Associate Professor Emily O’Gorman, from the Macquarie School of Social Sciences, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2023 Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) Creative Writing Book Awards for her publication ‘Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-Than-Human Histories of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin’.
Humans have drained, filled or otherwise destroyed nearly 87 per cent of the world’s wetlands over the past 300 years. Unintended consequences include biodiversity loss, poor water quality and the erosion of cultural sites, and only in the past few decades have wetlands been widely recognised as worth preserving.
Using the Murray-Darling Basin – Australia’s largest river system, which includes more than 30,000 wetland areas – as a case study, the book draws on archival research and original interviews to examine how people and animals have shaped wetlands from the late 19th century to today. Associate Professor O’Gorman brings to light the human and non-human entanglements of the area, and importantly, the deeper dynamics relating to Aboriginal people as custodians of the landscape.
“Indeed, this history shows that the voices of Aboriginal people need to be listened to and occupy a more prominent space within environmental management, not only to address past injustices but also to ensure healthier Country and communities into the future,” says Associate Professor O’Gorman.
“Further, engagement with the long histories of Aboriginal people’s connections with, and uses of, wetlands overturns narrow views of these places as damaged by human practices. Instead, we need to acknowledge the vast array of potential interactions people can have with wetlands.”
Ultimately, the book argues for wetlands to be understood as socioecological landscapes to establish and strengthen our relationships with these places.
Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-Than-Human Histories of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin is published by the University of Washington Press.
Back to homepage