Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis uses a transdisciplinary, sustainability-science approach to investigate the dialectics and potential for the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia, to make a transition to sustainability. The Hunter Valley, one of Australia’s historic food, wine and grain breadbaskets, is now home to over 50 opencut and underground black coal mines and is one of the world’s major coalmining and exporting regions. It is Australia’s largest black coal electricity generating region where six coal-fired power stations generate 40% of Australia’s electricity supply. The carbon intensity of the Hunter Valley’s economy makes the region Australia’s largest direct and indirect contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions. The region is a climate change hot spot that embodies the challenges and opportunities confronting Australia if it is to move towards a clean, renewable energy future and ecologically and socially-sustainable economy. The study examines the Hunter Valley as a complex adaptive socio-ecological system nested in an extended panarchy (Gunderson and Holling, 2002) that includes global energy systems and the ecosphere. The research examines the linked ecological and social health impacts of different scenarios for the Hunter Valley, comparing its current status – given the name Carbon Valley (Ray, 2005a) – with an alternative socio-ecological regime described by local residents as a Future Beyond Coal (CAN, 2006). This Future Beyond Coal is a regional manifestation of what Heinberg (2004) calls, at a global scale, a Post-carbon Society. Transdisciplinary sustainability-science is used to examine complex processes in which Hunter Valley residents are dealing with linked ecosystem-human health distress, while developing capacity for anticipating and forging change towards sustainability. They are also boosting the resilience of desirable states while challenging the perverse resilience of coal dependency. The thesis examines the potential for a ‘Just Transition’ to sustainability, a social and economic restructuring process which aspires to move the region’s socio-ecological relationships rapidly towards sustainability through protecting the wellbeing of vulnerable workers, communities and ecosystems. It investigates hegemonic relationships within coal communities, and the role popular education and social learning are playing in building a social movement for sustainability, a movement that links local, regional and global attractors and disturbances in order to change the basin of attraction from the current non-sustainable coal-dependent society to one that is ecologically sustainable and socially just.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosopy (PhD) / An environmental history approach is used in this thesis as a foundation for the analysis of the social and environmental changes that have occurred from the ancient past to the present within the Paterson Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The study examines the biophysical basis of the valley’s ecological processes and then describes the influence of the activities of Aboriginal peoples and subsequent European colonisation on the landscape. The study makes use of the various methodologies within social and ecological systems to assist with the analysis. It demonstrates the value of concepts such as complex adaptive systems, the adaptive cycle, panarchy and ecosystem health as ways of conceptualising complex transdisciplinary issues to reach conclusions based on temporal and spatial evidence. The complex relationships that the Aboriginal peoples had with the environment are compared with the various and rapid phases of colonial influences and processes. The social dimension of the changes over time is examined particularly with respect to the Indigenous and European institutions and infrastructure that influence the landscape. A significant issue identified in the study was the changing influence of Western institutions on the ecosystem health of the Valley; from local to global. The implications of this on ecosystem health are discussed. The Valley’s landscapes are divided into alluvial and non-alluvial, with the latter receiving the most attention in the study primarily due to its more extant nature whereas the alluvial rainforest has been virtually eliminated through extensive land clearing. The analysis of the non-alluvial landscape shows how important the Indigenous land management practices were in the maintenance of a complex mosaic of vegetation types specifically influenced by fire. The impact of the removal of the Indigenous influences on the landscape and the imposition of European practices and processes have seen a major reduction in the Valley’s ecological complexity. The study identified processes and factors external to the Valley which are increasingly influencing it. Not all of these are detrimental but they result in the Valley’s ecosystem health being more dependent on global events and processes. The study demonstrates the value of the ecosystem health framework for conceptualising the Valley’s ecosystems and the adaptive cycle for analysing and understanding their changes over time. These approaches provide an opportunity to identify pathways for future management of the Valley’s resources.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosopy (PhD) / An environmental history approach is used in this thesis as a foundation for the analysis of the social and environmental changes that have occurred from the ancient past to the present within the Paterson Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The study examines the biophysical basis of the valley’s ecological processes and then describes the influence of the activities of Aboriginal peoples and subsequent European colonisation on the landscape. The study makes use of the various methodologies within social and ecological systems to assist with the analysis. It demonstrates the value of concepts such as complex adaptive systems, the adaptive cycle, panarchy and ecosystem health as ways of conceptualising complex transdisciplinary issues to reach conclusions based on temporal and spatial evidence. The complex relationships that the Aboriginal peoples had with the environment are compared with the various and rapid phases of colonial influences and processes. The social dimension of the changes over time is examined particularly with respect to the Indigenous and European institutions and infrastructure that influence the landscape. A significant issue identified in the study was the changing influence of Western institutions on the ecosystem health of the Valley; from local to global. The implications of this on ecosystem health are discussed. The Valley’s landscapes are divided into alluvial and non-alluvial, with the latter receiving the most attention in the study primarily due to its more extant nature whereas the alluvial rainforest has been virtually eliminated through extensive land clearing. The analysis of the non-alluvial landscape shows how important the Indigenous land management practices were in the maintenance of a complex mosaic of vegetation types specifically influenced by fire. The impact of the removal of the Indigenous influences on the landscape and the imposition of European practices and processes have seen a major reduction in the Valley’s ecological complexity. The study identified processes and factors external to the Valley which are increasingly influencing it. Not all of these are detrimental but they result in the Valley’s ecosystem health being more dependent on global events and processes. The study demonstrates the value of the ecosystem health framework for conceptualising the Valley’s ecosystems and the adaptive cycle for analysing and understanding their changes over time. These approaches provide an opportunity to identify pathways for future management of the Valley’s resources.