The Dirty Life of Mining in Australia
A Travelogue
The mining industry in Australia is central to the country's image and economy. But how much do we really know about its environmental and social consequences? In this revealing and disturbing travelogue, Lindsay Fitzclarence visits seven mining sites in regional and remote areas of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, describing the industry's damaging effects on the environment, workers and local communities, and how it vandalises Aboriginal land rights. Fitzclarence also visits various places in between the mining sites, where the notion of terra nullius has provided cover for appalling state-sanctioned activities. The book poses challenging questions about mining's future, about whether the extraction of 'clean' critical minerals will cause similar damage, and about possible alternatives.
About the Author
Lindsay Fitzclarence was born in 1949 in Morwell, a town central to electricity production in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria. Like most people in Morwell at the time, his family was working-class. He qualified as a teacher and became a lecturer at Geelong Teachers' College, then taught in Faculties of Education at Deakin University, the University of South Australia and Monash University. His research focuses on power, politics and curriculum change. Fitzclarence is Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University; and he travels Australia exploring issues associated with land, water and species protection.
