Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis Most of the coastal fringe of Australia is public land and its immediate hinterland includes most of the nation's most valuable realty and infrastructure. The coast is a focus for economic and recreational activity and as such is ubiquitous in whatever sense of place is held in the hearts and minds of the majority of Australians. Our national identity includes images of both crowded and wilderness coastlines and an important component of the tourist industry is centred upon its image and facilities. The coastal environment is also one in which degradation has diminished both natural and capital assets because of thoughtless investment. A succession of national and State inquires into this unfortunate situation has culminated recently in publication of state coastal policies and in the establishment of a Federal Resources Assessment Task Force. However, it is the local government authorities (LGAs) that issue most of the development permits, sometimes in woeful ignorance of the nature of environmental stability on coasts, and of the fact that geographical variation in coastal landscape evolution dictates diversity in responses to change. Our coasts have only been developing for about 6000 years, ie since sea level stabilised after the melting of the last great continental ice sheets of the present ice age caused global flooding of continental shelves. Since then, each coastal sector has developed according to the influence of whatever particular combination of regional and local environmental and political/economic factors prevail there. An explanatory account of Australian coastal landscapes, with an emphasis on inlets (lagoons and estuaries) and beaches, brings together scientific, political, and cultural aspects of one of our most important environments.
Assessment One essay (3000 words): 50% + Two assignments (1500 words each): 50%