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Palgrave Macmillan

Irrigation, Salinity, and Rural Communities in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, 1945–2020

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  • © 2023

Overview

  • Provides a regional and social history of irrigation in Australia's largest irrigation district
  • Explores the impact of salinization on rural communities
  • Draws out connections between social, political, and environmental change, and the local, regional, and global

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History (PSWEH)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This book explores the issue of salinization in the context of contemporary conflicts about irrigation, water, and the environment in Australia, considering the Murray-Darling Basin in particular. It provides an environmental and social history charting the transformation of rural communities in the basin through the salinization of soils and water. Focusing on the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation district in the southwest of the Murray-Darling basin – the largest irrigation district in Australia – it explores the history of state-directed, large-scale engineering in the district, where the environment has been altered dramatically to facilitate white agricultural settlement inland. Changes to the landscape led to extensive salinization, however – a significant environmental threat in Australia. This book traces the impact of these changes on rural communities, taking a ‘bottom-up’ approach, highlighting the connections between environmental, social, and political change. It provides animportant reflection on the importance of environmental history for facing the challenges posed by anthropogenic climate change.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Scientific Coordinator and Research Associate at the Collaborative Research Center 923 "Threatened Order", University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Daniel Rothenburg

About the author

Daniel Rothenburg is Scientific Coordinator and Research Associate at the Collaborative Research Center 923 “Threatened Order”, University of Tübingen, Germany.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Irrigation, Salinity, and Rural Communities in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, 1945–2020

  • Authors: Daniel Rothenburg

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18451-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-18450-5Published: 14 January 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-18453-6Published: 14 January 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-18451-2Published: 13 January 2023

  • Series ISSN: 2730-9746

  • Series E-ISSN: 2730-9754

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 303

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: History, general, Social History

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