ABSTRACT
Each culture ranks particular risks as normal and others as special (Douglas and Wildavsky 1982). Given the low and erratic rainfall across much of Australia, drought could reasonably be seen as merely an unremarkable ‘background’ feature of the country, but it has been treated as a special risk. Since Australia was colonised by the rain-accustomed British in the late eighteenth century, the phenomenon of drought has provoked discussion and contested definitions (West and Smith 1996). One of the reasons for the special status of drought is the notion that farming is inherently a worthy
CONTENTS
The Special but Ambiguous Status of Drought in Australia: Getting Over the Colour Green .........................................................................................48 Attempts to Normalise Drought and the Changing Role of Government ........................................................................................................... 49 Drought throughout Overlapping Eras of Australian Farming ..................... 51 Drought as a Production Risk: 1900 to Present ................................................. 52
Drought as a Disruption .................................................................................. 52 Drought as a Business Risk .............................................................................54
Drought as a Risk to the Natural Resource Base: 1980s to Present ................55 Drought as an Environmental Risk in Dryland Farming ...........................55 Drought as an Environmental Risk in Irrigation .........................................56
Drought as a Climate Change Risk: 2000 to Present ........................................ 57 Drought as an Analogue and Source of Adaptive Capacity ......................58 Drought as an Obstacle to Adaptation .......................................................... 59 Drought as a Window of Opportunity for Transformational Change ......60 Drought as a Signal Event ............................................................................... 61
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 62 References ...............................................................................................................63
