Water, history and the Australian city: urbanism, suburbanism and water in a dry continent, 1788-2015

This report provides the historical context for Australian urban and suburban development in the period since European colonisation in 1788. The report is a deliverable for Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) project on ‘Understanding social processes to achieve water sensitive cities’ (Project A2.1).

While the major focus is the three key node cities of the CRCWSC (Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth) the report also provides background information on the histories of other Australian cities and locates the Australian urban experience within international contexts of the ‘settler societies’ of the so-called New World.