Paper short abstract:

The need for seasonal agricultural labour connects transient populations to regional Australian communities. This paper explores how senses of place are constructed and maintained through intersecting identities, ideas of temporariness and stability, and belonging and exclusion.

Paper long abstract:

Seasonal labour is integral to regional Australian social structures and has considerable significance for the maintenance of agricultural industries. Seasonal labour is further sustained by place- and industry-based migration schemes, contributing to regional areas being dynamic and culturally diverse locations. While regional communities and transient labour populations are mutually interdependent, this relationship is made complex by the seemingly divergent narratives of transience and stability that become embedded in the local space. Within employment contexts, the seasonal worker exists temporarily, but the need for their labour is more permanent. The temporal and spatial conditions that structure individual experiences, however, often limit the performance of everyday life to marginal social spaces. This overemphasised focus on workers' contributions to local economies presents regional space as exclusionary. In addressing these issues, this paper questions how senses of place are constructed and maintained in regional communities where agricultural industries are reliant on transient labour populations. By exploring the experiences of seasonal workers, farmers, and other 'local' residents, this paper positions itself within broader themes of identity, mobility, temporariness and stability, and belonging and exclusion. This paper constitutes part of an initial PhD thesis proposal focussing on regional Queensland. This spatially defined study will explore sites where seasonal workers, farmers, and other local residents intersect. The dynamic flows of movement presented here are in contrast to ideas of stable regional identities, and touch on the exploitation of temporary migrant workers recently revealed in national media discourse.