Climate, Science, and Colonization: Histories from Australia and New Zealand

by Emily O'Gorman, J. Beattie (Editor), Matthew Henry

Overview

Offering new historical understandings of human responses to climate and climate change, this cutting-edge volume explores the dynamic relationship between settlement, climate, and colonization, covering everything from the physical impact of climate on agriculture and land development to the development of "folk" and government meteorologies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349462452
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	09/19/2014
Series:	Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology
Edition description:	1st ed. 2014
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand Helen C. Bosk, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand Kirsty Douglad, Australian Academy of Science, Australia Claire Fenby, University of Melbourne, Australia Joëlle Gergis, University of Melbourne, Australia Don Garden, University of Melbourne, Australia Peter Holland, University of Otago, New Zealand Stephen Legg, Monash University, Australia James Beattie, University of Waikato, New Zealand Ruth Morgan, The University of Western Australia Emily O'Gorman, University of Wollongong, Australia Christian O'Brien, Australian National University Matthew Henry, Massey University, New Zealand Meg Parsons, University of Auckland, New Zealand Jim Williams, University of Otago, New Zealand

Table of Contents

Introduction Climate, Science, and Colonization: Histories from Australia and New Zealand James Beattie, Emily O'Gorman, and Matthew Henry Part I Frames, Events, and Responses Chapter 1 Australasia: An Overview of Modern Climate and Paleoclimate during the Last Glacial Maximum 19 Andrew M. Lorrey and Helen C. Bosk Chapter 2 'The usual weather in New South Wales is uncommonly bright and clear . . . equal to the finest summer day in England': Flood and Drought in New South Wales, 1788–1815 43 Claire Fenby, Don Garden, and Joëlle Gergis Chapter 3 Extreme Weather and ENSO: Their Social and Cultural Ramifications in New Zealand and Australia in the 1890s 61 Don Garden Chapter 4 Pioneer Settlers Recognizing and Responding to the Climatic Challenges of Southern New Zealand 81 Peter Holland and Jim Williams Part II Debating Human Effects Chapter 5 'For the sake of a little grass': A Comparative History of Settler Science and Environmental Limits in South Australia and the Great Plains 99 Kirsty Douglas Chapter 6 Debating the Climatological Role of Forests in Australia, 1827–1949: A Survey of the Popular Press 119 Stephen Legg Chapter 7 Science, Religion and Drought: Rainmaking Experiments and Prayers in North Otago, 1889–1911 137 James Beattie Part III Climate Understandings Chapter 8 Farming on the Fringe: Agriculture and Climate Variability in the Western Australian Wheat Belt, 1890s to 1980s 159 Ruth A. Morgan Chapter 9 'Soothsaying' or 'Science?': H. C. Russell, Meteorology, and Environmental Knowledge of Rivers in Colonial Australia 177 Emily O'Gorman Chapter 10 Imported Understandings: Calendars, Weather, and Climate in Tropical Australia, 1870s–1940s 195 Chris O'Brien Chapter 11 Destabilizing Narratives of the 'Triumph of the White Man over the Tropics': Scientific Knowledge and the Management of Race in Queensland 1900–1940 213 Meg Parsons Chapter 12 Australasian Airspace: Meteorology, and the Practical Geopolitics of Australasian Airspace,1935–1940 233 Matthew Henry Epilogue: Future Research Directions 251

Editorial Reviews

"This scholarly and timely book fills some serious gaps in the Australian and New Zealand environmental history while its truly transnational reach and interdisciplinary approach will appeal to anyone interested in climate change no matter where they live on planet earth. It deftly bridges the gap between the Humanities and Sciences and opens up the possibility of exciting dialogue between scholars on both sides of that 'great divide.' Written by both established and exciting new scholars Climate, Science, and Colonization represents a significant contribution to the most important issue facing humanity by providing depth, perspective, and informed judgment on a subject all too often distorted by raw prejudice and unsupported opinion." - Tom Brooking, Professor of History, University of Otago, New Zealand

"This compelling volume is the first to demonstrate an exceptional richness of climate and settlement narratives in Australia and New Zealand during the long nineteenth century. It brings to life contested practices of colonial settlement in un-British climates, providing a remarkable new optics to observe the amalgamation of cultural and atmospheric realities and their continuing socio-economic legacies. Stressing local scale, historical process and natural agency, the collection offers a historical kaleidoscope of climatological ways of life forged through encounter, exploration and domestication of the environmental otherness." - Vladimir Jankovic, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester, UK, author of Reading the Skies: A Cultural History of English Weather 1650-1820 (2000) and Confronting the Climate: British Airs and the Making of Environmental Medicine (2010)

From the Publisher