Backyards provide a window on to Australian environmental attitudes and practices

How do we think about our backyards? What do we think about nature? Cats or birds? Vegies, flowers or native shrubs? What are the ethics of lettuce? How do we manage water?

These and many more questions are answered in a new book that uses suburban backyards from Sydney, Wollongong and Alice Springs as a window on to Australian environmental attitudes and practices.

In-depth interviews with backyarders sits in counterpoint to scholarly mapping of broader historical and social trends. The book also puts that ‘dialogue’ into an accessible discussion of current theories about the environment and ideas of nature and change.

“It is often argued that urban Australians are alienated from nature but we are all enmeshed with the non-human world. It is artificial to draw a dividing line between cities and nature,”according to one of the book’s authors, Professor Lesley Head who is Head of the University of Wollongong’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

“Focusing on people in their backyards brings to light a great diversity of environmental experiences. Many of us love our backyards – they are places of relaxation and havens from the outside world,” Professor Head said.

“But our backyards can also be zones of conflict and passionate argument. They are places where we establish boundaries about which plants, animals and people are allowed to belong. We fence some things in and other things out. We kill some things and nurture others. Our neighbours may have different ideas and different boundaries,” she said.

Among its diverse sample, the book’s research identifies both commonality and differences in our environmental positioning. Trees, lawn, cats and native plants provoke a spectrum of responses between love and hate. In comparison, there is much more of a shared ethic when it comes to water and birds. These findings have important implications for how we create sustainable cities.

The beautifully illustrated book originates in the discipline of geography but has relevance for readers interested in urban studies, environmental science, ecology, planning, sociology and popular culture studies. Co author of the book is Pat Muir who is a Senior Research Assistant in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Professor Head’s previous books include Second Nature: The History and Implications of Australia as Aboriginal Landscape; and Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change. She is widely published in the fields of geography, archaeology and human-environment interactions. The research for Backyard was undertaken with a Discovery grant from the Australian Research Council.

Wollongong media please note: Lesley Head and Pat Muir can be photographed/filmed/interviewed in a backyard setting at 53 Acacia Avenue, Gwynneville at 11.30am tomorrow (Friday October 5). Alternatively, media are invited to attend the official book launch at the UniShop (Bldg 11), University of Wollongong, at 4.30pm tomorrow. The Media Unit (contact Bernie Goldie at bgoldie@uow.edu.au) can provide high-resolution photos to media unable to attend either of these photographic opportunities. For further information contact Professor Lesley Head on (02) 4221 3124 or 0434 877541(m).

Sydney media please note: Contact Professor Head at the above phone numbers if you wish to arrange for a photo/filming/interview opportunity in a backyard setting in the Sydney region.

Lesley Head and Pat Muir, Backyard: Nature and Culture in Suburban Australia, University of Wollongong Press, 2007, pp. 192, hardcover, illustrated, 268mm x 218mm, rrp $69.95. Journalists seeking review copies should contact Matthew Richardson at Halstead Press# on (02) 9211 3033 or email Matthew via halstead@halsteadpress.com.au # Note:UOW and Halstead Press are involved in a joint publishing venture

Last reviewed: 4 October, 2007