School of Geography - Theses
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ItemThe geomorphology of Mallacoota Inlet, East Gippsland( 1977)Mallacoota Inlet is an estuary located 537 kilometres by road east of Melbourne (Fig. 1.1). The estuary occupies a drowned river valley cut by the Genoa and Wallagaraugh Rivers at lower sea levels during the Pleistocene era. Mallacoota Inlet has a total shoreline length of 85 kilometres, a surface area of 25 x 106 square metres and a volume at low water of approximately 73 x 10 cubic metres, and is consequently the largest estuary or estuarine lagoon occurring east of the Gippsland Lakes. Two major hydrographic provinces may be differentiated within the Mallacoota system: (1) the basins, and (2) the linear channels. Three major basins comprise Mallacoota Inlet; the Upper Lake, the Lower Lake, and the North East Arm. A further, smaller basinal area is Double Creek Arm (Fig. 1.2). These basins differ in depth and sediment characteristics, and both these characteristics are related to the proximity to, and the source of, sediment within the Mallacoota system. The Upper Lake is a broad, shallow (less than three metres), and relatively flat bottomed basin with margins which are for the most part relatively gently sloping (Figs. 1.3 and 1.4). This basin, being closest to the point of river discharge, receives the greatest amount of fluvial sediment. On the other hand, the North East Arm is a relatively deep (up to six metres) flat bottomed basin with steeply sloping margins
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ItemThe geographical dimensions of social banditry: the Kelly outbreak 1878 -1880( 1977)Bushranging was an integral part of nineteenth century- rural settlement in Australia and the bushranger earned a favoured place in the nation's folklore. There he has remained Academic studies of the bushranger and bushranging outbreaks have been few in number and limited in scope to biographical studies, divorcing the bushranger from his times. An academic tradition exists that treats the bushranger as a social aberration. Many, in fact, were social bandits, similar to those in southern Europe as identified and described by Hobsbawm. The bushranger often represented an extreme reaction to social conditions. His views were more extreme than but still compatible with social attitudes and mores developed in rural areas during the conflict that accompanied political ' attempts to foster agricultural settlement in nineteenth century Australia. This thesis examines the Kelly Outbreak of 1878-1880 in North-Eastern Victoria, sets the Outbreak in the context of its time and examines the inter-relationship between settlement failure and social banditry. Three successive rural land-use systems dominated the North-East between 1835 and 1884. The pastoralists (squatters) were the first settlers establishing huge runs for sheep. Gold discoveries of 1852 disrupted squatting land-use and mining dominated the region " for a decade. Declining yields and political ferment brought the first of the selection acts in I860. The digger was expected to turn to agriculture for his. livelihood. The acts pitted the selector and squatter against each other in a competition for the control and utilisation of the region's rural resources. The squatters' easy victory compounded the problems already posed by the failure of selection as a commercial agrarian enterprise. Selector communities developed a code of ethics that accepted selective stock theft. The four members of the Kelly Gang came from local selector communities in the North-East. All had served jail sentences for stock theft or crimes related to stock theft. The Kelly brothers belonged to a clan whose members had failed as selectors and who were notorious to the police and local squatters as stock thieves. The Kelly's had much in common with their selector neighbours and although their views were more extreme, they were never alien to those who lived in the same communities. In 1878, when four young selectors' sons formed the Kelly Gang after the tragedy at Stringybark Creek, they found widespread local support amongst selector communities in the region, a support that enabled them to elude the police for over I8 months. Without the failure of selection as an agrarian settlement process, a failure rooted in the conflict for the control of rural resources by two socially antagonistic groups, and the development of attitudes in rural areas favourable to the existence of social banditry, the Kelly Outbreak would not have posed the serious challenge to the Victorian authorities that it came to be. And the existence of social banditry in the capitalistic social structure of nineteenth century colonial Victoria suggests that the preconditions and social situation described by Hobsbawm as being necessary for the development of social banditry should be modified.
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ItemA geographical study of the dairy manufacturing industry in Gippsland, 1840-1910( 1977)Prior to 1888, dairy manufacture in Gippsland was a predominantly farm-based activity catering for a domestic market. Farmers close to a railway usually produced fresh butter, while those in more inaccessible areas produced potted butter. Concentrations of cheese manufacturers occurred in the Berwick - Cranbourne and the Sale - Maffra areas. This production pattern was strongly influenced by the factors of accessibility to the Melbourne market, product perishability and farmer's available capital. In 1888-89 the Victorian Government initiated a number of measures aimed at promoting the factory system of butter manufacture and the number of butter factories and the amount of butter exported to England rapidly increased. Initially in Gippsland most of the factories were farmers' co-operatives, however late in the 1890s proprietary interests gained control of a great deal of the manufacturing capacity. Co-operative factories were weakened by severe climatic conditions and poor management, while many proprietary selling agents used unfair trading practices to undermine co-operatives whilst these same agents promoted hand separators to create a cream supply for country and Melbourne proprietary factories. Discontent with proprietary factories and the establishment of co-operative selling companies allowed co-operative factories to partly re-establish their position in the later 1900s. The general distribution of butter factories in Gippsland was closely related to the density of milch cows and the location of railways, whilst the siting of factories was influenced by water supply, waste disposal, accessibility to transport, land surface, proximity to towns and availability of land. As hand separators became more widely used, factory supply areas increased and by the late 1890s competition between factories was intense and widespread overlapping of supply occurred. Significant variation between factories occurred in the amount of production,while each factory's output varied during the year and from season to season. A factory's output was influenced by the size of its supply area, the density of milch cows in its supply area, the seasonal conditions and the degree of competition with other factories. Production costs were influenced by the amount of milk/cream intake while the prices paid to farmers for milk/cream were influenced by prices received for butter on the London market. Following the introduction of hand separators, the quality of butter deteriorated but little was done by the government, in terms of export controls or cream grading, to rectify the situation. Cheese production do not show the same growth, after 1888, as butter production. The government showed little interest in promoting cheese exports and few new factories were established. Even by 1910, farm produced cheese was still a significant source of supply.
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ItemThe impact of artificial structures on the shoreline of Port Phillip Bay, Point Lonsdale: a case study( 1977)The aim of this study has been to outline the impact of artificial structures on the shorelines of Port Phillip Bay and to demonstrate the need for more intensive study of eroding coastlines before artificial structures are added to them. The beach is a fragile and delicately balanced system, and a thorough understanding of the processes operating is necessary before any interference is carried out. The Point Lonsdale study has shown that each sector of a coastline must be considered independently and not presumed to be dynamically similar to other parts of Port Phillip Bay. The thesis begins with a general review of the problem, moves to a more specific study of Port Phillip Bay, and finishes with a detailed section on Point Lonsdale. For the purpose of this thesis, the term "shoreline" is taken as synonymous with "coastline", and is defined as the area seawards of the top of cliffs or dunes.
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ItemThe concept and impact of 'migration within a migration' among the elderly: the Flinders experience( 1977)No abstract available
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ItemThe physiography and evolution of Holocene sandy shoreline features in the northwest corner of Westernport Bay( 1977)The historical evolution of Westernport Bay has been complex. In particular, the northwestern corner of the bay has been affected by changes in land drainage, sea level, sediment supply and climate during its Quaternary history. As a result, it is characterized . by several coastal landforms, some of which formed under conditions entirely different from those existing today. These features include sandy beach formations believed to have been built by wave action during the early Holocene and now separated from the sea by saltmarsh and mangrove swamps which have been added subsequently. It is the aim of this thesis to identify and describe some of these features, with particular reference to a recurved spit at Bungower Point, in an attempt to outline the early Holocene coastline; and to offer suggestions as to the evolution of these features, and hypotheses concerning their relative isolation from the sea.
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ItemSocial impact of a rural freeway: the Hume at Broadford, Victoria( 1977)Limited access freeways are seen as providing the short term answer to the worsening problem of traffic congestion in many cities. However this solution has aroused concern over the unplanned social consequences of disrupting the movement patterns in adjacent areas. In Australia, construction has emerged ae a relatively recent phenomenon and in the rural landscape it is even less familiar. Here any question of whether freeways improve linear access or reduce lateral movement is virtually unexplored. These possible effects nevertheless raise issues of social equity due to the modification of the level of access. Rather than consider all travel purposes the neglected social trip is aptly suited as a means of establishing the impact of a freeway due to its highly discretionary nature. Social interaction relies on the availability of leisure time and a personalized perception of costs and rewards. Therefore it becomes extremely interchangeable depending on information from the environment concerning social movement opportunities. This information, once acquired, becomes stored in the mind as a cognitive map. These maps provide the images upon which social movement decisions are founded. The manner in which a freeway is depicted in the cognitive maps depends on the attitude of the individual towards its effect on the level of access. However the effect of a freeway on social movement and the information contained in the cognitive maps will be influenced by the relative location to it and the socio-economic characteristics of the individual. These variab]ss become the basis of the thesis which will be structured in the following manner. Chapter One introduces the problem of human movement dependent on the car, the necessity of freeways as a remedy to traffic congestion and the unforeseen impacts that have arisen. Chapter Two describes the distinguishing characteristics of the social trip, the cognitive processes that determine its frequency and on this basis proposes a model of impact of a limited access freeway in a country area. Chapter Three selects a study area where a rural freeway has been constructed and outlines the sampling procedures of study areas and respondents. Chapter Four analyzes the results of the survey into the differential effect of a rural freeway on social movement. Chapter Five concludes with a summary of the findings, insight into the problems encountered and future research proposals.
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ItemThe geomorphological and botanical change at Cunninghame Arm( 1977)The aim of this thesis is to delineate geomorphic and botanical change that has occurred in the Cunninghame Arm area, to determine rates of change and the processes operating, and from this study be able to suggest potential areas of future change. The opening of the artificial entrance in 1889 is taken as the starting point in the discussion of change, though for comparison the physical character before this is also outlined.