Coming and Going: The influence of Population Turnover on Place Production in the Northern Territory of Australia

And here’s a short abstract of the research plan presented by another PhD student – Jamie Seaton.

[starts]

This research aims to investigate the impact of population mobility – the coming and going of people to and from the Northern Territory (NT) – on place narratives. In the NT, people come and go within a short period of time (see Figure 1 below). In comparison to the other regions of Australia, the NT’s population mobility rate is high. Between 1986 and 1991 the NT had a higher proportion of in-movers and out-movers than any other Australian state or territory (ABS 1994). The movement of these people could have many impacts on the way society functions in the NT. Such impacts might involve changes to employees in local businesses, changes to social networks and relationships, and even the loss of local knowledge. This research focuses on a different impact however, namely, the impact of population mobility on narratives written about Mindil Beach in Darwin. The research will therefore seek an answer to the following research question:

 

How does population turnover impact

upon the production of place narratives?

 

Specifically, I will be focussing on public narratives written by organisations and also by individuals that have interacted with Mindil Beach throughout history. Previous research has suggested that places are socially created and that individuals have the capacity to change the way society understands places that they use. Narratives are a cultural tool that people rely upon to communicate their ideas about Mindil Beach. An answer to the research question will be developed by collecting these narratives and comparing them to Darwin’s population changes throughout history. This comparison will also highlight the influence that a narrative creator has on Mindil Beach.