Community identity is a powerful and volatile locus for economic, environmental and social processes. It informs local policy, influences development, helps attract tourists and new residents; it can be both empowering and limiting, can be both cohesive and divisive, and is a central element of environmental and social sustainability.

The overarching aim of this research component of the Sustaining Gondwana project is to improve our understanding of the strengths and limitations of community identity in order to facilitate sustainable communities able to negotiate economic, environmental and social changes in ways which will work for the long-term benefit of all members. Specifically, this research engages with the communities of the Shire of Ravensthorpe in Western Australia currently undergoing profound change brought about by the advent of large-scale mining in the area. The arrival of this new mining project has been accompanied by significant demographic, economic, social and environmental change. Through an emphasis on local experiences and perceptions this study seeks to address the lived complexities of this change, and the attendant construction and role of community identity.

This working paper touches on some of the predominant benefits, costs and tensions associated with the arrival of Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation as identified through in-depth interviews with over sixty ‘premine’ Shire of Ravensthorpe residents. In doing so the fundamentally uneven nature of this change and its associated opportunities is brought to the fore along with three key challenges for the ‘development’ of sustainable rural communities.