Search

Science & Environment

International landscape photographer of 2014

In October, Perth-based photographer Christian Fletcher won the overall gong in the International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. His photographs show mining sites and agricultural areas, spaces that are often hidden from public view. “I wanted to show how human land use affects the natural environment, and how in certain cases humans are creating pieces of art without actually knowing it,” says Christian. Here he talks us through a portfolio of his landscapes.

History & Culture

Sydney beaches in history

The history of Sydney’s beaches is endlessly fascinating. Since Caroline Ford first began researching how attitudes towards our beaches have changed over time as part of her PhD research in 2001, she’s been hooked. Over years of pouring through old archival records for her book Sydney Beaches a history, she’s uncovered untold stories about how communities fought for the right to use beaches like Bondi and Bronte, and the battles for cleaner beaches. She’s read about people who lost their homes to the expansion of beach parks and to angry seas, and about the city’s reaction to repeated shark attacks in the interwar decades.