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    From Terra Nullius to Beloved Companion
    Reimagining Land in Australia

    The Voice of Land

    June 6, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    During my research I let myself imagine what I can only describe as ‘the voice of

    Land’. It came in many different forms – landscape art, poetry, community input to the policy debate, indigenous spirituality, personal experience, and many government inquiries and repor...

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    Imagination

    May 23, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    So how might we find hope for the future?

    I came across a quote very early on in my research that has stayed with me throughout my academic and experiential journeying.  It is by Vaclav Havel, a former President of Czechoslovakia:

    What could change the direction of today...

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    Mining CSG – a ‘wicked’ problem?

    May 9, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    I’m tempted to take the high moral ground when it comes to issues like the mining of coal seam gas, or whether climate change has its origins in human activity.  The trouble is, ethical arguments emerge on both sides of the polarising debate that inevitably surrounds t...

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    Indigenous Spirituality

    April 25, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    The Rainbow Spirit in Creation  Jasmine Corowa  2000

    When I mention to friends that I am writing about how Australians regard the land, many assume that I draw heavily on indigenous art and spirituality.

    I would like this to be the case, but lack the cultural herita...

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    Rights of Land

    April 11, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    Advocating the inclusion of the rights of Land into environmental protection legislation is radical, as a central premise on which it rests is that of treating Land in terms of a relationship, rather than as an object that supplies natural resources to be traded in a m...

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    Reflections on the ‘Mining CSG’ Exhibition

    March 28, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    The Breakaways Photo: Chris Dalton
     

    So far I’ve questioned whether we regard Land in Australia in terms of an object or a relationship, how we conceptualise Land, the myth of policy neutrality, values that shape environmental policy, the impact of ‘experiencing’ Land,...

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    Hall #6 Are we neighbours?

    March 21, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    So here I am, standing in the next hall, getting even more confused.  For I’m hearing voices in my head.  One Voice, at least: that of Land.  An artwork in this hall sets me thinking; it’s a painting of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I can’t help but see Land a...

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    Hall #5 Spirit Journey

    March 14, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    This hall takes me down memory lane, on a journey into the Red Heart of Australia.  The Spirit Journey I made in 2015.  Not an ordinary journey, but one which gave me unexpected experiences of Land:

    • flooding rains in the middle of a hot and arid country

    • th...

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    Hall #4 How religion shapes our attitude to Land

    March 7, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    On entering this hall I’m immediately struck by a huge artwork, describing the naming of Australia in religious terms.  Today we talk about the Great South-land of the Holy Spirit.  Geoff Bullock has even written a song about it.

    But on the opposite wall I read wha...

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    Hall #3 The myth of neutrality in public policy

    February 28, 2017

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    Chris Dalton

    This hall is stark, white, angular, featureless and lacking warmth.  Located on its walls are a few quotes:

    The sphere of public and political negotiation flourishes only in the context of larger commitments and visions, and that if this is repressed or forgotten by a s...

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