List of Titles

Hookworm Infection in Oceania

- Bradbury, Richard, Traub, Rebecca

Authors: Bradbury, Richard , Traub, Rebecca
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Neglected Tropical Diseases - Oceania Chapter 2 p. 33-68
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Description: Hookworm disease and its associated morbidities continue to be a major public health problem in many tropical and subtropical nations and remain endemic throughout the Oceania region. Three species of hookworm cause patent infection in humans in this region: Necator americanus, Ancylostoma duodenale and Ancylostoma ceylanicum. Historical hookworm infection rates of up to 90 % throughout many parts of Oceania have significantly declined; however, the disease remains a major problem requiring ongoing public health intervention. The effectiveness of such interventions is evident in northern Australia, where once widespread hookworm disease is now limited to a few remaining endemic foci of isolated communities in the far north of the country. Outside of Australia, there is limited data available in the literature on hookworm prevalence, but a few recent (since 2000) studies have found hookworm prevalence rates of between 3 and 23 %. Infections with A. caninum, leading to eosinophilic enteritis, and sporadic cases cutaneous larva migrans caused by dermal migration of animal hookworm larva are also reported from several regions. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of both the historical and current literature on species of hookworms infecting humans and the geographical prevalence and distribution of hookworm disease in the Oceania region.

Indigenous folklore of the northern Wathawurrung peoples

- Clark, Ian

Authors: Clark, Ian
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Goldfields and the gothic : A hidden heritage & folklore p. 151-164
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Description: This paper examines four northern Wathawurrung legends and beliefs that were associated with five landmarks within their country - Lal Lal Falls, Black Hill (Kirrit Barreet, near Gordon), Lake Burrumbeet, and Mt Buninyong and Mt Elephant (Derrinallum). The first two sites are associated with Bundjil, the creator spirit. Lake Burrumbeet concerns a 'witch-like' creature, and the final two sites were involved in major conflict that explaines their unique topographical characteristics. The northern Wathawurrung country is bounded by the Werribee River in the east; the Fiery Creek in the west; and the Great Dividing Range in the north.

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Injury epidemiology among Australian female cricketers

- Perera, Nirmala

Authors: Perera, Nirmala
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: Cricket is a male-dominated sport; however, its popularity among females is increasing. Like other sports, participation in cricket poses the risk of injury to players. Injury problems for female cricketers are virtually unknown, as studies examining cricket injuries include almost exclusively male participants. In other sports, the types of injuries experienced by men and women are known to be different. Therefore, a clear understanding of the extent and types of injuries sustained by female cricket players is required, to underpin appropriately targeted injury prevention strategies. This thesis provides the first detailed epidemiological profile of cricket injuries sustained by women, by: 1. conducting a systematic review describing injuries in competitive team bat or stick sports in women, to enable cricket injuries to be viewed within the perspective of wider, but relevant, injury data, 2. evaluating existing data sources relating to hospital admissions from Victoria and Queensland and successful insurance claims across Australia, 3. examining the nature and incidence of cricket injuries in elite female players using Cricket Australia’s Athlete Management System, and 4. conducting a nationwide self-report survey of injuries during the 2014–15 season. This PhD research represents participants from different levels of play, across age groups and across Australia. The findings indicate that incidence of injuries for female cricketers were higher than expected based on previous findings in comparable sports, except when considered in relation to insurance claims. The cricket injury rate across hospital presentations, insurance claims, the AMS (Fair Play AMS 2016) and self-reported survey data, each of which represents different level of the sports injury pyramid, identified all-rounders and pace bowlers as having a higher incidence of injury than players in other positions. The highest frequency of reported injuries were in the head, hands, knees and ankles. The nature of the most common injuries were dislocations/sprains/strains, fractures, muscle injury, joint injury and gradual onset injuries. At the elite-level, lumber spine stress fractures accounted for a significant amount of time-loss from the sport. In this thesis, findings from the insurance claims, self-reported survey and AMS (Fair Play AMS 2016) data indicated that most injuries were of a low severity and were more likely to be treated outside of healthcare facilities such as hospitals. In summary, patterns of the most common injuries, in terms of anatomical location and nature of the injuries, were consistent throughout community-level players with some similarities to elite-level players. However, the injury mechanisms and risk factors may differ depending on the level of competition and player’s skill. Recommendations are that ongoing injury surveillance should be conducted at all levels of the sport, and surveillance methodology should be tailored to the specific setting, personnel and available resources. Therefore, before implementing an injury surveillance system at the community-level of the sport, more research is needed to fully understand what type of injury surveillance system might be feasible and suitable in this context.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

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Investigations into the ecology and management of the invasive plant Galenia pubescens within the native temperate grasslands of Victoria, Australia

- Mahmood, Ako

Authors: Mahmood, Ako
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: Plant invasions of natural ecosystems are one of the major threats to the conservation of biological diversity across nearly all biogeographical regions in the world. This thesis focuses on Galenia pubescens (Carpet weed) as a case study of possible approaches to the potential management of environmental weed species. G. pubescens is a woody prostrate perennial plant that is becoming a serious threat to Australian temperate grasslands, surrounding agricultural areas and conservation reserves. It is indigenous to South Africa and was first recorded in Australia in the early 1900s, and it is an aggressive competitor against native species. It is difficult to control, and little information exists about its effects on natural ecosystems, and aspects of its biology and ecology. This study has investigated some important ecological characteristics of G. pubescens’ seeds and has experimented with different management strategies in combination with chemical control. It has also considered the potential for the expansion of the distribution of this species across suitable habitat in Australia under predicted elevated CO2 and drought conditions. Seeds of G. pubescens are shown to be able to germinate over a broad range of temperatures, but short bursts (5 minutes) of high temperatures (80oC to 120oC replicating possible exposures to a fire) reduced seed germination. Seed germination was positively favored by light and declined rapidly in darkness, decreasing by > 80% at a depth of only 0.5 cm in soil. This suggests that fire regimes might be useful in removing mature plants and controlling seed numbers on the surface, and that subsequent native seeding of undisturbed areas may assist in the long-term management of this noxious weed. A trial was conducted to determine the effect of treatment with a plant essential oil (pine oil) to limit the seed germination and seedling emergence of G. pubescens. This trial showed that the effects of pine oil application were significant (P<0.05). Germination was completely inhibited by application of pine oil at 5% or higher concentrations directly to seeds, and seedling emergence was reduced by between 90 and 100% in pot trials. These outcomes demonstrate the potential viability of pine oil as a long-term control option for this species. In field-based experiments, control strategies including herbicide control with glyphosate, organic herbicide control with pine oil, the application of mulch, and the addition of native seeds to the available seedbank (and all possible combinations of these techniques), were tested. The study showed that one single treatment of a G. pubescens infestation without undertaking a secondary treatment is insufficient to control the G. pubescens infestation or to encourage native regeneration, but that a combined strategy, employing all the aforementioned techniques, is more effective. It is however suggested that full regeneration of the area may not be possible unless further restoration programs are instituted after the cycle of G. pubescens’ treatment has been completed. The thesis also assessed the control effects of chemical control combined with a prescribed spring burning. Assessment of the resulting aboveground vegetation of G. pubescens has shown that a combination of chemical control and late-spring burning can reduce the cover of non-native species such as G. pubescens, suggesting that this could be a useful tool in their management. Finally, this study has supported the view that the growth of G. pubescens will be significantly enhanced in a future climate with an enriched atmospheric CO2 concentration. These climatic changes will have important implications for management of this noxious weed in the future.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Links between concepts of skill, concepts of occupation and the training system : A case study of Australia

- Smith, Erica

Authors: Smith, Erica
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Vocationalism in Further and Higher Education : Policy, Programmes and Pedagogy (Routledge Research in Education series) Chapter 6 p. 65-77
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Description: This paper explores the nexus between the concepts of vocation and of occupational identity and their links to the training system. Vocational education and training (VET), and apprenticeship systems in particular, have grown from concepts of occupation. It is self-evident that VET prepares, or upskills, people for work, and therefore the training must relate to job roles, whether broadly or narrowly defined. However, the processes by which students receive training that is high quality, rigorous and government-funded are not clearly defined. One yardstick that can be applied is that training is much more likely to be privileged (in terms of training provision, rigorous curriculum and government funding) when a job is considered to be an ‘occupation’. The development of occupational identity is taken for granted, for example in traditional ‘trade’ apprenticeships in Australia or the UK trainers and teachers, employers, trade unions and policy makers share a commitment to the apprenticed trades as distinct and valuable occupations. What are the implications of these issues for the training system as a whole? In Australia, as in the UK, the availability of qualifications has kept pace with the structural changes in the economy as a whole (i.e. with the relative shift to service industries), yet some occupations and some qualifications are less respected than others. This paper uses recent research carried out in Australia to show the potential effects on workers and their access to training of conceptions of ‘worth’ in work.

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Managing risk and enhancing corporate sustainability in the Australian extractive sector : An exploratory study of leading mining and oil & gas firms in Australia

- Andeobu, Lynda

Authors: Andeobu, Lynda
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: Risk is an unavoidable issue in most activities of life, including business. Risk-management is increasingly a hot-button issue for stakeholders and the general public. As such, it is of rising importance in the high-risk extractive industries of mining and oil & gas. Specifically, risk-management can help firms reduce business failure-rates and enhance corporate sustainability. However, the integration of risk-management and corporate sustainability within planning, financing, and operations remains a key challenge for the sector. This research seeks to fill this gap by investigating and evaluating the current use of risk-management by extractive-sector firms to add value to stakeholders. Given that risk- management and its impact on corporate sustainability is enormous, this study will provide useful insights into the risk-management practices undertaken by extractive-sector firms in Australia and how cost-effective risk-management practices contribute to the overall enhancement of financial performance, stakeholder value and corporate sustainability of those firms. This study, after drawing data from Australia’s top 10 mining/metals firms and top 10 energy/utilities firms, uses: i) Questionnaires to give a background/context for the study, and ii) Interviews to further probe issues raised and gain a deeper understanding. The analysis in this study found that risk-management practices are: i) Perceived by management practices to contribute significantly to financial performance, stakeholder value and corporate sustainability of their firms ii) Very similar across mining firms and those in oil & gas, and iii) Too limited in application in the extractive-sector and should be extended beyond traditional hazards. Overall, it was found that risk-management systems appear to be comparable across Australia’s large mining firms and oil & gas firms. However, at a detailed level, these basic systems and structures of risk-management are adjusted and adapted to meet specific needs, corporate strategies, organisational objectives and environmental pressures. NOTE: At the request of the author, Chapters 2-12 and Appendix 7 have been removed.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

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Mining a rich lode : The making of the Springdallah Deep Lead Goldfield communities

- Hunt, Joan

Authors: Hunt, Joan
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: Although little material evidence survives other than mullock heaps and the occasional ruined building, a large body of archival documentation exists to help reveal the history of the deep lead gold mining communities at Springdallah. This thesis reconstructs the discovery, rise and progress of that goldfield, 30km south-west of Ballarat, through a study of family formation and community building, facilitated by micro-study tools including prosopographical and genealogical databases. At its prosperous and productive peak in the 1860s and 1870s, the communities relied totally on the mining industry for their existence. This thesis positions the alluvial deep lead gold mining industry firmly within the long but disparate historiography of Australian, and particularly Victorian, gold seeking. Unlike the many regional histories that celebrate the growth from goldfields to city status, it focuses on the miners who worked the deep leads of buried river beds, and how they and their families effected material and social change to benefit the communities they created. The findings of this thesis reveal that, in contrast to the strong Cornish presence on many Victorian goldfields, miners at Springdallah came mainly from northern England, south-west Ireland, and the lowlands of Scotland, often with extensive kinship networks. The study demonstrates that this network of communities attracted workers, usually with coal and lead mining experience, who had skills suited to conditions in the deep lead alluvial gold mining industry. According to the findings of this thesis, miners gained power within the Springdallah communities by becoming members of committees, councils, and boards of local and wider institutions. This study found that the Springdallah families were youthful, adapted well to their changed circumstances, were agents of change within their communities, and quickly took advantage of Victorian land legislation, particularly the 1869 Land Act, to take up farming properties both locally and in the north and east of the State.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

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Motion picture production : A micro-budget model

- Owen, Richard

Authors: Owen, Richard
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: The film industry plays an important cultural and economic role in Australia. However, the film industry in Australia has struggled for many years under a subsidy-driven government intervention process that creates a high degree of dependence on a subsidy-centric model. Motion picture production costs worldwide have risen dramatically over the last decade with Hollywood production budgets commonly exceeding $100 million. Australia as a nation has a proven capability to produce respectable motion pictures at varying production budgets, although this capacity has become entrenched with taxpayers’ money. Historically, subsidy-driven industries in Australia trend towards collapse due primarily to cyclical fiscal deficits and changing funding imperatives at the Commonwealth level. As a PhD by exegesis, the focus of this research was to create, as well as evaluate, a new model of film production that would not be dependent on subsidies. This study evaluated a number of factors that were relevant to establishing a viable micro-budget model. Micro-budget films have received little research attention, with the focus being on major films. This research examined an alternative model, through the creation of a feature-length micro-budget film, called Stakes, and assessed it across a range of criterion to determine whether Australia’s film industry could be strengthened and potentially become self-sufficient. The resulting motion picture premièred in Australian cinemas on October 29th 2015. The justification, methods and results are discussed in detail throughout this exegesis providing strong evidence in favour of the viability for a micro-budget segment in the Australian film industry. Such a model could reduce the risk of Australia’s film industry collapsing if subsidies are reduced or abolished. Thus, this research has significant implications for Australia’s film industry and also contributes strongly to scholarship through providing crucial information on micro-budget films.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Muddling upwards : The unexpected, unpredictable and strange on the path from care to high achievement in Victoria, Australia

- Wilson, Jacqueline, Golding, Frank

Authors: Wilson, Jacqueline , Golding, Frank
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Young People Transitioning from Out-of-Home Care: International Research, Policy and Practice Chapter 7 p. 135-154
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Description: Education is a key avenue to personal, social and economic success; and its lack can lead to lifelong deprivation and social exclusion. The chapter focuses on the specific educational challenges that confront children in out-of-home care (OHC), and those who have been discharged from Care as young adults. A very small percentage of care leavers complete education, and some of the core reasons for this are discussed. The two authors, themselves care leavers, provide emblematic case studies by recounting their own experiences. They conclude that many of the obstacles they had to surmount were, and are, common to care leavers of their generations and also those currently in OHC. The chapter closes with a brief summary of policy reforms necessary to ensure educational equity for care leavers. © The Author(s) 2016.

Mullawallah : spririt of times past, present and future

- Newton, Janice

Authors: Newton, Janice
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Goldfields and the gothic : A hidden heritage & folklore p. 165-180
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Description: When Mullawallah (also known as King Billy, Frank or William Wilson) died of exposure/exhaustion on 23 September 1896, many of the Ballarat community took a somewhat ghoulish interest in viewing the corpse at the Ballarat and District Hospital morgue. Mullawallah was laid in a black and gold open coffin, decorated with golden representations of Aboriginal weapons. The hospital gardener made a special boomerang-shaped wreath of wattle blossom which was placed on his chest. A few days later, on 26 September, hundreds of residents, including local Members of Parliament, assembled for the beginning of the funeral procession at the hospital. They wished to be part of what they believed was the historic occasion of the passing of the 'last of the Ballarat tribe'. Key local churches and institutions had jostled to organise this burial. Ultimately, it was the Anglican Archedeacon who presided over the service and the Methodists who donated the grave plot.

New bird records from the Fortescue Marsh and nearby claypans, Pilbara bioregion, Western Australia

- Trainor, Colin, Knuckey, Chris, Firth, Ronald

Authors: Trainor, Colin , Knuckey, Chris , Firth, Ronald
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Field Ornithology Vol. 33, no. (2016), p. 61-81
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Description: The Fortescue Marsh in the Pilbara bioregion, Western Australia, is an extensive ephemeral wetland that fills episodically. It is considered as a potential Ramsar site and is recognised as a nationally important wetland and an Important Bird Area. We surveyed birds at 21 sites on the Fortescue Marsh and a further 23 sites (44 sites in total), including nearby claypans Coondiner Pool and Mungthannannie Pool, in the Fortescue Valley over 12 days in March-April and July 2012. A total of 100 bird species (34 waterbird and 66 landbird species) was recorded during the survey. A further 86 bird species (including 28 waterbird species and 58 landbird species) were recorded for this area from searches of databases and the literature (total of 187 species; 62 waterbirds). New and significant observations during the survey included the first breeding record of Australian Shelduck Tadorna tadornoides for the Pilbara, the first breeding records on the Marsh of Black-tailed Native-hen Tribonyx ventralis and Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia, and the first record of Australian Painted Snipe Rostratula australis for the Fortescue Valley. Despite this area's importance to breeding and visiting waterbirds, the birds of the Fortescue Marsh remain surprisingly under-studied. We highlight some significant but overlooked literature records of waterbirds on the Marsh. Further ground and aerial surveys, and ongoing monitoring of this region would be valuable. © 2016, Bird Observers Club of Australia (BOCA). All rights reserved.

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Percy : A life in China - The life and times of Percy Nettle : 1886-1964

- Nettle, Rodney

Authors: Nettle, Rodney
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: This thesis is about the transnational life of Percival Edward Nettle (1886-1964), a young man born in Ballarat who moved from Australia to Shanghai at the end of 1906 on his way to San Francisco. He never did get to San Francisco but lived in and out of China until he died in 1964. This thesis tells his story and also addresses the perennial human management problem of achieving a co-operative fit between people from different cultural backgrounds. Percy Nettle achieved this fit with the Chinese through developing an exceptional rapport with Chinese people from the time he commenced working with them in 1907 on engineering projects, and later during and through wars and other civil engagements. He was a great success in China, the key to which was his skill with the language and later from his ability to culturally adapt and empathise with the people in the environments in which he was living at the time. Percy also found that his ‘Wesleyan’ approach to people conveniently dovetailed with the ‘Confucian’ values approach of the Chinese. Percy was able to communicate with Chinese people from Viceroys to infantry men and bandits and could win their trust regardless of social levels. Percy documented his ‘fitting in’ experience with the Chinese in his diaries, letters and journals over a fifty-five-year period until his death in Hong Kong in 1964. The analysis and contextualisation of his original records form the basis of this thesis and what is learned from this study of his exceptional life is the importance of achieving a very high level of cultural empathy and understanding with the people we deal with beginning with learning how to speak with them in their own language. Percy was also able to demonstrate the universal efficacy of strong ethical values even when they are transposed from one cultural setting to another.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Playing the ghost : Ghost hoaxing and supernaturalism in late nineteenth-century Victoria, Australia

- Waldron, David, Waldron, Sharn

Authors: Waldron, David , Waldron, Sharn
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Journal article , Review
Relation: Folklore (United Kingdom) Vol. 127, no. 1 (2016), p. 71-90
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Description: This article employs a Jungian analytical perspective in its exploration of the phenomenon of ghost hoaxing in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century colonial Victoria, Australia, as observed through its reportage in the print media of the era. © 2016The Folklore Society.

Playing the ghost : ghost hoaxing and supernaturalism in nineteenth-century Victoria

- Waldron, David

Authors: Waldron, David
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Goldfields and the gothic : A hidden heritage & folklore p. 19-30
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Description: Ghosts have long been a popular subject in central Victoria. Even in the late Goldfields era, belief in ghosts, ghost stories and hauntings were popular subjects for entertainment and attracted significant attention in the printed press and public gatherings and lectures. In a sense Ballarat was a 'haunted' city from very early in its coloniel history. With such a demand and popular interest in ghosts, Ballarat also became a hot bed of spiritualism and ghost hoaxing. This paper examines the history and context of ghost hoaxing in nineteenth-century colonial Victoria with a focus on Ballarat and the central Victorian region.

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Progressive rebels of Boy's Own Adventure? The 1935 Australian Cricket tour of India; breaking down social and racial barriers

- Ponsford, Megan

Authors: Ponsford, Megan
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: In October 1935, a touring party embarked on the inaugural tour of India by an Australian cricket team. To a great, and somewhat stereotypical, extent popular representations of IndianeAustralian relations are viewed through the lens of cricket – the national game in both countries. This dissertation about a significant, yet overlooked, chapter in sporting history examines the Australian cricketers’ response to the social, racial and political hierarchies of lateecolonial India. The experience of the touring party encouraged a reeimagining of ideological perspectives and this thesis identifies a uniquely Australian subjectivity to the British colonisation of India. The tour between the colony (India) and the dominion (Australia) can be interpreted as an antie imperial gesture. Both countries were attempting to forge relationships that would be independent from Britain. The role of cricket, itself experiencing a renaissance during the 1930s as it transformed from a largely amateur pursuit to an increasingly professional occupation is interrogated. As part of this transformation international cricket positioned itself as an increasingly politicised global entity within the broader turbulence of the firstehalf of the twentieth century. All those involved in the tour are now dead. However a close historical analysis of previously lost, highly personalised, primary material (letters, manuscripts, photographs and cricket ephemera) enables an interpretation of the players’ experience. This thesis argues that sporting events can be interpreted as cultural ciphers yet scholars and the wider sportsewriting community have neglected the historical significance of the 1935/36 tour. The unofficial status of the tour and its highly professional emphasis alienated it from the amateur ideals of Australian cricket. This transnational, multiedisciplinary approach addresses a lacunae in the professional trajectory of cricket. It also provides a new understanding and historical counter narrative of idetwentieth century IndianeAustralian sporting history and cultural exchange.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Social memory and battle names : Exploring links between travel, memory and the media

- Winter, Caroline

Authors: Winter, Caroline
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Journal article , Review
Relation: Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 16, no. 3 (2016), p. 242-253
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Description: The profile of five battles fought by Australians in the Great War (1914-1918) was traced over the past century using the frequency by which they were cited in the popular media. The pattern of these frequencies appeared to remain much the same from 1915 until the 1990s with battles involving very large numbers of casualties at Pozières and Passchendaele having a higher media frequency than smaller battles at Fromelles and Villers-Bretonneux. Gallipoli's status as Australia's best known battlefield has been consistent from 1915 until the present day. Over the past decade however, the media frequencies suggest that there has been a re-prioritization in the importance of these five battles. The discovery of lost graves at Fromelles and the introduction of a Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux has elevated the importance of these two sites, with the result that tourist visitation to them has also increased. © The Author(s) 2016.

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The life and times of Dr Hermann Beckler (1828-1914) : An Australian - Barvarian Odyssey

- Dodd, David

Authors: Dodd, David
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
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Description: The principal aim of this research thesis has been to reconstruct the life and times of Dr Hermann Beckler (1828-1914), a Bavarian-born scientist and adventurer who spent six years in Australia between 1856 and 1862. This study constitutes the first authoritative analysis of Beckler’s life. It focuses on the various turning points that influenced his odyssey-like journey from Bavaria to Australia and back again, as well as his travels within Australia, his interest in the natural environment and the botany of Australia, and his empathy towards the Indigenous people. Beckler was a product of the Age of Romanticism. He was an enigmatic and contemplative person, yet possessed a degree of toughness and resilience to overcome what appeared to be initially a self-imposed exile, replete with self-recriminations, as he tried to establish himself, firstly as a medical doctor and then as a pharmacist in the pioneering Moreton Bay region of colonial New South Wales. His interests in the natural sciences provided a solution to the problem of employment, and his botanical collecting skills ultimately gained him a position with Dr Ferdinand Mueller of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. He worked as a botanical plant collector in northern New South Wales before his medical qualifications and botanical saw him appointed as medical doctor and botanist to the Victorian Exploring Expedition 1860-1861 led by Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills. Beckler recognized this appointment as an opportunity to explore the hitherto unknown parts of the interior of Australia and while he did his best to fulfill his role, he was frustrated by the mismanagement of the whole expedition by Burke’s erratic leadership and by the ineptitude of the Royal Society of Victoria’s Exploration Committee. He remains one of Australia’s and Germany’s forgotten explorer botanists. This thesis aims to bring to life Beckler’s contribution to this important episode in Australian colonial history.
Description: Master of Business by Research

The mystery of the Moranghurk sculptures

- Cahir, David (Fred)

Authors: Cahir, David (Fred)
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Goldfields and the gothic : A hidden heritage & folklore p. 143-150
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Description: Since the earliest colonial days in Australia there have been a large number of reports of what have variously been described as stone carving, rock sculptures, earthen sculptures and rock engravings by Aboriginal people. The most prominent of these has been on the wooden sculptures emanating from northern Australia. Few anthropologists have minutely reported on what McCarthy described as examples of Aboriginal 'plastic art'. Aboriginal sculptures 'crudely fashioned' from beeswax, some of them 'made to represent human figures' but more generally 'modelled' to represent 'kangaroos, turtles, goannas, crocodiles and birds'. One of the most widely reported earthen carvings in what is now known as Victoria was described as the Challicum Bunyip. This was reputed to be an outline of a creature known as a bunyip, which was gouged into the ground. Other accounts of life-sized Aboriginal sculpture in Victoria are not numerous but certainly extant.

The night Dixie came to town : The Shenandoah and the American Civil War in Ballarat

- Moll, Nicholas

Authors: Moll, Nicholas
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Goldfields and the gothic : A hidden heritage & folklore p. 116-129
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Description: That the American Civil War occurred exclusively within North America and affected specifically United States affair is a common misconception. Whilst the majority of the infantry conflict occured within and between the United and then Confederate States of America, the clash was such that it and its effects spread accross the globe. Also engaged in the American Civil War were Prussian military observers; political entanglements with the United Kingdom and Russia; Canadian volunteers within the Union army; smuggling and blockade running from the Bahamas into the Confederate States; cotton shortages in French industries that were heavily reliant on raw materials imported from the southern states; merchant raiding in the Pacific and Atlantic; along with countless other entanglements to Europe and their colonies into the conflict through one means or another. The tyranny of distance notwithstanding, Australia was no exception to the overflow of conflicts and consequences that resulted from the American Civil War.

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The use of on-farm water points and artificial wildlife ponds in providing habitat for fauna in the Wimmera and Southern Mallee, Victoria, Australia

- Starks, Jonathan

Authors: Starks, Jonathan
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Thesis , Masters
Full Text:
Description: Fauna living in arid environments face strong ecological and physiological constraints. Water is the key requirement and vertebrates exhibit a range of adaptations for survival. Some species obtain water from their diet, but those which require water to drink or as habitat must either live in or near permanent water, or move in search of water. This strongly influences the distribution and abundance of vertebrate species in arid environments. In arid agricultural landscapes, the development of artificial water sources for stock has benefited water-dependant native fauna, particularly frogs. Little is known about the effects of removal of artificial water sources in these environments. In North-western Victoria, completion of the Northern Mallee Pipeline and the proposed construction of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline will ultimately replace over 20,000 farm dams, resulting in the widespread loss of an open water resource currently used by fauna across the Wimmera and southern Mallee. The wildlife values of the different on-farm water points in the Northern Mallee Pipeline region and the remaining Wimmera Mallee Domestic and Stock Channel System were examined. Species richness and abundance of vertebrates were surveyed at farm dams, channels and stock troughs in open paddocks, and at farm dams in Mallee woodlands. Mallee woodlands with no available water were also surveyed. Sites were surveyed once per season to determine which species were utilising the different on-farm water points and Mallee woodlands. Knowledge of their usage by different species allowed the importance of each water point type to be determined and the impact of the closure of the channel system to be assessed. The study recorded 57 vertebrate species in the Northern Mallee Pipeline region, including six reptile, 43 bird, seven mammal and zero frog species. Surveys in the Wimmera Mallee Channel/dam region recorded 74 different species, including three reptile , 57 bird, eight mammal and six frog species. Overall species richness and abundance was highest at sites with a farm dam in a Mallee woodland, and the levels of species richness and abundance were significantly higher than at sites with Mallee woodland and no available water. The differences between the two site types were due mainly to greater abundance of water- dependant species at farm dams in Mallee woodland sites. For water points in open paddocks, species richness and abundance was highest at sites with a farm dam in an open paddock and lowest at sites with a stock trough in an open paddock. The difference between the different open paddock water point types were significant, and like woodland sites, were driven by greater numbers of water-dependant species. The study also examined whether purpose-built artificial wildlife ponds could provide habitat for water-dependant fauna and whether artificial wildlife ponds could potentially maintain fauna populations after de-commissioning of the existing channel system. The results of this study showed that artificial wildlife ponds placed in Mallee woodlands can provide habitat for birds, both in the Northern Mallee Pipeline region and the Wimmera Mallee Channel/dam region. The results also showed that these wildlife ponds can support species assemblages at levels comparable to a farm dam in a Mallee woodland, demonstrating that wildlife ponds can be effective in providing a degree of ‘replacement’ habitat for birds on farms. Frogs were not recorded using wildlife ponds situated in Mallee woodlands and this was considered due to the wildlife ponds being placed at least 900 metres from a nearby water source potentially too far for many frog species to disperse in an arid environment. Given these findings, the position of ponds was adjusted for the ponds installed in Black Box woodlands. Wildlife ponds in Black Box woodlands were also successful in providing habitat for birds and functioned as an important source of water for water-dependant birds in summer. Frogs were recorded using the wildlife ponds situated in Black Box woodlands and this was most likely due to their close proximity (<200 metres) to a nearby water source, as well as being located in a wetland-associated vegetation type. The success of the wildlife ponds concept has been demonstrated both in their ability to function as habitat for water-dependant fauna and through widespread community acceptance and support. With the de-commissioning of the channel and dam system removing open water sources from the farming landscape, artificial wildlife ponds installed on farms across the region could provide not just a vital habitat resource supporting water-dependant fauna, but in many areas, the only source of water for wildlife within the Wimmera and southern Mallee regions.
Description: Masters of Applied Science

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