The Colonial Earth

Tim Bonyhady reveals the extraordinary breadth and depth - as well as the limits - of environmental concern in Australia from the arrival of the First Fleet until Federation.

Taking art as his starting point, Bonyhady explores how issues such as the preservation of endangered species, the protection of forests, the maintenance of public rights over the foreshore and even the likelihood of climate change already loomed large in colonial Australia.

Drawing on a remarkable array of sources - from paintings and poems to reports of public meetings and parliamentary debates - The Colonial Earth shows that an environmental aesthetic is as deep-set in the culture as our inability to turn environmental concern into practice.