RELATIONSHIPS WITH

AUSTRALIAN OUTDOOR
ENVIRONMENTS AS
INFLUENCED BY:
NATION BUILDING

What is Nation Building?

So far weve covered:
Indigenous Australians
The first Non-Indigenous settlers
Increasing Population
Industrialisation
Think about what events have occurred since
industrialisation that have involved Australia in a
world scale, but also local
events/achievements

Toward Federation

As Federation approaches people had

started to see themselves as being
different to Europe and had started to
develop a unique Australian identity
The bush became more familiar and
with artists reflecting this change in
attitude with works that showed the
Australian environment as a place of
beauty and interest

Poets such as Banjo Patterson began to

see the Australian Bush as a romantic and
special place

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/australians/bpatte
rson.htm

The growing Urban population began to seek nature

experiences: scenery, fresh air, walking , picnicking
and beach activities
Pride in the uniqueness of the Australian
Environment encouraged a growing conservation
ethic
The Melbourne Amateur Walking and Touring Club
was established in 1894

Nation Building
Nation Building could be said to be an ongoing
process in Australia's non-indigenous settlement.
Periods after the first and second World Wars
involved major infrastructure developments.
Think about the returning soldiers and post war
immigration that provided a workforce to help in
the construction of this infrastructure.

List these types of infrastructure:

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Thomson Dam

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Lake Guy Bogong Village: Hydro Electricity Scheme

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Westgate Bridge

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Grain Farming grew rapidly with the increase

in technology and machinery developed during
World War 2

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Cotton Farming Relied heavily upon one

of our natural resources.

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Cattle grazing increased along with vineyards enabled Australia more

independence from European countries and increased our exports world
wide. After World War 2, exports gradually declined. Why would this be?

Nation Building
Infrastructure

Nation Building
Infrastructure

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Infrastructure

Wind Farms throughout

Victoria. What are the
Positive and negatives of a
wind farm?

Grampians Infrastructure

Grampians Infrastructure

Nation Building
Infrastructure
What implications did this nation building
infrastructure have on:
1.
2.
3.

Our country and resources

The people and community
Relationships with outdoor
environments

Nation Building
Infrastructure
What kind of relationships did people form with the
outdoor environment as a result of this
infrastructure?
Positive? How?
Negative? How?
Positive

Negative

Other

Appreciation- working in
different environments
allowed people to build
a great respect
because

Weather

Just a job ..

Nation Building
Have humans continued to have the same
impact on outdoor environments from
indigenous habitants through to now?
Explain

Nation Building
The end of the nineteenth century saw the population in Victoria over 1.2
million, which was 30% of the total Australian population.
This rapid growth had taken its toll on the land and marine environments.
In developing as a country, many mistakes were made that had
devastating effects on the natural environment. These included:
Erosion
Salinity
Weed infestation
Pollution
Species extinction
It was at this time people realised they had to change the way they used
natural environments.

Nation Building
Marine and estuarine systems were under
pressure from the effects of:
Irrigation
High-density settlement in coastal areas
Farming practices
How did each of the above effect the
environment?

Nation Building
Due to the rapid industrial growth and technological
advance more demand was placed on natural
resources which worsened environmental
degradation. This included clearing of land for
timber mills which in turn had further effects.
Competition for natural resources between
different industries often resulted in conflict.
Example; logging operations depleted timber
supplies than were also needed for local mine shaft
construction.

Nation Building
In 1952 the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) rose to promote natural
reservations and national parklands. The VNPA remains a non-government, nonprofit organisation that continues to lobby the State Government in regard to forest
issues.
In the 1960s public consciousness of environment degradation grew as
environmental issues become more apparent, such as:
Land development schemes
Mining of beach sands
Preservation of the Great Barrier Reef
Flooding of Lake Pedder for hydroelectricity
Effects of pollution
Around the same time more conservation groups were formed to help protect
natural environments, they included:
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
The South West Committee later became The Wilderness Society (TWS)

Nation Building
It was during the 20th century, Australians began to
realise that the environment was being degraded by
human actions and things needed to change.
While century old European land management
strategies are still in place today there is an
increasing awareness in the value of the
environment beyond that of a resource.
The perception of the natural environment solely as
a resource for human use is also changing.

Nation Building
Science and technology are now helping to find
the balance required for ecological sustainable
development.
Scientists can now predict how long natural
resource stocks such as fossil fuels and timber
will last at the current rate of use.
What measures can be taken to prevent the
impacts from worsening?

Resources

Two men in a tinnie - DVD

Two in the top end DVD
OES textbook case studies