51茶馆

June 30, 2020

New book explores the history of disasters in Australia and New Zealand

Historians, geographers and media scholars on the lessons we can learn from past disasters.

The history of bushfires, floods, cyclones and earthquakes in Australia and New Zealand is the focus of a new book co-edited by 51茶馆 (UOW) historian Dr Scott McKinnon.

(Palgrave MacMillan 2020), offers the first edited collection of scholarly research on disaster history in Australia and New Zealand.

The book, co-edited by Dr Margaret Cook (University of the Sunshine Coast), this Thursday (2 July) by leading environmental historian Emeritus Professor Tom Griffiths.

, from UOW鈥檚 School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, says many factors increase our vulnerability to disasters in Australia and New Zealand, including climate change and housing growth in high-risk areas. 

鈥淲e need to be thinking about major policy change to mitigate the impacts of future disasters, but after each bushfire, flood or cyclone, the political discussion moves on quickly to other matters,鈥� he said.

鈥淭his year has been an extreme example. There were devastating bushfires from which thousands of people are still recovering, but the fires are easily forgotten during a deadly pandemic. 

鈥淭he book brings together work by historians, geographers and media scholars to think about the lessons we might learn in the present from disasters in the past. As historians, we are interested in keeping memory of these events alive so that we don鈥檛 just return to a status quo that is going to leave more people vulnerable.鈥�

The book is a collection of essays that were written after a workshop, co-convened by Dr McKinnon and Dr Cook, at the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space (ACCESS) in mid-2019. Nine researchers from Australia and New Zealand attended the workshop and the resulting essays discuss floods, earthquakes, bushfires and cyclones.

The book covers Australia鈥檚 deadliest disaster, Cyclone Mahina in 1899; as well as the 1989 Newcastle earthquake; the 2003 ACT firestorm; the 2009 Black Saturday fires; and the 2011 Queensland floods. Themes include discussion of Indigenous understandings of fire and flood, migrant experiences of bushfire in Australia and the politics of prescribed burning.

Dr McKinnon says the disasters we鈥檝e faced in the past six months alone have prompted an interest in disaster histories as people look to the past to try and make sense of difficult times.

鈥淲e hope the book provides valuable information and encourages some serious conversations about how we confront the challenges of a changing environment.鈥�

You can .