Australian Environmental History
by La Trobe University
This course material is only available in the iTunes U app on iPhone or iPad.
Course Description
'Gondwana', the ancient super continent, evolved over forty millenia into several continents including Australia. Just two centuries after European settlement, the human impact on the land, massive species extinction, and climate change, pose serious threats to the continent's fragile ecology. Students will consider Australia's early geological history; Indigenous land use; the competing ideas of land and land use among early settlers; and how various forms of land use shaped, and changed the environment. We will explore in turn how the Australian environment shaped humans. Students will study Australia as part of a global environment, by understanding how settlement was an artefact of colonialism and Empire, and how environmental thinking impacted on Australia and shaped its participation in the recent global environmental movement. Students will research environmental history locally and/or globally, to understand Australia's history in the context of calls for a sustainable future.
| Name | Description | Time | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The History of a Dry Continent | Michael Cathcart speaks to Pofessor Katie Holmes (History Program, La Trobe University) about his new book 'The Water Dreamers', and the history of Australia as dry continent. | 31:06 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 2 | Antarctica: The Crystal Desert | Professor Tom Griffiths (Environmental historian, Australian National University) talks to Professor Katie Holmes (History Program, La Trobe University) about his book 'Slicing the Silence' on the continent Antarctica. | 26:35 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 3 | The Australian Environmental Movement | Wayne Wescott speaks to Pofessor Katie Holmes (History Program, La Trobe University) on the history of the environmental movement in Australia, and key issues in addressing climate change. | 32:50 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 4 | Growth in Environmental Thought and Politics | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on the shift in the view of 'wilderness' to a fondness for the environment. | 27:55 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 5 | The Great Barrier Reef | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on the Great Barrier Reef, and the environmental history of the oceans. | 21:00 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 6 | Drought and Fire | Professor Katie Holmes (History, La Trobe University) on the effects of drought and fire on Australia's landscape. | 21:43 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 7 | Melbourne's Natural History | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on the relationship of city people to nature. Do cities have an environmental history - if so what is it like? | 18:19 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 8 | Environmental Consciousness in the 19th Century | Professor Katie Holmes (History, La Trobe University) on when and how did different attitudes to nature developed, what ideas shaped this new view, and the impact it had on human-nature relationships. | 14:39 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 9 | Mining in Australia | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on the environmental impact of mining, which is the second great economic staple of this continent. | 20:08 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 10 | Invasive Pests | Professor Katie Holmes (History, La Trobe University) on how pastoralism became the first land-based economic staple of European Australia, its impact, and the introduction of pests. | 17:50 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 11 | Aboriginal Land Management | Professor Bill Gammage (Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University) talks to Professor Richard Broome (History Program, La Trobe University) about Aboriginal land management prior to European arrival. | 21:16 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 12 | Aboriginal People, Fire and the Land | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on the early fire history of Australia and what part humans might have played in this. | 15:54 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 13 | Pastorialism and the Shock Troops of Empire | Professor Katie Holmes (History, La Trobe University) on how the land was first settled by Europeans and what they thought of the place they'd come to possess. | 21:49 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 14 | Gondwana to Australia | Professor Richard Broome (History, La Trobe University) on where Australia came from and what it was like when humans first entered it. What underpinned the extinction of some of the land’s most distinctive fauna - humans or nature? | 20:18 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 15 | Introduction to Australian Environmental History | This week we consider the birth of environmental history and what is the nature of this sub-discipline of history. Is it a discipline marked by pessimism or neutral in its view of the world? | 21:46 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 15 Items |
