Hearing the Legacy in the Forecast: Living with Stories of the Australian Climate

Abstract

This chapter explores the power of oral history to shed light on the cultural and historical dimensions of weather and climate, and thus the relevance of dialogue between past and present. It draws from two history collections on extreme weather in Australia: drought in the semi-arid inland and cyclone in the Wet Tropics. Amid politicised debate over the impacts of climate change, these stories highlight the value people place on solidarity and experience in narrating eco-social relations. Through the rich detail that oral histories offer and their distinctive transference at the interstices of biography, culture and place, in this chapter it is argued that conceptions of climate are shaped by historical narratives of identity, forming both a cultural legacy and a shield from anxieties about the future.