The colonial earth

"It is conventional wisdom that Australia's colonists not only despised their environment but also were blind to their own destructiveness. The Colonial Earth challenges this stereotype. Tim Bonyhady reveals the extraordinary breadth and depth - as well as the limits - of environmental concern in Australia from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788." "Taking art as his starting point, Bonyhady explores how issues such as the preservation of endangered species, the protection of forests, the maintenance of public rights over the foreshore and even the likelihood of climate change already…