Indigenous artists have been engraving rock shelters for millennia - long before the Kimberley’s celebrated rock art paintings. Now the rocks’ natural coatings are yielding clues to the engravings’ creation.
The Western Australian government’s decision to green-light fracking in selected areas aims to walk a line between industry interests and community opposition. But across Australia the picture varies widely.
Nina Lansbury, The University of Queensland; Susan Mott, The University of Queensland, and Wendy Hoy, The University of Queensland
Drinking water in Australia can be contaminated by natural and manmade processes, especially in communities. Innovation is needed to ensure water is ‘fit for purpose, place and people’.
The new Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council aims to overcome a management problem faced by many traditional owners: the fact that major rivers flow through lands home to many different groups and languages.
Could better regulations have persuaded Woodside not to mothball its Browse gas project?
AAP Image/Richard Wainwright
Woodside’s decision to shelve its $40 billion Browse project off Western Australia’s north is not a disaster, but it does highlight some areas where the gas industry needs to get much smarter.
A student beats the statue of Cecil John Rhodes with a belt as it is removed from the University of Cape Town.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The Randlords left a big dilemma in their wake: contemporary South Africa is not sure whether to thank them for bringing civilisation, or to curse them for complicating future race relations.
The remote rivers of northern Australia could be home to untold numbers of new and threatened fish.
Matthew Le Feuvre
Cane toads, introduced in 1935 to control cane beetles, have now spread across a huge swathe of Australia, from the Kimberley in northern Western Australia to northern New South Wales. They’re still spreading…
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…
Aboriginal (Kija, Malnjin, Mirawoonga and Worla) cultural law holds that Argyle mine’s pink diamonds are scales of the female Baramundi creative Dreaming Being.
Swamibu/Flickr
On Tuesday Lateline ran a story built around a report: “Developing the West Kimberley’s Resources” that the program breathlessly presented as a “secret plan” to industrialise the region, unlock its resources…