Man and the Murray

by Peter S. Davis

New South Wales University Press Limited, 1978 [First Edition], ISBN 0909465762, colour photographic plates, colour and black and white photographs,  two-page photographic title page,  hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows minor edge and shelf wear with a small tear to bottom spine (see photographs)

“By world standards the Murray is a puny river.  It lacks both the volume of the Amazon and the sheer power of the Congo, and cannot boast of the dependability of the Nile or the navigability of the Mississippi. Yet it is our greatest river, and in the world’s driest continent has sustained human life for tens of thousands of years and transformed thousands of hectares of dry Mallee into lush pastures and rich orchards.  It is an intimate part of our folklore.
But the river is now under threat.  We have dammed, dredged and diverted it.  We have used if for irrigating our crops and transporting our sewage.  And, increasingly, as we enter the leisure age, we are using it for pleasure.
Many Australians now realize that the river has only limited powers of self-renewal, and to preserve it we must control those who use it.  If we don’t the Murray is likely to deteriorate into a series of saline, stagnant pools.
Dr Peter Davis, author of man and the Murray, is an Australian passionately concerned for the river.  He has explored it from its source in the eastern high country to its mouth in South Australia.  He knows its history, geological and man-made, and understands its moods.
In this book, which arose out of a four-part series on A.B.C. Television, he examines the relationship of Man to the River and explains why the Murray is unique.”