The Cultural History of Deserts
This unique book is the only fully interdisciplinary and comprehensive study of the Australian desert and its pivotal role in the cultural history of Australia.
Beginning with the prehistory of the continent, it engages with geology, the Aboriginal Dreaming narratives of origin, the arrival of the first Australians, Aboriginal culture of the Dreaming, anthropology, colonial history and the cult of the inland explorer-hero, and integration of the central deserts through the responses of writers, artists, and filmmakers into the national identity. Chapters explore the unique way Indigenous artists have evolved a method of expressing their spiritual relationship to Country, while hiding from uninitiated eyes the secret-sacred meaning beneath the paint. It takes us on a journey through the politics of Land Rights for First Nations peoples, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and an analysis of Indigenous ecological principles which may suggest a new and radical approach to navigating climate change in the Anthropocene.
The Australian Desert is written for scholars of fine arts, anthropology, literature, film studies, cultural history, Indigenous studies, ecology and tourism, and for anyone interested in deserts.
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Originally it was intended to include two chapters describing the unique flora and fauna of Australian deserts, and he adaptations that permitted them to survive in such challenging conditions. However, for reasons of space, these chapters were removed from the published book. They are available for download as PDFs below.
Other Publications
Haynes, Roslynn (2023). ‘The Nature/Culture Divide: Aboriginal Lessons for the Anthropocene’ in Sushila Shekhawat, Rayson K. Alexander and Swarnalatha Rangarajan, (Eds), Desertscapes in the Global South and Beyond: Anthropocene Naturecultures. New York and London, Routledge, pp. 207 –22.
Haynes, Roslynn (2021). ‘Uluru’ in Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation. Sydney: New South Press, pp. 308 – 21.
Haynes, Roslynn (2019). ‘Travel Writing and the Desert’ in N. Das and T. Youngs (eds), The Cambridge History of Travel Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 315 – 29.
Haynes, Roslynn (2010). 'Uluru', in Melissa Harper and Richard White (eds), Symbols of Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press and National Museum of Australia, pp. 176 – 83.
Haynes, R.D. (1997) 'Two Hundred Years of the Australian Desert in Literature', in Patrick D. Murphy (Ed.), Literature of Nature: An International Sourcebook. Chicago, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 259 – 63.
Haynes, R.D. (1997). 'The Desert as Focus in Australian Literature' in Ross Mellick (Ed.), Spirit and Place: The Spiritual and Contemporary Australian Art. Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art, pp. 88 – 97.