Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town

Small resource-dependent towns are particularly vulnerable to economic decline as they often have limited internal capacity to develop alternative economic functions. This paper presents the story of the development, decline and adaptation of a small resource-dependent town. Recognising that the pro...

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Main Authors: Davies, Amanda, Oliver, Bobbie
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/53824
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author Davies, Amanda
Oliver, Bobbie
author_facet Davies, Amanda
Oliver, Bobbie
author_sort Davies, Amanda
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Small resource-dependent towns are particularly vulnerable to economic decline as they often have limited internal capacity to develop alternative economic functions. This paper presents the story of the development, decline and adaptation of a small resource-dependent town. Recognising that the processes informing the development trajectories of resource communities are diverse, temporally embedded and multi-scalar, this paper argues that the everyday activities of the residents inform the life of resource towns, and, moreover, lives within these places. The paper presents the story of Wundowie—Western Australia’s first iron ore town. This is interwoven with the story of the Kowalski family—a migrant family whose history, typical of many of the town’s original residents, made the town.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-538242018-01-15T00:37:23Z Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town Davies, Amanda Oliver, Bobbie Small resource-dependent towns are particularly vulnerable to economic decline as they often have limited internal capacity to develop alternative economic functions. This paper presents the story of the development, decline and adaptation of a small resource-dependent town. Recognising that the processes informing the development trajectories of resource communities are diverse, temporally embedded and multi-scalar, this paper argues that the everyday activities of the residents inform the life of resource towns, and, moreover, lives within these places. The paper presents the story of Wundowie—Western Australia’s first iron ore town. This is interwoven with the story of the Kowalski family—a migrant family whose history, typical of many of the town’s original residents, made the town. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/53824 10.1080/00049182.2017.1318801 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Davies, Amanda
Oliver, Bobbie
Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title_full Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title_fullStr Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title_full_unstemmed Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title_short Life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of Western Australia’s first iron ore town
title_sort life within and life of a mining town: the historical geography of western australia’s first iron ore town
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/53824