What purposes does the river serve?

Late 19th and 20th century European engineers believed natural rivers were imperfect, defective and in need of improvement. They saw the ideal river as a straight canal, designed for navigation and flood proof. This thinking stems from the Enlightenment, the European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries. It framed nature as a resource and a force to be controlled.

Mark Cioc (2002) The Rhine : An Eco-Biography, 1815–2000 University of Washington Press

Image: Ships and ferries ply the Brisbane River, ca. 1898. Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, FL1401550.