Antecedents

Abstract

This chapter sketches the historical antecedents to the focused period (1945–2020) starting with Aboriginal modifications to the hydrology of the Murray–Darling Basin and closing with the Great Depression. This included the appropriation of Aboriginal land by white squatters and the move to agriculture as a means of permanent settlement. Finally, when irrigation was introduced the first signs of salinization quickly appeared. The book’s main narrative begins with the years of reconstruction after World War II, a time that marks a watershed in Australian environmental history. Before 1945, the patterns of expansion, settlement, and environmental impacts were essentially a technologically advanced extension of those from the nineteenth century. However, the post-war years brought record prices for primary products and minerals, the growth of manufacturing, rapid population increase, a sharp rise in the standard of living, the emergence of a mass consumer society, and large engineering projects designed to harness Australia’s waters. Much of this was in line with the global trends that characterized the Great Acceleration after 1945.