Introduction - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 10

later). For instance, the construction of the navigation beacon on Raine Island in
1844 is included in this account, as it represents a significant (if localised) impact
on one part of the Great Barrier Reef.
In general, my research focused on the area bounded by the GBRWHA, as this
provided convenient limits to an extensive ecosystem that crosses administrative
boundaries and that is difficult to define otherwise (Figure 1.2) However, such
a definition is inevitably artificial: the GBRWHA is a recent invention. Some
environmental impacts on the Great Barrier Reef derive from outside the
GBRWHA, and many marine animals regularly cross its boundaries. Therefore,
this research belongs within a larger geographical context. In some cases,
especially where changes in marine wildlife were concerned, I used materials that
related not only to the GBRWHA but that also covered the adjacent areas of
Torres Strait (to the north) and Hervey and Moreton Bays (to the south). The
use of such materials is justified because some large marine animals, including
humpback whales, dugongs and marine turtles, range across the boundaries of the
GBRWHA, and impacts have been sustained by these animals both inside and
outside of those boundaries. Some early European reef fisheries, including the
bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fisheries, also long predated and operated across the
present boundaries of the GBRWHA.
Inevitably, the scope of my research was limited by the availability of
suitable materials. Nevertheless, many of the available archival materials,
official reports and records of various government departments, historical topics
(particularly literature categorised in the 'Queensland travel and description'
genre), historical photographs and oral histories (both pre-existing and original)
were used extensively to obtain rich descriptions of human activities and their
environmental impacts. In addition, some of the scientific reports produced as
a result of the various geological, biological and ecological expeditions to the
Great Barrier Reef - including the papers of the 1928-1929 Great Barrier Reef
Expedition to Low Isles - and the manuscripts of notable reef scientists such
as Isobel Bennett were also consulted. Interpretation of those materials relied
on the use of multiple sources wherever possible, to allow evidence to be cross-
referenced and to reveal errors and biases. In particular, original oral histories
were compared with documentary evidence, where possible, to explore the
subjectivity of informants' observations and recollections.
The scope of my research was also limited by some pragmatic considerations.
Environmental changes are difficult to define, especially in a vast, complex
ecosystem that is characterised by almost constant change on a wide range of
geographical and temporal scales. I adopted a general, working definition of
environmental change as any alteration in the physical appearance of the coral
reefs, islands or their associated habitats; that broad definition was chosen as
it would include the types of environmental changes most likely to have been
observed by oral history informants. In contrast to major physical changes, other
changes in the Great Barrier Reef - such as biological or ecological changes -
were probably imperceptible to informants; nor are such changes likely to have