Losing Ground: An Environmental History of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment

Abstract

Once upon a time I went to a university which compelled its engineering students to do a few arts subjects to round out their otherwise myopic studies. Being a sensitive-no-attitude-guy, I really wanted to be lovable, and I had remembered the history lecturer told us not simply to quote facts, but interpret them. Five per cent of us tried to do more than simply transcribe the history books, but, for our pains, we got whacked with conceded passes. Anyway, how much history could 19-year-old students learn from a 28-year-old lecturer called Patrick O'Farrell?