There are places in Australia that are awe-inspiring, spectacular, mysterious; they touch our spirit and help define our nation. Kakadu is one, Uluru another, the magnificent red sandy deserts, the Kimberley…
Right idea, wrong execution: the Ord River irrigation scheme needed better surrounding infrastructure.
isthatdave/Wikimedia Commons
It’s perhaps fitting that mining magnate Andrew Forrest is in the vanguard of a move to position Australia as a major food supplier to China. Fitting, because if the plan is to work, Australian agriculture…
Indigenous land owners weren’t consulted in the past about the creation of Western Australia’s huge Ord River irrigation scheme – but a recent agreement offers a more positive example for developing other parts of northern Australia.
Pete Hill/Flickr
We are very happy to have got this far. We have had our disagreements but we have managed to work through them and now we are all getting on with the job. We have learnt a lot through the process. Standing…
The Largetooth Sawfish is one of the world’s largest fishes, growing to more than 6 metres.
Miguel Clavero
Sharks and rays are some of the world’s most threatened animals, with a quarter of all species at risk of extinction. Among the sharks and rays, sawfish are some of the most threatened, with all five species…
A baby northern quoll. The native mammal is having a hard time across northern Australia, battling for survival against cane toads and feral predators such as cats.
Parks Australia/Flickr
The future of Cape York Peninsula – home to many of Australia’s unique birds, mammals, frogs and reptiles – is currently under review. Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently launched the first stage of a…
The resurfacing of the idea of developing northern Australia is akin to making a sequel for an old cinema classic. It evokes familiarity and the repackaging of tested and yet-to-be tested concepts. It…
Many remote communities have been cut off from the internet, missing out on services and skills others take for granted.
yaruman5/flickr
Most remote Australian Indigenous communities have little or no access to digital technology. Last year, three internet-enabled terminals were installed as a trial in the remote communities of Burraluba…
Remote beauty: Twin Falls in Cape York.
www.shutterstock.com/John Carnemolla
From its stunning wetlands in the west, across a dry central spine, to the coastal heathlands and rainforests in the east, Cape York Peninsula is deservedly world-famous for its rugged beauty. For many…
Mammals are disappearing across northern Australia; the Capentarian Rock-rat is one of them.
Damien Stanioch
Mammals are disappearing in Australia’s Top End, and we’re not really sure why. This is particularly concerning as northern Australia has a human population density of one person per ten square kilometres…
Indonesian ownership of Australian cattle is a step in the right direction for both countries, but welfare still needs work.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Australians should not be alarmed but pleased at the current Indonesian proposal to invest in cattle production in the north of Australia. It demonstrates a renewed confidence in Australia’s ability to…
Australians see the NT as a place of red sand, Uluru and Aborigines but this is an incomplete picture.
Image from shutterstock.com
STATE OF THE STATES: a snapshot of the key issues affecting each state and territory in the lead up to Saturday’s election. The Northern Territory is, in effect, a self-governing territory of the Commonwealth…
Yes, it rains a lot in the north. But it’s also dry a lot. And variability could get worse.
Kasi Metcalfe
**Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the…
It involves dams, but so much more than dams.
Andrew Campbell
**Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the…
The diverse rivers of Northern Australia, flat and expansive, support diverse species and are linked by unregulated Wet season flows.
Andrew Campbell
**Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the…
Local people want sensible development that is sensitive to the things that make the north unique and valuable.
Tom Rayner
**Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the…
Let’s look at ways to shift some power to northern decision makers.
Michael and Daphne Oliver
Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the…
Australia has some of the world’s most ancient soils, many of which grow delicious produce. In this series, “The good earth”, soil scientist Robert Edis profiles iconic soils and the flavours they bring…
We’re talking, yet again, about how lovely it is up north.
Flickr/skittledog
The romantic idea of developing northern Australia has once more been thrust into the light, this time by the Coalition’s 2030 Plan for Developing Northern Australia. As I look at coverage of the plan…
An early season burn in Arnhem Land. Low intensity fires decrease greenhouse emissions and increase carbon stored in trees. Brett Murphy.
Fire and biodiversity have a complex relationship in northern Australia. Tim Flannery and others blame the current northern biodiversity crisis, at least in part, on changed fire regimes. Improving fire…
Introduced as food for cattle, gamba grass burns in a way that threatens northern Australia’s ecosystems.
AAP Image/CRC for Weed Management
Stretching across the north from Broome to Townsville, Australia’s tropical savannas are the largest, least-degraded savannas on Earth. While fire management, pastoralism, mining, and the decline of native…
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University