Australia Unlimited? Environmental Debate In The Age Of Catastrophe, 1910-1939.

Between the First and Second World Wars, Australia was under significant social, political and economic pressures. It has been generally argued that these problems stifled environmental debate, encouraging governments to look to large-scale development schemes for solutions. In turn, the few critics of these schemes were ruthlessly attacked as not having the national interest at heart. This article contests this interpretation of the period. It argues that there was an environmental debate, with a wide range of interests pushing for conservation, the development of National Parks and limits on these development schemes.