School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemThe state of modern Greek language as spoken in Victoria( 1986)This thesis reports a sociolinguistic study, carried out between 1981 and 1984, of the state of the Modern Greek (MG) language in Australia, as spoken by native-speaking first-generation Greek immigrants in Victoria. Particular emphasis is given to the analysis of those characteristics of the linguistic behaviour of these Greek Australians which can be attributed to the contact with English and to other environmental, social and linguistic influence. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemLabour pains: working-class women in employment, unions, and the Labor Party in Victoria, 1888-1914( 1987-05)This study focuses on the experiences of working-class women spanning the years from 1888 to 1914 - a period of significant economic growth and socio-political change in Victoria. The drift of population into the urban centres after the goldrush marked the beginning of a rapid and continual urban expansion in Melbourne as the city’s industrial and commercial sectors grew and diversified. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, the increasing population provided a larger workforce which also represented a growing consumer market. The rise of the Victorian manufacturing industries in this period also saw the introduction of the modern factory system. With the increasing demand for unskilled labour in factories, it was not only men who entered this new factory workforce. Young women and older children were, for the first time, drawn in appreciable numbers into the industrial workforce as employers keenly sought their services as unskilled and cheap workers. Women were concentrated in specific areas of the labour market, such as the clothing, boot, food and drink industries, which became strictly areas of “women’s work”. In the early twentieth century, the rigid sexual demarcation of work was represented by gender-differentiated wages and employment provisions within industrial awards.
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Item"Strangers within the gates": Victorian governments and non-Europeans, 1880-1908( 1982)In 1901 the Commonwealth Parliament passed the first national law restricting the entry of non-Europeans into Australia - the Immigration Restriction Act. This Act, by enabling the testing of potentially "undesirable" immigrants with a passage of dictation in English or another European language, effectively set up a "White Australia" barrier to non-European immigration. But such a "Natal test" device had, in fact, been established several years earlier in several of the then un-joined Australian colonies; and, although 1901 is conveniently taken as the beginning of the "White Australia policy", in fact all Australian colonies had immigration measures specifically directed against one or more non-European groups on the Statute books by the 1880s. The national "White Australia" barrier erected in 1901 had its origins in colonial attitudes and measures, and it is with this aspect of Australian historical inquiry - the development of Government policies, attitudes and legislation against non-Europeans in a specific colony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - that this thesis is concerned.
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ItemFreemasonry and community in nineteenth-century Victoria( 1987)Freemasonry has had a controversial image ever since the first of the modern Grand Lodges of Freemasons appeared in London during the early years of the eighteenth century. The brotherhood's claim to be the guardian of the traditions of an ancient guild of stone masons has received wide credence, and their organization has been well respected in some quarters. Yet always it would seem there have been those who have scoffed at these freemasons' presumption and regarded their network of lodges as a purely social organization, the members of which have a taste for exotic ritual and costume. Over the years there have been many who have accused the fraternity of encouraging dissipation among young men, arguing that lodge meetings and formal banquets are often only an excuse for intemperance. Masons in general have been charged with not acting according to the high code of social conduct they profess to teach. It has been claimed they frequently do not keep their promises of assistance to fellow-masons in time of need. At various times and places the fraternity has been charged with using the oath of secrecy it extracts from candidates for admission to conceal orchestrated attempts to subvert religious or state institutions; some of their critics have seen them as a radical or subversive group, others as a reactionary body of men. At frequent intervals the opinion has been expressed that masons use their fraternal relationship for personal gain, and for this reason alone their networks are detrimental to the community in general. In defence of their organization, freemasons have argued that the philosophy which underpins their rituals will provide moral guidance to all those who sincerely seek it. They claim it can help men understand how to live in peace with each other and what action they can take to ensure their community progresses to a higher form of civilization. Masons believe that participation in masonic life can promote both spiritual and mental growth, as within a lodge men encounter an atmosphere which encourages them to develop their innate capacities. Masonry is said to lead them to be charitable and more tolerant of others religious beliefs, attentive to their family responsibilities and obedient to the laws of their community. A number of masons have proudly catalogued the aristocrats, men who have become leaders of nations through the ballot-box, or received public acclaim due to their outstanding achievement in economic, scientific or literary fields, who have become lodge members since the founding of the first of the modern Grand Lodges of Freemasons in London in 1717. The oaths of secrecy required from initiates have been defended on the grounds of their great antiquity, and their common usage by other fraternities and sororities to underline the special kind of bond created by acceptance as a member. Masons argue their oaths cannot be regarded as anti-social in intention, as masonry has been restricted to men of mature age, whom their peers have judged able to appreciate masonic wisdom as well as keep its secrets. Candidates must also be possessed of financial resources or skills which ensure that they are capable of supporting themselves and assisting all worthy causes. Within private lodges three 'craft degrees' may be conferred, that of apprentice, fellowcraft and master. However, a variety of so-called 'higher degrees' may be received by master masons who join a chapter or conclave. Masons are in broad agreement that the latter are peripheral to freemasonry. The master masons who are interested in exploring the meaning of a variety of esoteric rituals based on the practices of legendary bands of men for a higher degree have always been a small minority. Although chapters and conclaves are usually associated with one or more craft lodges, they do not have direct representation within Grand Lodge organizations, and in this thesis the use of the term 'masonry' normally refers to networks of craft lodges only. The rapid spread around the world of a network of independent Grand Lodges, whose private lodges usually extend a welcome to visiting master masons no matter in which region of the world they have received the right to that title, is a phenomena of historical interest. During the modern era, few social institutions can equal the Grand Lodges of freemasonry in longevity and geographic spread. These societies of adult males, which sometime have accepted women, were but one manifestation of a great revival of voluntary associationism which accompanied the translation of rural villagers into urban social classes. Trade Unions, Co-operatives, Friendly Societies and Grand Lodges had goals in common and seem to have drawn upon some of the same sources for their inspiration in Anglo-Saxon societies. Yet during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries each performed a distinctive role. Whereas the other associations offered their members defined pecuniary benefits, masonic lodges only offered to teach men a system of social ethics. As masonic lodges appeared to proffer what was already available from churches or educational establishments there was no obvious reason why masonry should attain the kind of world-wide popularity it did over the years.
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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.