Cosmology of the Ergene River Pollution

by Çağdaş Dedeoğlu

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Arcadia, Autumn 2019, no. 38

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The 1795 Disaster: Casualties of the Spiritual Waterscape of Lough Derg, County Donegal

by James L. Smith

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Arcadia, Autumn 2019, no. 37

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"The Public Trust Doctrine, Private Water Allocation, and Mono Lake: The Historic Saga of National Audubon Society v. Superior Court"

This article tells the epic tale of the fall and rise of Mono Lake— the strange and beautiful Dead Sea of California—which fostered some of the most important environmental law developments of the last century.

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Anaconda’s Pipelines: Water Supply Problems of a Desert Region

by Anita Carrasco

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Arcadia, Autumn 2019, no. 32

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Unifying the Yangzi Watershed in Early Twentieth-Century China

by Yan Gao

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Arcadia, Summer 2019, no. 28

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Promoting Health, Combating Climate Change: How the Promotores de Salud Network in the US-Mexico Borderlands is Building Climate Resilience

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Perspectives Issue 2019/4

Schur Petri demonstrates how local health workers can effectively communicate climate risks on the ground.

Copyright information

“Drought, Mud, Filth, and Flood: Water Crises in Australian Cities, 1880s–2010s” was created by Andrea Gaynor, Margaret Cook, Lionel Frost, Jenny Gregory, Ruth Morgan, Martin Shanahan, Peter Spearritt, Susan Avey, Nathan Etherington, Elizabeth Gralton, and Daniel Martin (2019) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This refers only to the text and does not include image rights. Please click on an image to view its individual rights status.

Drought, Mud, Filth, and Flood: Water Crises in Australian Cities, 1880s–2010s

In this exhibition, we invite visitors to consider the historical relationship of “water crises” of various kinds to the development of urban water systems, through the experience of the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australia. We have chosen a range of different departures from water-related business as usual—from shortage to flood, pollution to drainage—in the five mainland Australian state capitals from the late nineteenth century to the present. The part of this exhibition devoted to each city focuses thematically on just one or two kinds of crisis, while the timeline covers a wider range of events in each place.

About the Exhibition

About the author

Gaynor, Andrea

University of Western Australia

Andrea Gaynor is Associate Professor of History at the University of Western Australia. An environmental historian, she seeks to use the contextualizing and narrative power of history to address contemporary problems. She is co-editor, with Nick Rose, of Reclaiming the Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns and Cities (UWAP 2018). At UWA, she is Chair of the History Discipline Group and Director of the Centre for Western Australian History; she also convenes the Australian and New Zealand Environmental History Network and endeavors to inform policy as a member of The Beeliar Group: Professors for Environmental Responsibility.

Cook, Margaret

University of Queensland & La Trobe University, Australia

Dr Margaret Cook is an environmental historian, cultural heritage consultant, a Post-Thesis Fellow at the University of Queensland, and an Honorary Research Fellow at La Trobe University. Her PhD, completed in 2018, explored the history of floods in the Brisbane River and her findings have been published in national and international journals and in a forthcoming book, A River with a City Problem, with University of Queensland Press. Her current research deals with the colonial settlement of central Queensland for the production of cotton in the 1920s, particularly gender, climate and water.

orcid.org/0000-0002-3354-0658

Frost, Lionel

Monash University, Australia

Born and raised in Melbourne, Lionel Frost is an associate professor in the Department of Economics, Monash Business School at Monash University. He is current President of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, and has published extensively on urban and economic history in Australia and North America. Recent publications include “The Economic History of the Pacific,” in J. R. McNeill and K. Pomeranz (eds), The Cambridge World History Volume VII: Production, Destruction, and Competition, 1750–Present (2015).

Gregory, Jenny

University of Western Australia

Jenny Gregory AM, is Emeritus Professor of History at The University of Western Australia, after a career at UWA that included time as Head of the School of Humanities, Chair of History and Director of UWA Press. Author of numerous publications in the fields of urban history, planning and heritage, her current research projects include responses to water famines and past governance of water and sanitation in Australian cities. Currently President of the History Council of WA, she has received a number of awards for her contribution to her profession and the community.

Morgan, Ruth

Monash University, Australia

Ruth Morgan is a Senior Research Fellow in the History Program at Monash University. She has published widely on the climate and water histories of Australia and the British Empire, including her award-winning book, Running Out? Water in Western Australia (2015). Her current project, on environmental exchanges between British India and the Australian colonies, has been generously supported by the Australian Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is also a Lead Author in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Report 6.

Shanahan, Martin

University of South Australia

Martin Shanahan is Professor of Economic and Business History at the University of South Australia and visiting Professor at the University of Goteborg (Sweden). He has written extensively on wealth inequality, business cartels, water markets, and climate change from the perspective of economic and business history. He is currently involved in a number of projects, including work (with Lionel Frost) that examines the impact on health and living standards of variations in access to water in two Australian cities.

Spearritt, Peter

University of Queensland, Australia

Peter Spearritt began his scholarly life as an urban historian and continues to be fascinated by how cities function and the impact they have on their environment. His Sydney’s Century: A History (2000) traces the growth of Australia’s largest city over the twentieth century, while Where History Happened (2018) examines urban and rural sites, from Cooktown in North Queensland to New Norcia, the Benedictine Abbey north of Perth. He is a critic of quick-fix solutions to urban water shortages, especially the building of desalination plants, when household water tanks and lowering household use of water would suffice in most instances.

Avey, Susan

University of South Australia

Dr Susan Avey is an architect and urban historian. Her research interests include individual agency in the historical development of urban environments, discovering everyday lived experiences of cities through historical data as well as the potential of drawing as a historical research tool. Recently Susan has worked in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia and the International School of Hotel Management as a lecturer, studio educator, and academic researcher. She is currently engaged as a researcher in the School of Commerce at UniSA.

Etherington, Nathan

University of Sydney, Australia

Nathan Etherington is a doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney and a registered architect. He has degrees in architecture and arts from Harvard and the University of Sydney and his research is located at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urban environments. Nathan is the founder and principal of NEA, an architecture practice based in Sydney. His current research interests explore the construction of urban landscapes through engineering and infrastructure.

Gralton, Elizabeth

University of Western Australia

Elizabeth Gralton has a PhD in nineteenth-century French history from the University of Western Australia. Her research focused on contemporary reactions to and portrayals of the Paris Universal Exhibitions. She has taught in the areas of nineteenth-century Europe, early-modern France, urban history and art history. She is now based in Melbourne, working as a research consultant and studying cultural materials conservation.

Martin, Daniel

University of Western Australia

Daniel Jan Martin is a designer, urbanist, and researcher based in the School of Design at The University of Western Australia. He studies urban ecology and hydrology in relationship to architecture and urbanism. His work has focussed on mapping, environmental communication, and education. Since 2016, Daniel has worked within the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities where his current research is exploring strategies for coordinating infill housing with ecological repair.

Browse the exhibition

About the Exhibition

This exhibition arose from an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research project on “Water and the Making of Urban Australia: A History Since 1900” (DP180100807). The project aims to produce the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use, and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present, leading to new understandings of the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems and how these systems have historically impacted on human and ecological welfare.

Drought, Mud, Filth, and Flood: Water Crises in Australian Cities, 1880s–2010s

In this exhibition, we invite visitors to consider the historical relationship of “water crises” of various kinds to the development of urban water systems, through the experience of the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australia. We have chosen a range of different departures from water-related business as usual—from shortage to flood, pollution to drainage—in the five mainland Australian state capitals from the late nineteenth century to the present. The part of this exhibition devoted to each city focuses thematically on just one or two kinds of crisis, while the timeline covers a wider range of events in each place.

About the Exhibition

About the author

Gaynor, Andrea

University of Western Australia

Andrea Gaynor is Associate Professor of History at the University of Western Australia. An environmental historian, she seeks to use the contextualizing and narrative power of history to address contemporary problems. She is co-editor, with Nick Rose, of Reclaiming the Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns and Cities (UWAP 2018). At UWA, she is Chair of the History Discipline Group and Director of the Centre for Western Australian History; she also convenes the Australian and New Zealand Environmental History Network and endeavors to inform policy as a member of The Beeliar Group: Professors for Environmental Responsibility.

Cook, Margaret

University of Queensland & La Trobe University, Australia

Dr Margaret Cook is an environmental historian, cultural heritage consultant, a Post-Thesis Fellow at the University of Queensland, and an Honorary Research Fellow at La Trobe University. Her PhD, completed in 2018, explored the history of floods in the Brisbane River and her findings have been published in national and international journals and in a forthcoming book, A River with a City Problem, with University of Queensland Press. Her current research deals with the colonial settlement of central Queensland for the production of cotton in the 1920s, particularly gender, climate and water.

orcid.org/0000-0002-3354-0658

Frost, Lionel

Monash University, Australia

Born and raised in Melbourne, Lionel Frost is an associate professor in the Department of Economics, Monash Business School at Monash University. He is current President of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, and has published extensively on urban and economic history in Australia and North America. Recent publications include “The Economic History of the Pacific,” in J. R. McNeill and K. Pomeranz (eds), The Cambridge World History Volume VII: Production, Destruction, and Competition, 1750–Present (2015).

Gregory, Jenny

University of Western Australia

Jenny Gregory AM, is Emeritus Professor of History at The University of Western Australia, after a career at UWA that included time as Head of the School of Humanities, Chair of History and Director of UWA Press. Author of numerous publications in the fields of urban history, planning and heritage, her current research projects include responses to water famines and past governance of water and sanitation in Australian cities. Currently President of the History Council of WA, she has received a number of awards for her contribution to her profession and the community.

Morgan, Ruth

Monash University, Australia

Ruth Morgan is a Senior Research Fellow in the History Program at Monash University. She has published widely on the climate and water histories of Australia and the British Empire, including her award-winning book, Running Out? Water in Western Australia (2015). Her current project, on environmental exchanges between British India and the Australian colonies, has been generously supported by the Australian Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is also a Lead Author in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Report 6.

Shanahan, Martin

University of South Australia

Martin Shanahan is Professor of Economic and Business History at the University of South Australia and visiting Professor at the University of Goteborg (Sweden). He has written extensively on wealth inequality, business cartels, water markets, and climate change from the perspective of economic and business history. He is currently involved in a number of projects, including work (with Lionel Frost) that examines the impact on health and living standards of variations in access to water in two Australian cities.

Spearritt, Peter

University of Queensland, Australia

Peter Spearritt began his scholarly life as an urban historian and continues to be fascinated by how cities function and the impact they have on their environment. His Sydney’s Century: A History (2000) traces the growth of Australia’s largest city over the twentieth century, while Where History Happened (2018) examines urban and rural sites, from Cooktown in North Queensland to New Norcia, the Benedictine Abbey north of Perth. He is a critic of quick-fix solutions to urban water shortages, especially the building of desalination plants, when household water tanks and lowering household use of water would suffice in most instances.

Avey, Susan

University of South Australia

Dr Susan Avey is an architect and urban historian. Her research interests include individual agency in the historical development of urban environments, discovering everyday lived experiences of cities through historical data as well as the potential of drawing as a historical research tool. Recently Susan has worked in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia and the International School of Hotel Management as a lecturer, studio educator, and academic researcher. She is currently engaged as a researcher in the School of Commerce at UniSA.

Etherington, Nathan

University of Sydney, Australia

Nathan Etherington is a doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney and a registered architect. He has degrees in architecture and arts from Harvard and the University of Sydney and his research is located at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urban environments. Nathan is the founder and principal of NEA, an architecture practice based in Sydney. His current research interests explore the construction of urban landscapes through engineering and infrastructure.

Gralton, Elizabeth

University of Western Australia

Elizabeth Gralton has a PhD in nineteenth-century French history from the University of Western Australia. Her research focused on contemporary reactions to and portrayals of the Paris Universal Exhibitions. She has taught in the areas of nineteenth-century Europe, early-modern France, urban history and art history. She is now based in Melbourne, working as a research consultant and studying cultural materials conservation.

Martin, Daniel

University of Western Australia

Daniel Jan Martin is a designer, urbanist, and researcher based in the School of Design at The University of Western Australia. He studies urban ecology and hydrology in relationship to architecture and urbanism. His work has focussed on mapping, environmental communication, and education. Since 2016, Daniel has worked within the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities where his current research is exploring strategies for coordinating infill housing with ecological repair.

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The Northwest Passage Timeline: Maps and Expeditions

This timelines about the history of the Northwest Passage takes its readers on a journey of discovery from the mid-fifteenth century to today.

The Northwest Passage: Myth, Environment, and Resources

This exhibition tells the story of the Northwest Passage from the pursuit of a myth to the exploitation of natural resources. Historian Elena Baldassarri takes readers on a multimedia tour of the Arctic, featuring interactive maps, photographs, videos, and interviews with experts, scholars, and elders of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.

Elena Baldassarri

About the author

Baldassarri, Elena

Roma Tre University, Italy

Elena Baldassarri is an Assistant Professor in North American History at the Humanistic Department of Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy. Her research interests focus on the history of Canada and the United States, and the relationship between cultural and social rights in Canada. Her most recent publications cover US environmental policy, Canada’s sovereignty over the lands and waters of the Arctic. In past she has obtained a Canada Grant (2012) at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien, Freie Universität Berlin, a Faculty Research Grants/Bourses de recherche International Council for Canadian Studies (ICCS) (2007), and a Travel Grant from the Italian Association for Canadian Studies (AISC) (2006). She is the author of several articles and books including Canada e Quebec: Un problema di identità nazionale (1947–70) [Canada and Quebec: a problem of national identity]. Roma: Viella, 2009, and has edited Percorsi migratori e accoglienza fra storia e politiche di gestione [Migration routes and migrant reception: history and policies], edited with Pia G. Celozzi Baldelli. Roma: Aracne, 2009, and La Guerra Fredda nella satira politica Est/Ovest [Cold War and political satire] edited with Pia G. Celozzi Baldelli. Roma: Aracne, 2010.

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The Water Shops of Republican Tianjin

by Mu Cao

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Arcadia, Summer 2019, no. 20

Read more about The Water Shops of Republican Tianjin