Australian History/Conservation and the Environment
Book Details

The Murray

A River and its People

Paul Sinclair

An original and subtly conceived work, The Murray offers a unique picture of Australia’s major river.

Opinion

The Murray “. . .resists bludgeoning us for our polluting ways. Instead it applies a more subtle yet more powerful means of convincing readers about the river’s degradation, mainly through irrigation. It reminds us all too well of what we have lost. . .” (Genevieve Barlow, The Weekly Times, 10 October 2001)

‘As Paul Sinclair details in his thoughtful and valuable book, The Murray, the nation’s second-longest and most important river is a potent emblem of Australia’s forehead-slapping failure to comprehend and conserve its most precious resource — fresh water — and its rich natural and human histories. Out of its pages flows pride and shame, a waterway at once famous and infamous, lauded and forgotten, adored and abused.’ (Bob Beale, The Bulletin, 21 August 2001)

About this Title

The Murray River is in crisis, and faces an uncertain future. In this evocative book, Paul Sinclair explores the reasons why the river has become degraded, and what these changes have meant to Australians.

This in-depth study of the Murray River examines the changing cultural meanings of the river: the practical forgetfulness which has eroded the Aboriginal presence; the triumphant narratives in which a supposedly empty land is made purposeful by the life-giving powers of the Murray; the passion to make the river’s flow predictable and to replace ‘primitive’ forces with a domesticated and balanced landscape.

The focus is on shifts and changes. Sinclair describes the brief heyday of the riverboats and their transformation into a tourist attraction; the decline of the mighty Murray cod and the rise of the European carp; and the changing fortunes of the river towns. He demonstrates that ‘progress’ is often a myth, and that ecological degradation always has cultural costs.

This is an innovative cultural and environmental history, about landscape and fish, memory and concepts, imagination and desire. Through a complex interweaving of history, analysis, poetry, art, and individuals’ recollections, Paul Sinclair has created an original and subtly conceived work, offering imaginative space to think about land and water in new ways.

Fishermen, farmers, tourists, environmentalists, lovers of the Australian landscape—all these people will want to read this beautifully written book. It will be an essential resource for those directly involved in the future of the Murray River, contributing to the larger debate about Australia’s threatened environment.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Conversions
Abbreviations

Part One: Making Sense of the Murray
1 Two Visions
2 The Unregulated and Regulated River
3 An Elusive and Ancient River
4 Along the Oven Roads
5 Practical Forgetfulness
6 Harnessing the Murray Waters
7 Keeping the River Under Control
8 From Swimming Holes to Swimming Pools

Part Two: Stories of Abundance and Decline
9 A Natural or Unnatural River?
10 The Meaning of Murray Cod
11 Square Hooks
12 The Importance of Remembering Fish
13 The European Carp Invasion

Part Three: A Pleasure-seeker's Parade
14 Ideas to Understand a New World
15 Selling the River Experience
16 Turning Away from the River
17 The Big Picture

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Paul Sinclair grew up near the Murray River at Kerang, in northern Victoria. He has published widely on Australia's environmental history, and has worked in collaboration with Mandy Martin and the late John Davis, two of Australia's leading environmental artists. As part of the research for this book, Paul and his partner Jen Hocking paddled a canoe 1330 kilometres along the Murray, talking to people and getting to know the intricacies of the river. Paul worked at the 900,000-hectare Bookmark Biosphere Reserve in the South Australian Riverland from 1999 to 2001. He is now a research fellow at the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.

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978-0-522-84940-0