1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910819546203321

Autore

Holland Peter <1939->

Titolo

Home in the howling wilderness : settlers and the environment in Southern New Zealand / / Peter Holland

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Auckland, New Zealand : , : Auckland University Press, , 2013

ISBN

1-86940-781-4

1-77558-497-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (263 p.)

Disciplina

630.9937

Soggetti

Agriculture - New Zealand - South Island - History - 19th century

Colonists - New Zealand - South Island

Human ecology - New Zealand - South Island

Nature - Effect of human beings on - New Zealand - South Island

South Island (N.Z.) Environmental conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (page 236-243) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements; INTRODUCTION: The New Land: Imagined from Afar, Experienced at First Hand; ONE: Maori Environmental Knowledge: An Imperfectly Realised Resource; TWO: Settlers Learning about Wind, Warmth and Rain; THREE: Exceptional Challenges: Flood and Drought, Ice and Snow; FOUR: Away with the Old: What Place for Native Plants and Animals?; FIVE: In with the New: Introduced Plants and Grazing Animals; SIX: Emerging Environmental Problems: Erosion and Declining Soil Fertility, Pest Animals and Weedy Plants

SEVEN: Opportunities to See, Hear and Compare: Meetings, Sales, Competitions and ExhibitionsEIGHT: Rural People Continuing to Learn about their Environments; APPENDIX: Words about Home: Diaries and Letters, Commercial Transactions, Newspapers and Magazines; Notes; Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y

Sommario/riassunto

During the nineteenth century European settlers transformed the environment of New Zealand's South Island. They diverted streams and drained marshes, burned native vegetation and planted hedges and



grasses, stocked farms with sheep and cattle and poured on fertiliser. In Home in the Howling Wilderness Peter Holland undertakes a deep history of that settlement to answer key questions about New Zealand's ecological transformation. Did the settlers pursue farming regardless of the ecological consequences? Did they impose European plants, animals and farming methods on a very different enviro