Reviewed by Norrie Sanders
Books about wetlands are usually the province of photographers or aquatic scientists and richly illustrated with plants, animals and landscapes that display a natural beauty. But what environmental historian Emily O’Gorman has written in her latest book demonstrates that many wetlands have been profoundly changed by people, and as a society, we often have a love-hate relationship with them. For some people, conservation has been the goal, but for others wetlands are a resource, or even a pestilence.
The book is billed as a More-than-human histories of (selected) wetlands in the Murray-Darling basin, from the upper reaches in Queensland to the river mouth in South Australia. The seven chapters are thematic, ranging from indigenous use of the vast Macquarie Marshes, to mosquito control in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Most chapters counterpoint local perspectives with historic and scientific knowledge. For example, the second chapter, titled Leaking is a history of European modification of the swamps near the centre of Toowoomba city. Fear of disease and flooding led to interventions that destroyed both natural ecology and the high-quality water supply. Many of the interventions were well-intended, but misguided.
The anecdotal material is often presented as quotes from discussions with one or two people who have a direct interest (cultural, scientific or commercial) in a particular regional wetland. The factual and historic counterpoint, which may endorse or contradict local opinions, is meticulously researched and presented. Human intervention has clearly led to irreversible change and Emily seems to favour a form of sustainable use that recognises a range of values – rather than an attempt to recover the natural system.
Each chapter is effectively a case study that helps to illustrate aspects of the rapid changes that wetlands in the basin have experienced in the last 200 years. The historical perspective and the dialogues that Emily O’Gorman has with farmers, commercial fishers and traditional owners, make the book quite different from most of the Australian wetlands literature, which tends towards natural processes.
This book has sought to show that far from being static or pristine nature, wetlands are places of multifaceted human and non-human encounter……..Managing wetlands as cultural spaces, with lively more-than-human histories and futures, would look very different from most current models [p197]. This is a valid point, but interestingly, the case studies demonstrate that commercial users of wetlands may tenaciously hold onto beliefs that are not backed by science (for example, the belief that New Zealand fur seals are not native to Australia, or that feeding by ducks is the major cause of reduced rice production).
A few editing improvements might increase the readership and impact of the book. The organisation sometimes leads to repetition and backtracking within chapters; definitions of wetlands are not unpacked until Chapter 6; and the writing can lapse into an academic style. The criticism here is not about the academic aspirations of the book, but that Emily’s interpretations are of consequence, and the clearer her messages are, the more likely that a wider audience will be influenced by them.
But for the most part, the analysis is clear and well-expressed: We are all in a relationship with a wetland, most likely with multiple wetlands, and this means that how we understand these places matters [p198]. This is as good a justification for a book as any and Emily O’Gorman has made an important contribution to a complex issue.
Emily O’Gorman is an environmental historian and associate professor at Macquarie University. Her books include Flood Country: An Environmental History of the Murray-Darling Basin and the co-edited collections Climate, Science, and Colonization: Histories from Australia and New Zealand and Eco-Cultural Networks and the British Empire: New Views on Environmental History.
(August 2024)
by Emily O’Gorman
MUP
ISBN: 978 052288 061 8
$39.99 (Paperback); 288pp