On this week’s episode of GLAMcity, Tamson Pietsch and Anna Clark were joined by Ian Tyrrell, Historian and author of River Dreams, a history of the people and landscape around the Cooks River. They discuss the changing uses of Rivers in Australian society including as a water source and for transportation. They also discussed how rivers can make us feel connected to place and Aboriginal connections to the river.
The Cooks River runs 23 kilometres from Yagoona to Botany Bay in Sydney’s Southeast. The Cooks River doesn’t hold any titles for longest or widest rivers in Australia but it has played an important role to the local Indigenous community as a source of transport and food.
Historically, Europeans have had multiple, often conflicted visions for the river, from bucolic homestead to a utilitarian transport corridor. Ian Tyrrell documents the rise and fall of the river’s history in a recent book, River Dreams: The People and Landscape of the Cooks River.
This episode is available below. You can also listen to the podcast live on Mondays at 7pm on 2SER 107.3FM or download the weekly episodes via iTunes or whooshkaa.