8.2 How do we ‘see’ places?

What is the meaning of place?

• People may be attached to different places for different reasons.

• Places can mean completely different things to different people.

Sometimes this connection can be ...................... for other people to fully understand but this does not make the connection any less ......................... or .............................

• 
  difficult

• important

• easy

• 
  real

Spiritual factors

Many people feel connected to particular places because of their beliefs or the way a place makes them feel.

• True

• False

For example, many ............................... and ................................ peoples have a deep and complex spiritual connection to places in the natural world that other people in the wider community do not have.

​Economic factors

Many people feel a connection to particular places because these places provide them with employment or a source of income.

Jeffrey Lee, the sole survivor of the Djok clan in the Northern Territory, could have become one of Australia’s richest men. He is the custodian of land that contains vast deposits of uranium. However, when a French energy company offered him millions in royalties to allow them to mine the uranium, he declined.

• True

• False

In the previous example of the proposed uranium mine in the Northern Territory, the ..................... mineral company was interested in connecting to this place because of economic opportunities.

• 
  

  American

• French

• Russian

In countries where personal wealth is viewed as:

• economic connection

• 
  spiritual

• 
  a desirable goal

• 
  historical

​Cultural factors

Connections to place can also be strongly influenced by a range of cultural factors.

​

This can include the perceived ..............................value of a place, and how that is meaningful for people in the present, the past and even into the future.

• Economic

• 
  

  Spiritual

• Historic