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The Coast of Australia, co-authored by UOW’s Colin Woodroff... |
New book is first look at entire Australian coast
Thirty-six thousand kilometres of Australia’s dramatic coast and more than ten thousand iconic beaches have been documented for the first time in a new book – The Coast of Australia – which is co-authored by UOW’s Colin Woodroffe.
The glossy, colour-illustrated hardback looks at the effects of climate, tides and waves and describes the beaches, cliffs, dunes and reefs around Australia. A final chapter looks at the human impacts on the coast – from indigenous history though European settlement and modern day tourism, climate change and industry.
The book will interest a broad audience, from academics through to people with interests in tourism, fishing, history or climate change – or even those who want to know more about the coastline where they live.
The Coast of Australia is an important contribution to Australia’s geographical and historical documentation, with Professor Woodroffe saying it explores “the most spectacular coast in the world.”
“Australia's beaches are truly iconic - our reefs are the most extensive, the most pristine and the best managed, he said. “Our cliffs include some of the longest, like the Nullarbor, and we have some of the largest dune systems - Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.”
Aside from these obvious physical bounties, Professor Woodroffe said the Australian coast is also unique because it is still pristine, and our impact on the coast has generally been much less than in other countries.
Despite beaches like Bondi being famous tourist attractions, Professor Woodroffe said that the average beach in Australia is inaccessible and has no name.
“[Although] there are coasts that are eroding naturally, there are relatively few where uncontrolled or poorly planned urbanisation has led to erosional problems,” he said.
“On the other hand climate change poses a series of threats to our predominantly coastal communities.”
Professor Woodroofe and his co-writer Professor Andrew Short from the University of Sydney are two of the country’s leading coastal experts and drew on their individual strengths to tackle the massive task of documenting the whole Australian coast.
“My co-author Andy Short has visited every beach in Australia - more than 10 000 of them - so he really brings an Australia-wide knowledge to the book, Professor Woodroffe said.
“I have added the details for a series of places and landforms with which he is less familiar - the tropical estuaries, the coral reefs, and the offshore islands.”
The book is published through Cambridge University Press and was launched last week at the UOW UniShop.