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Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Regardless, our water consumption is one of the highest in the world – over 350 litres per person per day. Historians have described white Australia as having a pioneers’ attitude to water – adapt the landscape rather than adapt to it. Is the real issue behind Australia’s water crises one of attitudes?
Examine document 1. What does this photograph mean to you? Write a caption to describe the photograph.
Examine document 2. What does this poem tell you about Lawson’s attitude to water? Do you agree?
Examine document 3. When this map was created in the 1920s, it was very unpopular with industry and government. Why do you think this was? What does it tell us about how Australians perceived their country?
Examine documents 4 to 6. The media plays a strong role in how we perceive the Australian landscape. What messages were we receiving about the Australian landscape in 1966? Create a list. What bias can you detect? List words and phrases that support your assessment.
Examine documents 7 to 12. Select two images that you most associate with the Australian landscape. Then select two images that represent your ideal Australian landscape. Are the images different? If so, why do you think this is?
Do your ideas about the Australian landscape influence how you use water?
Since European settlement, Australians have used more water than the environment can provide. Why is that? What do you think needs to change? Has there been a recent change in how we use water? Provide examples to support your answer.
Imagine you are in charge of managing water nationally. List five changes or strategies you would bring about. How would these changes impact on other areas of our lives? How would you motivate people to adopt your management strategies? How would you enforce your strategies?
Select a drought from Australia’s history, such as the Depression drought or the Federation drought. How did the drought affect people on local, state and national levels? What was people’s attitude to the drought? What were the short-term and long-term effects of the drought? Have our attitudes to drought changed? Use primary and secondary sources to support your answer.