Wine and regional tourism : Cluster complementarity and regional development
- Authors: McRae-Williams, Pamela
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis investigates the impact of clustering on the development and operation of wine and tourism industries in Victoria, Australia. Specifically, the research analyses the structure and competitive strength of industry players, and highlights the importance of geographic co-location on their behaviour. In essence, this study examines micro-clusters in these regional industries to identify overlap and complementarity between them. The research focuses on three case studies based around geographic locations in Central and Western Victoria - Ballarat, Northern Grampians and Bendigo regions. "The primary aim of the study is to gain an understanding of the scope of wine and tourism micro-clusters and how they interact. [...] Generally speaking, this study develops and applies a framework that demonstrates the relevance of cluster theory as a regional development tool for scenarios that fucus on co-located clusters at a micro level, as opposed to the majority of research reported that focuses on the macro level."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: McRae-Williams, Pamela
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis investigates the impact of clustering on the development and operation of wine and tourism industries in Victoria, Australia. Specifically, the research analyses the structure and competitive strength of industry players, and highlights the importance of geographic co-location on their behaviour. In essence, this study examines micro-clusters in these regional industries to identify overlap and complementarity between them. The research focuses on three case studies based around geographic locations in Central and Western Victoria - Ballarat, Northern Grampians and Bendigo regions. "The primary aim of the study is to gain an understanding of the scope of wine and tourism micro-clusters and how they interact. [...] Generally speaking, this study develops and applies a framework that demonstrates the relevance of cluster theory as a regional development tool for scenarios that fucus on co-located clusters at a micro level, as opposed to the majority of research reported that focuses on the macro level."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Women in 'Ballarat" 1851-1871: a case study in agency
- Authors: Wickham, Dorothy
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: This thesis argues that European women exercised agency in mid nineteenth century Ballarat. It develops an understanding of women as active agents who engaged with, and negotiated, relationships of power. It highlights the fluidity in gendered roles, the blurred lines between the public and private domains, and the complexity of colonial life and relationships. This social and feminist history situates women within the system of patriarchal power which systematically and overtly benefited men. It reveals the complex operation of patriarchal power in which women accepted, challenged, and resisted social values and constructs. Such a consideration of the structure of power dislodges the notion of women as oppressed bodies who passively accepted universal and monolithic patriarchal values, and instead highlights diversity within gendered power structures. Drawing on public documentation, narrative, biographical, and statistical information from a diverse, extensive, and comprehensive range of archival sources, this thesis utilises a form of microhistorical methodology to detail and analyse the ways in which colonial women helped to shape society. It then draws a broader interpretation from such analysis to locate this thesis among other feminist and goldfields discourses. Through the central themes of health, birth, death, marnage, family, law, religion, temperance, philanthropy, work and public protests, this study_ identifies strands of agency exercised by Ballarat' s colonial women during the city's metamorphosis from the heady early days after the official discovery of payable gold in 1851 and the subsequent expansion of colonial settlement, to the consolidation of the City of Ballarat in 1871. Women predominantly acted as domesticating, nurturing and civilising agents, their actions deriving legitimacy from patriarchal values and endorsed by men. Women also contested, challenged, negotiated, manipulated, resisted and rejected socially accepted values, while playing out their lives within the colonial society in which they lived.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Women in the Australian cartographic corps during World War Two : their work and ongoing legacy in australian history and culture
- Authors: Watts, Melissa
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis analyses and highlights the important work of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in the Australian Cartographic Corps during World War Two.1 I examine the significance of the women’s roles and argue that their contribution has been largely omitted from historical accounts and popular culture. This inquiry consists of the historical novel Cartographies and an exegetical component. By appraising the crucial work undertaken by the women of the Survey Corps, this PhD aims to answer the question: What was the role of draftswomen in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two and what was their ongoing legacy in Australian history and culture? The exegesis answers these questions by establishing the role of the AWAS Cartographic Corps women during the war through a combination of qualitative interviews and critical analysis of archival sources. I argue that their contribution has received inadequate recognition when juxtaposed with their male counterparts within military histories. The exegesis then explores the representation of women’s war work in a broader social context, drawing from Australian popular culture to contend that this lack of acknowledgement has led to a deficiency of women’s narratives within the Australian collective war memory. Finally, the exegesis argues that historical fiction can advance an understanding of the past and provide recognition of marginalised members within a dominant culture. Cartographies, the accompanying novel, is an original creative interpretation that foregrounds the work of the women in the Cartographic Corps. Guided by the historical research undertaken for this project, the novel explores the pressures and demands that the work entailed. Moving between the 1940s and 1970s, Cartographies also engages in a post-war debate about the lack of historical or popular representation of the women of the Cartographic Corps. Furthermore, using the literary technique of historiographic metafiction, the novel considers the potential and limitations of both novels and historical research to accurately represent the past. Using a historiographical, creative and theoretical framework, the exegesis and the novel work together to provide a unique insight into the work and lives of the AWAS women who served in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two. Significantly, this thesis provides a previously unheard voice for the women of the Cartographic Corps to draw attention to the importance of their role during World War Two and begin to redress their absence from Australian history and culture.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Watts, Melissa
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This thesis analyses and highlights the important work of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in the Australian Cartographic Corps during World War Two.1 I examine the significance of the women’s roles and argue that their contribution has been largely omitted from historical accounts and popular culture. This inquiry consists of the historical novel Cartographies and an exegetical component. By appraising the crucial work undertaken by the women of the Survey Corps, this PhD aims to answer the question: What was the role of draftswomen in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two and what was their ongoing legacy in Australian history and culture? The exegesis answers these questions by establishing the role of the AWAS Cartographic Corps women during the war through a combination of qualitative interviews and critical analysis of archival sources. I argue that their contribution has received inadequate recognition when juxtaposed with their male counterparts within military histories. The exegesis then explores the representation of women’s war work in a broader social context, drawing from Australian popular culture to contend that this lack of acknowledgement has led to a deficiency of women’s narratives within the Australian collective war memory. Finally, the exegesis argues that historical fiction can advance an understanding of the past and provide recognition of marginalised members within a dominant culture. Cartographies, the accompanying novel, is an original creative interpretation that foregrounds the work of the women in the Cartographic Corps. Guided by the historical research undertaken for this project, the novel explores the pressures and demands that the work entailed. Moving between the 1940s and 1970s, Cartographies also engages in a post-war debate about the lack of historical or popular representation of the women of the Cartographic Corps. Furthermore, using the literary technique of historiographic metafiction, the novel considers the potential and limitations of both novels and historical research to accurately represent the past. Using a historiographical, creative and theoretical framework, the exegesis and the novel work together to provide a unique insight into the work and lives of the AWAS women who served in the Cartographic Corps during World War Two. Significantly, this thesis provides a previously unheard voice for the women of the Cartographic Corps to draw attention to the importance of their role during World War Two and begin to redress their absence from Australian history and culture.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Women’s lived experiences of their partners’ referral to a men’s behaviour change program : a feminist interpretative phenomenological analysis
- Authors: Zeuschner, Lauren
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence (FV) is a significant social issue across Australia, where one woman is murdered by her current or former partner every week (State Government of Victoria, 2020). In an effort to increase the safety of women and children living in the state of Victoria, perpetrators of FV are routinely referred to a group intervention known as a Men’s Behaviour Change Program (MBCP). This research study sought to lay a foundation for understanding how women experience their partners’ referral to an MBCP, while exploring the meaning they ascribe to such an experience. At a fundamental level, the study aimed to elevate the voices of women and to contextualise their experiences. It was anticipated that this study would illuminate the profound insights of women regarding their experiences of such referrals, which have not been previously considered or acknowledged as being important. Nine women living in the regional city of Ballarat, Victoria, took part in this community-based research project, which was designed in collaboration with industry partners. Each woman engaged in a qualitative interview that was underpinned by the emergent methodology of feminist interpretative phenomenological analysis. Consequently, these interviews focused on the women’s thoughts, feelings and interpretations of the referral experience. Through analysis and discussion of the women’s narratives, referral to an MBCP was shown to have involved experiences of significant meaning, depth and consequence for victim survivors – clearly demonstrating an effect beyond perpetrator engagement with an MBCP. The findings from this study have revealed the way in which MBCP referrals fashion a new environment for victim survivors. It is an environment characterised by heightened hopes of change, experiences of being blamed and judged by external parties and includes a rising sense of indignation. This form of referral has also been exposed to be a period of pivotal assessment for victim survivors, and at a fundamental level, as an event in and of itself. The new understandings achieved through this study provide a foundation on which FV services, researchers and policymakers can now build. This study has also reinforced the notion that in order to be effective, FV services must be informed by the knowledge and experiences of the people who are most affected by those services.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Zeuschner, Lauren
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence (FV) is a significant social issue across Australia, where one woman is murdered by her current or former partner every week (State Government of Victoria, 2020). In an effort to increase the safety of women and children living in the state of Victoria, perpetrators of FV are routinely referred to a group intervention known as a Men’s Behaviour Change Program (MBCP). This research study sought to lay a foundation for understanding how women experience their partners’ referral to an MBCP, while exploring the meaning they ascribe to such an experience. At a fundamental level, the study aimed to elevate the voices of women and to contextualise their experiences. It was anticipated that this study would illuminate the profound insights of women regarding their experiences of such referrals, which have not been previously considered or acknowledged as being important. Nine women living in the regional city of Ballarat, Victoria, took part in this community-based research project, which was designed in collaboration with industry partners. Each woman engaged in a qualitative interview that was underpinned by the emergent methodology of feminist interpretative phenomenological analysis. Consequently, these interviews focused on the women’s thoughts, feelings and interpretations of the referral experience. Through analysis and discussion of the women’s narratives, referral to an MBCP was shown to have involved experiences of significant meaning, depth and consequence for victim survivors – clearly demonstrating an effect beyond perpetrator engagement with an MBCP. The findings from this study have revealed the way in which MBCP referrals fashion a new environment for victim survivors. It is an environment characterised by heightened hopes of change, experiences of being blamed and judged by external parties and includes a rising sense of indignation. This form of referral has also been exposed to be a period of pivotal assessment for victim survivors, and at a fundamental level, as an event in and of itself. The new understandings achieved through this study provide a foundation on which FV services, researchers and policymakers can now build. This study has also reinforced the notion that in order to be effective, FV services must be informed by the knowledge and experiences of the people who are most affected by those services.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Work/life balance through a critical ‘gender lens’ : A cross-country comparison of parental leave provisions and take-up in Australia and Sweden
- Authors: Zacharias, Nadine
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...]
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Zacharias, Nadine
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...]
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Woven mantra : a visual expression of meditation
- Authors: Wilson, Carole
- Date: 2001
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: "This research project examines the links between spiritual practice and visual art. More specifically, the research examines the relationship between the repetition of a mantra, the repetition of an image and the repetition of a stich.
- Description: Master of Arts Visual Arts
- Authors: Wilson, Carole
- Date: 2001
- Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
- Full Text:
- Description: "This research project examines the links between spiritual practice and visual art. More specifically, the research examines the relationship between the repetition of a mantra, the repetition of an image and the repetition of a stich.
- Description: Master of Arts Visual Arts
Young mothers: Discursive constructions of their lives and identities
- Authors: Felstead, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The notion that early motherhood is a significant problem for society is widely documented in the academic literature, and there is a complicated history surrounding young pregnant and parenting women in social and educational policy contexts. Less is known about young mothers themselves and how they experience the social and material effects of early motherhood. The purpose of this study was to examine how young mothers, who attended a young parent program in Lake City in Victoria Australia, experienced early motherhood and how they contested the social discourses that framed their lives. Using a poststructural lens and drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, this thesis used narrative inquiry and discourse analysis to examine the complex nature of seven young mothers’ lives. Analysis of the narrative data showed that despite the complexities, early motherhood was a significant turning point as the young mothers drew on resources of resistance and responsibility to transform their lives. An analysis of the social welfare policy practices identified surveillance and regulation measures as responses to alleviate long-term welfare dependency but did not account for the structural and economic barriers that young mothers encountered in their lives. In educational contexts, the young mothers in this study had experienced disrupted education trajectories before moving to an alternative setting. The findings highlight that they were ‘invisible’ in mainstream educational contexts and while ‘learning from the margins’ in the young parent program. This study found that the voice of the young mother was missing in the social and educational policy discourses, and the complexities of early motherhood were not accounted for within the policies. This thesis argues that young mothers’ voices need to be included in strategic policy responses to address issues of inequity and reduce the structural and economic barriers faced by young mothers.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Felstead, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: The notion that early motherhood is a significant problem for society is widely documented in the academic literature, and there is a complicated history surrounding young pregnant and parenting women in social and educational policy contexts. Less is known about young mothers themselves and how they experience the social and material effects of early motherhood. The purpose of this study was to examine how young mothers, who attended a young parent program in Lake City in Victoria Australia, experienced early motherhood and how they contested the social discourses that framed their lives. Using a poststructural lens and drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, this thesis used narrative inquiry and discourse analysis to examine the complex nature of seven young mothers’ lives. Analysis of the narrative data showed that despite the complexities, early motherhood was a significant turning point as the young mothers drew on resources of resistance and responsibility to transform their lives. An analysis of the social welfare policy practices identified surveillance and regulation measures as responses to alleviate long-term welfare dependency but did not account for the structural and economic barriers that young mothers encountered in their lives. In educational contexts, the young mothers in this study had experienced disrupted education trajectories before moving to an alternative setting. The findings highlight that they were ‘invisible’ in mainstream educational contexts and while ‘learning from the margins’ in the young parent program. This study found that the voice of the young mother was missing in the social and educational policy discourses, and the complexities of early motherhood were not accounted for within the policies. This thesis argues that young mothers’ voices need to be included in strategic policy responses to address issues of inequity and reduce the structural and economic barriers faced by young mothers.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Young, gay and suicidal : who cares? : the attitudes of Australian heterosexual and homosexual men and women towards the suicide of gay male and lesbian adolescents
- Authors: Molloy, Mari
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "The present study sought to examine the attitudes of heterosexual and homosexual men and women towards gay male and lesbian adolescent suicide."
- Description: Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)
- Authors: Molloy, Mari
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "The present study sought to examine the attitudes of heterosexual and homosexual men and women towards gay male and lesbian adolescent suicide."
- Description: Doctor of Psychology (Clinical)
Your stories, my stories, our stories : Power/knowledge relations and Koorie perspectives in discourses of Australian History Education
- Authors: Weuffen, Sara
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Over the past decade, popularised notions and approaches to the teaching and learning of Australia’s history have been overwhelmingly researched and written by non-Indigenous academics. This research challenges dominant non-Indigenous curriculum and research agendas by exploring how, why, and to what degree Koorie, and by extension Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, are taken up for the development and implementation of school-based curriculum aligned to the Year Nine Australian Curriculum: History. The research is guided by Michel Foucault’s poststructural theory to examine a range of discourses identified by year nine history teachers and three Koorie Elders in Ballarat and Greater Shepparton. It is supplemented through Martin Nakata’s ground breaking work on Indigenous Standpoint Theory to acknowledge and highlight the cross-cultural/racial power/knowledge relations of peoples who are involved in the research. It is a timely response to the 2013 mandatory implementation of the Australian Curriculum: History in Victorian state schools. The research builds upon academic research (see Clark, 2006; Harrison & Greenfield, 2011; Mackinlay & Barney, 2011; 2014b) about how teachers may engage critically with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific content. It contributes significantly to a field of research that has not received much attention over the past eleven years. The research is a striking contribution to understandings of Australian cross-cultural/racial research and education practices. It argues that teachers are not necessarily insensitive to cross-cultural/racial relations operating in Australia; rather, that more rigorous and comprehensive teacher education programs are required for the integration of Koorie perspectives on Australian history. The research clearly demonstrates that stories from local Koorie communities offers up a wealth of knowledge that may be drawn upon to reform curriculum agendas towards shared-history understandings of Australia’s history. Ultimately, it advocates for a more nuanced and mature conversation about contemporary cross-cultural/racial education practices in Australia.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Weuffen, Sara
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Over the past decade, popularised notions and approaches to the teaching and learning of Australia’s history have been overwhelmingly researched and written by non-Indigenous academics. This research challenges dominant non-Indigenous curriculum and research agendas by exploring how, why, and to what degree Koorie, and by extension Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, are taken up for the development and implementation of school-based curriculum aligned to the Year Nine Australian Curriculum: History. The research is guided by Michel Foucault’s poststructural theory to examine a range of discourses identified by year nine history teachers and three Koorie Elders in Ballarat and Greater Shepparton. It is supplemented through Martin Nakata’s ground breaking work on Indigenous Standpoint Theory to acknowledge and highlight the cross-cultural/racial power/knowledge relations of peoples who are involved in the research. It is a timely response to the 2013 mandatory implementation of the Australian Curriculum: History in Victorian state schools. The research builds upon academic research (see Clark, 2006; Harrison & Greenfield, 2011; Mackinlay & Barney, 2011; 2014b) about how teachers may engage critically with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific content. It contributes significantly to a field of research that has not received much attention over the past eleven years. The research is a striking contribution to understandings of Australian cross-cultural/racial research and education practices. It argues that teachers are not necessarily insensitive to cross-cultural/racial relations operating in Australia; rather, that more rigorous and comprehensive teacher education programs are required for the integration of Koorie perspectives on Australian history. The research clearly demonstrates that stories from local Koorie communities offers up a wealth of knowledge that may be drawn upon to reform curriculum agendas towards shared-history understandings of Australia’s history. Ultimately, it advocates for a more nuanced and mature conversation about contemporary cross-cultural/racial education practices in Australia.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Goulding, Carmel
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text: false
- Description: A fundamental condition of modernity is the expansion of choice, with the range of options widening on how we live our lives, and whom we spend our time with. We are no longer defined by a clear set of social ties which bind us to our life situation. We can choose our friends, geographic locality, employment and, perhaps, our gender and that of our children. We can if we choose, substantially alter the way we live, and some people do as is evidenced by the phenomenon popularly known as downshifting. Downshifting involves a voluntary reduction in working time and income, in return for a slower pace of life and increased free time and is generally conceived as a conscious change in ways of consuming, working and relating. This thesis seeks to explore the questions why people downshift and how the decision is sustained over the life course. It does this through a two-staged, longitudinal qualitative study of people who have downshifted in Australia and the United Kingdom. The thesis is built on the assumption that downshifting is a rational choice. People do calculate risk and constraints and the range of options as part of the decision process. However, explanations of action firmly rooted in economic rationality do not adequately account for what influences and shapes preferences and pays little attention to the micro worlds of individual choice-making. This dissertation offers an account of social action built around the concept of bounded rationality whereby the fluid, linked communities evident in modern life, act as a mediating factor in the initial choice and as well as over the downshifter life course. To date, there has been limited empirical research on the life course of downshifters. This doctoral study fills the knowledge gap.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
‘Rough and ready’ : Makeshift, abstraction and the Australian patina
- Authors: Brooks, Terri
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Ned Kelly’s armour, the Eureka flag, and the premise that underlies the title of the most famous exhibition in Australian art history; the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1889, are makeshift. This exegesis records the spirit of ‘making do’ or ‘makeshift’ in Australia’s post-settlement history including its manifestation in art. As this history is traced, the role of the harsh Australian landscape, and assertions of cultural convergence in post-settlement history, raised by historians including Russel Ward and Philip Jones are explored. Makeshift maps this country’s history of adversity, and popular bush story tellers, including Henry Lawson, contributed to makeshift flourishing in Australia and developing ‘everyday’ cultural associations.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Brooks, Terri
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Ned Kelly’s armour, the Eureka flag, and the premise that underlies the title of the most famous exhibition in Australian art history; the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1889, are makeshift. This exegesis records the spirit of ‘making do’ or ‘makeshift’ in Australia’s post-settlement history including its manifestation in art. As this history is traced, the role of the harsh Australian landscape, and assertions of cultural convergence in post-settlement history, raised by historians including Russel Ward and Philip Jones are explored. Makeshift maps this country’s history of adversity, and popular bush story tellers, including Henry Lawson, contributed to makeshift flourishing in Australia and developing ‘everyday’ cultural associations.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
‘You can’t hear a child you don’t see’ : Frontline workers’ perspectives on engaging young people in out-of-home care in the decisions affecting their lives.
- Authors: McRae, Lynda
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Traditionally, young people in out-of-home care have been marginalised from the most important decision-making processes that affect their lives. A compelling, contemporary evidence base confirms that this dilemma persists despite the ratification of young people’s participation rights in legislation and policy, which has grave implications for young people’s wellbeing, the quality of decisions and subsequent interventions. This place-based, participatory action research drew on the perspectives of case and program managers at the frontline of out-of-home care service delivery in Inner Gippsland to provide unique insights into the barriers and opportunities to increased inclusion of young people in the decisions being made about them. The study was supported through a university–industry research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland Children and Youth Area Partnership. This thesis contends that a confluence of factors in response to unprecedented demand on the Inner Gippsland child welfare service system has significantly eroded the time and opportunity for face-to-face practice between workers and young people, which is fundamental to the facilitation of young people’s engagement in decision-making. The research process was underpinned by a blend of critical theory and the capability approach. New insights were developed to advocate for diverse, context-specific interventions and broader system reforms to expand the capacity for workers to engage in face-to-face practice with young people. An authorising environment that legitimises participatory practice is required to support connections between workers and young people. This thesis argues that the alignment of rights-based participation principles with critical components of the system—policy, performance management regimes, compliance and administrative practices and professionalisation strategies—could transform decision-making processes for young people. This is especially vital for a growing cohort of young people who live in out-of-home care. Keywords: participation, decision-making processes, face-to-face practice, children, young people, critical theory, capability approach, action research, out-of-home care research
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: McRae, Lynda
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Traditionally, young people in out-of-home care have been marginalised from the most important decision-making processes that affect their lives. A compelling, contemporary evidence base confirms that this dilemma persists despite the ratification of young people’s participation rights in legislation and policy, which has grave implications for young people’s wellbeing, the quality of decisions and subsequent interventions. This place-based, participatory action research drew on the perspectives of case and program managers at the frontline of out-of-home care service delivery in Inner Gippsland to provide unique insights into the barriers and opportunities to increased inclusion of young people in the decisions being made about them. The study was supported through a university–industry research collaboration within the Inner Gippsland Children and Youth Area Partnership. This thesis contends that a confluence of factors in response to unprecedented demand on the Inner Gippsland child welfare service system has significantly eroded the time and opportunity for face-to-face practice between workers and young people, which is fundamental to the facilitation of young people’s engagement in decision-making. The research process was underpinned by a blend of critical theory and the capability approach. New insights were developed to advocate for diverse, context-specific interventions and broader system reforms to expand the capacity for workers to engage in face-to-face practice with young people. An authorising environment that legitimises participatory practice is required to support connections between workers and young people. This thesis argues that the alignment of rights-based participation principles with critical components of the system—policy, performance management regimes, compliance and administrative practices and professionalisation strategies—could transform decision-making processes for young people. This is especially vital for a growing cohort of young people who live in out-of-home care. Keywords: participation, decision-making processes, face-to-face practice, children, young people, critical theory, capability approach, action research, out-of-home care research
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
“I’ve got something to say and I need you to listen” : a photovoice study with women who have experienced family violence
- Authors: Hunt, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence is recognised as a significant social issue in Australia that is predominantly perpetrated by men against women in intimate partner relationships. Once only of concern to women and feminist activists, family violence is now part of mainstream public policy and community service provision. This research was conducted within an industry, community and university partnership to improve services for women and children who have experienced family violence in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. This research study used photovoice, a feminist participatory research method, to gather the insights and knowledge of some of these women from this region. The participants produced, selected and contextualised photographs to share their vision of “strong families, safe children” as well as providing their insights on what services needed to do to support this vision. Ten women participated in the study and collectively contributed 42 photographs and attended 15 individual interviews and four group workshops over a six-month period. Through their photographs and narratives, the participants detailed their experiences of services, including the systemic abuse of power and coercion that undermined their relationships with their children. The participants described feeling blamed and further victimised when their interactions with services replicated the coercive control that they had experienced in their intimate partner relationships. Systemic racial discrimination and violence further compounded service encounters described by the Aboriginal women who participated in the study. The participants advocated for the transformation of family violence policy and practice from one reliant on patriarchal and colonial knowledge to one grounded in feminist epistemologies and women’s experiential knowledge. Consistent with feminist epistemologies, this research study highlights the importance of relational understandings of family violence, a position that acknowledges the significance of women’s social context and family networks, as well as the interconnectedness of women’s and children’s safety and wellbeing. This research study has implications for the family violence service system grappling with the inclusion of lived experience as being more than voice but encompassing the positioning of women’s experiential knowledge (with all its emotion, complexity and subjectivity) at the heart of policy and practice.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Hunt, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Family violence is recognised as a significant social issue in Australia that is predominantly perpetrated by men against women in intimate partner relationships. Once only of concern to women and feminist activists, family violence is now part of mainstream public policy and community service provision. This research was conducted within an industry, community and university partnership to improve services for women and children who have experienced family violence in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. This research study used photovoice, a feminist participatory research method, to gather the insights and knowledge of some of these women from this region. The participants produced, selected and contextualised photographs to share their vision of “strong families, safe children” as well as providing their insights on what services needed to do to support this vision. Ten women participated in the study and collectively contributed 42 photographs and attended 15 individual interviews and four group workshops over a six-month period. Through their photographs and narratives, the participants detailed their experiences of services, including the systemic abuse of power and coercion that undermined their relationships with their children. The participants described feeling blamed and further victimised when their interactions with services replicated the coercive control that they had experienced in their intimate partner relationships. Systemic racial discrimination and violence further compounded service encounters described by the Aboriginal women who participated in the study. The participants advocated for the transformation of family violence policy and practice from one reliant on patriarchal and colonial knowledge to one grounded in feminist epistemologies and women’s experiential knowledge. Consistent with feminist epistemologies, this research study highlights the importance of relational understandings of family violence, a position that acknowledges the significance of women’s social context and family networks, as well as the interconnectedness of women’s and children’s safety and wellbeing. This research study has implications for the family violence service system grappling with the inclusion of lived experience as being more than voice but encompassing the positioning of women’s experiential knowledge (with all its emotion, complexity and subjectivity) at the heart of policy and practice.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy