Filling the void: imagining post-mining landscapes in the Hunter Valley

Hunter valley landscape

Please join us for this upcoming research seminar at the Ourimbah Campus.

About the topic

Australia is one of the largest coal exporters in the world, and the rural Hunter Valley in New South Wales is the source of much of this coal. The Upper Hunter Valley is today characterised by a moon-like landscape dotted with empty craters and barren hills. Most of this landscape is planned to be regenerated through progressive backfilling of pits, however, plans for rehabilitation and restoration are poor, and there is no cohesive framework to guide the process of mine closure. However, as the world is responding to the urgent need to address carbon emissions, the pace of transition in the Hunter is changing. The industry is facing a terminal decline, which will see 130,000 hectares of mine-owned land become available for re-use over the next two decades. Part of this includes 25 so-called ‘final voids’, which will leave toxic holes that will present permanent multiple threats to both the environment and local residents. This paper takes these final voids as its empirical starting point and questions how we can reimagine post-mining landscapes in the Hunter. It speaks to themes of displacement and replacement, just transition and liveable futures, and environmental entanglement. The paper draws on an ongoing research project on social and affective dimensions of final voids. It reports on the early stages of community collaboration and efforts to reimagine broken landscapes, and discusses how the arts may be used as a tool for visualisation, collaboration and engagement.

About the presenter

Dr Hedda Haugen Askland is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, working at The University of Newcastle in Australia. She has been conducting work with mining affected communities in New South Wales since 2015, exploring themes of power and place, displacement and dispossession, home and hope. She is the chief investigator of an ongoing four-year research project funded by the Australian Research Council that interrogates the social and affective dimensions of mining voids and the role that reimagining post-mining landscapes can play in the process of a just transition.

Please join on us Wednesday 10 May 2023 from 12:30pm via zoom or in HO1.73, Humanities Building, Ourimbah Campus and hear about the latest research with presentations from UON staff and HDR students.

Sessions will be held once a month in 2023. There are spaces left to present in July, September, October and November.

If you would like to present your research please email Julia.coffey@newcastle.edu.au.

Event Information

• Date:  Wednesday 10 May 2023 from 12:30pm
• Location: Ourimbah