ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a brief introduction to the Hunter Valley before drawing on three major critiques of the patchwork economy metaphor to explore the Hunter Valley and its regional offspring, the Hunter Region, New South Wales. The chapter emphasises those conflicting industries and processes that are seen to contribute most significantly to this dynamic and complex region, namely coal mining, thoroughbred breeding, viticulture/gastronomic tourism and demographic change. The chapter considers the evolving metabolic relations that emanate from, transverse and impact on the Hunter Valley. Clark and Foster, observed that 'each mode of production generates a particular social metabolic order that influences the society-nature relationship, regulating the ongoing production of society and the demands placed on ecosystems'. The concept of Australia being a 'patchwork economy' was introduced by the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, in October 2010.
