Focussing an Antarctic research programme: the Australian experience

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Davis, Bruce W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400020271; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400020271

Abstract This paper illustrates the manner in which inceased political and community interest in Antarctica is shifting the focus of Australian Antarctic research towards environmental management, creating tensions amongst bureaucrats and scientists as to programme priorities and funding allocations, and argues the existence of three distinct eras, each with particular chacteristics and orientation, but all reflecting political and scientific perspectives about Antarctic at the relevant time: (a) idosyncratic individualism in the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration 1890–1945; (b) hydra-headed science programmes within the Antarctic Treaty system 1945–1959–1990; and (c) prospective maturity management of the Antarctic environment in the post-CRAMRA era, 1990 onwards.