery of the new one, this is more than simply a symbolic gesture to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the heart of the gallery. </p>
<p>Indigenous art is found at all levels of the new building and is integrated into the display of non-Indigenous Australian and international art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Making Worlds exhibition in the new building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales , featuring Shireen Taweel tracing transcendence 2018-21 (foreground) and Mabel Juli Garnkiny Ngarrangkarni 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Zan Wimberley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the highlights for me are the newly commissioned woven metal pieces by Lorraine Connelly-Northey. Her huge metal handbags made from discarded, well-weathered metal sheets from the outback have a stark sense of presence and are laced with wit. </p>
<p>Her work looks out onto the most ambitious project, the sprawling art garden by Jonathan Jones scheduled to open mid-2023.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Yiribana Gallery featuring Lorraine Connelly - Northey Narrbong - galang (many bags) 2022 © Lorraine Connelly-Northey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Zan Wimberley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Less a deliberate policy and more as part of the process of what Brand describes as selecting the most interesting new art, women artists make up 53% of the 900 exhibitors in the new building. </p>
<p>The major thematic groupings, or exhibitions, in the new building are Dreamhome: Stories of art and shelter, Making worlds, Outlaw and Rojas’s The end of imagination in the crypt. These will remain in place for the next six months before there is a new set of exhibitions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Dreamhome: Stories of Art and Shelter exhibition in the new building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring Samara Golden Guts 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Samara Golden, photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An elegant build</h2>
<p>Despite the slings and arrows, Sydney Modern (now known somewhat unimaginatively as the North Building of the Art Gallery of NSW) has come to fruition. </p>
<p>Possibly not the most magnificent art gallery in the world, as the NSW premier and his arts minister spruiked at the opening, but an elegant, formidable and very functional new building. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exterior view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Politicians in Australia have always been very good at throwing money at new buildings, the true test will come if this doubling in size of the gallery will be accompanied by a substantial increase to the operating budget of the institution. </p>
<p>With new gallery spaces projected for Melbourne, Adelaide and possibly Canberra, funding is required for more than rammed earth, glass, bricks and mortar. Australia does not need a stampede of white elephants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eco-activist-attacks-on-museum-artwork-ask-us-to-figure-out-what-we-value-193575">Eco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Sydney Modern at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is a spectacular achievement – but going forward, funding is required for more than rammed earth, glass, bricks and mortar.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192504
2022-11-14T00:30:22Z
2022-11-14T00:30:22Z
Bell frogs, dugong bones and giant cauliflowers: water stories come to life at Green Square
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494783/original/file-20221111-21-8gu7av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4031%2C2673&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sheas Creek runs into Alexandra Canal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Ilaria Vanni</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Did you know the Sydney suburb Rosebery was home to the now-endangered <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10483">green and golden bell frogs</a>? That enormous cauliflowers were nourished by fresh water springs? And that <a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/event/excavation_of_sheas_creek_1896">dugong bones</a> were found during excavation for the <a href="https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/from_sheas_creek_to_alexandra_canal">Alexandra Canal</a>?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mappingedges.org/projects/water-stories-activating-water-civic-ecologies-in-green-square/">Research</a> has revealed these and other water stories in a project that maps and brings to life the histories and practices of water in Green Square. For Traditional Owners, the Country now known as Green Square is nadunga gurad, sand dune Country, known for millennia for its nattai bamalmarray, freshwater wetlands and ephemeral ponds.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/may-you-always-taste-the-sweetest-fruit-uncovering-the-history-and-hidden-delights-of-your-neighbourhood-179308">'May you always taste the sweetest fruit': uncovering the history and hidden delights of your neighbourhood</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of factories alongside a canal" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493410/original/file-20221103-22-1dn4qf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sawtooth factories on the Alexandra Canal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration: Ella Cutler</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Green Square is Australia’s <a href="https://www.urbanagendaplatform.org/best-practice/i-green-square-rich-industrial-past-vibrant-sustainable-and-connected-community">largest urban renewal project</a>, spanning the inner eastern Sydney suburbs of Beaconsfield, Rosebery, Zetland, Alexandria and Waterloo. During the <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-not-again-a-third-straight-la-nina-is-likely-heres-how-you-and-your-family-can-prepare-188970">La Niña</a> event in 2021-22, the wetlands and ephemeral ponds became visible to Green Square residents and visitors over the first year of the research project. Yet the histories of water that shaped and continue to shape Green Square remained largely invisible. </p>
<p>Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney brought some of these stories to the surface in a storymap. We used a software package (ESRI’s ArcGIS) to integrate maps, archival text, expert voices, photos, videos and illustrations for the <a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cbfa956dc8744b4cbe7db5696eaff619">Water Stories</a> project. Telling these water stories allows us to explore the ever-changing relations between Country, development and urban imagination. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="ibis illustration" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493412/original/file-20221103-17-ghtx4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian white ibis is a common wetland bird in Green Square.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration: Ella Cutler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where do these stories come from?</h2>
<p>We went to a range of archives. Some were official, such as the State Library of NSW, the National Library Trove, the City of Sydney Archives and strategy documents, the <a href="https://dharawalstories.com/dharawal-dictionary/">Dharawal Dictionary</a>, state government policy documents and federal and state parliamentary Hansards. And some were grassroots records, such as the online archive of FrogCall, the newsletter of the Frog and Tadpole Society. We also spoke to experts such as zoologists, engineers and landscape architects. </p>
<p>However, the largest archive we explored is Green Square itself. To understand Green Square as a living archive we identified “portals” in the landscape: visible objects that provide entry points into water stories. A pub, a plaque, a frog pond, a maintenance hole, a hoarding, a canal, a creek, a blue tongue lizard and a native flower are translated into the storymap as geolocated icons on a base map. Clicking on each of these icons transports you to a new story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="hand-drawn map with illustrations drawn in circles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493408/original/file-20221103-18-vixwqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Water Stories map has nine ‘portals’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration: Ella Cutler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We pieced together fragments found in the archives into narratives that recover both well-known and little-known histories. These stories reveal the multiple and changing relations with water in this area.</p>
<p>What, for example, is the story of the pub? Perhaps you have been to the Cauliflower Hotel, one of the oldest pubs in Sydney. It was founded by George Rolfe, a well-known market gardener. Rolfe had prospered from growing a bumper crop of cauliflowers watered from springs during a drought.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/move-over-suburbia-green-square-offers-new-norm-for-urban-living-57633">Move over suburbia, Green Square offers new norm for urban living</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stories of Country and colonialism</h2>
<p>For millennia this area was a refuge on the route between Sydney’s two harbours, Gamay (Botany Bay) and War'ran (Sydney Cove). The presence of water led settler-colonial land owners to choose this place. Thus began the colonial history of Green Square as a site of agriculture, manufacturing, industry and now residential development. </p>
<p>This narrative is dominant in contemporary descriptions of Green Square, but it is not the only direction these stories flow.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Green and gold frog on a log" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494778/original/file-20221110-23-dvznv7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The green and golden bell frog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The endangered green and golden bell frog, we discovered, prefers to make its habitat in disturbed landscapes, such as the water pooling from sand mining, rather than in custom-made nature reserves. This may dampen enthusiasm for the small frog pond established at <a href="https://foxrelocations.com.au/fun-things-to-do-in-kimberley-grove-reserve-in-rosebery-2018/">Kimberley Grove Reserve</a>. But it is important to understand the complexity of how such histories intersect if we are to make better decisions about cities in the face of climate change. </p>
<p>Some of the other stories surfaced by the project include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Gunyama, the name of the new aquatic centre means “stinky wind”, which could describe the smell of both ancient mangrove swamps and the noxious trades of the 1800s</p></li>
<li><p>a huge <a href="https://www.outdoordesign.com.au/news-info/stormwater-drain-keeps-green-square-dry/7754.htm">stormwater processing plant</a> lies underneath Green Square. Built as part of the development, it delivers up to 320 million litres of recycled stormwater each year to new buildings and open spaces.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="three men, one digging" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493409/original/file-20221103-24-i5k0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dugong remains were found during excavation at Sheas Creek in 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Australian Museum (AMS351/V9817)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-if-but-when-city-planners-need-to-design-for-flooding-these-examples-show-the-way-157578">Not 'if', but 'when': city planners need to design for flooding. These examples show the way</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On the storymap, watery words from the Dharawal Dictionary guide your interactive experience, because the premise for telling these water stories is that we understand the city as Country. Country is often misunderstood as being synonymous with land, but it comprises every aspect of the “natural” environment and ecology, including water and relationships between water and land. </p>
<p>We understand water is always present, even if not visible. And that care for cities means care for Country, which also means care for water. </p>
<p>As we collect and rearrange stories, we also create new ones. We are interested in hearing how as a resident, worker or visitor to Green Square you perceive the presence and histories of water in the neighbourhood.</p>
<p>By sharing your own water story you can contribute to the living archive on the <a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cbfa956dc8744b4cbe7db5696eaff619">Water Stories website</a>. Simply click on the eel at the end of each story and add some text to share your story about how you experience water at Green Square.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The <a href="https://107.org.au/event/water-stories/">Water Stories exhibition</a>, featuring illustrations by Ella Cutler printed on site at the <a href="https://rizzeria.com/">Rizzeria</a>, opens November 16 at 6pm.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilaria Vanni receives funding from The City of Sydney. She is a member of the Climate, Society and Environment Research Centre (C_SERC) and of the Creative Practice Research Group at the University of Technology Sydney.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Crosby receives funding from The City of Sydney. She is member of The Frog and Tadpole Study Group of New South Wales (FATS) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Foster does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Long before Green Square was a huge urban renewal project it was Country known to Traditional Owners for its wetlands. Until now, those water stories have remained largely invisible.
Ilaria Vanni, Associate Professor, International Studies and Global Societies, University of Technology Sydney
Alexandra Crosby, Associate Professor, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney
Shannon Foster, D'harawal Knowledge Keeper, PhD Candidate and Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189448
2022-09-18T20:14:49Z
2022-09-18T20:14:49Z
10 months and hundreds of subjects: how I took portrait photography to the streets of Parramatta
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481522/original/file-20220829-1164-4arxhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C10%2C7064%2C4745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the River City Voices choir perform for a group portrait.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past ten months, I have photographed hundreds of people in the Western Sydney suburb of Parramatta for a portrait project called <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/c3west/cherine-fahd-parramatta-yearbook/">Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook</a>. </p>
<p>The portraits in the yearbook show the people who live, work and play in Parramatta against the backdrop of an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/landmark-project-hopes-to-put-the-paris-in-parramatta-20220428-p5agyi.html">ever-changing city</a>.</p>
<p>The way a photographer and subject come together to make a portrait is usually invisible in a portrait. </p>
<p>Here, instead of trying to reveal the elusive individuality of a person, I have been focusing on the social dynamics of portraiture – what happens behind the scenes between me and the people I’m photographing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481527/original/file-20220829-18-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Collages from the yearbook portray being together in Parramatta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Daniel Palmer notes in his book <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003103684/photography-collaboration-daniel-palmer">Photography and Collaboration</a>, portraiture is by definition relational and collaborative. That is, the process of photographic portraiture inherently brings the photographer and subjects together to arrive at an image. </p>
<p>In the context of this project, coming together for a portrait creates playful opportunities for social interactions among strangers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481508/original/file-20220829-24-l1czz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I hold my camera phone as a mirror to help a participant apply her lipstick while the audio producer for The Conversation Podcast captures our verbal interaction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is amazing what strangers will share with me in the space of five minutes. </p>
<p>Two men reveal they are brothers and haven’t seen each other for ten years. </p>
<p>One woman tells me she thinks she’s ugly and asks me to make her look beautiful. </p>
<p>Another keenly describes the floral wonders she is holding from her community garden. </p>
<p>One man whispers that he can’t speak English. </p>
<p>Another tells me he’s in a hurry to go to lunch. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481501/original/file-20220829-12-nsopyg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two brothers on the day they are reunited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021–2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We chat about the everyday things, the weather, COVID, shopping and Rugby League. </p>
<p>There are stories of time spent in jail, and lives being turned around. </p>
<p>New arrivals to Australia speak of their family in lands faraway and citizens who have lived all their lives in Parramatta share insights on the city. </p>
<p>These are the stories photography can’t capture in the silent stillness of the image, but that’s no reason not to continue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-arts-can-help-us-come-back-together-again-podcast-173803">How the arts can help us come back together again – podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Performing photography</h2>
<p>Setting up a studio in the street and inviting people to pose together in front of the camera is a thing to see. We always had audiences of passersby watching and it wasn’t long before they were also in front of the camera. </p>
<p>If you look closely at the portraits there are talkative details and warm gestures: micro-movements of the body where people touch each other or hold hands; the spaces between our bodies; instances when we are caught by the camera laughing, chatting and applying lipstick.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481502/original/file-20220829-20-92l3md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warm gestures can be seen in the detail of the yearbook’s collages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021–2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I also see myself in action. I am both photographer and subject, a stranger dressed in red, wanting desperately to be with people, to steer them through a photographic moment, to pose and be uncomfortable together. </p>
<p>When people have their portraits made I want to know whether they enjoyed it or found it excruciating and awkward. After the photo is taken, we walk up to the laptop tethered to the camera and look at the photographs. They indicate which portraits they like and hate. I listen and take notes. </p>
<p>Involving people in the selection process creates instant trust. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481491/original/file-20220829-14-u3jh7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A video trailer captures the construction workers reviewing their portraits with Pam, the project’s photo assistant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In bringing people together before a camera, I became acutely aware of photography’s potential to foster social inclusion, social participation, visibility and a sense of belonging and connection to one’s place and people.</p>
<p>Photography is something we all do. It is familiar and familial. Group portraits activate a social encounter and conversation, listening and storytelling. </p>
<p>The social experience of photography is also extended through time. After the photographs have been taken and printed, they are displayed as a collage on a large scale photo wall in the heart of Parramatta in Centenary Square. I love watching people looking for themselves or pointing to familiar faces. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481532/original/file-20220829-25-i60s6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Looking for familiar faces on the photo wall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Garry Trinh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As one passerby declared on seeing the photo wall: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thanks for treating everyone the same, like we belong and are as deserving of recognition and dignity as others, instead of excluding us from being visible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This feedback goes to the heart of the project that welcomed people from all walks of life to offer a view of Western Sydney that is far from the media stereotypes. </p>
<p>Fundamentally, the Parramatta Yearbook acts as a model for how cultural institutions and government can work together with artists to record and reflect community, create a sense of belonging and produce narratives about a place in transition that foregrounds the creativity of its citizens ahead of urban development. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drawing-data-i-make-art-from-the-bodily-experience-of-long-distance-running-182762">Drawing data: I make art from the bodily experience of long-distance running</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Parramatta Yearbook portraits are on public display in Parramatta’s Centenary Square until October 3, as well as in a <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/files/documents/C3West_Parramatta_Yearbook__PDF.pdf">88-page downloadable yearbook</a> from the Museum of Contemporary Art.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook is produced and presented by C3West on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in partnership with Parramatta Artists’ Studios, an initiative of the City of Parramatta.</span></em></p>
Coming together for a portrait creates playful opportunities for social interactions among strangers.
Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189969
2022-09-12T20:27:47Z
2022-09-12T20:27:47Z
An arms race over food waste: Sydney cockatoos are still opening kerb-side bins, despite our best efforts to stop them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483908/original/file-20220912-22-hl7846.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C1891%2C1069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Klump</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bloody hell! That cockatoo just opened my bin, and it’s eating my leftover pizza. We can’t have that, I’ll put a rock on the lid to stop it opening the bin. Problem solved…? </p>
<p>And so began an arms race in the suburbs of southern Sydney: humans trying to deter sulphur-crested cockatoos from opening kerb-side bins, and cockatoos overcoming their deterrents to feast on our food waste. </p>
<p>The ability to open kerb-side bins is unique to cockatoos of southern Sydney, but this behaviour appears to be spreading. Last year, we published research <a href="https://theconversation.com/clever-cockatoos-in-southern-sydney-have-learned-to-open-kerb-side-bins-and-it-has-global-significance-164794">revealing that</a> this behaviour is a stunning display of “social learning”, as birds learn the bin-opening technique by observing its neighbour. </p>
<p>This had global significance – it meant we can add parrots to the list of animals capable of foraging culture, which also includes <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/21415">chimpanzees</a>, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/340/6131/485.full.pdf?casa_token=kn6Xq36d784AAAAA:zMXuxW7FTUhJNzvtpoMwwxnTsjgaKDVUc8x-SvZ0Y_MbSxp08b2VnBggW5Qn3xJHLiNIecO_VluVIsa4">humpback whales</a> and <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2002.2302?casa_token=kJ9aPGMR7bsAAAAA:FwdIIgpVkDJZcQIG1dAn0f4swE-4_ZF6Tjjq4XzuBN0Jcm4ecerGwiFAkdEi0eA7O6ssrF40DfbcHEzw">New Caledonian crows</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01285-4">new research</a>, published today, documents 50 bin-protection methods. It provides another example of a global issue of human-wildlife conflict – indeed, it is rare to document a behavioural change of a species in response to the actions of another. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Sl1WZ073eg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Cockatoos in southern Sydney have learned to open kerb-side bins.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cockatoos make a mess</h2>
<p>While cockatoos opening bins is fascinating, it can also create a mess. The birds search through the rubbish to find food, occasionally throwing out items in the way. Needless to say, coming home to find your rubbish spread on the ground in front of your house is not appreciated. </p>
<p>Some people are also concerned that the food being eaten isn’t healthy for the cockies, such as pizza, bread or chicken.</p>
<p>This arms race is a unique story, as we show it not only involves social learning by cockatoos, but also by humans in response. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clever-cockatoos-in-southern-sydney-have-learned-to-open-kerb-side-bins-and-it-has-global-significance-164794">Clever cockatoos in southern Sydney have learned to open kerb-side bins — and it has global significance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Through our community survey, participants reported how and when they protected their bins from cockatoos, that they changed their bin protection in response to the cockies solving a method, and that they learnt new protection methods from their neighbours. </p>
<p>Our research shows people have escalated their methods to deter cockatoos from opening bins over time, as cockies overcame their efforts. These appear to prevent or hamper cockatoos from opening the bin lid (at least for now), while allowing it to be emptied when the bin is inverted by the garbage truck.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1563816523759702016"}"></div></p>
<h2>From rubber snakes to custom locks</h2>
<p>Our research made observations about the many innovative ways to stop cockatoos opening bins, but we plan to assess the success of different methods in more detail in the future.</p>
<p>We’ll start with the quick and easy method of placing a brick, wood, metal or bottle filled with water on top of the bin lid, making it too heavy for a cockatoo to lift. If the object is heavy enough, then it should work. </p>
<p>If it isn’t, a cockatoo can push it off, open the lid and have a feed, as the video below shows.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lVEAprXGHhU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A sulphur-crested cockatoo pushing a brick off a bin lid, opening it and then searching for food.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A more sophisticated solution is to bolt wood, metal or brick to the lid, or strapping the bottles to the top or underside of the lid. This method permanently makes the lid too heavy and appears to be an effective deterrent.</p>
<p>Another popular method is preventing the bin lid from flipping open via rope, bungee cord, metal spring, or a stick placed through the handle or hinge. These methods had only varying success. </p>
<p>Attaching a custom designed lock was also popular and, if working properly, appears to deter cockies. These locks allow the bin to open when tipped upside down by the garbage truck. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483911/original/file-20220912-16-hx4d1t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A door mat protects a bin from cockatoos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Klump</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some people placed metal or plastic spikes around the rim to prevent the birds landing, or they installed barriers to stop a bird getting their beak under the bin lid. These methods appeared to work.</p>
<p>Methods with poor outcomes include modifying the bin lid to deter the birds from landing or walking by making them uncomfortable, such as with netting. And aiming to scare the birds away by attaching a rubber snake is an interesting method but not a popular one, so perhaps it isn’t effective.</p>
<p>Still, the race continues, both in the suburbs where we’ve studied this novel behaviour and in new suburbs as this fast-food foraging behaviour spreads to neighbouring suburbs and, with time, beyond. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483910/original/file-20220912-22-d35anx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One household used shoes to keep the bin lid shut.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Klump</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An example of human-wildlife conflict</h2>
<p>We categorise cockatoo bin-opening as a “human-wildlife conflict”. Such conflicts are common, from possums in a household roof, to the official bin-chicken (the Australian white ibis) scavenging a free feed, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-my-backyard-how-to-live-alongside-flying-foxes-in-urban-australia-59893">flying-foxes</a> roosting in urban areas or foraging in orchards. </p>
<p>Conflicts can result from noise, smell, poo, damage to crops, gardens, or buildings, or threatening people, stock or pets.</p>
<p>Globally, human-wildlife conflict is common and diverse – think <a href="https://theconversation.com/lions-are-less-likely-to-attack-cattle-with-eyes-painted-on-their-backsides-142488">lions eating cattle</a>, monkeys stealing tourists’ cameras, pigeons pooing and nesting in cities, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WukKFYe6Jg">seals sleeping on boats</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydney-shark-attack-triggers-calls-for-a-cull-but-lets-take-a-deep-breath-and-look-at-the-evidence-177357">sharks biting people</a>, ducks eating crops, and snakes sharing homes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Monkey holding sunglasses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483912/original/file-20220912-18-hx4d1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A monkey thief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our attempts to deal with such conflicts can have tragic results for wildlife. One extreme example is shark nets, which kills sharks yet don’t prevent them from accessing the beach. They also <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-whales-keep-getting-tangled-in-shark-nets-and-what-should-you-do-if-you-see-it-happen-186468">kill or entangle non-target</a> – and sometimes threatened – species, such as turtles, dolphins, grey-nurse sharks and whales.</p>
<p>We should learn to live alongside wildlife instead, especially as “conflict species” may be under threat, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-my-backyard-how-to-live-alongside-flying-foxes-in-urban-australia-59893">grey-headed flying-foxes</a> (an important pollinator) or great white sharks (an important predator).</p>
<p>In many instances of human-wildlife conflict, public education goes a long way to reducing conflict. Understanding wildlife behaviour and appreciating the fascinating features of native species often favourably shifts community attitudes – we can grow to love them, not fight them.</p>
<p>So whether it’s finding new and harmless ways to protect your bin from hungry cockatoos, or having shark-smart behaviour, there are positive actions we can take if we are informed. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>To help our ongoing research, please take the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvkgCX4n5SZ-_gG-CYabnMuxyVdy_ciOdFNLkiErTZWgs9ng/viewform">2022 Bin-Opening Survey</a> and report if you “have” or “have not” seen cockatoos opening bins.</em></p>
<p><em>The authors gratefully thank the contributions of the survey participants and research volunteers; we acknowledge our co-authors of this research: Barbara, Lucy, Damien, and Richard.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189969/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Martin receives funding from the ARC. </span></em></p>
New research documented 50 different ways Sydneysiders tried to stop sulphur-crested cockatoos opening their bins, from rubber snakes to custom locks. Humans didn’t always win.
John Martin, Animal Ecology Lab, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188434
2022-08-11T03:06:09Z
2022-08-11T03:06:09Z
‘Let it rip’: Barangaroo, a masterclass in planning as deal-making
<p>The redevelopment of the 22-hectare Barangaroo precinct on Sydney Harbour has long been a masterclass in poor urban development governance and lack of due process. It was meant to transform the former docklands into a world-class example of architectural and public space design. Instead, Sydney got a world-leading example of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X20952421">unsolicited urbanism</a>, and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/crown-finally-opens-its-sydney-casino-20220805-p5b7j5.html">a casino</a>.</p>
<p>Unsolicited urbanism is a project of city-shaping initiated by developers, not government. It clearly favours powerful development and financial players. Instead of being subject to proper public planning processes, outcomes are often predetermined. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-pay-the-price-for-blocking-council-input-to-projects-that-shape-them-127017">Australian cities pay the price for blocking council input to projects that shape them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the case of Barangaroo, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X20952421">secretive monopolies</a> over the site have been legitimated. A culture of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sydneys-barangaroo-tower-paved-the-way-for-closed-door-deals-161816">planning-as-deal-making</a> has been normalised. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developers-urge-government-not-to-cave-in-to-cbd-nimbys-at-barangaroo-20220809-p5b8d5.html?btis">A coalition</a> of key state government figures and the real estate and development lobbies have targeted not just this prime harbour-side site for development, but the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X20952421">planning system itself</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/roberts-to-decide-final-plans-for-central-barangaroo-as-objections-pour-in-20220805-p5b7ja.html">latest furore</a> over the site involves a <a href="https://architectureau.com/articles/plans-released-for-final-barangaroo-chapter/">proposal to modify approved plans</a> for Central Barangaroo. The changes would greatly increase floorspace, including a new 20-storey tower above a metro train station, and shrink a public park. It’s the last tranche of buildings that will sit between the highly developed southern end and <a href="https://www.barangaroo.com/visit/barangaroo-reserve">Barangaroo Reserve</a> at the northern end.</p>
<p>It’s another example of how planning here operates. The planning minister and not the Independent Planning Commission will make the decision.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556062642451935232"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/crown-sydney-casino-opens-another-beacon-for-criminals-looking-to-launder-dirty-money-184253">Crown Sydney casino opens – another beacon for criminals looking to launder dirty money</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The latest chapter in a decade-long saga</h2>
<p>The story begins with the Hill Thalis-led <a href="https://www.hillthalis.com.au/projects/barangaroo-formerly-east-darling-harbour">competition-winning entry for the Barangaroo</a> masterplan. It was effectively discarded in 2009-2010 – revised out of existence. </p>
<p>Since then the public justification for the project has relied on two main arguments:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>it should restore the harbour headland at the northern end of the site to something like its original form and character</p></li>
<li><p>its southern portion should be home to <a href="https://architectureau.com/articles/the-debates-around-Barangaroo/">“world-class architecture” and “icons”</a>. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The second argument was standard guff reliant on “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Global-Architect-Firms-Fame-and-Urban-Form/McNeill/p/book/9780415956413">starchitects</a>” and the rhetoric of global landmarks. </p>
<p>The first was more compelling. Often rehearsed in public by former prime minister Paul Keating, the argument was that the headland was a vital aspect of the city’s <a href="https://journals.lincoln.ac.nz/index.php/lr/article/view/867/606">most important heritage, the harbour landscape</a>. Reconstructing it was much more important, Keating suggested, than protecting the form and some of the residual industrial heritage of the container port. </p>
<p>Setting aside Philip Thalis’ judgment that it is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/barangaroo-development-interests-counter-the-public-interest-10837">“kitsch, historicist fantasy”</a>, where does this leave the current proposal (modification 9) for Central Barangaroo?</p>
<p>It involves notable development impact on the harbour landscape as seen from the harbour itself and from one of Sydney’s most significant public open spaces, Observatory Hill.</p>
<p>The expanded development and new tower would be in an area always envisaged as low-rise. The reason was to protect views and the historic landscape. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478461/original/file-20220810-12-eyhi4i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The National Trust NSW urged its members to make submissions against the proposed Central Barangaroo Concept modification.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Trust NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sydneys-barangaroo-tower-paved-the-way-for-closed-door-deals-161816">How Sydney's Barangaroo tower paved the way for closed-door deals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Part of a wider story of failure</h2>
<p>This latest Barangaroo chapter is part of a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00420980211067906">longer story</a> of urban governance failure. </p>
<p>Under the NSW Liberal government of the past decade, a raft of “reforms” have chipped away at the integrity and credibility of the planning system. Our research has tracked the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0308518X20952421">longer history</a> of how these changes have underwritten unsolicited urbanism, as shown below.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing the planning law changes since 1979 that have led to unsolicited development proposals" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478630/original/file-20220811-12-d9tgty.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X20952421">Table: The Conversation, adapted from Rogers & Gibson (2020)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have seen small development loopholes open up over <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315548722-6/barangaroo-mike-harris">building heights and floorspace ratios</a>, and the much more significant rise of the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X20952421">unsolicited proposal process</a> at Barangaroo. </p>
<p>NSW is not alone here. In Victoria, the<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0042098015602649"> West Gate Tunnel project</a> in Melbourne is another controversial case of unsolicited urbanism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/west-gate-tunnel-saga-shows-risk-of-lock-in-on-mega-projects-pitched-by-business-131210">West Gate Tunnel saga shows risk of 'lock-in' on mega-projects pitched by business</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The rise of planning-as-deal-making involves a geographical sleight of hand. Rather than work to a broad strategic plan for a city or a whole precinct, it reduces public debate to a discrete discussion about a specific planning or development process, or a new section of the site. </p>
<p>The objective of this incremental approach is twofold:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>to gain access to government land</p></li>
<li><p>to undermine the planning process that guides how this land should be used for maximum public benefit. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>What is lost is accountability for how a project fulfils the broader goals of strategic city planning. A “let it rip” mentality pervades the development sector and sections of the government too. </p>
<p>Any long-term plan, land parcel, public infrastructure or zoning process is seemingly up for grabs, liable to be sold off, changed or up-scaled. The planning system is increasingly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/taking-our-eye-off-the-ball-state-s-architect-warned-against-dumping-green-housing-reforms-20220803-p5b6xz.html#:%7E:text=NSW%20planning%3A%20State%20architect%20Abbie%20Galvin%20warned%20against%20dumping%20green%20housing%20reforms">fragmented and disjointed</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/market-led-infrastructure-may-sound-good-but-not-if-it-short-changes-the-public-127603">Merit and the public good</a> have made way for developer business cases.</p>
<p>Anyone standing in the way of development approval is charged with <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developers-urge-government-not-to-cave-in-to-cbd-nimbys-at-barangaroo-20220809-p5b8d5.html?btis">self-serving NIMBYism</a>, no matter how valid their concerns.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1554037377760624640"}"></div></p>
<h2>Will the government heed Sydneysiders’ concerns?</h2>
<p>Sydney CBD <a href="https://sydney.org.au/FutureSydneyCBD/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Phase-1-report_final_27-august-updates.pdf">occupancy rates</a> have flatlined. The <a href="https://sydney.org.au/FutureSydneyCBD/findings/">Committee for Sydney</a> is advocating reinvigoration based on diversity and inclusivity. The latest Barangaroo plans won’t deliver this. </p>
<p>Instead, real estate interests want more exclusive and higher-density residential high-rise development on land that could be used differently, were social, cultural and environmental considerations given priority.</p>
<p>In 2016 the NSW <a href="https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/managing-unsolicited-proposals-in-new-south-wales">Audit Office urged</a> greater transparency and public reporting of unsolicited proposals. It warned these “pose a greater risk to value for money than procurements done through open, competitive and transparent processes”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/market-led-infrastructure-may-sound-good-but-not-if-it-short-changes-the-public-127603">Market-led infrastructure may sound good but not if it short-changes the public</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The latest controversy comes amid scandals engulfing the state government, following a federal election won and lost on issues of public integrity and evidence-based policy-making, from climate to pandemic management. </p>
<p>The public have lost trust in politicians to represent citizens’ best interests. They are suspicious of corruption, and detest “deals for mates”. While people may not understand the technicalities of planning proposals, amendments and “state significant” developments, they do sense the cards are stacked against the public interest. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/roberts-to-decide-final-plans-for-central-barangaroo-as-objections-pour-in-20220805-p5b7ja.html">battle lines</a> have been drawn over this fateful <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/blog/raise-your-voice-protect-sydneys-iconic-historic-views/">final piece</a> of Barangaroo. The government’s decision will reveal where its loyalties lie, and whether any integrity in planning can be salvaged before voters pass judgment in the 2023 state election.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556480320643674113"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dallas Rogers receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Henry Halloran Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Logan receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Alastair Swayn Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Gibson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Crystal Legacy receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
A bid to amend plans for the final stage of the Barangaroo project would once again favour developers’ interests over the public interest. It shows how badly the planning process has been undermined.
Dallas Rogers, Head of Urbanism and Associate Professor of Urban Studies, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney
Cameron Logan, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney
Chris Gibson, Professor of Geography, University of Wollongong
Crystal Legacy, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187442
2022-08-09T00:52:39Z
2022-08-09T00:52:39Z
Backyard hens’ eggs contain 40 times more lead on average than shop eggs, research finds
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478187/original/file-20220809-16-86bvbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C4408%2C2908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s nothing like the fresh eggs from your own hens, the <a href="https://www.chickenguard.com.au/chicken-keeping-is-on-the-rise-australia/">more than 400,000</a> Australians who keep backyard chooks will tell you. Unfortunately, it’s often not just freshness and flavour that set their eggs apart from those in the shops. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119798">newly published research</a>* found backyard hens’ eggs contain, on average, more than 40 times the lead levels of commercially produced eggs. Almost one in two hens in our Sydney study had significant lead levels in their blood. Similarly, about half the eggs analysed contained lead at levels that may pose a health concern for consumers.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-verdicts-in-we-must-better-protect-kids-from-toxic-lead-exposure-41969">Even low levels</a> of lead exposure are considered <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp13.pdf">harmful to human health</a>, including among other effects <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30025-2/fulltext">cardiovascular disease</a> and decreased IQ and kidney function. Indeed, the World Health Organization has <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">stated</a> there is no safe level of lead exposure.</p>
<p>So how do you know whether this is a likely problem in the eggs you’re getting from backyard hens? It depends on lead levels in your soil, which vary across our cities. We mapped the areas of high and low risk for hens and their eggs in our biggest cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – and present these maps here.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119798">Our research</a> details lead poisoning of backyard chickens and explains what this means for urban gardening and food production. In older homes close to city centres, contaminated soils can greatly increase people’s exposure to lead through eating eggs from backyard hens. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="chickens scratching in the dirt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476428/original/file-20220728-20511-ejyizd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chickens love scratching and pecking in the dirt. Unfortunately, that’s how lead from the soil gets into them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What did the study find?</h2>
<p>Most lead gets into the hens as they scratch in the dirt and peck food from the ground. </p>
<p>We assessed trace metal contamination in backyard chickens and their eggs from garden soils across 55 Sydney homes. We also explored other possible sources of contamination such as animal drinking water and chicken feed. </p>
<p>Our data confirmed what we had anticipated from our analysis of more than 25,000 garden samples from Australia gardens collected via the <a href="https://www.360dustanalysis.com/">VegeSafe program</a>. Lead is the <a href="https://www.mapmyenvironment.com/">contaminant of most concern</a>.</p>
<p>The amount of lead in the soil was significantly associated with lead concentrations in chicken blood and eggs. We found potential contamination from drinking water and commercial feed supplies in some samples but it is not a significant source of exposure. </p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aehBQA0lH2M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Unlike for <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/managing-individual-exposure-lead-australia#block-views-block-file-attachments-content-block-1">humans</a>, there are no guidelines for blood lead levels for chickens or other birds. <a href="https://www.aavac.com.au/files/2015-16.pdf">Veterinary assessments</a> and research indicate levels of 20 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL) or more may harm their health. Our analysis of 69 backyard chickens across the 55 participants’ homes showed 45% had blood lead levels above 20µg/dL. </p>
<p>We analysed eggs from the same birds. There are no food standards for trace metals in eggs in Australia or <a href="https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%253A%252F%252Fworkspace.fao.org%252Fsites%252Fcodex%252FStandards%252FCXS%2B193-1995%252FCXS_193e.pdf">globally</a>. However, in the <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/Pages/25th-Australian-Total-Diet-Study.aspx">19th Australian Total Diet Study</a>, lead levels were less than 5µg/kg in a small sample of shop-bought eggs. </p>
<p>The average level of lead in eggs from the backyard chickens in our study was 301µg/kg. By comparison, it was 7.2µg/kg in the nine commercial free-range eggs we analysed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4037389/">International research</a> indicates that eating one egg a day with a lead level of less than 100µg/kg would result in an estimated blood lead increase of less than 1μg/dL in children. That’s around the level <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/212_04/mja250427.pdf">found in Australian children</a> not living in areas affected by lead mines or smelters. The <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/managing-individual-exposure-lead-australia#block-views-block-file-attachments-content-block-1">level of concern used in Australia</a> for investigating exposure sources is 5µg/dL. </p>
<p>Some 51% of the eggs we analysed exceeded the 100µg/kg “food safety” threshold. To keep egg lead below 100μg/kg, our modelling of the relationship between lead in soil, chickens and eggs showed soil lead needs to be under 117mg/kg. This is much lower than the Australian residential guideline for soils of 300mg/kg. </p>
<p>To protect chicken health and keep their blood lead below 20µg/kg, soil concentrations need to be under 166mg/kg. Again, this is much lower than the guideline.</p>
<h2>How did we map the risks across cities?</h2>
<p>We used our garden soil trace metal database (more than 7,000 homes and 25,000 samples) to map the locations in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne most at risk from high lead values.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Sydney showing areas of high and low lead risk for backyard chickens" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476799/original/file-20220801-13622-gfamgw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Levels of lead risk for backyard chickens across Sydney. Dark green dots indicate areas with safe lead levels. Light green and yellow dots are areas over the safe lead level. Orange and red dots indicate areas with high levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Max M. Gillings, Mark Patrick Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Melbourne showing areas of high and low lead risk for backyard chickens" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476800/original/file-20220801-44691-cb37jb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Melbourne showing levels of lead risk for backyard chickens. Dark green dots indicate areas with safe lead levels. Light green and yellow dots are areas over the safe lead level. Orange and red dots indicate areas with high levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Max M. Gillings, Mark Patrick Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Brisbane showing areas of high and low lead risk for backyard chickens" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476801/original/file-20220801-13622-30yjyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Brisbane showing levels of lead risk for backyard chickens. Dark green dots indicate areas with safe lead levels. Light green and yellow dots are areas over the safe lead level. Orange and red dots indicate areas with high levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Max M. Gillings, Mark Patrick Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Deeper analysis of the data showed older homes were much more likely to have high lead levels across soils, chickens and their eggs. This finding matches other studies that found older homes are most at risk of legacy contamination from the former use of lead-based paints, leaded petrol and lead pipes.</p>
<h2>What can backyard producers do about it?</h2>
<p>These findings will come as a shock to many people who have turned to backyard food production. It has been on the rise over the past decade, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-21/green-finger-boom-sprouts-from-rising-cost-of-living/101250928">spurred on recently</a> by soaring grocery prices.</p>
<p>People are <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PB-59-Grow-Your-Own.pdf">turning to home-grown produce</a> for other reasons, too. They want to know where their food came from, enjoy the security of producing food with no added chemicals, and feel the closer connection to nature.</p>
<p>While urban gardening is a hugely important activity and should be encouraged, previous studies of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021002075">contamination of Australian home garden soils</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340921004352">trace metal uptake into plants</a> show it needs to be undertaken with caution. </p>
<p>Contaminants have built up in soils over the many years of our cities’ history. These legacy contaminants can enter our food chain via <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-006-2027-1">vegetables</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b04084">honey bees</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.128">chickens</a>.</p>
<p>Urban gardening exposure risks have typically focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.10.054">vegetables and fruits</a>. Limited attention has been paid to backyard chickens. The challenge of sampling and finding participants meant many previous studies have been smaller and have not always analysed all possible exposure routes. </p>
<p>Mapping the risks of contamination in soils enables backyard gardeners and chicken keepers to consider what the findings may mean for them.</p>
<p>Particularly in older, inner-city locations, it would be prudent to get their soils tested. People can do this at <a href="https://www.360dustanalysis.com/">VegeSafe</a> or through a commercial laboratory. Soils identified as a problem can be replaced and chickens kept to areas of known clean soil.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors acknowledge Tahereh Yazdanparast as first author of the research paper.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor received funding via an Australian Government Citizen Science Grant (2017-2020), CSG55984 ‘Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust’ (the DustSafe project). The VegeSafe and DustSafe programs are supported by publication donations to Macquarie University. He is a full-time employee of EPA Victoria, appointed to the statutory role of Chief Environmental Scientist.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorrit E. Jacob and Vladimir Strezov do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Lead levels in backyard hen eggs are often much higher than in eggs bought in the shops. A new study of soil lead, chickens and eggs locates the high-risk areas in our biggest cities.
Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, Macquarie University
Dorrit E. Jacob, Professor, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University
Vladimir Strezov, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185132
2022-07-15T00:28:49Z
2022-07-15T00:28:49Z
The Barassi Line: a globally unique divider splitting Australia’s footy fans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471991/original/file-20220701-16-ue86sm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C1140%2C848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikidata Fellowship</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A particular eccentricity of the Australian sporting landscape is that, culturally, our football codes remain strongly tied to their geographic origins. </p>
<p>Australian rules originates from Melbourne, with the southwestern states as heartlands. The rugby codes made their Australian sporting debut in Sydney, with northeastern states as heartlands.</p>
<p>This phenomenon was dubbed “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barassi_Line">the Barassi Line</a>” in 1978, describing a cultural dividing line based on football preference proposed to run from Eden, NSW, through Canberra and up to Arnhem Land. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture that year.</p>
<p>The Barassi Line has been a focus of <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.405891829523236">my research</a> and has recently been <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">plotted and visualised</a> by Brett Tweedie as part of his <a href="https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Inaugural_Wikidata_Fellows_announced">Wikidata fellowship</a>.</p>
<p>In a country that has largely avoided political and cultural hyper-partisanship, the <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">Barassi Line</a> is perhaps our strongest sociogeographic dividing characteristic, and certainly novel in the global context.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1177727116110024707"}"></div></p>
<h2>Red states and blue states</h2>
<p>Where one is raised has a remarkably strong bearing on likely football preferences.</p>
<p>If you walked down the streets of Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart or Perth, every third person you walked by would be interested in Australian rules and no other football code.</p>
<p>If you entered a Melbourne pub filled with people interested in football (of any variety), <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.143058285756777">82% of them would AFL supporters</a>. </p>
<p>In a similar Sydney sport pub, <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.143058285756777">73% would support a rugby code</a>. Notably, however, support for the rugby codes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2020.1807953">varies significantly across Sydney’s geographic subregions</a>. For example, rugby league interest is nearly half as prevalent in North Sydney (28%) as compared to Sutherland (52%).</p>
<p>If you’re Australian, you might be thinking, “Yeah – of course!” But this is not the international norm.</p>
<p>In the United States, for instance, where terrain can range from snow fields to desert landscapes, the variance in popularity between mainstream professional sports leagues is comparatively minimal. </p>
<p>While basketball’s popularity is linked to inner-city urbanisation and baseball <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Wpg6AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT15&dq=a+companion+to+american+sport+history&ots=ehVE6bWB12&sig=x7X2EoOhYBmpAzQol_alxZH622s#v=onepage&q=a%20companion%20to%20american%20sport%20history&f=false">retains a rural stronghold</a>, <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=AU">Google search volume data</a> nonetheless reveals that 48 of America’s 51 states exhibit an identical hierarchy of sport league popularity (being gridiron, basketball, baseball and ice hockey).</p>
<h2>Where is the Barassi Line and how has it changed?</h2>
<p>Australian rules authorities have actively attempted to shift the Barassi Line. </p>
<p>As early as 1903, Australian rules administrators began investing in game development, <a href="https://www.fairplaypublishing.com.au/products/code-wars-the-battle-for-fans-dollars-and-survival">spending more than £10,000</a> on footballs, jumpers, and school coaches to promote the code in Sydney. </p>
<p>In the past decade, the AFL has distributed <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-funding-ladder-revealed-100m-gap-between-top-and-bottom-clubs-20220304-p5a1yp.html">A$220 million in additional funding</a> to its four northern expansion clubs (the Sydney Swans, GWS Giants, Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns).</p>
<p>Yet despite ever-increasing media coverage and professionalisation, it is remarkable how intact the line remains.</p>
<p>Come 2019, AFL free-to-air telecasts averaged <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=142139">261,000 Melbourne viewers</a>, compared with 21,000 and 23,000 in Sydney and Brisbane, respectively (when not featuring a local team). </p>
<p>Similarly, NRL matches held an average rating in Sydney of <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=145474">about 197,000</a>, compared with ratings typically between 5,000 and 20,000 across southern markets. </p>
<h2>Mapping the battlefront</h2>
<p>Given the Barassi Line represents a metaphorical battlefront, however, real progress is perhaps best measured at the frontline.</p>
<p>Here, the <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">Wikidata fellowship work visualising community football clubs</a> is insightful. This mapping identifies 1,504 Australian rules and 861 rugby league clubs nationally. (Of course, as primarily a creative work, it is possible some clubs were missed in this mapping project). But the distribution of clubs is particularly illuminating, noting:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>where Aussie rules was dominant, it was clearly dominant, with league making up just 15% of the two-code-preferred at most in Aussie rules states […] League on the other hand, even when the dominant code, still had a much higher percentage of Aussie rules clubs.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This mapping identifies 1,504 Australian rules and 861 rugby league clubs nationally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikidata fellowship</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The conclusions outlined in this <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">data visualisation</a> align with those in my book <a href="https://www.fairplaypublishing.com.au/products/code-wars-the-battle-for-fans-dollars-and-survival">Code Wars</a>. </p>
<p>Australian rules is successfully creeping the Barassi Line northward, with the border-straddling region of Murray in NSW aligned with Australian rules. </p>
<p>Significantly, this <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">mapping</a> work suggests Australian rules is also advancing in the adjacent Riverina region.</p>
<p>These regions, while small in population, are of high strategic importance to the football codes because such regional areas produce a disproportionate amount of elite athletes. </p>
<p>Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina is known as the “City of Good Sports”. It not only produces a very high number of elite athletes per capita (<a href="https://www.waggawaggaaustralia.com.au/visitor-information/city-of-good-sports/">“the Wagga effect”</a>), but does so across an amazing diversity of sports.</p>
<p>Luminaries include Mark Taylor, Michael Slater, Alex Blackwell, Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly, Peter Sterling, Nathan Sharpe, as well as the Mortimer and Daniher families.</p>
<p>The Barassi Line is hence not just of academic interest, but of vital importance for our football codes in terms of maintaining vibrant junior participation bases. This helps secure the nation’s best future athletes.</p>
<h2>The Barassi Line and the broader NSW-Victoria rivalry</h2>
<p>A noteworthy feature of the Barassi Line is how it reflects more broadly upon New South Wales and Victoria, which remain fierce cultural, political, and economic rivals more than 120 years after federation.</p>
<p>This was brought into particular focus by political barbing over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/jul/20/victoria-premier-daniel-andrews-takes-swipe-at-nsw-for-not-implementing-ring-of-steel-video">COVID management</a>, but is otherwise most regularly overt in <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsport/formula-one/a-loss-for-f1-nsw-premiers-gibe-over-really-disappointing-melbourne-news-drivers-debate-supercarsstyle-penalty-system-pit-talk/news-story/703226c411767e4e74d8eb5ef7c82f22">sport</a>. </p>
<p>Sporting barbs fuel the state rivalry because Melbourne consciously targeted becoming Australia’s sporting capital in the 1980s. This was a means of <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.7202/029575ar">economic salvation</a> by diversifying from manufacturing. Sydney, by contrast, positioned itself as the nation’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2012.746816">preferred financial centre</a>.</p>
<p>While Melbourne’s sport attendance culture is <a href="https://theconversation.com/aussies-are-sports-mad-but-victorians-are-the-clear-winners-45761">widely lauded</a>, Sydney advocates have previously quipped this reflects the city’s otherwise <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19911890225">dullness</a>. </p>
<p>Irrespective of our individual sporting preferences, the Barassi Line is something to honour. </p>
<p>It not only puts Australia among the world’s most unique sports cultures. It also explains why we have so many professional football teams and leagues to support. </p>
<p>That Australia’s relatively small population can sustain such an abundance and diversity of football is worth celebrating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hunter Fujak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In a country that has largely avoided political and cultural hyper-partisanship, the Barassi Line is perhaps our strongest sociographic dividing characteristic, and certainly novel globally.
Hunter Fujak, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180784
2022-04-12T23:22:03Z
2022-04-12T23:22:03Z
‘I always have trouble with forms’: homeless people on how poor literacy affects them – and what would help
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456522/original/file-20220406-22-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C220%2C6904%2C4214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Homelessness remains a <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/homelessness-and-homelessness-services">huge problem</a> in Australia and an important contributing factor is <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gfKLBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=Homelessness+in+Australia&ots=k0R_QGa_zg&sig=xA7LrKJuHsfpVSixXVHddWIxrhM#v=onepage&q=literacy&f=false">low literacy levels</a>. </p>
<p>We interviewed 23 people who were homeless or had experienced homelessness to find out how they viewed literacy and participation in literacy classes. We wanted to know what would help or hinder them in attending literacy classes. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2017-09/Homelessness%20and%20Literacy%20Report.pdf">report</a> found low literacy levels affected homeless people’s lives in many ways. Our interviewees repeatedly emphasised the importance of having a literacy program suited to their needs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hilda-survey-reveals-striking-gender-and-age-divide-in-financial-literacy-test-yourself-with-this-quiz-100451">HILDA Survey reveals striking gender and age divide in financial literacy. Test yourself with this quiz</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sheaf of papers and pens on a desk in a dark room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456526/original/file-20220406-19-zz4ztb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Homelessness can directly impact rates of literacy and available opportunities for individuals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Common factors driving poor literacy</h2>
<p>Housing instability or adolescent homelessness was a common factor contributing to poor literacy. Dropping out of school at an early stage was typical.</p>
<p>Holly* said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I dropped out of school in Year 7 so I haven’t had much schooling […] And then going to being on the streets and going from house to house you don’t learn very much. Just what sort of you learn from other people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lisa told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I tried to get my Year 10 but I didn’t end up getting it [Year 10 certificate] cos’ I had a baby. And I ended up taking my baby back to school but I’d probably say Year 9.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sam had a similar history: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I left halfway through Year 10. I didn’t even finish my Year 10 exams. I did the half-yearly but didn’t complete my certificate so I found it really hard to get into work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Daniel said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t really start reading until I was an adult. I read the pictures in MAD magazines and stuff like that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also spoke about factors such as learning dis/abilities such as dyslexia, as well as systemic factors such as racism.</p>
<p>Rick, an older Indigenous man, experienced institutional racism throughout his youth:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t have much schooling because of discrimination back in the 60s, 70s and that, and didn’t get much to school.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Homeless man sitting on a public bench, hunched over." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456527/original/file-20220406-22-9f85up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dropping out of school at an early stage was typical among our interviewees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A humiliating experience</h2>
<p>The experience of not being able to read was humiliating for some. Gregory said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can’t even read the newspaper. I pretend to people […] I can read […] but I just look at the pictures.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interviewees said that besides not being able to read the newspaper, they struggled with key activities such as <a href="https://www.ncoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Helping-Clients-Fill-in-Forms-Research-2020-Report-of-Findings.pdf">filling in forms</a>, shopping, reading and sending emails or text messages, and writing letters. </p>
<p>Luke told us he wanted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] help with reading newspapers, stuff like that […] Filling out forms would probably come in handy ‘cos I always have trouble with forms […] You name it. Everything you’ve got to do nowadays is filling out forms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Andrew said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just dealing with the paperwork and that with all the different agencies you have to go through, while you’re homeless is just absolutely insane.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aaron told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve got pretty basic literacy. Like, since you left school, you forget a lot of words which you don’t use most of them. And then you get on the phone and you’re trying to send a message and […] you go, “How do you spell that bloody word?” You can’t put the […] letters to the word.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close up of a man filling out a paper form." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457585/original/file-20220412-37887-j0dqcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Respondents noted that their literacy levels meant filling out forms and paperwork was a difficult task.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A stepping stone</h2>
<p>All interviewees felt a literacy program for homeless people would improve the quality of their lives. As Daniel said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Literacy obviously is a key factor for a successful life, isn’t it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They recognised the strong link between finding employment and improved literacy. They felt classes were a good idea if they would, as Drew suggested, “better my job prospects”.</p>
<p>Leanne saw value in having some formalised recognition, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it puts me back into the workforce, that’d be great – even if it was just, like, a certificate of attainment or whatever. That’d be even better.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some interviewees saw literacy classes as a stepping stone to engage with educational institutions, and finish high school certificates. </p>
<p>Holly said a literacy program would help her do “year 10 and my HSC, no matter how much it takes”.</p>
<p>Some also wanted to enhance their skills to read and write for pleasure. Daniel commented, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d expect a tutor to say, ‘Pick up a book. I’ve got one here that I suggest if you’re struggling’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The benefits of books were also noted for well-being. As Sandra said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Books have helped me through my mental health issues […] books are very useful in times of need.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What would help create a successful literacy program?</h2>
<p>Interviewees told us a successful literacy program for homeless people would need to provide refreshments, have empathetic tutors, be comfortable, be accessible and be in familiar territory.</p>
<p>Anna said a literacy class would be best at</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a community centre or like a town hall something like that. Something relaxing […] 'cos you don’t want people coming in and just being, you know, [in] unknown territory. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Andrew said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People would probably be more comfortable coming to a place like this [a community centre] as opposed to a university 'cos you’ve got some pretty funky young people nowadays.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chloe told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A venue that would be central but also not so public as well [so] that they could easily get to [it] and not feel judged when they’re walking through.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interviewees told us an effective tutor would be respectful and understanding. Andrea said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just be really open and understanding […] Obviously not judgemental or that sort of stuff. I guess just to maybe try and understand that people are at different levels as well and people want different things out of the course.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What happens next</h2>
<p>A growing body of research has drawn a link between <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/adults-with-low-proficiency-in-literacy-or-numeracy_5jm0v44bnmnx-en">poor literacy and social outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>Our study, funded by <a href="https://www.footpathlibrary.org/">The Footpath Library</a>, highlighted how structural issues in a person’s formative years affect their literacy and life outcomes. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Employment_Education_and_Training/Adultliteracy/Report">parliamentary inquiry</a> into adult literacy recently identified the need for local community-based “<a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1082527.pdf">literacy mediators</a>”. These are professional educators or peers who have the literacy competency and necessary skills to enhance the literacy of people experiencing homelessness. Literacy mediators would support them with their literacy needs in a safe and inclusive way.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/95-of-homeless-in-sydney-and-melbourne-own-a-mobile-phone-30220">95% of homeless in Sydney and Melbourne own a mobile phone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>* All names have been changed to protect identities.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project received funding from The Footpath Library. This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Morris received funding from the Footpath Library and receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keiko Yasukawa contributed to this project that was funded by the Footpath Library. Funding sources for her past research projects have included the ARC, Commonwealth government, NCVER and the Telstra Foundation. She is affiliated with the NSW Adult Literacy and Numeracy Council, a membership based professional association for adult literacy and numeracy professionals in NSW.</span></em></p>
Low literacy levels are a common contributing factor in Australia’s homeless population. We asked people who have experienced homelessness how poor literacy affected their lives – and what would help.
Benjamin Hanckel, Senior research fellow, Western Sydney University
Alan Morris, Professor, Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney
Keiko Yasukawa, Researcher and teacher educator in adult literacy and numeracy and TESOL, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180034
2022-04-07T05:34:08Z
2022-04-07T05:34:08Z
Another day, another flood: preparing for more climate disasters means taking more personal responsibility for risk
<p>Sydney is bracing for flash floods and landslides as the city yet again endures a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-07/live-updates-sydney-rain-nsw-flood-warnings/100972642">disastrous downpour</a>, with a month’s worth of rain falling in just 24 hours and evacuation orders issued. The rain is forecast to continue all week.</p>
<p>Communities in New South Wales have endured one disaster after another. As exhausted residents in Lismore began cleaning up from the record-breaking flood in late February, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-can-floods-like-those-in-the-northern-rivers-come-in-clusters-180250">second flood</a> inundated the city. Indeed, some flood-damaged towns this year were previously in the path of the <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7656394/floods-black-summer-all-over-again/">Black Summer bushfires</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change is making disasters more frequent and severe, so how should we be preparing for these inevitable events?</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-8000">our latest research</a> shows, a key aspect of pre-disaster preparation is that people accept and understand what risks they face and how they’ll be impacted. Stocking up on toilet paper in preparation for COVID lockdowns is an example of what happens when they don’t.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1511816880830377984"}"></div></p>
<h2>Meeting new challenges</h2>
<p>One of the lasting mantras in disaster risk management is “hope for the best, anticipate the worst”. But what happens when the worst-case scenario is realised – or even exceeded?</p>
<p>During the Black Summer bushfires in 2019, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/gladys-berejiklian-declares-state-of-emergency-in-nsw-as-more-than-60-fires-rage_2">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We cannot guarantee a fire truck at every home. We cannot guarantee an aircraft will be overhead every time a fire is impacting on your property. We cannot guarantee that someone will knock on the door and give you a warning that there’s fires nearby.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s more, the recent NSW floods saw local communities instigate their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/07/locals-take-charge-of-helicopter-food-and-rescue-operations-in-nsw-floods-amid-frustration-over-adf-efforts">own rescue operations</a>, with boat or a jet ski owners pulling stranded survivors from inundated homes. </p>
<p>Being prepared at the individual, household and local community level is essential. Emergency management and support agencies such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-07/beds-blocked-surgeries-delayed-floods-pandemic-north-nsw-/100969032">hospitals</a> are becoming overwhelmed by the unprecedented scales of recent disasters.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-of-the-most-extreme-disasters-in-colonial-australian-history-climate-scientists-on-the-floods-and-our-future-risk-178153">'One of the most extreme disasters in colonial Australian history': climate scientists on the floods and our future risk</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>First, this is because many emergency workers who respond to earthquakes, cyclones, floods, fires, and storms are volunteers. Second, some events such as the pandemic are unbudgeted and exceptional, so agencies need additional resources. </p>
<p>Third, a disaster is, by definition, an event that exceeds the capacity to respond, making “disaster response” a paradox. </p>
<p>It is unreasonable to expect people to cope with all disasters – but it is reasonable to expect people to manage a certain level of risk. So how much responsibility should fall on the individual, and how much needs to be shared across governments, industry, agencies, and throughout the community?</p>
<h2>72 hours are crucial</h2>
<p>For those directly affected, the 72 hours surrounding the event can be the most important. This spans the time between early warning, onset, and the immediate responses that may involve defence, evacuation or rescue.</p>
<p>In the United States, you’re encouraged to be prepared to cope for <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210318/how-build-kit-emergencies">72 hours</a> in a disaster. We are beginning to see this encouraged <a href="https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/podcast/disaster-preparedness-myths-and-programs-that-hold-promise/transcript/">in Australia</a> along with greater acknowledgement of personal responsibility for risk. </p>
<p>Local disaster agencies in Australia are promoting <a href="https://www.getready.qld.gov.au/get-prepared/3-steps-get-ready/step-3-pack-emergency-kit">lists</a> of essentials to keep on hand, including first-aid kits, medications, and enough food and water for three days. </p>
<p>People are also encouraged to prepare psychologically, and rehearsing survival plans has <a href="https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/2016/research-action-preparing-kids-bushfire">been found</a> to be especially useful with children. And emergency management agencies and community groups provide guidance for those with a disability, non-English speakers, and people with pets and other domestic animals. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/floods-leave-a-legacy-of-mental-health-problems-and-disadvantaged-people-are-often-hardest-hit-157576">Floods leave a legacy of mental health problems — and disadvantaged people are often hardest hit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Still, information does not always guarantee preparation. <a href="https://www.bnhcrc.com.au/publications/biblio/bnh-8000">Our research</a> surveyed bushfire-hit residents in East Gippsland following the Black Summer fires. We found people new to an area were less likely to be prepared or understand how to respond to risks. </p>
<p>They were also more likely to have unrealistic expectations about how long and demanding the recovery process was. Some people from non-English speaking backgrounds were isolated within their communities and did not know where to access information.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Burnt road sign & bushland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456776/original/file-20220407-26-tzcbio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black summer bushfires burnt more than 1.5 million hectares and destroyed more 300 homes in Victoria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Owning your risk</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/risk-ownership-framework-for-emergency-management-policy-and-practice.pdf">Risk Ownership Framework</a> allows communities and the public and private sector to unpack the complex connections of shared risk ownership. We explore the questions “who owns a risk?” and “how do they own it?”</p>
<p>We learned that if one area is unable to manage their risk, then it can increase or transfer to another person or entity.</p>
<p>For example, a homeowner may be responsible for home and contents insurance, while a community is responsible for maintaining social connectivity. Likewise, local government may own and maintain flood levees, while state government regulates the planning for them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/homeless-and-looking-for-help-why-people-with-disability-and-their-carers-fare-worse-after-floods-178983">Homeless and looking for help – why people with disability and their carers fare worse after floods</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-20/when-and-how-should-flood-prone-lismore-rebuild/100921400">We also explored</a> the concept of “unowned” risks – where roles and responsibilities in disasters are unallocated or unfulfilled. These can impact important community values such as liveability, local businesses (such as tourism) and natural resources.</p>
<p>Unowned risks raises difficult questions such as: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>will the forests and wildlife recover and if so, how long will this take? </p></li>
<li><p>will displaced residents return to their communities, or will housing availability and affordability force them out?</p></li>
<li><p>will communities, such as Lismore, remain viable in the face of future disasters under climate change?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These questions often get passed over in favour of more immediate needs.</p>
<p>The escalation and breadth of disasters these last two years has left communities with barely enough time to recover before the next one arrives. We need to start negotiating how to prepare for the unexpected and what follows.</p>
<p>The mantra of community resilience and empowerment is now a central narrative, but recent events show there’s a pivotal role for government that cannot be neglected if we’re to survive future disasters. </p>
<p>We need a national conversation on what risk ownership for disaster means – personally and politically. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-come-floods-then-domestic-violence-we-need-to-prepare-for-the-next-inevitable-crisis-178607">First come floods, then domestic violence. We need to prepare for the next inevitable crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celeste Young has receive funding from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Jones has received funding from the CRC for Bushfires and Natural Hazards. </span></em></p>
It is unreasonable to expect people to cope with all disasters – but it is reasonable to expect people to manage a certain level of risk.
Celeste Young, Collaborative Research Fellow, Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC), Victoria University
Roger Jones, Professorial Research Fellow, Victoria University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/174341
2022-01-06T19:07:14Z
2022-01-06T19:07:14Z
Vital Signs: Sydney to Newcastle fast rail makes sense. Making trains locally does not
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439600/original/file-20220106-13-353po3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5499%2C3655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/our-policies/sydney-to-hunter-fast-rail">this week announced</a> a commitment to funding high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle.</p>
<p>At speeds of more than 250km/h, this would cut the 150-minute journey from Sydney to Newcastle to just 45 minutes. Commuting between the two cities would be a lot more feasible.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439624/original/file-20220106-21-19utua0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proposed route for high-speed Melbourne to Brisbane rail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/map/corridor-preservation-east-coast-high-speed-rail">Infrastructure Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Sydney-Newcastle link would be a first step in a grand plan to link the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor by high-speed rail.</p>
<p>Albanese also wants the trains to be built at home, <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/our-policies/sydney-to-hunter-fast-rail">saying</a> “we will look build as much of our fast and high-speed rail future in Australia as is possible”.</p>
<p>Of course, this idea has been around for a long time. Nobody has ever got the numbers to stack up before.</p>
<p>Federal infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher made the obvious but reasonable point that such a rail link would be very expensive. </p>
<p>“It is $200 to $300 billion on any credible estimate,” he <a href="https://newcastleweekly.com.au/coalition-pulls-brakes-on-labors-fast-rail-plans/">said in response</a> to Labor’s announcement. “It has to be paid for, and that means higher taxes”. </p>
<p>Or does it?</p>
<h2>Social cost-benefit analysis</h2>
<p>Traditional cost-benefit analysis is how governments tend to make decisions about big infrastructure projects like this. Figure out the costs (such as $300 billion) and then figure out the benefits. Adjust for timing differences and when money is spent and received, and then compare. </p>
<p>This generates an “internal rate of return” (IRR) on the money invested. It’s what private companies do all the time. One then compares that IRR to some reference or “hurdle” rate. For a private company that might be 12% or so. For governments it is typically lower.</p>
<p>An obvious question this raises is: what are the benefits?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439623/original/file-20220106-27-vyofyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s impression by Phil Belbin of the proposed VFT (Very Fast Train) in the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Comeng</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If all one is willing to count are things such as ticket fares, the numbers will almost never stack up. But that’s far too narrow a way to think about the financial benefits. </p>
<p>A Sydney-Newcastle high-speed rail link would cut down on travel times, help ease congestion in Sydney, ease housing affordability pressures in Sydney, improve property values along the corridor and in Newcastle, provide better access to education and jobs, and more.</p>
<p>The point is one has to think about the social value from government investments, not just the narrow commercial value. Alex Rosenberg, Rosalind Dixon and I provided a framework for this kind of “social return accounting” in a <a href="http://research.economics.unsw.edu.au/richardholden/assets/social-return-accounting.pdf">report</a> published in 2018.</p>
<h2>Newcastle might make sense, Brisbane might not</h2>
<p>I haven’t done the social cost-benefit analysis for this rail link, but the social return being greater than the cost is quite plausible.</p>
<p>The other thing to remember is that the return a government should require has fallen materially in recent years. The Australian government can borrow for 10 years at just 1.78%, as opposed to <a href="http://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/bond-historical-data/australia/10-years/">well over 5%</a> before the financial crisis of 2008.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-get-moving-with-the-affordable-medium-speed-alternatives-to-the-old-dream-of-high-speed-rail-95854">Let's get moving with the affordable medium-speed alternatives to the old dream of high-speed rail</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I’m less sure about the Brisbane to Melbourne idea. The cost would be dramatically higher for obvious reasons, as well as the fact that the topography en route to Brisbane is especially challenging. </p>
<p>Nobody is going to commute from Sydney to Brisbane by rail, and the air routes between the three capitals are well serviced.</p>
<h2>Transport policy is not industry policy</h2>
<p>The decision about building a Sydney-Newcastle rail link is, and should be kept, completely separate from where the trains are made. Transport policy shouldn’t be hijacked for industry policy.</p>
<p>To be fair, Newcastle has a long and proud history of <a href="https://www.ugllimited.com/en/our-sectors/transport">manufacturing rolling stock</a>, at what was the Goninan factory at Broadmeadow – much of it for export. </p>
<p>But ask yourself how sustainable that industry looks in Australia, absent massive government support. Can it stand on its own?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/look-beyond-a-silver-bullet-train-for-stimulus-136834">Look beyond a silver bullet train for stimulus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s also true there have been some recent high-profile procurement disasters buying overseas trains. </p>
<p>Sydney’s light-rail project has run massively late and over budget, with Spanish company Acciona getting an extra A$600 million due to the project being more difficult than expected. </p>
<p>Then <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/transport-minister-expects-spanish-manufacturer-to-pay-for-cracked-trams-20211110-p597tq.html">cracks were found</a> in all 12 trams for the city’s inner-west line, putting them out of service for 18 months.</p>
<p>These are terrible bungles due to the government agreeing to poorly written contracts with sophisticated counterparties. When contracts don’t specify contingencies there is the possibility of what economists call the “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1530-9134.2009.00236.x">hold-up problem</a>”. </p>
<p>But these problems could have occurred with a local maker too.</p>
<h2>The Tinbergen Rule</h2>
<p>An enduring lesson from economics is the Tinbergen Rule – named after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1969/tinbergen/facts/">Jan Tinbergen</a>, winner of the first Nobel prize for economics. </p>
<p>This rule says for each policy challenge one requires an independent policy instrument. This can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-evergrande-may-survive-but-for-its-executives-expect-a-fate-worse-than-debt-168930">widely applied</a>. But here the lesson is particularly clear.</p>
<p>Addressing housing affordability is a good idea, and a Sydney-Newcastle link could help with that. But if Labor want a jobs policy it should develop one. </p>
<p>The more TAFE places Labor has already announced is a reasonable start. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-we-need-to-make-things-in-australia-but-not-like-in-the-past-148084">Vital Signs: we need to make things in Australia, but not like in the past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Reviving 1970s-style industry policy – something that has almost never worked – is not a good move. Governments are lousy at picking winners. The public invariably ends up paying more for less, and the jobs are typically transient.</p>
<p>But aside from this conflation of policy goals, Albanese deserves credit for being bold about the future of high-speed rail in Australia. </p>
<p><iframe id="H9PVD" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/H9PVD/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Holden is President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.</span></em></p>
Anthony Albanese’s plan for high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle could well be worth the cost, so long as he doesn’t muddy it with 1970s-style industry policy.
Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/170523
2022-01-06T03:17:41Z
2022-01-06T03:17:41Z
Sydney’s dams may be almost full – but don’t relax, because drought will come again
<p>Dams serving capital cities such as Canberra, Hobart and Sydney are <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/water/dashboards/#/water-storages/summary/state">near full</a> after two years of <a href="https://theconversation.com/heavy-rains-are-great-news-for-sydneys-dams-but-they-come-with-a-big-caveat-131668">widespread rainfall</a>. But these wet conditions won’t last.</p>
<p>Under climate change, droughts in Australia will become more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/oct/03/the-new-normal-how-climate-change-is-making-droughts-worse">frequent and severe</a>. Our drinking water supplies, and water crucial for irrigation and the environment, will dwindle again.</p>
<p>Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, is among those that must prepare for the next drought. The NSW government is <a href="https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/plans-programs/metro-water-plans/gsws/about">developing</a> the Greater Sydney Water Strategy, to guide water management in coming decades.</p>
<p>Among the plan’s more contentious proposals are increased use of Sydney’s existing desalination plant and expanding the use of recycled water (highly treated sewage), including for drinking water. So let’s examine whether such measures are enough to secure Sydney’s water future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="water spills from dam" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439599/original/file-20220106-21-qqb6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Water has been spilling from Warragamba Dam, but dry conditions will eventually return.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">WaterNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A city of water scarcity</h2>
<p>During the most recent drought from 2017 to 2020, Sydney’s water storage levels dropped by 50% of full dam capacity in two years – a much faster depletion than in previous droughts. </p>
<p>Inflows into Sydney’s dams have dropped over the past 30 years. From 1991 to 2020, inflows averaged 770 million litres a year – 45% less than the long-term average.</p>
<p>The news isn’t all bad. Sydney used less water in 2019-20 than it did in 1990, despite its population growing from 3.8 million to 5.4 million. </p>
<p>But as the Greater Sydney Water Strategy <a href="https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/plans-programs/metro-water-plans/gsws/about">states</a>, increasing climate variability means that, without action, the city could face a shortage of drinking water as periods of severe drought become longer and more frequent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="delighted boy holds hose" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5478%2C3707&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439592/original/file-20220106-13-w4tmch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney must prepare for a drier future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Esposito/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Desalination for the nation?</h2>
<p>The strategy raises the prospect of increased use of Sydney’s existing desalination plant, and building a second plant in the Illawarra region south of Sydney.</p>
<p>Desalination removes salt from sea water to create drinking water. The Millenium drought – from the late 1990s until 2010 – prompted several major Australian cities, including Sydney, to build <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-turn-to-desalination-for-water-security-but-at-what-cost-110972">desalination plants</a>.</p>
<p>The technology can revolutionise water supply. For example, in 2020-21, Perth’s two desalination plants supplied 47% of the city’s water. But desalination plants can also face limitations and challenges.</p>
<p>The plants are expensive to build and to operate – and can sit idle for years, as the Kurnell plant did between 2012 and 2019. This can make them politically unpopular and see them <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-17/victorias-desalination-plant-to-take-33-extra-years-to-pay/6626706">criticised</a> as “white elephants”.</p>
<p>Even at full production, the Kurnell plant produces <a href="https://www.water-technology.net/projects/kurnell-desalination">only 15%</a> of Sydney’s daily demand. And while an additional plant in the Illawarra will extend desalinated supply to more households, the technology can’t supply water to all parts of Sydney due to the city’s complex distribution infrastructure.</p>
<p>As I discuss below, expanded use of recycled water is a better option for Sydney than more desalination. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/melbournes-desalination-plant-is-just-one-part-of-drought-proofing-water-supply-55934">Melbourne's desalination plant is just one part of drought-proofing water supply</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ocean wave with land in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439596/original/file-20220106-19-1wrollj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Desalination removes salt from seawater.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Bothma/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Can we stomach recycled water?</h2>
<p>Many Australian cities, including Sydney, already use recycled water – sewage that has been heavily treated – in applications such as watering golf courses and parks, flushing toilets and fighting fires. </p>
<p>The draft plan raises the prospect of also adding recycled water to drinking supplies, which has long been a vexed issue in Australia. Some people oppose it on health grounds, while others just can’t get over the “yuck” factor.</p>
<p>The concept of recycled water has a lot going for it. For example, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/its-a-waste-seawater-not-the-solution-20051125-gdmijn.html">analysis</a> suggests it would be far cheaper and use much less energy than desalination.</p>
<p>Making better use of recycled water would also reduce the environmental impact of disposing of wastewater in rivers and oceans. And the potential supply of recycled water will only increase as populations grow. </p>
<p>Finally, good recycled water projects are used continuously, not just at times of water stress. The Rouse Hill recycled water scheme in Sydney, which <a href="https://www.sydneywater.com.au/education/wastewater-recycling/water-recycling/rouse-hill-water-recycling-plant.html">supplies</a> 32,000 properties for non-drinking water uses, is a great model.</p>
<p>The draft plan says recycled water would not be added to drinking supplies without public support, but past history suggests this may be hard to achieve. In 2006, for example, Toowoomba residents <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/06/can-recycled-water-be-the-next-frontier-for-towns-running-out-of-drinking-water">rejected a plan</a> to drink recycled water, despite the town facing a grave water shortage.</p>
<p>However, as urban water supplies become ever more scarce, Australians may have to get used to the idea of drinking recycled water – and authorities will have to find new and better ways of selling the concept to the public.</p>
<p>The Sydney water plan recognises this. It emphasises the need for public consultation, and raises the prospect of investing in a recycled water demonstration plant to “highlight the safety of demonstrated and proven technology”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-water-is-scarce-we-cant-afford-to-neglect-the-alternatives-to-desalination-111249">When water is scarce, we can't afford to neglect the alternatives to desalination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="man leans towards water in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439597/original/file-20220106-25-1tlp8wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Better use of recycled water would reduce wastewater flows to Sydney’s beaches and rivers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A major omission</h2>
<p>The plan shows how Sydney’s growing population could sustainably adapt to to a drier future. But it ignores one important measure for reducing water use - <a href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/aither_urban_water_pricing_reform.pdf">charging</a> customers a penalty for excessive water use.</p>
<p>Under the measure, also known as an “<a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p86761/pdf/14-1-A-6.pdf">inclining block tariff</a>”, the rate per unit of water increases as the volume of consumption increases.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150602132228.htm">Research has shown</a> water pricing can be an effective way to manage water scarcity, as well as helping water utilities recover the costs of their services. Australian cities such as Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane apply inclining block tariffs to water, but Sydney does not.</p>
<p>Sydney Water’s price regulator, IPART, has <a href="https://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/Home/Industries/Water/Reviews/Metro-Pricing/Prices-for-Sydney-Water-Corporation-from-1-July-2020">argued against</a> charging high water users more, saying it would provide less incentive for smaller households to conserve water and impose unfair costs on larger households.</p>
<p>Granted, water pricing is a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/36/1/86/5696684">complex</a> issue and may require <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468312420300237">protections</a> for lower-income users and the environment. </p>
<p>But under worsening climate change, our major cities cannot eschew any opportunity to ease pressure on water supplies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Wright receives research funding from local governments, Sydney Water and the Clean Ocean Foundation. He is a research associate with the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute. </span></em></p>
A draft plan for Sydney’s water supplies includes expanding desalination and potentially adding highly treated sewage to drinking water. All options must be on the table as the climate warms.
Ian A. Wright, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169827
2021-11-09T03:45:17Z
2021-11-09T03:45:17Z
We revisited Parramatta’s archaeological past to reveal the deep-time history of the heart of Sydney
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427435/original/file-20211020-26249-x9jcxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C44%2C1309%2C823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian paintings by J.W. Lewin, G.P. Harris, G.W. Evans and others, 1796-1809; State Library of NSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We know quite a lot about the past 200 years of history in Parramatta. Located in Sydney’s geographical centre, on the Parramatta River, it was the first township to be established outside Sydney Cove’s penal colony after the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in 1788.</p>
<p>Parramatta became the breadbasket of the early European colony, with land clearing and farming dispossessing the Darug people of the Cumberland Plain. This formed the focus of Aboriginal resistance, culminating in the 1797 Battle of Parramatta led by the great freedom fighter <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/pemulwuy">Pemulwuy</a>. </p>
<p>Parramatta’s European history is evident to those who wander through it today — with the remains of old buildings and signs of historical events on almost every corner. </p>
<h2>But what about before 1788?</h2>
<p>Parramatta has seen intensified development in recent years. High-rise buildings, light rail, road upgrades and landscaping have all impacted the remaining archaeological record of both its deep history and more recent colonial past. </p>
<p>New South Wales’s current state planning laws require each new development to have an archaeological investigation conducted before it proceeds. The aim is to identify archaeological evidence before development starts, and make sure it is managed appropriately. </p>
<p>Where sites are of high cultural or scientific significance, there is an emphasis on protection. Otherwise, the evidence is recorded and recovered before development proceeds. There have been more than 40 such studies in the past 15 or so years. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X21004375">article published today</a> we review these studies to provide a definitive understanding of their results, and reiterate the importance of Parramatta’s culturally significant deep-time history.</p>
<h2>14,000 years of Indigenous history</h2>
<p>Paramatta’s urban centre has grown upon a more than 3-metre-thick layer of sand. This sand began to be deposited by the Parramatta River 50,000-60,000 years ago as a result of massive floods and other extreme environmental conditions. It continued to be deposited sporadically until about 5,000 years ago. </p>
<p>It’s estimated about 800,000 tonnes of sand were deposited across two kilometres of the CBD, where it is still found today. This is all the more impressive when you consider the Parramatta River is fed by only a relatively small catchment upstream. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427362/original/file-20211019-17-17nkul6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Parramatta River has been subject to significant flooding in the past, with nearly a million tonnes of sand having been deposited below the CBD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laressa Barry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sand was blown around during the last Ice Age (or the “Last Glacial Maximum”) between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. Ultimately this reworking resulted in a sand sheet of about 70 hectares, or roughly 100 football fields. Unfortunately, our study found some 29% of these deposits have been destroyed through development over the past 15 years or so. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427369/original/file-20211019-15-1jypvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map showing the distribution of the sand body, and areas where sand deposits have been disturbed or removed (in red).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sand body has been in place since the First Nations people arrived on the continent 50,000 (or more) years ago. It retains an amazing archive of evidence that reveals their use of the landscape in deep time, and also records major climatic changes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-aboriginal-people-first-arrive-in-australia-100830">When did Aboriginal people first arrive in Australia?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So far, our earliest evidence for Aboriginal people in the Sydney region is from along the Hawkesbury-Nepean River around <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.2742">36,000 years ago</a>. </p>
<p>While the Parramatta sand sheet does provide glimmers of evidence for people using it back then, our analyses show they mostly visited this part of the Parramatta River after the Ice Age, which is supported by layers of artefacts in the area dated to this time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430605/original/file-20211107-10695-e75uo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An excavation at the corner of Charles and George Street revealed Indigenous and historic remains survived the construction of a factory here in the 1950s. The site has now been destroyed by subterranean car parking for apartments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jo McDonald CHM 2005 report</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Moving with the tide</h2>
<p>Specifically, our paper explores three archaeological projects on the sand sheet at George Street, Hassall and Wigram Streets, and in the grounds of the Bayanami School. All of these sites show increased human use at a time of significant sea-level change. </p>
<p>About 14,000 years ago, the large ice sheets that characterised the glacial period began to melt rapidly. By 9,000 years ago, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379117305267">sea level</a> in Australia went from 125 metres below current levels to current levels.</p>
<p>This inundation of more than 2 million square kilometres drove people off the continental shelf all around Australia, including from the Sydney Basin. We find fewer sites in Sydney, or indeed the entire southeast corner of Australia, that date to before this sea-level rise.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-coastal-living-is-at-risk-from-sea-level-rise-but-its-happened-before-87686">Australia's coastal living is at risk from sea level rise, but it's happened before</a>
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<p>A previous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03122417.2020.1823086?scroll=top&needAccess=true">study</a> of one of these key archaeological sites showed people were highly mobile as a result of this sea-level rise beginning 14,000 years ago.
One stone artefact dated to 14,000 years ago was sourced from the Megalong Valley, west of the Blue Mountains, 70km from Parramatta. Most earlier artefacts were sourced from the Hawkesbury River gravels, about 40km away. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427363/original/file-20211019-20-owvhoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An andalusite hornfels stone tool found on the north side of Parramatta River was dated to 14,000 years ago, more than 70km away from the CBD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laressa Barry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then, over the past 10,000 years, we see a massive increase in local site use and visitation. People used a different stone material for artefacts sourced widely from across the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X21004375">Cumberland Plain</a>
(western Sydney), reflecting greater local knowledge of stone resources, longer occupations and likely different trade and exchange networks. </p>
<p>A range of tools have also been found, including grindstones, axe-heads, backed artefacts (such as spear barbs), hearths with heat retainers and heat-treated raw materials — all of which indicate repeated residence over long periods. </p>
<p>Similarly, parts of the sand body with more artefacts also show evidence of camping sites which have retained their structure, demonstrating repeated use. One rare finding at the corner of Charles and George Streets was a pierced shark tooth that was probably used as a hair decoration. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430730/original/file-20211108-16752-1jrlie9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sharks tooth ornament overlain on an image painted at Port Jackson of an Aboriginal man with fishing gear and fish teeth hair ornaments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Excerpt from a work by the Port Jackson Painter 1788-1792.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our analysis fills an important gap in the Indigenous past of one of the oldest townships in Australia. It reinforces the importance of undertaking heritage assessments in areas which are thought to already be “disturbed”. </p>
<p>It also provides a timely reminder these archaeological and cultural landscapes are finite, and are being lost at an unprecedented rate.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-last-ice-age-tells-us-why-we-need-to-care-about-a-2-change-in-temperature-126923">The last ice age tells us why we need to care about a 2℃ change in temperature</a>
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</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan N Williams is an associate director and the National Technical Leader, Aboriginal heritage for EMM Consulting Pty Ltd, an international employee owned company specialising in environmental investigation and assessment</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo McDonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A review of studies of Parramatta demonstrates an extensive deep-time archive of Indigenous activity extending over 14,000 years.
Alan N Williams, Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, UNSW Sydney
Jo McDonald, Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.