Introduction - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 7

Aims and approaches
In an attempt to evaluate anecdotal reports of a decline in the condition of the Great
Barrier Reef for the period before extensive scientific monitoring began - especially
prior to 1970 - my research used an array of qualitative methods and sources to
reconstruct the environmental history of the Great Barrier Reef. Specifically,
my research documents the main changes that have occurred in the coral reefs,
islands and marine wildlife of the ecosystem. Many qualitative sources, including
documentary and oral history materials, provide indications of the condition of the
Great Barrier Reef at specific locations and at various times in the past. Archival
and oral history sources, in particular, have been little used to investigate changes
in the coral reefs, islands and marine wildlife of the ecosystem. A wide range of
documentary materials was collected from Australian and UK archives, libraries,
museums and historical societies. Those sources were used to complement and
cross-reference a variety of oral history materials (both pre-existing and original):
in particular, semi-structured, qualitative interviewing was used to collect new
oral history evidence from informants who had observed human activities and
environmental changes in the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to presenting an
environmental history narrative of some of the main changes in the Great Barrier
Reef since European settlement, I also evaluated the potential for qualitative
methods to inform research into coastal and marine environmental history.
Coastal and marine environmental histories are not abundant in the scholarly
literature, and environmental histories of coral reef ecosystems are very rare.
Within the academic sub-discipline of environmental history, Australian studies
comprise only a small subset, and most of those focus on the terrestrial themes of
forests, soils and agriculture. There is a strong geographical bias in the literature
of Australian environmental history in favour of environments in south-eastern
Australia, whilst other areas have been comparatively neglected. Environmental
histories of the Great Barrier Reef are very scarce: two notable works have been
produced, by Bowen (1994) and by Bowen and Bowen (2002), but those focus
principally on the history of exploration, environmental policy and management
in relation to the Great Barrier Reef rather than on specific changes in the coral
reefs and associated habitats of the ecosystem per se . Moreover, whilst Bowen
and Bowen (2002) made extensive use of documentary materials, there is scope
for a new account based on the analysis of archival sources - including some
recently-available records of the former Queensland Department of Native
Affairs (QDNA) - and on original oral history evidence.
Conceptual, theoretical and philosophical questions about environmental
history have generated considerable debate among practitioners, and the field is
characterised by a broad diversity of methods and approaches. One particularly
inclusive approach is Cronon's (1992) narrative approach, which considers the
task of environmental history to be, above all, the production of narratives, and
which acknowledges the central role of a narrator in telling a convincing story
about environmental change. Such an approach acknowledges that perceptions