Article ID: CBB001451687

Putting Science in its Place: The Role of Sandringham Station in Fostering Arid Zone Science in Australia (2014)

unapi

For the past fifty years, Sandringham Station has provided a major focus for scientific work in southwestern Queensland, an arid region that includes the Simpson Desert and the Channel Country (together 'Desert Channels'). This paper explores the role of place, chance and private enterprise in supporting science in this region. Unlike other parts of inland Australia, where government initiatives were prominent, science in Queensland's arid country was privately supported, and research there had an ecological or eco-physiological rather than an economic focus. It began later than elsewhere (1960s), and its scientific questions were different from those framed in research stations set up to address agricultural and pastoral imperatives. The location of Sandringham on the ecological edge between the ephemeral wetlands of the anastomosing channels and the dune country of the Simpson Desert created an ecotonal area that was rich in animals adapted to living in Australian desert country, and a particular opportunity to observe their adaptations to the boom-and-bust ecological conditions. The role of local observers, particularly station managers and naturalists, has been critical in studying the often cryptic animals of the region, and the ongoing support of the station itself was essential to investigations that were mostly on private leasehold lands. Full text doi:10.1071/HR14014

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Authors & Contributors
Smith, Mike
Margaret H. Friedel
McDonald, Jo
Stephen R. Morton
Peterson, Maya Karin
Emmott, A. J.
Concepts
Environmental sciences
Deserts
Water
Science and politics
Water resource management
Environmental history
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
21st century
Places
Australia
Africa
South America
United States
Canada
Asia
Institutions
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) (Australia)
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