'The landscape of the tropics is being viewed from a fresh tropical lens. This year, the United Nations declared 29 June the ‘International Day of the Tropics’ – a day dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of the tropical regions of the world. The date is the anniversary of the launch of the inaugural State of the Tropics 2014 report by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the first major output of the State of the Tropics project which draws on the expertise of leading tropical institutions from around the world. The ‘International Day of the Tropics’ testifies to the growing awareness of the significance of the tropics for the entire globe.' (From Introduction, 1)
'In order to better understand and respond to the tropics as part of the global environment, we need to accept the unique features of the regional weather, such as cyclones, and be prepared to embrace their larger meaning for life in the tropics. In a physical landscape impacted by some 207 tropical cyclones since 1858, Queensland writers have attempted to incorporate both the terror and the sublime of the cyclone into their sense of place as they have attempted to find context for the unpredictable, chaotic and destructive tropical cyclone within their ostensibly tamed and ordered natural landscape. Consequently, the cyclone has become a defining symbolic metaphor of not only physical but also of literary tropical Queensland.
'Some Queensland writers have perceived within cyclones the Burkean sublime or personal revelation, while others have seen it as motivation for community strength, cooperation and compassion. For some, the purpose of the cyclone is divine retribution, but to others it’s an apocalyptic event revealing a rare second chance for revelation and renewal. This paper will examine a range of such perceptions within Queensland literature as part of the search for meaning within cyclonic chaotic events.' (Publication abstract)
