The Blue Humanities in Australia are a growing field of transdisciplinary research bridging the humanities, social sciences, and ocean sciences to explore human relationships with watery aquatic environments. This field examines Australia’s most diverse "blue" space – the Great Barrier Reef and how the blue humanities can offer a way of strengthening the connections between the social and oceans science community.
Drawing on environmental history, political science, geography, postcolonial studies, and the arts, scholars analyse how cultural narratives, literature, and visual media shape our understanding of marine and freshwater ecologies. This panel/paper focuses on the Great Barrier Reef’s cultural and environmental history, integrating Indigenous knowledges, artistic representations, and policy debates. By adopting interdisciplinary perspectives, we aim to deepen engagement with Australia’s blue ecologies and their significance in contemporary environmental discourse.