Controlling Lachnagrostis filiformis (Fairy grass) on dry lake beds in western Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Warnock, Andrew
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: The indigenous grass Lachnagrostis filiformis (Fairy grass) has colonised extensive areas of dry lakebeds in western Victoria, Australia during the current (1997-) drought. Large numbers of the plants' detached seed heads disperse in the wind and lodge against housing, fences, railway lines and other obstacles ... In this study, late season application of Glyphosate based herbicide, slashing, seed broadcasting of Atriplex australasica and Puccinellia perlaxa, grazing and burning were examined ... The results highlight how weed management aimed at achieving short-term goals, without controlling the ecological processes that promote weeds establishment and persistence, can be counter productive in the long-term.
- Description: Doctorate of Philosophy
Men's perceptions of health: Implications for the delivery of health education programs in Victoria
- Authors: Gracie, Neil
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: The key issue of concern behind this study was that there have been recent concerns about the gender-based discrepancies in morbidity and mortality rates amongst men and the scant attention generally held by Australian men towards their own health and well-being ... the models of education that have emerged from this research as being appropriate for health delivery advice to urban, rural and disenfranchised men, suggest effective ways to reach out to Australian males.
- Description: Doctor of Education
Development of a model of mental health vulnerability for young men living in rural and regional areas : An investigation of the roles of sense of belonging and employment status
- Authors: Jenkins, Megan
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Thesis , Doctorate
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- Description: Professional Doctorate of Psychology (Clinical)
A public want and a public duty [manuscript] : The role of the Mechanics' Institute in the cultural, social and educational development of Ballarat from 1851 to 1880
- Authors: Hazelwood, Jennifer
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: Mechanics’ Institutes were an integral element of the nineteenth-century British adult education movement, which was itself part of an on-going radicalisation of the working class. Such was the popularity of Mechanics’ Institutes, and so reflective of contemporary British cultural philosophy, that they were copied throughout the British Empire. The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, established in 1859, instilled a powerful, male-gendered British middle-class influence over the cultural, social and educational development of the Ballarat city. The focus of this study is to identify and analyse the significance of the contribution made by the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to the evolving cultural development of the wider Ballarat community, with a particular emphasis on the gender and class dimensions of this influence. This is done within the context of debates about ‘radical fragments’ and ‘egalitarianism’. Utilizing a methodology based on an extensive review of archival records, contemporary newspapers held at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, and previously published research, this study was able to show that, during the period from its inception in 1859 to 1880, the Institute became a focal point for numerous cultural, social and educational activities. As one of the few institutions open to all classes, it was in a position to provide a significant influence over the developing culture of the Ballarat community. The study has also identified the use made of the Institute’s School of Design by women and the contribution of these educational classes to preparing women for employment outside their traditional roles of wives and mothers. The thesis argues that despite some early radical elements, the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute initially espoused liberal egalitarian values. By 1880, however, the Institute was more readily identifiable as reflecting British, male, middle-class values.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A locale of the cosmos : an epic of the Wimmera : exegesis and text
- Authors: Rieth, Homer Manfred
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: "This project has, for its central component, an epic poem, 'A locale of the cosmos'. The accompanying exegesis examines epic as an ancient, but continually evolving form. It argues that, as a contemporary example of the genre and, as a sustained poetic rumination on landscape and memory, 'A locale of the cosmos' represents a significant development within the modern tradition of autobiographical epic. In broader terms, 'A locale of the cosmos' privileges the landscape and history of a region of Australia, the Wimmera region of north-western Victoria and, in doing so, explores the cumulative effects of the physical environment as a site for sustained poetic treatment. The poem is, therefore, an epic of both historical narrative and philosophical reflection, giving meaning to and interpreting ideas of space, place and locale. "Furthermore, it explores, in particular, the psychological and spiritual effects of vast horizontal distances, created by a landscape in which endless plains and immense horizons form an analogue of the wider cosmos. The poem's themes, therefore, bear not only on the prominences of the visible locale, but also explore the salients of an interior world, a landscape of the mind to which the poetry gives shape and meaning."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Black gold : A history of the role of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria, 1850-70
- Authors: Cahir, David (Fred)
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: Reconstructs the history of Aboriginal people and gold mining in Victoria from 1850-1870.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Distribution of arsenic and heavy metals in soils and surface waters in Central Victoria (Ballarat, Creswick and Maldon)
- Authors: Sultan, Khawar
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: "Three sampling campaigns were conducted in the Ballarat, Creswick and Maldon areas. The sampling area is part of the Golden Triangle region where significant gold-mining activities took place from the 1850s to the present day. [...] Locations were chosen to evaluate arsenic distribution in soils, surface waters and plants in different environments. Easy access to sampling locations allowed detailed scientific sampling, especially in the seasonality study. The different range of environments such as agricultural, state forest, mining, urban and rural provided an opportunity to compare the concentrations of arsenic and other elements in the study area. The study of the three selected areas combined provided further understanding of possible exposure and pathways through which arsenic can get into the food chain. "The objective of the study is to measure levels of heavy metals/metalloids in soils, water and plants in various environments, identify whether the heavy metals/metalloids are mobile and bioavailable and understand the importance of clays and oxide complexes in the fixation of metals."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Ballarat and its benevolent asylum : A nineteenth-century model of Christian duty, civic progress and social reform
- Authors: Kinloch, Helen
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: "This study of Ballarat and its Asylum covers the period between the 1850s and the early 1900s when an old-age pension was introduced in Victoria. It is essentially a case study. It argues that Ballarat's Asylum progressively developed and expanded upon a model of organised poor relief practiced among the industrial classes in England, in consequence of the perceived need for rapid capital expansion in Australia, and knowledge of the dangers associated with mining, building construction, and other manual work. The introduction of a secular education system in Victoria, together with enthusiasm among producers for technological innovation and skill development, led to changes in the nature and conditions of paid work, as well as to a push among workers and their sympathizers for greater appreciation of past contributions by older workers and the needs of the ill and/or incapacitated. This push was only partially addressed by the Victorian government in 1901 when it introduced the old-age pension."
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Restoration ecology in the semi-arid woodlands of north-west Victoria
- Authors: Murdoch, Fiona
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- 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
Wine and regional tourism : Cluster complementarity and regional development
- Authors: McRae-Williams, Pamela
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- 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
Outcomes and implications of a koala translocation in the Ballarat region
- Authors: Santamaria, Flavia
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: This research examined the outcome of a translocation of 30 koalas moved from French Island to three sites on mainland Victoria (Creswick, Enfield and Lal Lal State Forests)
- 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
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- 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