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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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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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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ItemThe fragmentation of the radical social movements in the Philippines: development processes and the state( 1999)This thesis examines the relationship between national processes of economic change and the relative decline and fragmentation of radical social movements in the Philippines. Specifically it examines a recent course of political debate and conflict in the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its associated organisations. Processes of agrarian and industrial transition, combined with new class formations, have undermined this movement's understanding of basic strategy for social change. The growth of a service and industry based proletariat, differentiation of the peasantry, changes in the political regime and internationally based ideological challenges make it impossible for the organisation's traditional Maoist focus of protracted people's war to succeed. New organisations and splits from the old CPP have established a base in what can be characterised as primarily urban based protest movements and trade unions. The thesis reviews the ideological development of the CPP and the political crisis that resulted from the attempts by sections of the leadership to re-emphasise the party's Maoist orthodoxies in the early 1990s. The resulting debates and political changes are scrutinised. A more general analysis of processes of social and economic change emphasises the role of rent capitalism in facilitating a distorted form of development that has increasingly proletarianised, impoverished and urbanised a large portion of the population. Local case studies illustrate these trends. Finally, the new forces on the political terrain of the left are assessed. A renewed focus on the organising of urban workers and other sectors constitutes the greatest potential to enact progressive social and political change in the country.
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ItemThe role of valley deposits in modifying runoff delivery through catchments( 1999)The management of near-stream areas to reduce sediment and associated nutrient delivery to stream networks involves the management of runoff delivery. The efficiency with which runoff is delivered from hillslopes into the stream network, and subsequently through the stream network is a reflection of a catchment's hydrologic connectivity. The role of valley fill deposits in modifying catchment runoff delivery is examined in this study to assess their significance as hydrologic buffers. Preliminary modeling of controls on near-stream hydrologic buffering suggest that buffering response is sensitive to convergence of the contributing area and to the antecedent moisture conditions of the buffer zone itself. Consistent with partial area models of surface runoff generation, the results imply that near-stream areas will be source areas of mnoff if they accumulate and store runoff. However, near-stream areas below planar and divergent slopes have greater buffering potential because specific catchment areas are lower. The identification of convergent areas as significant source areas of runoff, and hence pollutants, helped guide the selection of a buffer for hydrologic monitoring. An alluvial fan was selected because of its dispersive morphology and position at the mouth of a discontinuous stream. The 0.44 ha study fan-valley flat dispersal area subtends a 26 ha catchment. Hydrologic buffering by the fan was highly variable during the 20 month monitoring period, ranging from complete buffering during some of the smaller runoff events to about a 25% reduction in runoff inputs in one of the larger events. Response variability reflects antecedent moisture conditions on the fan. Under 'wet' conditions, runoff delivery from the catchment is rapid and represents a relatively large proportion of total rainfall. Under dry conditions the entire catchment is a significant store for rainfall, and catchment runoff yields are lower. Runoff losses on the fan are significant because of the greater available storage capacity. Results suggest that the potential for near-stream buffering is good where rain events are sufficiently spaced to permit catchment and near-stream drying. The buffering potential of alluvial deposits in the area is found to reflect their contributing area to dispersal area ratios. A small CA:DA suggests that buffering by the deposit will be significant across a wide range of rainfall events and catchment conditions. Small ratios are associated with interlink areas and low order tributary catchments feeding into high order streams (i.e. where valley floors are wide). As a proportion of total drainage area, the significance of fan buffering along a 5th order stream is found to be relatively minor (16%) compared to runoff contributions from sub-catchments drained by continuous streams (75%). Since runoff from continuous tributaries represents net yields following hydrologic buffering at the sub-catchment scale, however, it is argued that catchment hydrologic connectivity reflects the spatial extent and distribution of alluvial deposits throughout the catchment. A general pattern of increasing valley fill width with increasing stream order is found, which is consistent with the general pattern described in the literature. On average, hillslope-stream hydrologic connectivity decreases with increasing stream order, although there can be significant intra-order variability. The mean CA:DA for 1st order catchments is 70, indicating generally poor buffering potential. Mean CA:DAs for the higher order catchments are significantly lower. Once in the stream network, fans and floodouts below 1st and 2nd order streams are potentially significant buffers. Approximately 40% of 1st order streams discontinue. The area they drain constitutes 65% of the total 1st order stream drainage area and >40% of total drainage area. Fans and floodouts below 66% of 2nd order streams are potential buffers to >40% of total drainage area also. hi
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ItemThe regeneration dynamics of Araucaria laubenfelsii in maquis and forest, Mont Do, New Caledonia( 1999)Many of the southern hemisphere conifers occur as emergent trees in high diversity angiosperm forests. Despite it's small size, New Caledonia has a flora which includes 43 endemic species of conifer. This study examines the regeneration ecology of the New Caledonian conifer, Araucaria laubenfelsii Corbasson, a species which occurs on ultramafic soils as an emergent tree in rain forest and in an unusual structural association with maquis vegetation. The hypotheses focus on the processes which create and maintain the structure of the maquis-conifer community and the stand dynamics of these conifers within closed forest. The establishment, growth, survival and reproduction of approximately 2,500 individuals was followed in permanent plots, within the Mont Do Botanical Reserve. This study utilized accepted demographic techniques to examine the regeneration status of Araucaria laubenfelsii in both maquis and forest. Community vegetation was also sampled and analysed and several environmental variables were explored including light environment and soil properties. The ability of Araucaria laubenfelsii to regenerate continuously in both maquis and some forest plots, given a lack of disturbance, is clear from the reverse-J shape of the size class distributions. Seedling and sapling densities in maquis plots suggest that Araucaria laubenfelsii is able to establish within the maquis environment, while densities in forest suggest more limited establishment success. Forest stands represent a successional gradient from immature sites dominated by Araucaria laubenfelsii, to more mature sites where Nothofagus codonandra or mixed species dominate. Within forest light may be the limiting factor, while in maquis cloud-combing of moisture may contribute to the successes of germination and establishment. Araucaria laubenfelsii seems able to tolerate poor soil conditions showing no signs that soil limits establishment success. Forest/maquis boundaries are maintained by disturbance and topography rather than by edaphic factors, with data showing evidence of forest expansion into maquis. Growth rates suggest Araucaria laubenfelsii is a slow growing species, showing evidence of suppression in the sapling size classes in forest environments. Growth rates in the maquis are generally faster than in the forest, for all size classes. Seedfall was minimal during the period of study and a mast year was not recorded, therefore estimates of fecundity from in-field germination probably underestimate actual fecundity for the species. Araucaria laubenfelsii on Mont Do can be considered a longlived pioneer, able to thrive under high light conditions, reflected by estimated X values in maquis consistently > 1. Araucaria laubenfelsii on Mont Do is able to survive fire once it reaches a critical size leaving adults to act as a seed source for the establishment of a new cohort. Most of the existing seedlings and saplings are killed by fire. Cyclonic disturbances are infrequent and may result in blow-down of large individuals within both maquis and forest. All of the individuals which were blown-down during the study were previously fire scarred. Around fallen stumps, seedling densities can be high, reflecting both the low dispersability of Araucaria seeds and enhanced moisture from the shading of the adult, when it was alive. Disturbance by fire and wind, seed dispersal, and slow growth rates play a role in the regeneration dynamics of Araucaria laubenfelsii on Mont Do, New Caledonia.
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ItemMunicipal solid waste management in Indian cities: towards a joint public, private and community partnership( 1998)Inadequacies in the waste management systems in Indian cities have been evident from its impact on the urban environment. The role of private sector and the community in waste management in urban India has been neglected by the respective governing bodies. This thesis first, examines the environmental impact of the waste management systems in Indian cities. Second, it suggests how the private sector and the community might be involved together, with the government, in improving the waste management services. Taking two case studies, Mumbai and Banglore, this study demonstrates that how the waste management systems operate in these two cities. It is argued that involving private sector and the community (through non government and community based organisations) can improve the operation and monitoring of waste management services in Indian cities. This study also suggests a model for operating and monitoring waste management services in Indian cities.