The Australian Desert: Nature, Culture, Future

This unique book is the only fully interdisciplinary and comprehensive study of the Australian desert and its pivotal role in the cultural history of Australia.

Beginning with the prehistory of the continent it engages with geology, prehistory, the arrival of the first Australians, Aboriginal culture of the Dreaming, anthropology, colonial history and the cult of the inland explorer-hero, and integration of the central deserts (n.b. plural) through the responses of writers, artists, and film makers into the national identity. This book explores the unique way Indigenous artists have evolved a method of expressing their spiritual relationship to Country, while hiding from uninitiated eyes the secret-sacred meaning beneath the paint. It takes us on a journey through the politics of Land Rights for First Nations peoples, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and an analysis of Indigenous ecological principles which may suggest a new and radical approach to navigating climate change in the Anthropocene.

This book is written for scholars of fine arts, anthropology, literature, film studies, cultural history, Indigenous studies, ecology and tourism and for anyone interested in deserts.