What is this thing called 'community'?: an example in far north Queensland

Abstract

[Extract] The Bloomfield River region lies in tropical north Queensland, Australia (see Figure 1.1). It is a mountainous area adjacent to the coast and bordered by the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The catchment is vulnerable to flooding, bushfires and tropical cyclones. In the process of conducting an appraisal of community awareness and preparedness for natural hazards (Cottrell et al., 2001), it became apparent that it was necessary to ask the question: what is a community, and what are the implications for hazard studies and practice?