A reflective inventory of the riverscapes, river islands and floodplains of northern
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The region surveyed in this project runs from the Hastings River, near Port Macquarie in the south, to the Tweed River, in the north. The main distinguishing aspect of these rivers is that they rise on the eastern slopes of Australia’s Great Dividing Range and run down to the Pacific Ocean with pronounced meanders in their final stretches. These rivers contain around 200 islands, of various types, that have been largely overlooked in previous regional studies. The islands and broader riverscapes of the region sustained Indigenous communities for thousands of years prior to European colonisation and have seen profound changes during the last 200 years.
The project will initially be developed as a website that presents an inventory and maps of the region’s riverscapes and islands together with reflective analyses of them. The project is interdisciplinary, drawing on cartography, geography, hydrology, eco-systems research, Indigenous studies, social history, island studies, anthropology and cultural studies. Collaborators, interlocutors and supporters are welcome and will be sought from various sectors. All materials produced during the project will be available open access online via this site and a print volume will be assembled from its components upon completion of the research. The Flowzones project is co-ordinated by Dr Philip Hayward and Dr Christian Fleury. Phil resides in Maclean, on the banks of the Clarence River and - illustrating the truly global nature of contemporary research - is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Christian resides in Villedieu les Poeles, in Normandie (France) , where he is an associate researcher at the ESO - a social geography research centre at the University of Caen. They have collaborated on various research projects over the last 15 years, including the following: Rainbows amidst the rivers: Nested microregionality in north-eastern New South Wales, Swamphen (forthcoming 2025) Riverine complexity: Islandness, socio-spatial perceptions and modification: a case study of the lower Richmond River (Eastern Australia). Island Studies Journal v16 n2 pp156-177 (2021) https://islandstudiesjournal.org/article/84719 Absolute Waterfrontage: Road networked artificial islands and finger Island canal estates on Australia's Gold Coast, Urban Island Studies n2 (2016) pp25-49 http://www.urbanislandstudies.org/UIS%202%20-%20Hayward%20-%20Fleury%20-%20Gold%20Coast.pdf |
Top: Prawn boats moored on the north coast of Woodford Island, Clarence River, January 28 2025;
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