White, Patrick (2021) The 1949 "New Deal for the North" Conference. In: [Presented at the Australian Historical Association Conference 2021]. From: Australian Historical Association Conference 2021: Unfinished Business, 29 November - 2 December 2021, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

	PDF (Conference Presentation) - Presentation Restricted to Repository staff only
	PDF (Conference Presentation) - Presentation Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

The push to develop and populate Australia’s supposedly empty north was often motivated by two intersecting ideas. Perceptions of untapped potential have excited entrepreneurs and governments, feeding impressions of opportunity and adventure. Alternatively, the north was a problem—its emptiness drew concerns about the nation’s grip on the Tropics and stirred fears of invasion. Such views caused northern development to be conceived as a project of securing territory and plundering resources to force an untamed frontier into becoming a prosperous estate of the settler nation. By drawing on existing historical narratives and using a regional case study from 1960s north Queensland, this paper argues that the politicisation of northern lands as a national resource has contributed to historical silences and strangled future possibilities.

Item ID:	83309
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Keywords:	Northern Development, Northern Neglect, Tropical Development, Townsville politics, North Queensland politics
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2026 03:13
FoR Codes:	43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4302 Heritage, archive and museum studies > 430202 Critical heritage, museum and archive studies @ 100%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1307 Understanding past societies > 130703 Understanding Australia’s past @ 100%
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