Description:
This study sought to examine the attitudes of heterosexual university students to peer suicide when that peer was gay, lesbian, or heterosexual. University students (n = 206) completed several questionnaires, including The Suicide Attitude Vignette Experience. Results indicated that the suicide act was seen as more justified, acceptable, and necessary when the adolescent was gay or lesbian. Further, gay and lesbian youth suicide victims were shown significantly less empathy than heterosexual suicide victims. Participants' level of homophobia was found to be a significant predictor of attitudes toward gay and lesbian youth suicide. Results indicate that the peer group of gay and lesbian youth is unsupportive of their sexual orientation, and these attitudes may be an additional risk factor for gay and lesbian youth suicide.
Description:
A 'political ecology' perspective was used to examine the implications of the export woodchip scheme located near Eden in south east New South Wales (NSW) for the region's public forests and their fauna. The modern paper industry's political economy emphasises the importance of a large supply of wood fibre of suitable price and quality for competitive papermaking. The evolution of the Japanese paper industry and the exploitative history of forests in south east NSW interacted to create the opportunity to establish such a supply in Australia for the Japanese papermaker Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co from 1970. The ‘Harris-Daishowa’ export woodchip scheme at Eden was based on the guaranteed supply of large volumes of pulpwood from the region’s public native forests. Meeting this supply entailed restructuring available forests through clearfell logging over about 40 years. Features of the regime used to manage these forests and supply pulpwood were examined within this context, and the consequences of woodchipping for fauna protection are discussed. Fauna populations were being restructured by this regime, which ‘squeezed’ them between priorities for wood production and fire management. In particular; forest-dependent fauna, such as gliders, some possums and koalas, have been detrimentally impacted. Substantial changes to public forest management in south east NSW took almost 30 years to achieve. However, while export woodchipping continues, the ‘political ecology’ of local forest fauna will be influenced by international pulp and paper markets.
Description:
This thesis will argue that Catherine Helen Spence, a writer, preacher and reformer who migrated from Scotland to Australia in 1839, performed the role of a public intellectual in Australia similar to that played by a number of women of letters in Victorian England. While her ideas were strongly influenced by important British and European nineteenth-century intellectual figures and movements, as well as by Enlightenment thought, her work also reflects the different socio-political, historical and cultural environment of Australia. These connections and influences can be seen in her engagement with what were some of the "big ideas" of the nineteenth century, including feminism, socialism, religious scepticism, utopianism and the value of progress. In arguing that Spence was a public intellectual, I will consider the ways in which she used the literary genres of fiction and journalism, as well as her sermons, to try to help her fellow citizens make sense of the world, attempting to organise and articulate some of the significant ideas affecting the political, social and cultural climates in which they lived. Through the exploration of Spence's intellectual work, I will show how she can be regarded as making a significant contribution to nineteenth-century Australian intellectual life, one that has been under-recognised and under-valued.
Description:
This thesis will argue that Catherine Helen Spence, a writer, preacher and reformer who migrated from Scotland to Australia in 1839, performed the role of a public intellectual in Australia similar to that played by a number of women of letters in Victorian England. While her ideas were strongly influenced by important British and European nineteenth-century intellectual figures and movements, as well as by Enlightenment thought, her work also reflects the different socio-political, historical and cultural environment of Australia. These connections and influences can be seen in her engagement with what were some of the "big ideas" of the nineteenth century, including feminism, socialism, religious scepticism, utopianism and the value of progress. In arguing that Spence was a public intellectual, I will consider the ways in which she used the literary genres of fiction and journalism, as well as her sermons, to try to help her fellow citizens make sense of the world, attempting to organise and articulate some of the significant ideas affecting the political, social and cultural climates in which they lived. Through the exploration of Spence's intellectual work, I will show how she can be regarded as making a significant contribution to nineteenth-century Australian intellectual life, one that has been under-recognised and under-valued.
Description:
This paper focuses on the registration of supervisors as a crucial element in constructs and practices of postgraduate studies in Australian universities. It examines two processes in a number of Australian universities postgraduate divisions' practices in compilation of postgraduate supervisor registers-how people get onto the register, and how people get off it. It takes issue with the reliance on custom and tradition as a dominant practice of registration and/or deregistration for supervision of postgraduate research studies. It suggests a model of supervisor registration and deregistration as intentional and systematic intervention, based on literature deriving from research in postgraduate supervision which acknowledges the problematic natures of relationships between teaching, learning and knowledge production. In doing so, it examines issues of discursive practice and the problematic nature of power differentials in supervisor/supervisee relationships and the possibilities presented by both registration and deregistration for such relationships.
Description:
This paper focuses on the registration of supervisors as a crucial element in constructs and practices of postgraduate studies in Australian universities. It examines two processes in a number of Australian universities postgraduate divisions' practices in compilation of postgraduate supervisor registers-how people get onto the register, and how people get off it. It takes issue with the reliance on custom and tradition as a dominant practice of registration and/or deregistration for supervision of postgraduate research studies. It suggests a model of supervisor registration and deregistration as intentional and systematic intervention, based on literature deriving from research in postgraduate supervision which acknowledges the problematic natures of relationships between teaching, learning and knowledge production. In doing so, it examines issues of discursive practice and the problematic nature of power differentials in supervisor/supervisee relationships and the possibilities presented by both registration and deregistration for such relationships.
Description:
The independent weekly Sydney Bulletin and W.T. Stead's monthly Review of Reviews for Australia, both published for the Australian market in the early 1890s, took quite different lines on questions of national identity and imperial loyalty. Their frequently antipathetic positions were affected by many factors, not least of all being the strong personalities and political principles in the context of the late nineteenth-century Australian print culture and argues for a broader understanding of what might constitute an "Australian" voice at that period.
Description:
The independent weekly Sydney Bulletin and W.T. Stead's monthly Review of Reviews for Australia, both published for the Australian market in the early 1890s, took quite different lines on questions of national identity and imperial loyalty. Their frequently antipathetic positions were affected by many factors, not least of all being the strong personalities and political principles in the context of the late nineteenth-century Australian print culture and argues for a broader understanding of what might constitute an "Australian" voice at that period.
Description:
This thesis explores the issues involved in developing a relatively low-cost digital imaging analysis (DIA) system fot the quality assessment of wheat and barley using commonly available equipment. It also explores the capability of such a system to provide rapid and accurate assessments.
Description:
Master of Applied Science by research
Description:
This thesis explores the issues involved in developing a relatively low-cost digital imaging analysis (DIA) system fot the quality assessment of wheat and barley using commonly available equipment. It also explores the capability of such a system to provide rapid and accurate assessments.
Description:
Master of Applied Science by research
Description:
Adults in Australia have tended to return relatively recently to learning in patterns that are significantly different by gender. These patterns of gender segmentation for adults are particularly noticeable in the findings of recent research by the author into adult, community and vocational learning in small and remote towns in Victoria. The issues associated with such patterns form the basis of this exploratory paper.
Description:
As late as 1961, nearly seven thousand children were in the custody of Victorian institutions or under the care of the Children's Welfare Department. Many of them were institutionalised simply because they had been born out of welock; more than half were admitted because of so-called 'neglect'. This is what happened to Frank Golding and his two brothers. On Christmas Eve 1940, the boys - Frank (not yet three), Bob (four), and Bill (six) - found themselves on the doorstep of an orphan asylum. They were certainly not orphans, but the boys spent most of their lost childhood inside the walls of the Ballarat Orphanage. 'An Orphan's Escape' is not just about surviving in the emotional wasteland of state care. It would take Frank fifty years to learn what had been happening 'outside the wall' while he was inside. Where were his parents? Why didn't they come for him? Why wouldn't anyone tell him? Frank's childhood puzzlement lasted half a lifetime. Theirs was by no means the only appalling story of the time. Hundreds of similar stories were told to the Federal Senate Committee's 2004 Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care. His parents rescued him at last, but the battle for their children had been at a huge cost. Files from the welfare department, the army and the police opened up a dark pit that his parents had kept hidden. Although his parents had been irresponsible in the early stages of this saga, 'An Orphan's Escape' reveals that evidence Frank discovered in the files showed they care deeply about their children.
Description:
As late as 1961, nearly seven thousand children were in the custody of Victorian institutions or under the care of the Children's Welfare Department. Many of them were institutionalised simply because they had been born out of welock; more than half were admitted because of so-called 'neglect'. This is what happened to Frank Golding and his two brothers. On Christmas Eve 1940, the boys - Frank (not yet three), Bob (four), and Bill (six) - found themselves on the doorstep of an orphan asylum. They were certainly not orphans, but the boys spent most of their lost childhood inside the walls of the Ballarat Orphanage. 'An Orphan's Escape' is not just about surviving in the emotional wasteland of state care. It would take Frank fifty years to learn what had been happening 'outside the wall' while he was inside. Where were his parents? Why didn't they come for him? Why wouldn't anyone tell him? Frank's childhood puzzlement lasted half a lifetime. Theirs was by no means the only appalling story of the time. Hundreds of similar stories were told to the Federal Senate Committee's 2004 Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care. His parents rescued him at last, but the battle for their children had been at a huge cost. Files from the wefare department, the army and the police opened up a dark pit that his parents had kept hidden. Although his parents had been irresponsible in the early stages of this saga, 'An Orphan's Escape' reveals that evidence Frank discovered in the files showed they care deeply about their children.
Description:
Arid vegetation is subjected to more or less frequent fire, drought, and sporadic flooding events and grazing. Whilst fire, drought and grazing have been the subject of considerable research, little is known of the impact of flooding in arid environments. In this study we examined opportunistically the effects of a flooding event, and its interaction with fire and grazing on moulding arid vegetation in New South Wales, Australia. We assessed vegetation approximately 2 and 5 years after recession of the water in fenced and unfenced plots subjected to different combinations of flooding and fire. Number of species per area dropped from 11.8 to 5.7 per 625 m(2). Vegetation in plots left open to grazing by vertebrates differed from fenced plots, but the amount of variation explained was small compared with flooding and the change over time. The taxa mostly associated with flooding were Eragrostis spp., Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum and the exotic Nicotiana glauca. Major flooding events not only trigger native species' germination and recruitment but may also create an avenue for exotic species to invade. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Description:
Arid vegetation is subjected to more or less frequent fire, drought, and sporadic flooding events and grazing. Whilst fire, drought and grazing have been the subject of considerable research, little is known of the impact of flooding in arid environments. In this study we examined opportunistically the effects of a flooding event, and its interaction with fire and grazing on moulding arid vegetation in New South Wales, Australia. We assessed vegetation approximately 2 and 5 years after recession of the water in fenced and unfenced plots subjected to different combinations of flooding and fire. Number of species per area dropped from 11.8 to 5.7 per 625 m(2). Vegetation in plots left open to grazing by vertebrates differed from fenced plots, but the amount of variation explained was small compared with flooding and the change over time. The taxa mostly associated with flooding were Eragrostis spp., Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum and the exotic Nicotiana glauca. Major flooding events not only trigger native species' germination and recruitment but may also create an avenue for exotic species to invade. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Description:
Over the last three decades the way in which public policy analysts learn about the structure and function of Australia’s small towns has shifted from the intensive, in-depth analysis provided by the anthropologist living in the community (called “community studies”) to a more empirically oriented, demographic-based research carried out at a distance from these places (called “sustainability studies”). Rather than just understanding the functioning of small towns through case studies, recent research emphasis has centred on the more “aggregative” question of small town sustainability in all it forms. This alters the way in which small towns are viewed and complicates the current policy approaches to small town development and change. This paper identifies the two different methodologies implied by these divergent approaches and examines what this means to understanding of small towns and the policy implications that emerge. By reviewing the community studies approach to learning about small towns popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and contrasting this approach with recent, more aggregative approaches to learning about the sustainability of towns; this paper aims to find points of alignment and suggest a broader research framework that incorporates both approaches. This provides a comprehensive understanding of small towns, leading to a more effective development of public policies for these communities.
Description:
Over the last three decades the way in which public policy analysts learn about the structure and function of Australia’s small towns has shifted from the intensive, in-depth analysis provided by the anthropologist living in the community (called “community studies”) to a more empirically oriented, demographic-based research carried out at a distance from these places (called “sustainability studies”). Rather than just understanding the functioning of small towns through case studies, recent research emphasis has centred on the more “aggregative” question of small town sustainability in all it forms. This alters the way in which small towns are viewed and complicates the current policy approaches to small town development and change. This paper identifies the two different methodologies implied by these divergent approaches and examines what this means to understanding of small towns and the policy implications that emerge. By reviewing the community studies approach to learning about small towns popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and contrasting this approach with recent, more aggregative approaches to learning about the sustainability of towns; this paper aims to find points of alignment and suggest a broader research framework that incorporates both approaches. This provides a comprehensive understanding of small towns, leading to a more effective development of public policies for these communities.
Description:
This paper interrogates recurring discourses in Australia’s public domain with regards to the issue of refugees and Australianness, and how they have been used to ratify notions of inclusion and exclusion with regards to what being Australian - or indeed being un-Australian - does and should mean. The unpacking of these primary discursive positions will be based on an analysis of the letters to the editor published in both The Australian (Australia’s national newspaper) and The West Australian, covering one key period from 22 January to 28 February 2002 (a period encompassing the Woomera hunger strike).
Description:
This paper interrogates recurring discourses in Australia’s public domain with regards to the issue of refugees and Australianness, and how they have been used to ratify notions of inclusion and exclusion with regards to what being Australian - or indeed being un-Australian - does and should mean. The unpacking of these primary discursive positions will be based on an analysis of the letters to the editor published in both The Australian (Australia’s national newspaper) and The West Australian, covering one key period from 22 January to 28 February 2002 (a period encompassing the Woomera hunger strike).
Description:
"This study is an investigation of progress in Australia over the 20th century. Progress is defined here as the enhancement of human wellbeing. For the purposes of this study, human wellbeing will be characterised by five main components: knowledge, environment, economy, individual and social. Enhancement refers to positive directional change in terms of these components. The study firstly develops a framework to conceptualise progress. It then collects and uses statistical data in a descriptive study of what happened in Australia, over those 100 years, in terms of progress in general and in terms of its components. The study also develops a typology of relationships for models of progress, which best explain the Australian data. This study finally explores some of the relationships between the elements that make up the components of progress and looks at ways to best explain what has happened..." --p.1.
Description:
"This study is an investigation of progress in Australia over the 20th century. Progress is defined here as the enhancement of human wellbeing. For the purposes of this study, human wellbeing will be characterised by five main components: knowledge, environment, economy, individual and social. Enhancement refers to positive directional change in terms of these components. The study firstly develops a framework to conceptualise progress. It then collects and uses statistical data in a descriptive study of what happened in Australia, over those 100 years, in terms of progress in general and in terms of its components. The study also develops a typology of relationships for models of progress, which best explain the Australian data. This study finally explores some of the relationships between the elements that make up the components of progress and looks at ways to best explain what has happened..." --p.1.
Description:
Nationally there are more than 50 member centres and sub-centres of Lifeline Australia’s telephone counselling and referral service, providing an equitable, free, anonymous, and highly accessible primary health resource. The accessibility of this service may mean that it has a particularly important role to play in contributing to the health and well-being of rural and remote Australians. The trained volunteer counsellors of the service receive more than 400 000 calls annually. Information on many of these calls is recorded by telephone counsellors in Lifeline’s Client Service Management Information System (CSMIS). The purpose of this study was to establish if a relationship between the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) and calls to Lifeline Australia could be found. Population standardised areal call rates to Lifeline Ballarat were compiled using Telstra exchange service area to test the hypothesis that a positive relationship between the call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found. 90 128 CSMIS cases from 2003 were examined to explore if any linear relationship between caller characteristics and a centre’s ARIA score were apparent. A number of significant associations with the ARIA scores and CSMIS call variables were observed. However, the hypothesis that a positive relationship between call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found was not supported. An important implication of this exploratory study is that Lifeline’s telephone counselling and referral service may need to be promoted more widely to rural clients and health care providers.
Description:
Nationally there are more than 50 member centres and sub-centres of Lifeline Australia’s telephone counselling and referral service, providing an equitable, free, anonymous, and highly accessible primary health resource. The accessibility of this service may mean that it has a particularly important role to play in contributing to the health and well-being of rural and remote Australians. The trained volunteer counsellors of the service receive more than 400 000 calls annually. Information on many of these calls is recorded by telephone counsellors in Lifeline’s Client Service Management Information System (CSMIS). The purpose of this study was to establish if a relationship between the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) and calls to Lifeline Australia could be found. Population standardised areal call rates to Lifeline Ballarat were compiled using Telstra exchange service area to test the hypothesis that a positive relationship between the call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found. 90 128 CSMIS cases from 2003 were examined to explore if any linear relationship between caller characteristics and a centre’s ARIA score were apparent. A number of significant associations with the ARIA scores and CSMIS call variables were observed. However, the hypothesis that a positive relationship between call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found was not supported. An important implication of this exploratory study is that Lifeline’s telephone counselling and referral service may need to be promoted more widely to rural clients and health care providers.
Description:
In an educational climate sharply focused on school improvement, a large Australian multi-campus secondary college has developed a formal and ongoing partnership with the School of Education at their regional university. This paper examines one of the initiatives they developed together; an approach aptly called Collaborative Learning Partnerships that aims to enable teachers to learn more deeply in the context of their work through critical reflection, self-analysis, collaborative planning processes, substantive conversation and the testing of new ideas and approaches. The initial concept was inspired by the growing body of research that indicates that teachers make the fundamental difference to students' learning. If teacher learning became a real priority in the college it was felt that students'; learning would subsequently be enhanced. How then could the classroom, the space where teachers spend most of their working time, be used as a context in which teachers too could learn deeply about their role and the complexity of their work? This paper points to the influence of complex social processes that are at play when teachers work together in this way and to the understandings about learning itself that are surfaced through such processes.
Description:
In an educational climate sharply focused on school improvement, a large Australian multi-campus secondary college has developed a formal and ongoing partnership with the School of Education at their regional university. This paper examines one of the initiatives they developed together; an approach aptly called Collaborative Learning Partnerships that aims to enable teachers to learn more deeply in the context of their work through critical reflection, self-analysis, collaborative planning processes, substantive conversation and the testing of new ideas and approaches. The initial concept was inspired by the growing body of research that indicates that teachers make the fundamental difference to students' learning. If teacher learning became a real priority in the college it was felt that students'; learning would subsequently be enhanced. How then could the classroom, the space where teachers spend most of their working time, be used as a context in which teachers too could learn deeply about their role and the complexity of their work? This paper points to the influence of complex social processes that are at play when teachers work together in this way and to the understandings about learning itself that are surfaced through such processes.
Description:
This study investigated the role of psychological variables in help-seeking behaviour and attitudes in a rural population, with particular emphasis as to whether differences existed between farmers and non-farming rural residents. These groups were contrasted, as research suggests that farmers appear to be a sub-group of the Australian population at increased risk of chronic health problems and suicide, even in comparison to other rural residents.