Offering new historical understandings of human responses to climate and climate change, this cutting-edge volume explores the dynamic relationship between settlement, climate, and colonization, covering everything from the physical impact of climate on agriculture and land development to the development of "folk" and government meteorologies.

Introduction Climate, Science, and Colonization: Histories from Australia and New Zealand James Beattie, Emily O'Gorman, and Matthew Henry Part I Frames, Events, and Responses Chapter 1 Australasia: An Overview of Modern Climate and Paleoclimate during the Last Glacial Maximum 19 Andrew M. Lorrey and Helen C. Bostock Chapter 2 'The usual weather in New South Wales is uncommonly bright and clear . . . equal to the finest summer day in England': Flood and Drought in New South Wales, 1788–1815 43 Claire Fenby, Don Garden, and Joëlle Gergis Chapter 3 Extreme Weather and ENSO: Their Social and Cultural Ramifications in New Zealand and Australia in the 1890s 61 Don Garden Chapter 4 Pioneer Settlers Recognizing and Responding to the Climatic Challenges of Southern New Zealand 81 Peter Holland and Jim Williams Part II Debating Human Effects Chapter 5 'For the sake of a little grass': A Comparative History of Settler Science and Environmental Limits in South Australia and the Great Plains 99 Kirsty Douglas Chapter 6 Debating the Climatological Role of Forests in Australia, 1827–1949: A Survey of the Popular Press 119 Stephen Legg Chapter 7 Science, Religion and Drought: Rainmaking Experiments and Prayers in North Otago, 1889–1911 137 James Beattie Part III Climate Understandings Chapter 8 Farming on the Fringe: Agriculture and Climate Variability in the Western Australian Wheat Belt, 1890s to 1980s 159 Ruth A. Morgan Chapter 9 'Soothsaying' or 'Science?': H. C. Russell, Meteorology, and Environmental Knowledge of Rivers in Colonial Australia 177 Emily O'Gorman Chapter 10 Imported Understandings: Calendars, Weather, and Climate in Tropical Australia, 1870s–1940s 195 Chris O'Brien Chapter 11 Destabilizing Narratives of the 'Triumph of the White Man over the Tropics': Scientific Knowledge and the Management of Race in Queensland 1900–1940 213 Meg Parsons Chapter 12 Australasian Airspace: Meteorology, and the Practical Geopolitics of Australasian Airspace,1935–1940 233 Matthew Henry Epilogue: Future Research Directions 251