Dr Margaret Cook - Learning from history

Dr Margaret Cook has been a freelance historian for many years, working in the heritage, museum, government and private sectors. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Queensland and her current research interests include natural disasters, rivers, water politics, and environmental history. Margaret is a history lecturer at the University of Sunshine Coast, a Research Fellow at Griffith University and holds Honorary Research Fellow positions at La Trobe University and University of Queensland.

Margaret’s recent publications are:

1. A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods,
2. an edited collection with Scott McKinnon, Disasters in Australia and New Zealand: Historical Approaches to Understanding Catastrophe, and
3. a co-authored book Cities in a Sunburnt Country: Water and the Making of Urban Australia.

In 2020, Margaret was awarded the John and Ruth Kerr Medal of Distinction for excellence in historiography, historical research and writing.

This conversation builds on an earlier chat with Martin Roushani-Zarmehri in April where he referenced Margaret's research and publications, specifically that many of our urban settlements are on flood plains based on historical reasons.  

In this chat, we take a deep dive into Margaret's publications and passion, and find out what lessons we can take from history to shape more resilient communities.

We chat about:

1. Margaret's publications
2. What inspired Margaret to research so deeply into water issues
3. Why it is important that we understand and learn from history
4. What the key learnings are about human behaviour, especially during natural disasters
5. Buy back schemes and how we use them to become more resilient
6. Behavioural change can happen

I hope you enjoy this chat.