Beyond the Agricultrual Paradigm in Regional and Rural Australia

Building Capacity to Create a Preferred Future

Authors

  • Janelle Allison Univeristy of Queensland
  • Jock Douglas Wyoming, via Roma

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v14i2.501

Keywords:

drivers for change, rural landscapes, community capacity, environmental learnings

Abstract

Regional and'rural Australia is undergoing significant change. Among the drivers for change are: (I) an emerging discourse on nature that challenges the agricultural centric view which has dominated regional and rural Australia; (2) transforming agricultural landscapes, which are increasingly multifunctional and complex; and (3) a search for a contemporary bush identity which is relevant and inclusive and which accommodates the diversity of views about rural Australia. The paper describes two illustrative initiatives: the Australian Landcare Management System (ALMS); and the Roma Bush Gardens Project (RBG). These initiatives have been developed to assist individuals and communities to learn - to develop awareness and understanding of the dimensions of change now effecting significant inapact on rural landscapes. These initiatives provide examples of the basis to chart a new course, and to create and build individual and broader community capacity to enable regional communities to  engage strategically with change and to consider an 'unknown' or new future through the promotion of environmental and educational learnings.

Author Biographies

Janelle Allison, Univeristy of Queensland

Janelle AIlison is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Rural and Regional Innovation at the Gatton campus of The University of Queensland. She is a regional planner with a strong interest in community economics and learning communities.

Jock Douglas, Wyoming, via Roma

Jock Douglas is a horticulturalist and pastoralist from Roma, QueenSland, with a recent diversification into growing desert limes. He was closely involved in developing the Australian National Landcare Program, particularly in Queensland. In 1997, he was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for "service to primary industry and to conservation".

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Published

01-07-2004

How to Cite

Allison, J., & Douglas, J. (2004). Beyond the Agricultrual Paradigm in Regional and Rural Australia: Building Capacity to Create a Preferred Future. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 14(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v14i2.501