This landmark project, spanning the sciences and the humanities, draws together a team of leading climate scientists, water managers and historians to better understand south-eastern Australian climate history over past centuries. It is the first study of its kind in Australia.
About the project
The project is led by researchers from the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences. The aim is to investigate south-eastern Australia’s climate history using the following sources:
- Palaeoclimate records: tree rings, coral, ice cores and cave deposits
- Documentary records: newspaper articles, governors’ records and early settler accounts
- Early weather data: weather journals, government gazettes and pre-Federation observatories
These records will allow us reconstruct past climate conditions (rainfall, temperature and atmospheric pressure) and see how climate variability has influenced Australian society over time.
Image courtesy of The National Library of Australia.
