Defending The Little Desert

The Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia

Libby Robin
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Defending The Little Desert

Published

11 October 1998

ISBN

9780522848311

Pages

224

Imprint

Melbourne University Press

Defending The Little Desert

The Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia

Libby Robin
The Little Desert dispute of 1968 was a watershed in Australian environmental politics, marking the beginning of a new consciousness of nature.

In 1968 Sir William McDonald, Victoria's Minister of Lands, announced a rural settlement scheme for the Little Desert in Victoria's far north-west. The conservation campaign that ensued was one of unprecedented vehemence and sophistication. It cost McDonald his parliamentary seat and consigned the Little Desert Settlement Scheme to oblivion.

The Little Desert dispute was a watershed in Australian environmental politics. Suburban activists, scientists, amateur naturalists, economists and bureaucrats banded together to oppose McDonald's ill-conceived scheme. It marked the beginning of a new consciousness of nature and the concept of `biological diversity' was voiced in the halls of parliament for the first time.

In Defending the Little Desert, Libby Robin offers a sensitive account of the unlikely coalition of forces that assembled to save the Little Desert.

This beautifully written account of the campaign, perhaps the earliest expression of ecological consciousness in Australia, will be read by all Australians interested…

In 1968 Sir William McDonald, Victoria's Minister of Lands, announced a rural settlement scheme for the Little Desert in Victoria's far north-west. The conservation campaign that ensued was one of unprecedented vehemence and sophistication. It cost McDonald his parliamentary seat and consigned the Little Desert Settlement Scheme to oblivion.

The Little Desert dispute was a watershed in Australian environmental politics. Suburban activists, scientists, amateur naturalists, economists and bureaucrats banded together to oppose McDonald's ill-conceived scheme. It marked the beginning of a new consciousness of nature and the concept of `biological diversity' was voiced in the halls of parliament for the first time.

In Defending the Little Desert, Libby Robin offers a sensitive account of the unlikely coalition of forces that assembled to save the Little Desert.

This beautifully written account of the campaign, perhaps the earliest expression of ecological consciousness in Australia, will be read by all Australians interested in conservation and the environment, in participatory political processes and in 'public science'.

Libby Robin

Libby Robin

Libby Robin is an independent non-fiction writer and prize-winning author whose work explores museums and environmental ideas. She works with museums in Australia, Germany, Estonia and Norway. Her books include The Flight of the Emu (2001), How a Continent Created a Nation (2007) and The Environment: A History of the Idea (2018).

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Paperback
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