Abstract
The transnational connections of citrus growing in the Riverland of South Australia helped to shape the development and dominance of citriculture over other kinds of horticulture in the region. Established with settler-colonial closer settlement ideologies, as the twentieth century progressed and irrigation areas expanded, citrus growers made use of increasing access to global networks to draw upon expertise from California, Israel, south-east Asia, and South Africa. Using citrus industry newsletters and reports, this paper will trace the transnational connections of the Riverland citrus world of the 1960s. Citrus growing as part of a globalised practice contributing to and dependent upon emergent expertise, helps to illuminate the role of place and of mobility in the construction of agricultural knowledge, and the fortification of settler-colonial webs that maintain claims on unceded lands.
Presented at the University of Sydney 2022 ‘Journey into History’ Conference. November 25-26 2022.
Amanda Wells 