TY - JOUR
T1 - Still colonising the Ord River, Northern Australia
T2 - A postcolonial geography of the spaces between Indigenous people's and settlers' interests
AU - Mclean, Jessica
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - The growing use of environmental flows in rivers and wetlands around the world, aimed at maintaining ecological health by allocating water to the environment, arguably also provides space for recognition of Indigenous water values. Theoretically, if environmental water values, which nominally determine what water is made available for restoring river health through environmental flows, do coincide with Indigenous water values, then this mutual benefit is conceivable. However, in contexts such as the Ord in northern Australia, where environmental water values are defined as post-dam construction, then further marginalisation of Indigenous interests likely ensues. This paper looks at the history of two key industries in the Ord, pastoralism and irrigation, to examine the origins of its current geography of environmental water values. A geography of water emerges that unpacks postcolonial relations as manifest in society-water relations. I examine how particular colonial values that reinforce the status quo of industry in the Ord also dominate water management, effectively sidelining Indigenous water values.
AB - The growing use of environmental flows in rivers and wetlands around the world, aimed at maintaining ecological health by allocating water to the environment, arguably also provides space for recognition of Indigenous water values. Theoretically, if environmental water values, which nominally determine what water is made available for restoring river health through environmental flows, do coincide with Indigenous water values, then this mutual benefit is conceivable. However, in contexts such as the Ord in northern Australia, where environmental water values are defined as post-dam construction, then further marginalisation of Indigenous interests likely ensues. This paper looks at the history of two key industries in the Ord, pastoralism and irrigation, to examine the origins of its current geography of environmental water values. A geography of water emerges that unpacks postcolonial relations as manifest in society-water relations. I examine how particular colonial values that reinforce the status quo of industry in the Ord also dominate water management, effectively sidelining Indigenous water values.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905740107&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/geoj.12025
DO - 10.1111/geoj.12025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84905740107
SN - 0016-7398
VL - 180
SP - 198
EP - 210
JO - Geographical Journal
JF - Geographical Journal
IS - 3
ER -