Robert Henry – The Conversation

Channel millet (Echinochloa turneriana). Chris Haikings

July 16, 2026

Aboriginal people harvested this native grass for millennia. Scientists have now found an odd trait in its DNA

Michael Westaway, The University of Queensland; Jennifer Silcock, The University of Queensland; Rahul Chandora, The University of Queensland; Robert Henry, The University of Queensland; Sammi Blinco, Indigenous Knowledge, and Shawnee Gorringe, Indigenous Knowledge

Natural selection may not be the only force that has contributed to the evolution of channel millet’s unusual genetics.

Shutterstock

November 9, 2023

Farmers or foragers? Pre‑colonial Aboriginal food production was hardly that simple

Michael Westaway, The University of Queensland; Alison Crowther, The University of Queensland; Nathan Wright, University of New England; Robert Henry, The University of Queensland, and Rodney Carter, Indigenous Knowledge

For a decade, debate has raged over Dark Emu’s account of Aboriginal agriculture. But ancient food production in Australia is more complex than labels like farming or hunter-gathering suggest.

An Ord River sandalwood plantation near Kununurra, close to the Western Australia-Northern Territory border. Reise-Line/Wikimedia Commons

June 12, 2014

Giant steps needed to build up northern Australia’s potential

Robert Henry, The University of Queensland

Northern Australia has vast potential for development. Just one proposed agriculture project of the many that I’m currently aware of would cover an area as big as metropolitan Brisbane, Australia’s third…

Wheat fields in central New South Wales. Sam Ilić/Flickr

February 3, 2014

Australian trade beats aid in boosting global food security

Robert Henry, The University of Queensland

Should Australia aim to become Asia’s “food bowl”? How can we help farmers earn more for what they produce? And how can Australia best contribute to global food security? Those are some of the crucial…

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