Water is essential for human survival.

Archaeologist Chris Carter will describe some of the ways people have managed water for power and pleasure. Travel from the driest deserts in the world – the Atacama Desert of Chile and the Arabian Peninsula – to the lush, terraced hillsides that produce prodigious quantities of grain in the Philippines, from the slopes of Andean Peru to Australia’s long history of water management. Uncover how humans gained access to and control of water, and how that has impacted on lifeways with both positive and negative results.

This talk is a joint annual event between the Australian Capital Territory Monaro Riverina Branch of the Australian Garden History Society with the Friends of the National Library of Australia.

This talk is followed by light refreshments in the foyer.