The Future of Australian Rural Communities: How Powerful are the Forces of Change?

PETER J. SMAILES/ TREVOR L.C. GRIFFIN/ NEIL M. ARGENT

This paper tests how far population change in 412 rural communities of south-eastern Australia is predetermined by five ‘drivers’: remoteness, amenity, town size, rural population density, and concentration/dispersal of the population. Testing their combined impact through multiple correlation analysis, it finds that over the ten-year period 1996-2006, the status of the five drivers measured in 1996 explains (statistically) some 53% of the variance in the actual population change in the communit(..)

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-001

Natural Hazards, Climate Change, and Adaptation: Persistent Questions and Answers

ROBERT W. KATES

In research on risk and hazard, three central questions seem to persist: What should people and societies worry about? Why do people live and work in areas subject to repeated hazards? How is it that they survive and even prosper in such areas? Les Heathcote and I were part of an early effort to address these questions globally across the range of natural hazards. working together on a study that contrasted the agricultural drought hazard in Australia with that of Tanzania. From our comparison a(..)

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-002

Arid lands, arid management: Community engagement, communities of practice and environmental governance in the Lake Eyre-Kati Thanda1

MELISSA NURSEY-BRAY

Management of arid lands in South Australia is an important yet often contentious topic amongst the multiple stakeholders that live within it. The interplay between land management and people is intertwined, with people being affected by and influencing its outcomes. Ensuring effective community engagement is fundamental to ensuring the success of environmental management endeavours. This paper explores the institutional, policy and community engagement structures in place within one particular (..)

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-003

Geographers – looking back to lead the way?

CECILE CUTLER

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-004

Anti-Americanism in Australia

Bruce Ryan

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-005

OBITUARY

B. J. Ward

DOI: 10.21307/sagj-2012-006