Restoration ecology in the semi-arid woodlands of north-west Victoria
- Authors: Murdoch, Fiona
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Arid areas are often overgrazed and dysfunctional with poor recruitment of desirable species, diminished control over resources and altered soil properties. Restoration ecology re-establishes these valued processes. State-and-transition models summarise knowledge of vegetation dynamics and tools for restoration, and encourage the incorporation of new information. The model developed here for semi-arid woodlands of north-west Victoria highlighted the unknown cause of observed, natural recruitment and the need for a technique, other than direct seeding and handplanting, for enhancing the recruitment of desirable species. I pursued these knowledge gaps for two dominant, woodland trees: Allocasuarina luehmannii and Casuarina pauper. Natural recruitment of juvenile C. pauper was found to be limited and primarily from root suckers. Extensive recruitment of A. luehmannii was shown to be mostly seedlings established following substantial reductions in grazing pressure since 1996. Seedlings were associated with areas devoid of ground flora near a female tree. The importance of competition between seedlings and ground flora, spatial variation in soil moisture and individual variation in the quantity of seed produced deserves further investigation to enhance future restoration success. Root suckers of both C. pauper and A. luehmannii can be artificially initiated, albeit in low numbers and this was found to be a feasible, new tool for restoration. Suckers are preceded by the growth of callus tissue on exposed or damaged, living, shallow roots. Both male and female trees can produce suckers and spring treatments may be more successful. Genetic fingerprinting of mature A. luehmannii and C. pauper trees in six populations did not identify any clonal individuals indicating that recruitment in the past has been from seedlings. Despite this, the high level of gene flow suggests that the impact of introducing small numbers of root suckers into existing populations is unlikely to impact negatively on the population genetics of these species.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Murdoch, Fiona
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Arid areas are often overgrazed and dysfunctional with poor recruitment of desirable species, diminished control over resources and altered soil properties. Restoration ecology re-establishes these valued processes. State-and-transition models summarise knowledge of vegetation dynamics and tools for restoration, and encourage the incorporation of new information. The model developed here for semi-arid woodlands of north-west Victoria highlighted the unknown cause of observed, natural recruitment and the need for a technique, other than direct seeding and handplanting, for enhancing the recruitment of desirable species. I pursued these knowledge gaps for two dominant, woodland trees: Allocasuarina luehmannii and Casuarina pauper. Natural recruitment of juvenile C. pauper was found to be limited and primarily from root suckers. Extensive recruitment of A. luehmannii was shown to be mostly seedlings established following substantial reductions in grazing pressure since 1996. Seedlings were associated with areas devoid of ground flora near a female tree. The importance of competition between seedlings and ground flora, spatial variation in soil moisture and individual variation in the quantity of seed produced deserves further investigation to enhance future restoration success. Root suckers of both C. pauper and A. luehmannii can be artificially initiated, albeit in low numbers and this was found to be a feasible, new tool for restoration. Suckers are preceded by the growth of callus tissue on exposed or damaged, living, shallow roots. Both male and female trees can produce suckers and spring treatments may be more successful. Genetic fingerprinting of mature A. luehmannii and C. pauper trees in six populations did not identify any clonal individuals indicating that recruitment in the past has been from seedlings. Despite this, the high level of gene flow suggests that the impact of introducing small numbers of root suckers into existing populations is unlikely to impact negatively on the population genetics of these species.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Strangers in a strange land : Converging and accommodating Celtic identities in Ballarat 1851-1901
- Authors: Croggon, Janice
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This thesis examines the paths by which four Celtic ethnic identities, Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and Irish, responded to the specific society and culture of the Victorian goldfields between 1850-1901. The individual Celtic groups intersected, harmonised and contested with each other in a process through which they retained their identities and yet managed to move towards becoming part of a larger, more-encompassing unity."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Croggon, Janice
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: "This thesis examines the paths by which four Celtic ethnic identities, Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and Irish, responded to the specific society and culture of the Victorian goldfields between 1850-1901. The individual Celtic groups intersected, harmonised and contested with each other in a process through which they retained their identities and yet managed to move towards becoming part of a larger, more-encompassing unity."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The regional trifecta: Entrepreneurs, managers and community leaders - an Ethnographic typology of leaders collaborating in a Regional Vicrorian Community
- Authors: Isham, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This doctoral thesis explores a socioeconomic model for understanding and analysing leadership in the regional area of Horsham and its hinterland communities. This thesis critiques accepted models of regional development policy and leadership theory and in doing so argues for a new approach emphasising the roles that leaders adopt to achieve goals. These roles comprise the entrepreneur, manager and community leader that this thesis terms the regional trifecta model of leadership. This is a model that explores the ways that leaders attain mutuality within social and economic eco-systems in order to achieve long-term regional economic sustainability and liveability for residents. This doctoral study uses a critical qualitative ethnographic exploration of Horsham and its surrounding region drawing on researcher, the informant participant’s observations from a wide range of industries and social backgrounds. This thesis discusses themes of policy barriers to environmentally sustainable entrepreneurship, social ostracism of female leaders, a sense of futility in bureaucratic compliance, passive and unsupportive communities, tempered with the critical hope of social enterprise and potential partnerships. In examining these themes the thesis argues that entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly values driven. It also asserts that they experience barriers of unreliable labour and unsupportive external partnerships. Managers are also strongly values driven and can experience many barriers from internal partnerships within their own organisations. Community leaders are values driven and struggle against the barriers of bureaucracy with the organisations they partner with. The thesis provides a new contribution to the literature. This includes a critique of psycho-social approaches to leadership through role-based explorations that emphasise a collective responsibility for success within an eco-system. It also examines the types of people that become leaders and their motivations in regional Victoria. From this emerges a discussion about the tension between formal governance and power structures and the informal agency of leaders. The recommendations that emerge from this research are that policy-makers, local, state and federal governments acknowledge and support the role of existing informal leaders and the significant social and economic benefit they bring to regional Victoria.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Isham, Amy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This doctoral thesis explores a socioeconomic model for understanding and analysing leadership in the regional area of Horsham and its hinterland communities. This thesis critiques accepted models of regional development policy and leadership theory and in doing so argues for a new approach emphasising the roles that leaders adopt to achieve goals. These roles comprise the entrepreneur, manager and community leader that this thesis terms the regional trifecta model of leadership. This is a model that explores the ways that leaders attain mutuality within social and economic eco-systems in order to achieve long-term regional economic sustainability and liveability for residents. This doctoral study uses a critical qualitative ethnographic exploration of Horsham and its surrounding region drawing on researcher, the informant participant’s observations from a wide range of industries and social backgrounds. This thesis discusses themes of policy barriers to environmentally sustainable entrepreneurship, social ostracism of female leaders, a sense of futility in bureaucratic compliance, passive and unsupportive communities, tempered with the critical hope of social enterprise and potential partnerships. In examining these themes the thesis argues that entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly values driven. It also asserts that they experience barriers of unreliable labour and unsupportive external partnerships. Managers are also strongly values driven and can experience many barriers from internal partnerships within their own organisations. Community leaders are values driven and struggle against the barriers of bureaucracy with the organisations they partner with. The thesis provides a new contribution to the literature. This includes a critique of psycho-social approaches to leadership through role-based explorations that emphasise a collective responsibility for success within an eco-system. It also examines the types of people that become leaders and their motivations in regional Victoria. From this emerges a discussion about the tension between formal governance and power structures and the informal agency of leaders. The recommendations that emerge from this research are that policy-makers, local, state and federal governments acknowledge and support the role of existing informal leaders and the significant social and economic benefit they bring to regional Victoria.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
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