Running Out? Water in Western Australia

Ruth A. Morgan

For nearly 200 years the visions and aspirations of the people of Australia’s west have been characterised by an unquenchable thirst. Ruth Morgan uncovers the fear of running out of water — a fear that has long gripped the region’s inhabitants and loomed large on the state’s political agenda. It has shaped how urban and rural Western Australians learned to live with the effects of a variable climate on their water supply, lifestyle, and livelihood.

This is a story of hardship and persistence; of inclusion, exclusion and defiant profligacy in the face of growing scarcity, through a period of great development and social change. An engrossing environmental history that offers a new understanding of the past Running Out? questions this way of life as we approach an uncertain future in a drying climate.

AWARDS

Winner - 2016 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (WA History)

Shortlisted - 2016 Australian Historical Association Awards (W. K. Hancock Prize)

Praise for Running Out?:

Ruth Morgan has written a book that wears its scholarship easily and tells its story briskly with grace and skill ... an analysis that has relevance well beyond Australia.

RICHARD WHITE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Lucid and engaging, this book tells a compelling story with vital implications for the nation’s future ... This is environmental history at its best.

GRACE KARSKENS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 

This is a regional story about water, the most fundamental resource, with great national and global relevance.

GINA PLATE, AUSTRALIAN GARDEN HISTORY

This is environmental history at its best, captivating in story-telling, considered in analysis, wise in conclusions.

VLADIMIR JANKOVIC, AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES

Book details

PUBLICATION DATE: February 2015
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 320 pages
SIZE: 234 x 153 mm
ISBN: 9781742586236
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Australian Studies, General Non-fiction, Natural History, Ruth A. Morgan, Staples Fund,