School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemState, trauma, subjectivity and the Port Arthur massacre( 1999)The role of government in the field of disaster response and recovery has expanded in recent years to incorporate the social and emotional recovery of individuals and communities. This paper reflects on the many players and processes inherent in an event such as a disaster and draws upon theories of subjectivity that further inform the process of recovery. A consideration of the different conceptualisations of the subject in psychology and social theory highlights the inadequacy of the psychological model in attending to the trauma of disaster victims. This paper draws on general disaster research, and anecdotal material from the experiences of individuals affected by the Port Arthur Massacre, to argue that it is 'social' rather than 'psychological' responses that generate for affected subjects, more successful integration of traumatic events. Anthony Giddens' theory of structuration with its duality of individual and society, and an emphasis on social order, ontological security, routine and the knowledgeable and active agent informed by practical consciousness, provides a useful theory of human subjectivity and social relations from which to undertake a psychosocial consideration of disaster response and recovery. This is further enriched through the theories of subjectivity offered by Cash and Weinstein that account for the role of unconscious processes in the maintenance of social order through the influences of ideology.
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ItemEthics and survival( 1999)
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ItemWriting about women in the history of science : a study of women workers at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in the 1930s and 1940s( 1993)This thesis is both an historiographical discussion of the position of women in the history of science, and an exercise in the writing of the history of women in Australian science. It considers some broad questions about writing the history of science in an Australian context such as: What limitations might there be in the kinds of accounts which celebrate the national growth of science in Australia? Are any groups excluded from these accounts? If so why? What construction of the scientist and of the institution of science dominate such histories? Parallel to these questions the thesis is also concerned with historiographical questions about contemporary feminist approaches to the writing of the history of science, and what contradictions and challenges lie in these accounts, and how these differences can be explained. The study explores which approach appears the most helpful in elucidating the reasons why women are absent both from the history and apparently the institution of science in Australia. Through an examination of women workers at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), during the 1930s and 40s, prior to the Council's transformation to an organisation (CSIRO), the thesis highlights the contradictions in the way women were perceived by the Council, the ways in which their working lives were negotiated and compromised due to their gender, and the ways the women adapted to these limitations. As a full examination of every aspect of the working lives of women at the CSIR would be too large a project, the work concentrates on two points of conflict which help to reveal the various issues faced by women working at the Council, and, more significantly, help to broaden the way in which the women themselves are perceived by the historian. The two sites of conflict around which the discussion in this thesis is based are the marriage bar, which was in force under the Public Service Act from 1922 to 1966, and its impact on the careers of women scientists at the CSIR, and the application for equal pay by women employed in the professional and the assistant classifications at the CSIR during the Second World War which was presided over by the Women's Employment Board (WEB). Both these conflicts, one long-term, the other influenced by the specific conditions of the war, highlight not only how women workers at the CSIR were treated but also the fact that the women were not a homogenous group. The marriage bar certainly affected the lives of all women workers at the Council, but this account will concentrate on the impact it had on the working lives of the women in professional classifications. The WEB case on the other hand reveals that to concentrate only on those women is to ignore an important aspect of the debate about the role and participation of women in science. The WEB case highlights the concerns of that part of the CSIR workforce which is not only ignored in 'great men accounts of the history of science, but also in some feminist histories as well. By looking at the broad spectrum of women working at the Council, this study hopes to challenge some of the ways in which the history of science of organisations such as the CSIR have been written and to add to feminist historical discourse about science and women working in science.
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ItemA timely visit: the role of the Great White Fleet, naval defence and the press in the British-Australian relationship( 1995-09)When the Great White Fleet visited Australia in 1908 it became the focal point of an on-going test of wills between Britain and Australia. Relations between the two countries had become increasingly strained since Britain’s decision in the mid-nineteenth century to establish a new kind of relationship with its colonies. For the Australian colonies this meant moving towards independence within the Empire framework and assuming more responsibility for their own defence. This change had serious repercussions for the Australian colonies and British-Australian relations. Politically and psychologically the Australian colonies had developed an image of themselves as the inferior daughters of the superior and protective Mother Country. By changing the nature of the British-Australian colonial relationship, Britain not only challenged this Australian colonial self-image, it also heightened existing divisions among the Australian colonists. Anglo- Australian loyalists, enamoured of things British, clung to the established colonial image and remained subservient to Imperial wishes. Australian nationalists, on the other hand, tried to establish a new relationship with Britain, one in which Australian colonial concerns would have a greater voice. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemThe Chinese in Australia 1930-45: beyond a history of racism( 1995)The present thesis is a contribution to the history of the Chinese in Australia. In it, I have endeavoured to look at the relations between European and Chinese settlers in Australia from a perspective other than that of racism. Discrimination against the Chinese was common in all settler societies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. On the basis of archival documentation and in conjunction with contemporary sources, I would suggest that a different history can be told in regard to Australian Chinese. To look at the history of the Chinese in Australia in light of the immigration policy alone ignores other aspects of Australian-Chinese history, aspects which concern the daily lives of those Chinese who lived and worked in Australia as Australian citizens. With due regard to Federal political policies implicated at a bureaucratic level, the actual experiences and achievements of Australian Chinese still indicate that they fared better than most authors on the subject would have us believe. ..... In presenting the results of my research, I do not mean to belittle the experience of racism suffered by people of Chinese ancestry in Australia. This experience has been well documented and is, moreover, still being endured. My point is merely that racism was not the sum total of the Chinese experiences of Australian society. As a recent collection of essays shows, the time has come to write about other aspects of Australia's Chinese history. In this thesis I have documented the attitudes and efforts of the Chinese Nationals and Australian Chinese in Australia during the war years. Their efforts, combined with the Australian Chinese communities' supportive role and the increased wartime interactions with other Australians contributed during this period to establishing a greater understanding between the different communities in Australian society. (From introduction)
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ItemAn iconography of suffering: VD in Australia 1914-18( 1995)During the Great War, it was widely held that venereal disease had become ‘rife’ in Australia. This ‘rifeness’ related not only to a perceived rise in its incidence, but to the belief that it was becoming more prevalent in populations traditionally unaffected. By early 1915, a new wave of alarm had swept the nation as the presence of infected soldiers in Australia was made public in the mainstream media. The repatriation of AIF venereal cases from the Middle East in May, and startling reports of the rise of the new ‘amateur prostitute’, added to mounting concern that VD was spreading into populations ‘hitherto unaffected'. To many, these events signified that the ‘foul undercurrent’ of venereal disease was actually penetrating the ‘general population’. The perception that venereal disease was 'rife' was accompanied by the emergence of new regulating discourses, and an increased production of knowledges about VD. The period saw the unprecedented explosion of public discourse in the form of pamphlets, essays, books, lectures conferences, cartoons, and films. This thesis concerns itself with this ‘epistemic epidemic’. (From introduction)
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ItemRupert Bunny's symbolist decade: a study of the religious and occult images 1887-1898( 1998)The late 19th century, Australian-born artist, Rupert Bunny has not been sufficiently acknowledged as a Symbolist figure. This study of his religious and occult works (the most explicit manifestation of the Symbolist preoccupation) shows how they engage with the Symbolist discourse of the day, both in France and in Britain. In the 1880s and 1890s there was a resurgence in religious belief and a general interest in religion, magic and the occult. Bunny began to paint images of the spiritual world, and a distinct occult thread, either from esoteric religions or classical myth, appears beside the Christian legends of the saints and bible stories. His depictions of the occult world are little known, as only photographic and literary evidence remains of rare paintings such as La Tentation de st. Antoine, and a group of works on paper housed at the Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, is unpublished. The iconography of these works of Satanism, the Catholic occult, and ancient Greek and Nordic myths of death is examined in their contemporary context. However, like his contemporary Maurice Denis, Bunny's flutter with the occult is confined to his youthful period. In the new century, after a brief engagement with a more dramatic and naturalistic religious image, based on the Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Titian, he returns to the images of beautiful women at leisure which drew critical acclaim for him. Bunny's British cultural heritage has largely been ignored, yet his paintings fit more easily into the broad Symbolist canon if read in such a context. Paintings such as Les' roses de ste. Dorothee and the Burial of St. Catherine of Alexandria are analysed through their iconography, style and fresh contemporary critical sources which allows them to be reintegrated into the broader Symbolist dialectic. Although Bunny was a cosmopolitan by birth and education the question of nationalism arises as rival critics in France and Britain encouraged him to choose either Paris or London, and to paint a relevant style and subject. Bunny sought recognition as an artist in the conservative venues of the Royal Academy and the Société des Artistes français and his style reflects this context. Clearly, he did not engage with the radical Symbolism seen in the private images of Odilon Redon; nor did he lose touch with the sculptured form of the human body. However, Bunny was genuinely a Symbolist in his subject matter and it is hoped that through this study of his religious and occult work a broad reassessment of his oeuvre in the Symbolist decade will begin.
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ItemPublic perceptions of organisational offending: an analysis of attitudinal change between 1986 and 1994( 1996)In 1986 the Australian Institute of Criminology conducted one of the most far reaching surveys of public attitudes towards crime conducted in Australia. As one part of a broader study of white collar crime, a replication of the 1986 study was undertaken in metropolitan Melbourne in 1994. This thesis focuses upon organisational crime and presents a comparison of current attitudes held by the Victorian public with those held by the Australian community in 1986. Underlying this comparison is the proposition that community attitudes towards white collar crime, and organisational crimes in particular, have hardened throughout the period. The findings of this analysis suggest that for the most serious of white collar crimes - those organisational offences leading to physical harms - community attitudes have indeed hardened in some ways. These findings raise several important implications for current judicial policy towards organisational crime, as well as white collar crime generally.
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ItemSatisfying their egos: Eugene von Guérard's homestead 'portraits', 1855-1875( 1998)Eugene von Guerard (1811-1901), a German artist, lived for twenty-eight years inAustralia (1853-1881) and achieved considerable success as a painter. He was a popular and the most controversial Australian artist of the middle of the nineteenth century. His contribution to Australian art was largely forgotten until the 1960s. Von Guerard has mainly been presented as a landscape artist and poorly regarded as a country property painter. My research examines von Guerard as a homestead painter(1855-1875), who was commissioned by wealthy squatters to immortalise their success and prosperity in paintings of their estates. I have analysed five of von Guerard's paintings, of three homesteads "'Purrumbete' from across the Lake" and "From the verandah of 'Purrumbete'" (1858), two canvases of "Bushy Park" (1861)and "Glenara". He skilfully linked the diverse elements of the landscape, the history of human occupation and the achievements of the proprietors. Von Guerard's style of painting incorporated Romantic traditions and the English traditions of country house painting, which the squatters, who were of British background, wanted to see in their paintings. By combining these traditions, the artist represented the commissioners' homesteads according to their personal request and aspirations. Von Guerard depicted in detail the wishes, ambitions, desires and achievements of the squatters - to satisfy their egos. He recorded the possessions of the estate owners' in art and presented a view and perception what was wanted by commissioners. He created a portraiture of the history of the squatters and symbolised the objects significant to them and particular events in their lives. Von Guerard's homestead 'portraits' are valuable as historical documents. They arevisual records of the development of the colony, the squatters' establishment of the Old Word traditions and their status in Australia.