REPORT 2: ThematicStud a Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS Series n d REPORT 2: THEMATIC STUDY of the CULTURAL y i oftheCulturalLandsca n t LANDSCAPE of QUEENSLAND e r A multi-theoretical analysis of Queensland history p using the themes of climate, land, development, perception, people and landscape, and interpreting the landscape as text. p r es ofQueensland e t Jeannie Sim THEMATIC STUDY of the CULTURAL LANDSCAPE ing the landscape as text. of QUEENSLAND Edited by Jeannie Sim FRONT COVER: Water tank on stumps, Heathland Station, Cape York, from Telegraph Road (Photographer: Delwynn Poulton 1992) Published by Cultural Landscape Research Unit, Investigating Queensland's Cultural School of Design and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA. Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS Series Report 2: THEMATIC STUDY OF THE Cultural Landscape OF Queensland Verily, there seems pressing need of a new apostle to go to and fro in the land, preaching everywhere what Ruskin calls the "duty of delight." A love of nature is just as much a matter of cultivation as a love of virtue or of knowledge, or any other desirable mental state, and its attainment must always form an essential part of every right education. That any life should ever be allowed to grow stale, flat, and unprofitable when there is much to learn and enjoy, is one of the mysteries. See to it, brothers and sisters – you dwellers in the quiet homes scattered over the hillsides, through the valleys, and on the broad plains of our country – see to it, that you are not throwing away your birthright. Source: Mackay, Angus (1875) The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’ Guide . Brisbane: Slater & Co. pg. 16 Edited by Jeannie Sim PUBLISHING INFORMATION REPORT 2: Thematic Study of the Cultural Landscape of Queensland Edited by Jeannie Sim ISBN 1 86435 519 0 Published by Cultural Landscape Research Unit, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld. 4001 The Project "Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS" was funded by ARC-SPIRT grant (1997-1999). The participants in this project included members of the Cultural Landscape Research Unit (QUT) with the industry partner being the Queensland Government's Environmental Protection Agency (Cultural Heritage Branch). Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS Series Other publications from this project: REPORT 1: Setting the Theoretical Scene Edited by Helen Armstrong ISBN 1 86435 518 2 REPORT 3: Contests and Management Issues Edited by Helen Armstrong, Danny O'Hare and Jeannie Sim ISBN 1 86435 520 4 REPORT 4: Reports of the Case Studies Edited by Jeannie Sim and Helen Armstrong ISBN 1 86435 521 2 © Authors and Cultural Landscape Research Unit (QUT) 2001. ii TABLE of CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY Jeannie Sim vi Part 1: LANDSCAPE HISTORIES 1 CLIMATE: living in the tropics People and their Environment – Getting to Jeannie Sim 2 Know the Queensland Climate – White People can live in the Tropics – Shade and Sunshine in Tropical Queensland – Climate and Cultivation – Verandahs – Shady Urban Open Space – Conclusion. 2 LAND: as the focus of Queensland's History Aboriginal Queensland – Early European Brian Hudson 19 Settlement – The 1860s, 1870s and 1880s – The 1890s to 1915 – 1915-1980. 3 DEVELOPMENT: the prime agent of change Development as Progress – Establishing Danny O'Hare 24 Queensland as a Cultural Landscape of Progress – A Cultural Landscape of Development and Conflict – Conclusion. 4 MARGINAL GROUPS: the unofficial histories – Overview of Marginal Groups in Queensland Helen Armstrong 36 – Migration to Queensland: Politics of Race and 44 Class – Brief History of South Sea Islanders in Walter Baker 52 Queensland – Cultural Landscapes of the Australian South Sea Lincoln T. Hayes 56 Islanders: an indicative list of place types iii TABLE of CONTENTS Part 2: LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5 PERCEPTION: perceiving is more than seeing – Perception and Environmental Psychology Jeannie Sim 61 – Determining Landscape Character 66 – The Physical Landscapes of Queensland Brian Hudson 70 – Landscape Design Theory Jeannie Sim 74 – Traditional Visual Analysis 80 – Landscape Meaning 83 6 PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE: the Australian context – Perceptions of Australia as a New World Helen Armstrong 96 – Distance and Isolation Jeannie Sim 99 – Antipodean and European Visions 101 – Cultural Landscape Interpretation through the Helen Armstrong and 102 Arts Kim Watson – Attitudes to Nature : Visions of Landscape Jeannie Sim 112 – Being a Queenslander (Being Different?). 120 7 INTERPRETING LANDSCAPE AS TEXT Interpreting Landscape through Helen Armstrong 122 Phenomenological Hermeneutics List of Tables v List of Figures v iv LISTS of TABLES and FIGURES TABLES TABLE 1: Symbolic Linkages of People and Land 49 TABLE 2: Aesthetics (Tom Heath's Design Notes 1989) 64 TABLE 3: Physical Regions of Queensland: a comparison 67 TABLE 4: Biogeographic & Landscape Regions of Queensland 68 TABLE 5: Regional Classifications in Queensland 69 TABLE 6: Notes about Visual Elements and Design Principles 81 TABLE 7: Notes about Landscape Visual Assessment 82 TABLE 8: Eras in evolving Australia environmental visions and key elements 112 TABLE 9: Phases of the Phenomenological Method 124 TABLE 10: Criteria for Interpreting Texts 127 FIGURES FIGURE 1: Griffith Taylor's Features of Tropical Australia 2 FIGURE 2: Griffith Taylor's Predicted 'Crescent of Settlement' in Australia 4 FIGURE 3: Griffith Taylor's Natural Regions of Australia 7 FIGURE 4: Brunswick's Lens Model applied to Environmental Perception 63 v Thematic Study of Queensland of the Queensland Landscape". 2 This task INTRODUCTORY was soon recognised as too large and would not meet the immediate needs of the project. by Jeannie Sim (editor) Nonetheless, it remains a worthy future goal for those interested members of the research team. Finding some more appropriate model The purpose of the current thematic study is was required, and this process is reported in to provide a foundation for the interpretation the method section. To preface the thematic of cultural landscapes, with a focus on study, this introductory is divided into four Queensland, within Australia. Interpreting sections: determining the scope; developing cultural landscapes requires a theoretical a method; shaping a structure; and, writing field to achieve scholarly strength. In up the ideas. Australia, cultural landscape interpretations 1 have tended to be limited to heritage theory. Determining the Scope In order to broaden an understanding of the In Queensland, white settlement began in meanings embedded in Queensland's 1824 at Moreton Bay, but Aboriginal and cultural landscapes, a cultural theoretical Torres Strait Islander peoples lived here for field has been developed for this project thousands of years prior to that relatively which included a range of disciplinary recent date in history. Part of the landscape approaches including historiographical and histories included here, is the recognition of interpretative studies. many different groups and different influences, typically ignored in traditional The Thematic Study publication (Report 2) (socio-economic) histories. Thus, one major is one component of an ARC-SPIRT project objective in this thematic study was to be as called "Investigating Queensland's Cultural inclusive as possible in an effort to broaden Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS", the scope or field of interest. Mixing lead by Professor Helen Armstrong at the different disciplines and their respective School of Design and Built Environment theoretical backgrounds proved a rewarding (formerly School of Design and Built strategy, with the work of physical and Environment) at the Queensland University cultural geographers being particularly of Technology (QUT) with industry partner helpful in this regard. While the scope of the Cultural Heritage Branch of the this thematic study is broad, it does not Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in pretend to be the complete or the most Queensland. Four Reports were prepared for comprehensive description. It is offered as a publication from this project – refer fresh approach to interpreting cultural publication information page. landscapes within the Queensland context. Preparing the historical background for the The collaborative effort of many members Contested Terrains project began with the of the research team (and invited colleagues) intention of writing a traditional and have produced a multi-dimensional and thorough history to be called "The Making theoretical rich result. This thematic study 1 For example: Armstrong, H.B. (1989), "Urban and Rural Avenues in the Australian Landscape." Landscape 2 Based on the excellent precedents set by Hoskins, W.G. Research. Vol. 14, No. 2. pp 22-26 ; Armstrong, H.B. (1988), The Making of the English Landscape . (first (1991) "Environmental Heritage Survey." unpublished published 1955), London: Penguin (reworked as: report for Cultural Landscape Research Unit, UNSW ; Hoskins, W.G. and Christopher Taylor (1992), The Taylor, K. (1989), "Conservation and Interpretation Making of the English Landscape . London: Hodder and Study of the Rural Heritage Landscape of the Lanyon- Stoughton); Rackham, Oliver (1986), The History of the Lambrigg Area ACT." In Historic Environment VII(2). Countryside . (2 nd edition 1995) London: J. M. Dent; and 16-23 ; Taylor, K. (1993), "Reading and interpreting