School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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    Show business: a history of theatre in Victoria 1835-1948
    Lesser, L. E. ( 1949)
    ...The material available to the student of the theatrical history of this State and Nation, is relatively sparse, and extremely scattered. Much has been covered in newspaper articles, but no attempt has ever been made to pull the material together and show it as part of a continuous story, superimposed upon the background of the political, social and economic history of the State. That is what I now attempt to do. If it does nothing more than bring the basic information within reasonable compass, I will not feel I have failed. If, on the other hand, it should arouse an interest in either the history or the practice of Theatre, in its widest sense, so that a multitude of young men and women may be rescued from the slough of saccharine sentimentality into which Hollywood has led them, to an increasing interest in legitimate Theatre, the development of which is considered by some to be a concomitant of National greatness, then I shall feel that I have indeed succeeded. (From introduction)
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    The history of Brighton, 1841-1859: a study of the private township formed on Henry Dendy's special survey in 1841
    Bate, W. A. ( 1952)
    If there were to be a theme to this preface, as to the body of my enquiry into the first twenty years of the history of Brighton, it would be in the nature of a plaint for the neglected art of writing local history in Australia. In Victoria, Melbourne itself has been badly enough served. Only in the eighteen-seventies and eighties, when, contemporaneous with the meetings of the Old Colonists' Society, we had the writings of Edmund Finn and T. A. Browne, had any serious work been done on the capital until quite recently. And it was worse in other areas. Often no interest was shown until it was too late. The first publication of records and reminiscences seemed to wait for the stimulus of a special occasion. Many were inspired by that off-shoot of antiquarianism, the jubilee, and by then there was a long gap to bridge. It was thus not until fifty years after the first settlement of a district, or after the founding of its institutions, such as churches, mechanics institutes and local government that any publication was made.
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    The history of the defence forces of the Port Phillip District and Colony of Victoria 1836 - 1900
    Millar, T. B. ( 1957)
    In this atomic age, the security of a nation is effected in many ways. The gift of a shipload of wheat, the discovery of a rare mineral, the raising or lowering of a trade barrier, and the political speech of a very important person at a very unimportant dinner have their influence on security as surely as the defence pact or the military training programme. With the new settlement at Port Phillip in 1836 there were no such complications. The British navy protected it from without, the British army from within, and no other major power felt the strength or the need to risk war with Britain for the sake of an infant colony twelve thousand miles distant. The settlement itself was too insignificant to have an influence on world affairs of the time. Yet if it had no influence on the world, it was influenced by the world. A stone cast into the political waters of Europe sent ripples to the shores of Port Phillip. …