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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Leah Maree Gibbs

Water

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Just Add Water: Colonisation, Water Governance, And The Australian Inland, Leah M. Gibbs Sep 2013

Just Add Water: Colonisation, Water Governance, And The Australian Inland, Leah M. Gibbs

Leah Maree Gibbs

Water has played a key role in the development of the Australian inland and the nation. For European colonists, the dry and variable landscape challenged ideas about nature imported from northern temperate regions. I argue first, that colonists brought with them ideas for ordering nature and tools for transforming landscapes that led to inappropriate and destructive water management and the silencing of local voices and knowledge systems. Secondly, colonial patterns of ordering and transforming landscapes are ongoing, but new ways of governing water, which challenge colonialism, are emerging. In the first section of the paper I discuss colonial relationships with …


Book Review: "Troubled Waters: Confronting The Water Crisis In Australia's Cities" By Patrick Troy (Ed.), Leah M. Gibbs Sep 2012

Book Review: "Troubled Waters: Confronting The Water Crisis In Australia's Cities" By Patrick Troy (Ed.), Leah M. Gibbs

Leah Maree Gibbs

Troubled Waters is a collection of essays edited by Patrick Troy, Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. The papers are contributed by a multidisciplinary group of authors, from the fields of economics, history, geography, environmental and social policy and law. As a result, the book does not present a single theoretical or methodological approach and in this regard it is refreshing. The book is published by the ANU E Press; a publisher that makes academic output from the ANU freely available from its website, as well as for purchase through …


Water Places: Cultural, Social And More-Than-Human Geographies Of Nature, Leah Gibbs Jun 2012

Water Places: Cultural, Social And More-Than-Human Geographies Of Nature, Leah Gibbs

Leah Maree Gibbs

Cultural, social and more-than-human approaches to nature research are largely held apart in the discipline of human geography. In this paper I argue that these three approaches can be brought together to good effect. The paper presents a situated account of 'water places' in inland Australia-namely the artesian bores, boredrains and boredrain wetlands of the Birdsville Track-in order to demonstrate that together, these three approaches can reveal the complex interactions that form particular places, and comprise a more-than-human world. This account explores the layers of interaction that have formed these water places, including their insertion into the landscape through drilling, …