The northern myth revisited? Aborigines, environment and agriculture in the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, stages one and two

Western Australia's Ord River Irrigation Scheme has been controversial sinc e its establishment more than twenty-Jive years ago. A substantial expansio n of the scheme, known as Ord Stage Two, is currently underway as a joint p roject of the Western Australian and Northern Territory governments. In thi s study I examine and compare Stages One and Two in the context of the sign ificant social and economic changes that have occurred during this period f ocusing on attitudes to, and conceptualisations of, nature and the human pl ace in it. Despite a context in which consideration of both Aboriginal and environmental issues is now integrated into the development process, three colonial themes persist in the rhetoric of Stage Two. These are the empty l andscape, the invisible Aborigine, and the idealisation of agricultural lan d use. When expressed together these three help to naturalise the developme nt process as both inevitable and strategically implemented. The contradict ions inherent in this process enhance existing doubts about the social and ecological sustainability of continuing attempts to 'develop' Australia's n orth.