School of Geography - Theses
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ItemThe manufacturing geography of selected areas in Melbourne( 1965)The Australian manufacturing industry, whose real growth became apparent only after the turn of the present century, has displayed a distinct characteristic during its history of development in having an extremely high percentage of manufacturing activities concentrated in the five capital cities, and especially in the two major centres of Melbourne and Sydney. Statistics have shown that in 1360-61, 73% of the Australian manufacturing industry, in terms of employment, was located in the capitals, with Melbourne and Sydney together making up 58%. Studies of manufacturing actvities in these major centres, though not representative of those covering the whole nation, may nevertheless show numerous points of interest and reveal certain characteristics in the environment and structure of the Australian industrial economy. Such studies are unfortunately very limited, especially for the Melbourne metropolitan area. Although for this latter area, some general studies have been undertaken, none is profound enough to reveal in detail its basic industrial structure and environment. It is felt that Melbourne, with 81% of the Victorian and 27% of the Australian manufacturing employment and with its central position to the major industrial states of Australia, should be given greater consideration.
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ItemThe coalfields of eastern Australia: an examination of the rise, contemporary character and areal impact of bituminous coal mining( 1965)Traditionally the coal mining industry has resisted innovation. Changes in working methods, in conditions of employment and in productivity have often been achieved only as a result of considerable industrial, discord and community discomfort. In Australia reluctance to change has been all too obvious. Yet, since 194-6, few other industries have been quite so profoundly or so completely modified,so that coal mining in 1965 bears little resemblance to the industry of the immediate post-war years except that it is beset by problems resulting from continuing and intensifying fuel competition. The ramifications of these changes have been widespread. In New South Males a booming economy, highly specialised demands and ruthless price competition from the petroleum industry have brought about a drastic decline in the use of general purpose coal but a marked increase in the demand for specialised qualities e.g. for coke making or the generation of electricity. In consequence the prosperity of particular fields, or mines working specific seams within fields has been much affected. Many old, small, or unprofitable pits have been closed} mechanisation of working methods has become general; new mines have been established to meet particular demands; productivity and quality control have been vastly improved and the average size of collieries has tended to increase. In Queensland less specialised demands and the existence of an omnipotent Coal Board have staved off the worst of these changes until much more recently but there,too, the transformation is under way. The first collieries have how been equipped with mining machinery of a type long common in Mew South Wales, larger mines are in the process of establishment, productivity is beginning to rise and to show some marked differentiation according to mine size and the Coal Board is considering the desirability of closing mines unable to meet and maintain satisfactory price and quality standards. In Victoria, however, change is of a retrograde kind for only two of the handful of pits have any importance and these, as State owned enterprises, have made consistent trading losses for many years, an indication of their difficult working conditions and restricted deposits. With limited lives there is little possibility of change other than by demise. In the coalfield communities the social implications of these changes have been equally as significant. The retrenchment of more then 10,000 mine workers in the space of a decade from the New South Males mines alone has caused a major reorientation of some of the more highly specialised settlements and in others out-mignation or occupational diversification through long distance commuting. Others have begun on the slow decline that leads ultimately to loss of function and complete abandonment. With this has gone a change in settlement form - a revival of local commerce in those fortunate enough to retain their residents, further physical deterioration in some of the already under-maintained settlements, a change in population structure as pensioners move in and the school leavers move out, as families move in on the demise of pensioners, as migrants move in to replace the native born. In some localities these changes have contributed further to the distinctiveness of the coal town, in ethers they have tended to blurr a former distinctiveness. At a different level a blurring of the farmer distinctiveness is also taking place in the major urban areas that have risen with and because of the coal industry. Large scale industrial and residential development in the post-war years has now began to obliterate the last traces of more than a century of coal mining in and around the cities of Newcastle, Wollongong and Ipswich. Pit head gear, mineral railways, subsidence areas relics of all kinds and their distinctive contribution to urban morphology are being submerged in amorphous and omnivorous suburbia.
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ItemThe view from downstream: effect of Kenya's Tana River dams on flow character and its perception by local flood plain communities( 2000)The damming of rivers has for a long time been associated with undesirable impacts on the hydrology of the downstream region (Goldsmith and Hildyard, 1984;McCully, 1996). This kind of impact is of particular concern when it affects the subsistence livelihoods of communities of the downstream region. In Kenya, 5 large dams were constructed in the country's largest river, the Tana River, between 1968 and 1988. The potential consequences of any major alteration of the downstream hydrology of this river are big, owing to the high dependence of the downstream tribal communities on the river regime. Concerns exist that the damming of the Tana River is responsible for deterioration of the resources naturally provided by the floodplain ecosystem (Emerton, 1996; Medley, 1994) but detailed research that demonstrates a clear link between the dams and harmful effect on the downstream hydrology is lacking. Some past environmental impact assessment and feasibility study reports on a number of projects on the Tana River have made inferences about the possible impact of flow regulation on the downstream hydrology (DHV, 1986a; Nippon Koei, 1996). There exist two gaps in the current understanding of the impact of Tana River dams on downstream flow. One is the clear demonstration of the actual nature of hydrological effects directly linked to the dams, two, is the lack of evidence that such changes are of a nature that has consequence to the subsistence activities of the downstream communities. In this study, the association of the dams with changes in downstream flow is investigated by combining analysis of flow data with evaluation of the local perception/observation of three tribal communities of the floodplain region. The assumption of evaluating the local observation of the river character by these communities is that the close dependence of their traditional subsistence systems on the river regime makes them sensitive to any changes in flow that are big enough to affect their subsistence livelihoods. Evaluation of the effect on downstream hydrology concentrates on floods and lowflows; and it is based on the pre and post-dams data record of a single river gauging station, due to serious problems discovered in the quality of data of other gauging stations of the floodplain region. The evaluation of the local perception/observation of river character change is based on a sample survey of 353 members of the Pokomo, Somali and Malakote ethnic groups and in-depth interviews with local key members of these communities. It is found that the Tana River dams have affected floods of the 900 to 1700 m3/s range only; but affected all ranges of lowflows. The perception/observation of change in the river hydrology is clear within the majority of local floodplain community members; a fact inferred to indicate significance of the hydrological effects on the traditional subsistence systems.
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ItemGeographic variation in Eucalyptus Globulus Labill: including studies on the distribution and taxonomy of the species( 1973)The distribution of Eucalyptus globulus Labill, is described and discussed. Geographic variation is demonstrated in a number of seedling and adult characters. This variation appears mainly to relate to climatic factors. The stepped clinal variation pattern characteristic of the species probably has a divergent origin, although the possibility of an introgressive origin cannot be excluded. A new taxonomic treatment of E. globulus, based on numerical analyses and the geographic variation data, reduces three taxa previously regarded as species to the subspecific level.
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ItemStudy of a quantitative method of delineating physical-geographic regions in interdisciplinary integrated survey: the grid-point method( 1975)Interdisciplinary surveys involve mapping physicalgeographic regions according to readily observable criteria for the purpose of assisting in making a variety of decisions about land use. Difficulties are associated with traditional surveys, which rely on aerial photographic interpretation and purposive sampling, due to the lack of a standardized, quantitative methodology. The grid-point method is proposed as a rigorous, quantitative approach and was applied in the Grampians north-east section (507 sq.km.), the upper Barwon River catchment (977 sq.km.), and on French Island (172 sq.kin.). Variables used reflect obvious distributions of landform, soil, and native vegetation, and quasi-random sampling patterns with circular sampling units and densities between 1 sampling unit per .89 and 2.42 sq.km. were employed. Landform data were gathered from contour maps, and soil samples and vegetation data were gathered in the field; Boil data were obtained by laboratory analyses. Data were subjected to principal components analysis, and standardized data were scored on the first three scaled and first three orthoreormalized vectors. Sampling units were classified on the basis of the scores and then regionalized by SYM�-V proximal mapping. These regionalizations provided a sound basis for physical-geographic description. Inherent features of the grid-point method overcame difficulties associated with traditional surveys. Statistical analyses indicated that sampling densities as low as 1 sampling unit per 4 sq.km. are sufficient to generate interpretable regionalizations of the Grampians north-east section. Comparisons of regionalizations with the land systems map of this area produced by traditional methods reveals that the grid-point method is capable of generating regions similar in level of generalization to the land systems. With respect to selected variables,the regionalizations are in the majority of cases of higher quality than the land systems map. The cost of survey at 1 sampling unit per .97 sq.km. of this area is within the limits of most survey organizations and estimates for surveys at densities of 1 sampling unit per 1.14, 1.51, 2.07, 3.49, 4.15, and 9.74 sq.km. reveal that although there is a significant reduction in cost with decrease in sample size, an economy of scale factor operates. Because the grid-point method is orientated to field data gathering, it is least expensively applied in study areas characterized by undulating plains as well as flat plains and hills, which are for the most part cleared with a dry surface. Estimates for five study areas previously surveyed by the Soil Conservation Authority indicate that the cost of application of the grid-point method at sampling densities of 1 sampling unit per 1 ?q.km. and lower is not excessive. Efficiency of the grid-point method may be enhanced by purposivesystematic sampling near roads and vehicle tracks and purposive stratification of the study area prior to application. The grid-point method should be applied in interdisciplinary surveys carried out in south-eastern Australia. Applications should take the form of reco??aissan?e surveys involving relatively low density sampling. The resulting regionalizations, although probably somewhat coarse, should provide a sound framework for general pbysical-geographic description.
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ItemMy land, our river: private property rights, public goods and land use decision-making in the riparian zone( 2001)Ever since public choice theory began to emerge earlier this century, by applying the methodology of economics to the study of politics, it has been fascinated with the perceived conflict between private property rights and the public or the common good. A large component of the environmental movement, by adopting the public good as its unspoken goal, has necessarily found itself at the heart of this private versus public good debate. There have been many studies into the applicability of these public choice theories to real world environmental problems. Some of these have gone to the micro level and tested the assumptions of these theories with actual attitudes and motivations of the individual. At another level there have been studies into the impacts of state environmental policy, normally assessed from the macro level of the overall environmental change resulting from a policy. This thesis draws these two distinct bodies of research together. It recognises that the mentality of social choice theory has long been firmly entrenched in Australian state environmental policy. It also recognises that, as a result of being based upon theories that are not universally applicable to all situations, certain environmental policies fail because they do not elicit the desired behaviour from the individual. It goes on to demonstrate that the failure of certain policies can be attributed to the attitudes and motivations of the very people whose behaviour the policy aims to change, the behaviour of the private property owner. The riparian zone, typically defining a boundary between private and public property, is at the heart of this private versus public good debate. In this zone the activities of the private land manager can have significant public implications, in forms as diverse as water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and regional soil degradation. Yet the relationship is not all one directional, for the riparian zone is also an area where public policy often impacts upon the private property owner. Environmental decline of riverine and riparian environments has led inexorably to pressure for more and more controls on private land use to preserve a number of `public good' environmental values such as water quality, biodiversity and regional soil productivity. A range of planning regulations, specific to floodplain environments, also restrict the rights of the private property holder, once again in the name of the public good. On a regulated river system the relationship is even more problematic, because the manner in which the river is regulated by the public authority can have massive impacts on the riparian landowner. Floods on Australia's Murray River in October 1996, the result of the partial draining of Lake Hume, bear testimony to this. This thesis begins with a discussion of the power of the riparian landholder to influence environmental quality, by reviewing the ways in which terrestrial and aquatic conditions can be influenced for the better or worse by certain riparian land use activities such as stock grazing and fencing. Having outlined the ecological importance of the land use decisions made by riparian landholders, the existing influences upon the riparian farmers' land use decision-making are then identified, examining riparian farmers along Australia's Upper Murray River as a case study. Through surveys, in-depth interviewing, and participant observation, it explores influences on farmer land use decision-making. It discovers why farmers make the land use decisions they do, and it exposes the true impact of state policy on these decisions. A river-based riparian zone assessment was also conducted along each farmer's property, enabling observation of how the attitudes and views displayed in the surveys and interviews translated into different riparian land use activities. The results have revealed a number of opportunities and constraints to obtaining landowner co-operation in stream frontage management, many of which have significant implications for the management of river frontages throughout Australia. This thesis concludes by defining the nature of the problems present in the riparian zone, and the extent to which they can be explained by existing theories.
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ItemIn the wake of June 4 : an analysis of the Chinese students' decision-making process to stay in Australia( 2001)This is a study of the Chinese students' efforts to gain the right and chance to stay on in Australia after the June 4 massacre event occurred in Beijing in 1989, when there were about 20,000 of them living in Australia. The specific focus of this study is the experiences of the students over a period of twelve months from 4 June 1989 to 27 June 1990, when the students were virtually allowed to stay permanently. This was a special onshore migration intake. Such an intake once had a significant impact upon Australian humanitarian and refugee immigration policies in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. This is a topic relevant to international and refugee migration and in need of empirical explication and theoretical conceptualisation. A comprehensive study of the decision-making experiences of both international and refugee migrants has many dimensions. To develop an adequate portrayal of the onshore asylum seekers' decision-making process, this study uses the multimethod approach. Information gained from in-depth interviews forms the main empirical basis of this study. The data collected through participant observations is woven in among documentary sources, and both provide context to the main interview-based data. In the course of the literature review, current thinking on identity, especially on strategic identity formation is found to be a most useful theoretical framework to guide this study. By utilising the identity formation framework, this study addresses five aspects of the Chinese students' efforts to form their onshore asylum seekers' identity and to meet the Australian government's migration criteria for gaining the right and chance to stay on in this country permanently. The main features of the onshore asylum seekers' efforts to shape their identity to suit government criteria can be summarised as follows. Firstly, as these asylum seekers are onshore, they necessarily have extensive involvement with the local agencies in dealing with their residence issue. This involvement offers asylum seekers various notions of what a 'refugee identity' is, and this in turn influences how they constitute themselves in this local context. Secondly, the efforts of the onshore asylum seekers are made away from home in a new place. As such, they make their decisions in a newly formed primary social group, instead of within a family which, in current studies, is the most commonly documented decision-making unit. Thus, their decision-making distinguishes itself from the family-based process in many ways. Further, as onshore asylum seekers are not recognised by nor rescued by refugee agencies, they have to provide solid evidence to prove that they fit in with refugee criteria and are qualified to stay. This expectation results in onshore asylum seekers participating in a very self-conscious and more strategic process of constructing a refugee identity. Furthermore, the onshore refugee identity is consolidated and expressed by interactions with the major local agencies. This influences these agencies in terms of the way in which the onshore asylum seeker issue is perceived and solved. In particular, the asylum seekers actively contacted and lobbied the government, the media and the migrant service organisations. Lastly, as a logical development of the onshore asylum seekers' efforts to stay, the seekers take highly organised political actions, which often comply with the main themes of the conflicts in international political ideology.
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ItemWhat is the value of a hole in the ground?: What is the value of discrete choice contingent valuation?( 2001)The inability of market price systems to reflect the social value associated with environmental conservation presents a barrier to the achievement of overall allocative efficiency. Stated preference valuation techniques such as the contingent valuation method have been found to be useful in capturing and measuring unexpressed preferences for environmental protection and enhancement. When applied correctly, these techniques can alleviate some of the most intractable market failures, such as those which involve pure public goods. This thesis explores the theoretical validity of different approaches to contingent valuation questioning through a survey of Victorian households' attitudes to the dereliction of open gold mine pits in the Victorian countryside. The methodological research involves comparison of discrete and continuous models of contingent valuation questioning, including a wide scale test of a new approach to discrete questioning, referred to as the "dissonance minimising choice" method, which seeks to correct the upward bias of yea-saying suspected in dichotomous choice studies. The results reveal a notable level of community concern about present mining practices in Victoria and a considerable willingness to pay for minesite rehabilitation. The results for the contingent valuation method indicate that survey respondents made robust and rational utility-maximimsing choices. The discrete-choice results were still significantly higher than the results for open ended study, with the performance of the dissonance mimimising choice method rather mixed in comparison with the traditional dichotomous choice approach. i
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ItemSpatial variation in benthic community structure in upland streams: the influence of fine sediment transport( 2000)Physical factors can play an important role in structuring plant and animal communities. Together with spatial variation in their magnitude, differences in species tolerances to these factors are thought to explain considerable variation in the structure of natural assemblages. This thesis examines spatial variation in fine sediment transport in upland streams, and the effects of this on the structure of benthic invertebrate assemblages in this system. I initially surveyed sediment transport rates (3 times) using box type bedload traps and the faunal assemblages (twice) on individual stones at 12 sites on 3 regulated and 3 unregulated streams in the upper reaches of the Acheron and Yarra catchments, which drain from the Great Dividing Range, southeastern Australia. This study region spans a geologic boundary, and includes areas of acid volcanics in the north, and granite and sandstone to the south. Sediment transport rates, which were measured only at low flow ranged from 5+2 to 821+115 g.day' (mean f 1 SE) at each site. Transport rates between the volcanic and granitic/sandstone catchments accounted for most of the variation between sites, and thus differences in transport rates between the two geologies approached 3 orders of magnitude. The flow diversion weirs on some of the streams were found to negate any differences in sediment transport rates between the two catchment types. Multivariate analysis of macroinvertebrate assemblages clearly distinguished between assemblages from sites in the volcanic and granitic areas. Overlaid on these differences was the effect of flow regulation, in which assemblages at regulated sites in both catchments converged toward one another in terms of overall assemblage structure. The composition of the assemblages at these regulated sites differed from unregulated sites in both catchment types. Notably, although multivariate techniques clearly established the above patterns of difference, commonly measured variables such as species richness, total abundance and the abundance of common taxa showed ambiguous patterns with respect to catchment geology. The multivariate analyses suggest that differences in community structure between granitic and volcanic streams are partly related to the effects of sediment transport. However, I was not able to demonstrate this to be the case. In a field experiment in which sediment transport was excluded across individual patches of the streambed at 6 of the unregulated study sites, no changes were observed in the fauna colonising these patches relative to controls in which sediment transport was maintained at natural levels. This was so in both the volcanic and granite catchments. Nevertheless, multivariate analyses again showed assemblages within the granite and volcanic catchments to differ in a similar fashion as observed in the original survey. In a set of artificial stream channels located adjacent to one of the study streams, changes in the benthic community were monitored in response to short-term and long-term sediment addition. These two experiments considered changes in sediment loads that might occur, in the short term as a result of small spates (a pulse disturbance), and in the long-term as a result of natural variation in sediment loads, or alternatively as a result of human impacts (a press disturbance). In both cases sediment addition caused only minor, but consistent changes in the benthic assemblage. In the case of disturbance caused by spates, it appears that changes in flow are the predominant mechanism disturbing the community during these events. Overall, these communities appear to be resistant to the effects of sediment transport. Presumably this resistance relies on the maintenance of suitable habitat, and thus sedimentation of rocky substrates would probably cause far greater changes than were detected here in response to sediment transport. It is possible that in the granite streams surveyed, the effects of sediment transport are to some degree mediated by the ability of animals to find refuge from sediment induced abrasion, perhaps by seeking shelter on the lee side of rocks, or in dead water zones where scour by sediment transport is minimised. Future research must concentrate on the physiological tolerance to sediment transport of these organisms, and whether behavioural adaptations allow stress to be minimised in heterogeneous stream reaches.