Cavanagh, Vanessa I. Ms

<p><u>Nature and the search for meaning</u></p><p>The announcement that ‘Salt Blood’ had won the 2017 Calibre Prize generated significant media and public interest, including the interview on the prestigious national ABC <em>Conversations</em> podcast. This engagement demonstrates how writing which presents research in non-academic forms can reach far beyond conventional academic contexts. Earlier work on hunting (2014) in Australia’s foremost literary journal, <em>Meanjin</em>, was republished in <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/16/caught-in-the-net-of-life-and-time-what-modern-hunting-means-to-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a></em><em>,</em> and generated significant national and international debate. My 2017 invited essay on wild horses was one of the first pieces released as a podcast by <em>The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/essays-on-air-the-cultural-meanings-of-wild-horses-90176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Essays on Air</a></em>. In 2019 <em><a href="https://griffithreview.com/editions/writing-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Griffith Review</a></em> feature my essay ‘Outlier’ in transmedia format in the February edition ‘Writing the Country’, which includes some of Australia’s most prominent writers engaging with the challenges of living on a colonised country.</p><p>‘Salt Blood’ was the most-read piece of 2017 in <em>Australian Book Review</em>. Many people responded to the essay and the ABC interview, with comments from international writers, freedivers, academics and the public.  Writers included prominent and multi-award winning American author Barry Lopez, who said: ‘the essay…is a superb piece of work…I was once a serious diver and want to say that you evoked so well the sensations one comes to know at depth’. Legendary freediver and author Carlos Eyles wrote: ‘I really love how you incorporated the loss of your father into the non-linear reality of the freedive experience. Exceedingly well crafted. I have not seen anything like this, and it lends great power to the piece’. Australian publisher Aviva Tuffield emailed ‘I’ve just read your piece in <em>Best Australian Essays</em> and admired it immensely - I really loved it; it’s so moving.’</p><p>A wide range of people engaged with the exploration of the difficult and sensitive issues of suicide and loss: ‘I think it is beautiful and rich, I like how it manages to balance between facts and personal and takes me on a journey both geographical and physical. And brave.’; ‘You have a gift for articulating experiences that are so very universal but not often shared’; ‘A beautiful and powerful read. The silences, empty spaces and unanswered questions surrounding suicide hit close to home for me’.</p><p>Other readers wrote: ‘It’s just wonderful, a total gem. I feel that wonderful lightness and relief you get from being momentarily transported elsewhere - thank you for sharing this fantastic (and honest) piece of writing’; ‘On grace and loss, and the oceans around and within us. I was stopped completely by this essay’; ‘Truly magnificent, a wonderful evocation of diving and oceans’.</p><p>Radio listeners commenting on ABC social media posted: ‘This was great radio. Michael has had such a complex interesting life…I recommended this interview to a lot of my friends’; ‘Another fantastic interview between two excellent communicators... this interview exemplifies the type of media that the ABC should never delete’; ‘This was unexpectedly wonderful, such compelling listening. Another fascinating guest and topic I (previously) knew absolutely nothing about. Awesome work’.</p><p>The strong responses to ‘Salt Blood’ and the formal recognition afforded by the Calibre Prize led to many invitations, including keynote presentations and public readings, as well as invitations to write, publish and record. This now includes essays, fiction and other writing in multiple editions of <em>Australian Book Review; Mascara Literary Review </em>and <em>Griffith Review</em>.</p><p>These outputs also appear on high profile media websites (including <em>The Guardian, ABC, The Conversation</em>); and increasingly in video, blog and podcast form (20 blogposts hosted on sites including the ACCESS website; videos and podcasts on <em>Sydney Ideas</em>, <em>TEDx, ACCESS</em>, <em>UOW, ABC, The Conversation, Trouble Magazine</em> and others). Developing my research findings into broadcast, podcast, blog and video form has opened broader and more equitable engagement across Australian society. My writing has been supported by national and international residencies, including <a href="https://bundanon.com.au/residencies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bundanon Artist in Residence</a> (2016, 2018) and <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/arts#exchanges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AsiaLink Arts</a> in India and Sri Lanka (2017).  </p><p><u>Environment policy and Indigenous rights</u></p><p>My contracted and participatory doctoral research with Cape York Land Council (1998-2001) led directly to the declaration of Queensland's second jointly-managed protected area, the 160,000 hectare <a href="https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/kulla-mcilwraith-range/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KULLA (McIlwraith Range) National Park</a>. That research was described as ‘compulsory reading for senior conservation managers across Australia’ by Dr Peter Bridgewater, then Chief Scientist at UNESCO in Paris (2001). With a law colleague, I was invited by IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organisation, to contribute to the international policy handbook <em><a href="https://www.iucn.org/content/guidelines-protected-areas-legislation-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidelines for Protected Area Legislation</a></em> (2011), including a case study of Aboriginal co-management at Booderee National Park. My invited chapter on Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa World Heritage Area, in <em><a href="https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/topics/environmental-governance/news/2014/11/world-heritage-sites-and-indigenous-peoples-rights-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Heritage Sites and Indigenous Peoples Rights</a></em> (2014) was jointly written with a working group of A<u>n</u>angu Traditional Owners. This was part of a global campaign to change World Heritage policy, and was presented and launched at the 2014 World Parks Congress by the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues. In 2018, I was invited by the Environmental Defenders Office to provide pro bono advice on the Ranger Uranium Mine Closure Plan in Kakadu World Heritage Area. My submission along with others established the need for extensive recommendations for change to proposed rehabilitation requirements. My research has had continuous funding from university, agency, national and international sources since 2000.</p><p>This work has ongoing impact through teaching and doctoral supervision, including a First Class Honours project on the Cape York World Heritage proposals by Dr N Skilton, now working in Native Title research (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2014.899026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Skilton, Adams and Gibbs 2014</a>); and a completed doctorate on Indigenous relationships with private conservation areas by Dr H Moorcroft, consultant on Indigenous conservation (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2014.953733" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moorcroft and Adams 2014</a>). Current doctoral research projects include the cultural, policy and management implications of Aboriginal women’s use of fire, collaborative with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the interaction of emotion and conservation activism at Ningaloo World Heritage Area. While my creative writing hopes to engage hearts and minds in discussing critical global and national issues, this policy work continues to help make practical changes in people’s daily lives.</p>

<p><u>Nature and the search for meaning</u></p><p>The announcement that ‘Salt Blood’ had won the 2017 Calibre Prize generated significant media and public interest, including the interview on the prestigious national ABC <em>Conversations</em> podcast. This engagement demonstrates how writing which presents research in non-academic forms can reach far beyond conventional academic contexts. Earlier work on hunting (2014) in Australia’s foremost literary journal, <em>Meanjin</em>, was republished in <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/16/caught-in-the-net-of-life-and-time-what-modern-hunting-means-to-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a></em><em>,</em> and generated significant national and international debate. My 2017 invited essay on wild horses was one of the first pieces released as a podcast by <em>The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/essays-on-air-the-cultural-meanings-of-wild-horses-90176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Essays on Air</a></em>. In 2019 <em><a href="https://griffithreview.com/editions/writing-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Griffith Review</a></em> feature my essay ‘Outlier’ in transmedia format in the February edition ‘Writing the Country’, which includes some of Australia’s most prominent writers engaging with the challenges of living on a colonised country.</p><p>‘Salt Blood’ was the most-read piece of 2017 in <em>Australian Book Review</em>. Many people responded to the essay and the ABC interview, with comments from international writers, freedivers, academics and the public.  Writers included prominent and multi-award winning American author Barry Lopez, who said: ‘the essay…is a superb piece of work…I was once a serious diver and want to say that you evoked so well the sensations one comes to know at depth’. Legendary freediver and author Carlos Eyles wrote: ‘I really love how you incorporated the loss of your father into the non-linear reality of the freedive experience. Exceedingly well crafted. I have not seen anything like this, and it lends great power to the piece’. Australian publisher Aviva Tuffield emailed ‘I’ve just read your piece in <em>Best Australian Essays</em> and admired it immensely - I really loved it; it’s so moving.’</p><p>A wide range of people engaged with the exploration of the difficult and sensitive issues of suicide and loss: ‘I think it is beautiful and rich, I like how it manages to balance between facts and personal and takes me on a journey both geographical and physical. And brave.’; ‘You have a gift for articulating experiences that are so very universal but not often shared’; ‘A beautiful and powerful read. The silences, empty spaces and unanswered questions surrounding suicide hit close to home for me’.</p><p>Other readers wrote: ‘It’s just wonderful, a total gem. I feel that wonderful lightness and relief you get from being momentarily transported elsewhere - thank you for sharing this fantastic (and honest) piece of writing’; ‘On grace and loss, and the oceans around and within us. I was stopped completely by this essay’; ‘Truly magnificent, a wonderful evocation of diving and oceans’.</p><p>Radio listeners commenting on ABC social media posted: ‘This was great radio. Michael has had such a complex interesting life…I recommended this interview to a lot of my friends’; ‘Another fantastic interview between two excellent communicators... this interview exemplifies the type of media that the ABC should never delete’; ‘This was unexpectedly wonderful, such compelling listening. Another fascinating guest and topic I (previously) knew absolutely nothing about. Awesome work’.</p><p>The strong responses to ‘Salt Blood’ and the formal recognition afforded by the Calibre Prize led to many invitations, including keynote presentations and public readings, as well as invitations to write, publish and record. This now includes essays, fiction and other writing in multiple editions of <em>Australian Book Review; Mascara Literary Review </em>and <em>Griffith Review</em>.</p><p>These outputs also appear on high profile media websites (including <em>The Guardian, ABC, The Conversation</em>); and increasingly in video, blog and podcast form (20 blogposts hosted on sites including the ACCESS website; videos and podcasts on <em>Sydney Ideas</em>, <em>TEDx, ACCESS</em>, <em>UOW, ABC, The Conversation, Trouble Magazine</em> and others). Developing my research findings into broadcast, podcast, blog and video form has opened broader and more equitable engagement across Australian society. My writing has been supported by national and international residencies, including <a href="https://bundanon.com.au/residencies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bundanon Artist in Residence</a> (2016, 2018) and <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/arts#exchanges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AsiaLink Arts</a> in India and Sri Lanka (2017).  </p><p><u>Environment policy and Indigenous rights</u></p><p>My contracted and participatory doctoral research with Cape York Land Council (1998-2001) led directly to the declaration of Queensland's second jointly-managed protected area, the 160,000 hectare <a href="https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/kulla-mcilwraith-range/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KULLA (McIlwraith Range) National Park</a>. That research was described as ‘compulsory reading for senior conservation managers across Australia’ by Dr Peter Bridgewater, then Chief Scientist at UNESCO in Paris (2001). With a law colleague, I was invited by IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organisation, to contribute to the international policy handbook <em><a href="https://www.iucn.org/content/guidelines-protected-areas-legislation-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidelines for Protected Area Legislation</a></em> (2011), including a case study of Aboriginal co-management at Booderee National Park. My invited chapter on Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa World Heritage Area, in <em><a href="https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/topics/environmental-governance/news/2014/11/world-heritage-sites-and-indigenous-peoples-rights-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Heritage Sites and Indigenous Peoples Rights</a></em> (2014) was jointly written with a working group of A<u>n</u>angu Traditional Owners. This was part of a global campaign to change World Heritage policy, and was presented and launched at the 2014 World Parks Congress by the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues. In 2018, I was invited by the Environmental Defenders Office to provide pro bono advice on the Ranger Uranium Mine Closure Plan in Kakadu World Heritage Area. My submission along with others established the need for extensive recommendations for change to proposed rehabilitation requirements. My research has had continuous funding from university, agency, national and international sources since 2000.</p><p>This work has ongoing impact through teaching and doctoral supervision, including a First Class Honours project on the Cape York World Heritage proposals by Dr N Skilton, now working in Native Title research (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2014.899026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Skilton, Adams and Gibbs 2014</a>); and a completed doctorate on Indigenous relationships with private conservation areas by Dr H Moorcroft, consultant on Indigenous conservation (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2014.953733" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moorcroft and Adams 2014</a>). Current doctoral research projects include the cultural, policy and management implications of Aboriginal women’s use of fire, collaborative with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the interaction of emotion and conservation activism at Ningaloo World Heritage Area. While my creative writing hopes to engage hearts and minds in discussing critical global and national issues, this policy work continues to help make practical changes in people’s daily lives.</p>