School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemThe opposition to Montanism from church and state: a study of the history and theology of the Montanist Movement as shown by the writings and legislation of the Orthodox opponents of Montanism( 1978)This thesis is primarily an examination of the ecclesiastical and imperial opposition to the Montanist movement throughout the four centuries of its existence (c. 165-550 A.D.). Section I deals with the pre-Constantinian period, arguing that the earliest ecclesiastical opponents were local bishops who, through oral controversy, conciliar condemnation, and literary activity, tried to negate the influence Montanism was having upon the catholic flock. During the third century a few non-episcopal ecclesiastical scholars joined in the literary struggle against Montanism. It is argued, however, that more important than their non-episcopal status is the fact that these scholars, like more and more third century bishops, opposed Montanism without having any personal contact with contemporary adherents of the sect so that by the end of that century opposition to Montanism had become literary warfare from a distance. The extant fragments of this warfare reveal that pre-Constantinian opponents charged Montanists with a variety of offences centering around three main charges: pseudoprophecy, novelty, and heresy. Each of these charges was vigorously defended by Montanist apologists, the chief of whom was Tertullian. The second section covers the same time-span as the first, but examines state opposition. Before 250 A.D., persecution of Christians was usually instigated by the local pagan population at times when the pax deorum appeared to be threatened. It is argued that, whilst Montanists suffered during these persecutions, pagans did not distinguish between Montanists and catholics even though, in some instances, Montanists may have been the indirect cause of these persecutions. After 250 A.D., emperors became more and more involved in instigating persecutions, but, again, they did not differentiate between various types of Christians. Despite the views of certain modern historians, there is no evidence that any pre-Constantinian emperor or governor instigated a persecution against Montanists, hence this section does not contain specific chapters on imperial opponents and their charges. The major issues discussed in this section are "charges" levelled at Montanists by modern historians, namely that Montanists were invariably volunteer martyrs, that they refused to flee during persecutions, and that, even in times of peace, they displayed a provocative attitude towards the state. Much of this alleged Montanist "fanaticism" disappears as a result of a careful scrutiny of all the available evidence. After Constantine became sole ruler of the Empire, he, and his successors, persecuted Montanists in an attempt to preserve the purity of the catholic church. The distinction between ecclesiastical and imperial opposition, therefore, becomes somewhat blurred for the last phase of Montanism (c. 324-550 A.D.). Hence, church and state opposition are both treated in Section III. During this period the trend of ecclesiastical opposition "from a distance", commenced in the third century, continued. Anti-Montanist tracts, letters, and sermons proliferated and large sections of heresiological surveys and church histories were devoted to condemning the movement. Much of this literature was composed by opponents who had no personal contact with Montanists. Charges still centred on pseudo-prophecy, novelty, and heresy, although the range of specific allegations multiplied. A number of the Christian emperors of this period enacted laws aimed at eradicating contemporary Montanism. As a result, a significant number of Western Montanists joined the catholic church, but many others, especially in Rome, Constantinople, and Phrygia, continued their separatist existence until the combined efforts of church and state finally wiped out the movement during the middle of the sixth century. This thesis also re-evaluates the history and theology of Montanism in the light of what is revealed about the movement by the writings and legislation of its orthodox opponents. The view of Montanism presented by the opponents is compared with the Montanists' self-assessment and both are judged in the context of all other available evidence. As a result, it is argued that Montanists did not practice, or believe, many of the things with which they were charged and that, even when there was some substance to a particular charge, the charge was not always applicable to Montanists everywhere. Montanism, in fact, was a very diverse movement. Despite certain modern assessments, the picture of Montanism which emerges from this study is that of an innovative prophetic movement intent on bringing Christianity into line with what it believed to be the ultimate ethical revelation of the Holy Spirit given to the church via its prophets.
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ItemThe settlement of Melbourne 1851-1893: selected aspects of urban growth( 1970-02)Melbourne was the obvious choice as a prototype of a nineteenth century colonial city in the following study in urban history. It succeeded early to a pre-eminent position within Victoria, indeed of the entire Australian continent and its position of supremacy went unchallenged until the twentieth century. It was never seriously threatened by the claims of rival cities such as Ballarat, Sandhurst or Geelong. In this respect, Melbourne was a classic primate city with a whole-state hinterland and was justly described as "the commercial metropolis of the South". Its favourable geographic location, centrally placed between eastern and western halves of the colony, together with its position at the northern end of Port Phillip Bay provided the logical point of convergance for a railway network spanning the reaches of the interior. This gave a nodal quality to the city which made it the sole effective input-output point for all commerce with the mainland interior.(For complete abstract open document)
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ItemSome aspects of the development of the metal trades in Ballarat 1851-1901( 1971-08)This thesis is an attempt to provide a special examination centering on some aspects on the development of metal processing and fabricating industries in the Victorian gold mining town of Ballarat from its foundation in 1851 to the end of its first half century in 1901. It is in effect a case study of a particular group of manufacturing activities made with the intention of improving general historians' understanding of the forces behind the establishment and growth of secondary industries in the non-metropolitan towns of nineteenth century Australia.
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ItemThe emergence of a bayside suburb: Sandringham, Victoria c. 1850-1900( 1971-03)The past neglect of the Australian city by historians is frequently the subject of lament. The neglect can be highlighted by noting that not only has the impact of the city been generally avoided in Australian historiography despite its overarching importance but also by the fact that Melbourne and Sydney still lack biographies. By contrast, major British and United States cities have had substantial treatment. Therefore, in the circumstance of very considerable gaps in Australian urban historiography, there is probably little need to justify a research topic which tackles the emergence of Sandringham, a Melbourne suburb in the late 19th century. Apart from the narrow and local purpose of providing a means by which local residents can further identify themselves with their community, a suburb history can provide a case study in urbanization which can be of relevance to the whole field of urban history and more specifically, it can enrich the written history of the city of which it is part.
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ItemThe organisation of the Catholic laity in Victoria, 1911-1930( 1972)This thesis deals with the form of lay organisation which came to be known as “Catholic Action”, in the sense of “a tightly structured organisation that serves as an arm of the hierarchy in lay life”. The body created to assist the hierarchy in co-ordinating lay activity during this period was a federation of Catholic lay societies, under clerical control at the parish, diocesan and national levels, the pattern for which had been exported from Rome to many countries. The Australian Catholic Federation was inaugurated in Melbourne on 12 December 1911. By the end of 1914 it had appeared in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, but seems to have spread no farther. It is with the introduction of this movement to Australia and its progress in Victoria, until it was abandoned there in 1930, that I am chiefly concerned. Neither the source of the Federation movement nor its ecclesiastical direction received much emphasis in the speeches of its leaders or in Catholic publications. On the contrary, it was the “lay” character of the Australian body and the role of local grievances in its formation that were stressed. Throughout its existence, the Australian Federation was to experience tension between the professed and the actual nature of its inspiration and government. (from introduction)
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ItemHow the south-east was held: aspects of the quadripartite interaction of Mount Gambier, Portland, Adelaide and Melbourne 1860-1917( 1977)This thesis examines aspects of the "perennial theme of discussion", acknowledging the involvement of four participants, viz., Mt. Gambier, Portland, Adelaide and Melbourne. The assertion of regional generality was supported by the fact that between 1866 and 1921 the Mt. Gambier district rarely contained less than 39% of the total population of the South-East of South Australia. Indeed, in 1911, over 48% of the region's population lived in the vicinity of Mt. Gambier. Furthermore, as Hirst noted, Mt. Gambier was the only old South Australian country town to maintain a steady rate of growth between 1870 and 1917. These facts contributed to the belief, to be longheld by both Adelaide and Melbourne, that Mt. Gambier was the key to the South-East of South Australia. The holding of Mt. Gambier was then thought to be a necessary precursor to the holding of the South-East. Learmonth and Logan have each produced very useful studies of the Victorian port of Portland and its hinterland. Their perceptions, however, remain essentially "Victorian". While the proximity of the border between Victoria and South Australia was acknowledged, no rigorous attempt was made to study historically its regional influence. This thesis also aims to remedy that situation. (From introduction)
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ItemThe emergence and character of women's magazines in Australia 1880-1914( 1975)Four major points relating to the emergence and character of women's magazines in Australia are explored in this thesis:- when they began, why they began when they did in the 19th century, what form they took when published and the views they expounded about the status and life of women in Australia between the years l880-19l4. Thirty-five women's magazines were consulted, but only one or two representative examples of each type are discussed in any detail. The magazines themselves fall into two distinct categories during this period - the general or service magazine containing fiction, fashion and homemaking features; and the suffrage or political magazine dealing with the implications of votes for women. The thesis is divided into three sections and follows a basically chronological pattern. The first section of four chapters deals with the English background of women's and family magazines to 1850; the popularity of these publications in the Australian colonies throughout the 19th century; the level of education and literacy among women in Australia during this period; and the early attempts to found women's magazines in Melbourne and Sydney in the 1880's. Section two discusses the suffrage and political magazines published for women in Sydney and Melbourne between the years 1889-1914. The first of these two chapters is devoted to a detailed examination of Australia's first successful feminist magazine, Louisa Lawson's Dawn (1888-1905); while the second discusses the suffrage and political magazines for women in New South Wales and Victoria, and compares their failure to the success of Mrs. Lawson's publication. The third and final section examines the emergence of the modern American-influenced magazines in Australia from 1894 to 1914, a whole chapter being devoted to the New Idea (1902-14) as the archetypal example of this trend.
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ItemG.E. Morrison: political adviser to Yuan Shih-kái, President of the Republic of China, 1912-1916( 1975)Foreign advisers in China in the twentieth century were no new phenomenon. Ever since the West had made contact with China, certain men, often motivated by a sense of superiority and willingness to share their knowledge and expertise, saw that China stood totally isolated from the Western experience and appeared in their eyes to be backward, degenerate, weak and greatly in need of their particular assistance and guidance. As Jonathan Spence has clearly pointed out, though the sorts of foreign advisers who went to China differed considerably, most developed an emotional connection with China and, despite a lack of encouragement or even opposition, continued long in the service of the Chinese in an endeavour to raise the standards to that country to those of the Western world. George Ernest Morrison was certainly no exception as Cyril Pearl has to some extent shown in his examination of Morrison’s diaries and correspondence, Morrison was a particularly adventurous man, a person of tremendous energy and vitality, continually cognisant of China’s backwardness and the state she could, with his advice and assistance achieve. Indeed, he sustained a particularly vivid and coloured vision for the future of China. The advantage in opening out the study of Morrison in this period is twofold. In the first instance, Morrison has left to the historian a large amount of material, a collection which began with his personal diary as a schoolboy in Australia. Slicing into his papers for this period allows us to develop a reliable picture of the values, attitude and expectations of the Westerners towards China and Chinese officials, and in turn some conception of the attitude the Chinese took towards their foreign employees and Westerners in China as a whole. These attitudes very much mirror the outstanding differences between the still traditionalistic Eastern monolith and the progressive Western juggernaut. The other reason for studying Morrison is that through him we may come to a better understanding of the reasons for the failure of Yuan Shih-k’ai to build upon the 1911 revolution and to make the Chinese quasi-western political experiment a success. The established tradition of scholarship largely bulks in opposition to Yuan Shih-k’ai; he was not involved in the revolution of 1911 and the expulsion of the Manchu regime from China. Yet, once elected President of the new Republic, Yuan ousted the original revolutionaries from their place in the Republic and began to lay a careful scheme to secure himself and his descendants the next monarchy in China’s long established dynastic history. A point strongly emphasised in the traitor theory is the scheming of Yuan as, from 1913 on, he openly eliminated all political opposition to his rule. As a close contemporary of Yuan Shih-k’ai, we may see through the medium of Morrison just how Morrison personally and Westerners in China generally reacted to Yuan’s personal form of power politics.
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ItemVictoria at war 1899-1902: aspects of the colonial involvement in the South African War( 1977)Most writings of the South African War, 1899-1902, have stressed either the triumph of British arms, or the unjust nature of the war, but not the contribution made by the volunteers from the colonies. This thesis reconstructs aspects of Victoria’s participation in the South African War, examines the effects of the involvement on the government, the people, and the economy, and attempts to rectify some misconceptions which appear to have arisen in connection with the Colonials.
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ItemThe Psalm-commentary of Dionysius bar Salibi( 1974)The present dissertation consists of a detailed investigation of the commentary of Dionysius bar Salibi on Psalms 1-72. To begin with, the commentary is considered in its historical setting. Dionysius bar Salibi was a bishop in the Syrian Jacobite Church of the mid-twelfth century A.D. In a period marked by natural calamities and political and religious conflict, bar Salibi was an upright and strong leader of his people. His concern for integrity and moral rectitude among his parishioners and disciples is evident throughout the commentary. This strong ethical emphasis is combined with pastoral encouragement and comfort for those in need. An investigation of the liturgical setting of the Psalm-commentary has shown that the words of the Psalms provided a ready source for the composition of the prayers in the Jacobite liturgy. They also have an important place in the Daily Offices of the Church. The use of the Psalms in the Church's liturgies has strongly influenced the exposition of the Psalms in bar Salibi's commentary. Although a wider community no doubt shared in the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Hours of Prayer were largely celebrated by the monks and those seeking to join monastic communities. It was in the monasteries and schools that the Psalms gained a position of considerable importance, forming a basic part of the curriculum, and the fundamental ingredient of private devotions. It is suggested that Dionysius bar Salibi had people such as these monks in view as he wrote the Psalm-commentary. Dionysius did not claim originality for the ideas presented in his commentary. He saw his task as that of distilling from the works of previous writers the best teaching for the benefit of the people of his own day. Some of his sources he named, others he did not, but there is no simple formula to describe the origins of his work. The version of Scripture most frequently used in bar Salibi’s commentary is the Peshitta, though the Syro-Hexaplar is also quoted, as well as several other forms of the text. The Psalm-commentary, like all of bar Salibi's Old Testament comrnentaries, consists of two parts. In the "literal” commentary, the shorter of the two, the author generally interprets the Psalms in a historical sense, applying them to David, or some other person or occasion in Israel's history. The "spiritual" commentary has a much fuller, more homiletic character, and usually provides a Christological explanation of the Psalms. In fact, Christ is seen as the major subject of the Psalms which are used as a vehicle to convey the Church's doctrines about Man and God, and in particular about Jesus Christ. Finally an analysis of the extant MSS of this commentary was undertaken by the construction of a sample critical text, and the results evaluated. As a result of this investigation, the Sitz im Leben of the Psalm-commentary of Dionysius bar Salibi has been recognised in broad outline, and hence its general significance can be more clearly defined.