Swan River belonging : social and emotional interactions with an urban river in the South West of Western Australia

[Truncated] In this thesis I explore concepts of belonging in relation to the Swan River of Perth, Western Australia. The primary focus of my research was on the various ways in which people expressed their social and emotional connections to a waterway often referred to as the 'soul of the city'. The people consulted derived from two main groups: a local inner city catchment group and a collection of artists. Drawing on literature such as Kay Milton's theories of emotion, culture and the environment to explain my ethnographic data, I show how and why people's interactions with the Swan River are motivated and enacted. This thesis demonstrates that human relationships with rivers such as the Swan are complicated by themes that include nostalgia, memory, aesthetics, space, proximity, ecological concerns and development issues. By drawing on a range of methods (participant observation, interviewing) and travel modes (walking, cycling), I found that current day practices were affected by historical decision making for both indigenous and non-indigenous groups. My research conveys the value of doing socio-cultural research on rivers in urban and in other contexts, especially in circumstances where water matters are becoming increasingly paramount.