Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 49 - Issue 3 - November 2009 - Bearing the risk: Learning to be drier mid-river

Oct 15, 2026

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Investigates how adults in the water-dependent community of Australia’s southern Murray-Darling Basin learned to understand and bear risks associated with prolonged drying, using audio-recorded interviews at a mid-river site in New South Wales. The study draws on transcripts from focus groups and stakeholders across the Shire of Hay, also referencing visits to Deniliquin and Booligal. It highlights informal and formal learning about reduced water availability, framing a drought extending into 2009 as an “irrigation drought” with complex obstacles to changing thinking and action.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Method

Structure of the paper

Acknowledgment of the difficulties

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Bearing the risk: Learning to be drier mid-river 473 Volume 49, Number 3, November 2009 Bearing the risk: Learning to be drier mid-river Barry Golding School of Education, University of Ballarat Jennifer Angwin School of Education, Deakin University This paper investigates learning related to the phenomena of drying over the past decade in the southern Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, as perceived in a mid-river site within the western Riverina of New South Wales, Australia. The insights from audio-recorded interviews, with a wide range of adults across the water-dependent community, mostly relate to the catchment of the Murrumbidgee River in the Shire of Hay. Our overarching theme isabout how people are learning about, understanding and bearing the risks, of what is widely regarded as a prolonged drought. For some, the learning is about how to cope with less water in the Basin, and particularly from the river, as predicted in the climate change literature. Our narrative-based, empirical research registers the felt experience of those located, in situ, as a severe ‘irrigation drought’extends into 2009. The paper dramatises the many obstacles to learning how to think and act differently, in difficult and rapidly changing ecosocial circumstances. Introduction Method The study reported here is based on 167 pages of transcripts from fourteen audio-recorded, on-site, focus group interviews with of 32 water-related, adult stakeholders conducted in the Shire of Hay over two days in June 2009. These stakeholders included farmers, irrigators, water brokers and distributors, contractors and agricultural advisers, as well as representatives of town businesses, tourism organisations, local government, community-based organisations and education and training sectors. Most interviews were conducted in small groups, though some were conducted individually. One third of the interviewees were women. The interviews focused on what adults from diverse sections of this water-dependent community knew about the availability of water, and how and what they had learned about living and working with considerably less water in the past decade. Learning was taken in its broadest sense, from learning informally about water by doing, by trial and error and experience, through learning via the media, internet, work, family and business, to learning through formal education and training. Most of the informants in this site were interviewed in Hay on the Murrumbidgee River, though interviews were also conducted in Deniliquin (on the Edwards River to the south), and Booligal (on the Lachlan River to the north). The interview visit was preceded by a two-day site reconnaissance visit in March 2009 and a one-day follow-up visit in September 2009. This site was selected to represent‘mid-river’New South Wales perspectives, in contrast to Alpine and dryland site perspectives in Victoria and lower river perspectivesin South Australia. Further details regarding the method, its presuppositions about learning, and the associated suite of research projects are contained in the introductory paper Learning to be drier (Golding & Campbell 2009). In summary, four two-person project teams used similar methods to investigate aspects of learning in this and three other sites in the southern Murray Darling Basin. As in our 474 Barry Golding and Jennifer Angwin Bearing the risk: Learning to be drier mid-river 475 other sites we deliberately and consistently used the terms ‘drier’,‘dryness’ and ‘drying’ in our communication with informants, rather than presuppose causality. There is no debate that the southern Basin had dried out, particularly in the past decade, post 1998. There had been record low rainfall on site and record low inflows into the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan catchments, resulting in an unprecedented irrigation drought and extremely low or zero water allocations to farmers and irrigators in both cat

FAQs

What does the paper study about adult learning in the southern Murray-Darling Basin?

It studies learning related to drying over the past decade, focusing on how people in a mid-river community understand and bear risks linked to prolonged drought and reduced irrigation water.

How was the research conducted and who participated?

The study used 167 pages of transcripts from fourteen audio-recorded on-site focus group interviews with 32 water-related adult stakeholders in the Shire of Hay, with additional interviews in Deniliquin and Booligal.

How does the paper define drought and explain debate about causality?

It notes agreement that the basin dried out, but describes debate over causality: “drought” as a natural aberration versus terms like “global warming” and “climate change” that imply human impact.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa