At first glance few things are as solid as time and place. The place we live in is made of wood bricks and steel and is anchored in the earth. Yet philosophers and poets will tell us that things are not so simple. Richard Wilbur’s short poem 'Epistemology' for example explores the contradictory challenges to the assumption that the world is solid: 'Kick at the rock, Sam Johnson, break your bones / But cloudy, cloudy is the stuff of stones.'
Place is elusive but easily badged. In most societies whether you are born on this side of the railway line or the river is seen to matter. Whether you live on the east or west side of the city, went to this school or that, and spend your holidays in this country or that, is also taken to matter. But why it should matter and how your experience of place colours your life are less clear.
Recent studies that have tied social disadvantage to place suggest that for many people it does matter. Following the late Professor Tony Vinson's pioneering research it is now generally accepted that the many indices of disadvantage are clustered in comparatively few regions in Australia. These include homelessness, lack of child care, education and places of recreation, mental and physical illness, domestic violence, contact with the justice system, access to computers and so on.
If this is so, it follows that society might address this disadvantage by focusing on these places through long term and integrated programs directed to help children and families to deal with their challenges and integrate with society.
It has also become clear, however, the measures of disadvantage reveal little change over many years. Although this may be simply explained by the failure of successive governments to commit sufficient coordinated resources to properly evaluated programs over a long time, it also raises the question whether place itself, working in conjunction with the factors associated with disadvantage, also has a large role in shaping a person's life and future. And, if this is the case, whether our experience of place is shaped by its long history.
These questions are part of a broader reflection on how our sense of place shapes our understanding of the world. When asked what places have been most significant in their lives, people give varied answers. Some name places from which they have gained considerable benefit in reaching goals they had set