Contested Country: A History of the Northcliffe Area, Western Australia

280 pages. Whose country is Australia? And who decides how the land should be managed? I n exploring such fundamental questions, involving divergent views on Aboriginal land rights, environmental issues and, in particular, the future of Australian f orests, Patricia and Ian Crawford argue that differing attitudes to the land und erlie many of the current divisions between Aboriginal and European, city and co untry. This book focuses on the area surrounding Northcliffe, a small Western Au stralian country town deep in the cool, rainy karri country and coastal plains o f the lower South West. But Northcliffe is presented as a microcosm of Australia n society, so this is essentially an Australian story, one in which the authors seek to understand the land, the conflicting views over its use, and the way peo ple have sought to shape it to their own purposes, whether hunting and gathering , droving, dairy farming, forestry or conservation. This book has grown out of t he author's close personal involvement with the region and its people, and their concern for the preservation of one of the most botanically diverse areas in Au stralia.