School of Geography - Theses
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ItemThe historical geography of Australian coastal shipping( 1974)This thesis has been made possible by the help and encouragement of many, particularly during my later school years when shipping first became a serious interest, and I should like to thank generally both friends and waterfront personnel who took me on board various vessels or around the Sydney and Melbourne Waterfront complexes. Particular thanks for help during the preparation of this work go to Dr. T, M. Perry for his patient supervision and advice, and thanks to Staff of the Latrobe Library, Melbourne, of the public reference libraries at Adelaide, Launceston and Brisbane, and of university libraries at Melbourne, Monash and Queensland, for access to bound volumes of newspapers and periodicals, to several shipping companies for information about their services and history, and in particular to the Adelaide Steamship Company, the Australian National Line, and the State Shipping Service of Western Australia and their ships' crews for arranging visits to their ships. I should also like to acknowledge access to the Green and Dufty collection of ship photographs for reference.
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ItemThe development of the Port of Melbourne 1877-1971( 1974)The main purpose of this study is to describe and explain the physical and commercial development of the Port of Melbourne in the period 1877-1971. The year 1877 has been selected for the beginning of the study because it was the year in which the Melbourne Harbor Trust was established. The port has been modified in several ways since then and is now one of the most modern and best-equipped in the world. In tracing the port's evolution for nearly a century, the writer has tried to examine those factors, both human and physical, which have influenced its growth - world economic and political conditions, economic activities in its hinterland, policy decisions of the port authority and the national government and site conditions. The study does not encompass merely the physical development of the port, but also changes and trends in its trade and shipping. In addition, an attempt has been made to investigate those problems connected with the port's development. The growth and expansion of the manufacturing industries in the port district have also been considered. As well as these, the physical setting of the port, the discovery of Port Phillip Bay, Hobson's Bay and the River Yarra, the geology of the Yarra Delta, the condition of the port before 1877 and the genesis of the Melbourne Harbor Trust have been briefly referred to.
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ItemPolitics, economics and development: a study of the expansion and consolidation of the Victorian rural railway network( 1974)No abstract available
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ItemThe impact of the Victorian Government's decentralisation policies on the growth of manufacturing industry in Shepparton( 1974)Both the Australian and Victorian Governments have adopted decentralisation policies aimed at diverting economic and population growth from the metropolitan centres. This dissertation examines the development of Shepparton, a growing provincial city, in the light of these policies. In carrying out this aim most attention has been paid to the programme of the Division of Industrial Development which is part of the Victorian Department of State Development and Decentralisation and responsible for implementing the State's decentralisation policies. Although they have nominated five centres; Ballarat, Bendigo, Wodonga, Portland and the Latrobe Valley; for accelerated development the Victorian Government is committed to a policy to maintain and develop all viable service centres in country Victoria. In accordance with this policy, industry - and in particular, manufacturing industry - is encouraged to establish anywhere outside the metropolitan area although, officially, incentives and concessions are only available to firms locating beyond an 80 kilometre radius of Melbourne or within an 8 kilometre radius of the post-offices of Bacchus Marsh, Broadford, Gisborne, Kilmore, Kyneton or Woodend. The Federal Government, on the other hand, favours a policy of selective decentralisation and, unlike the Victorian Government, is not committed to a policy of balanced development. A limited number of 'growth centres' such as Albury-Wodonga have been chosen for accelerated development and only firms establishing in, or people moving to, these centres receive encouragement or assistance. Firms establishing in centres such as Shepparton, which has not been chosen as a growth centre, are not eligible to receive direct assistance from the Federal Government. In view of the nature of these varying policies the aim of this dissertation has been limited to an attempt to evaluate the influence which the Victorian Government's decentralisation policies have had on the growth of manufacturing industry in Shepparton. A secondary objective was to establish whether the Victorian Government would have greater success in diverting growth from Melbourne by concentrating their efforts exclusively on the development of the five centres chosen for accelerated growth rather than continue their present policy to develop numerous small to medium-sized centres. However, because of the complexity of the problem there was not sufficient time to investigate it in detail, nor would there have been room to include the results of the research in the dissertation. In compiling the dissertation the most useful material has been gained from primary sources. Information on the historical development of the Victorian Government's decentralisation policies was obtained largely from parliamentary debates and parliamentary papers as there are few secondary sources which provide such information in the required detail. The activities of the Division of Industrial Development are well publicised and personal interviews with various members of the Division provided the required information on their decentralisation programme, particularly in relation to Shepparton. Information was also gained from interviews with members of the Shepparton City Council, the staff of the Council offices and representatives of various firms established in Shepparton. One of the most difficult problems encountered was the confidential nature of much of the material required. This included, in particular, the unwillingness of a number of firms to divulge details of assistance which they have received. Fortunately the Division of Industrial Development now make public much of the information of this kind which has previously been unavailable. Another problem was the difficulty in assessing the importance of assistance which industries received in influencing their location or operations. Information of this kind was generally only available through personal interviews and because the question of decentralisation is such a controversial one a number of people were largely concerned with expressing their opinions which were inclined to colour their judgement of the degree of assistance which their firm had received. In developing the aim outlined above the dissertation has been divided into five sections. Chapter 1 provides background information designed to assist in the understanding of the remaining sections. In Chapter 2 the historical development of the Victorian Government's decentralisation policies has been traced in order to determine whether there have been any important changes in recent years. Chapters 3 and 4 involve an account of the growth of manufacturing industry in Shepparton in an attempt to assess the amount of assistance which has been received from the Government. The conclusions
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ItemKeilor: the evolution of a present day rural-urban fringe municipality( 1974)The aim of this study is to examine the evolution and difficulties of administration and the provision of services in fringe areas experiencing rapid urban expansion. For this purpose the City of Keilor was selected as a case study. The uniqueness of Keilor is found in the dominance physiography exerts over land-use and urban expansion. Although Keilor is situated on the Basalt Plain, which traditionally has hindered urban development in Melbourne's western suburbs, it also has the diversity of the rich alluvial flats created by the Maribyrnong River. The evolution of Keilor as a suburb began in the 1920's. However it was not until the 1950's and 1960's that the predominantly rural character was threatened by urban expansion. It was during these two decades that Keilor began to exhibit the characteristics of a rural-urban fringe. This character still prevails today.
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ItemThe structure of agriculture in south-west Gippsland, 1963-1973( 1974)This research paper investigates the structure and pattern of agriculture for the period 1963 to 1973 in an area of South-West Gippsland. The physical characteristics of the area are found to be conducive to a range of agricultural activities, and the area possesses a well developed set of service facilities. The basic data for the investigation is provided by questionnaires completed by a sample of 157 farmers. The data indicated that for the period 1963 to 1973 28% of farms had changed operators, 20% of farms had increased in size and 28% of farmers had altered their farms dominant activities with the importance of beef cattle production increasing significantly, the number of dairy farms decreasing slightly, and sheep and pig activities declining markedly. Analysis of milk marketing patterns showed basically a pattern of supplying the nearest factory. Melbourne metropolitan stock markets dominated the sale of beef cattle and sheep from the area, however, local markets had a more even share in the sale of dairy cows and calves. Better prices and greater buyer competition attracted sellers to metropolitan markets, whereas local markets were used for reasons of convenience and local loyalty.
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ItemSelection and agriculture in the Donald District( 1974)During the nineteenth century, the Wimmera plains of Victoria were invaded by European settlement.' This process was not peculiar to this area, but rather, it was part of a worldwide invasion of temperate grasslands by Europeans. Sir Stephen Roberts's "A History of Australian Land Settlement" provided the first broad study of the Australian experience.2 A number of more recent studies have provided regional description and analysis of this period of settlement and of these, J.M. Powell's "The Public Lands of Australia Felix" provided the most useful guide for the research undertaken in this study of the Donald district.3 The following chapters aim firstly, to, give an account of the settlement process at work in a relatively small area. A second, but associated, aim is to examine the problems involved in for the individual selector in his adaption to the physical and official environments. Research in these areas will involve the testing of several hypotheses, viz: (a) that official policy was, through the selection acts, the determining factor in the change of landuse from grazing to agriculture. (b) that the majority of selectors originated from the goldfields and that most were previously miners. (c) that the change in landuse was premature when considered in terms of the knowledge and technology of the time. In testing hypothesis (b), Powell's conclusions for the Horsham district, that selectors originated from all parts of western Victoria and that the majority of them had previously been farmers, will also be tested. The arrangement of chapters is chronologically based, with emphasis being placed on the main aspects of settlement in each period. The primary material for research consisted of Lands Department documents held in the La Trobe Library, Melbourne, Lands Department maps, personal document collections and newspapers, namely "The St. Arnaud Mercury" and "The Donald Times". Secondary material with direct relevance to the study area was limited to three local histories and a study of pastoral settlement in the Wimmera.4 Billis and Kenyon's "Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip" provided some details of local squatters, while other more general studies were of some use.5 The method of research, as previously used by Powell, comprised a sampling of selection files for randomly chosen allotments throughout the study area.6 As an extension of this, however, complete surveys were made of the files for the parishes of Laen and Banyenong. The second step in the method was to obtain supplementary information from other material, with the third being analysis of the information in total. With the use of this method it is hoped this study will accomplish the aims set out above, and so result in a detailed and analytical description of settlement in the Donald district. This could be described as the overall aim of this thesis.
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ItemTerrain features and evolution of Stockyard Point( 1974)The study aims to give a preliminary understanding of the processes which have resulted in the formation of Stockyard Point as a complex, recurved spit.
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ItemThe morphodynamics of intertidal channels on the watershed of Westernport Bay( 1974)The aim of the study is to describe and explain the morphological variations that exist in the channel systems bordering the watershed of Westernport Bay.