School of Geography - Theses

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    Micro geographies of youth movement in Darjeeling, India
    Pradhan, Anna ( 2020)
    This thesis explores the everyday experiences of young women aged 19 to 21, as they navigate their lives as college students in a regional Indian town. It draws on two months of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeast Indian town of Darjeeling, to explore young women’s everyday movements in and around Darjeeling’s urban and natural settings. It examines the walking and wandering practices of both unmarried and married students, whose patterns of everyday movement shed light on the relationship between young people’s engagements with space and their own gendered journeys through the life course. I analyse these routine spatial practices to consider how young women’s everyday movements are folded into the wider spatial and social rhythms of life in the town. In this way, this thesis analyses the micro geographies of people’s movements, asking: how do young women move through local space, and what does this tell us about their gendered experience of youth? It examines the everyday walking and wandering practices of this group to highlight the gendered experiences of everyday life, within a period of youth marked by anticipation and uncertainty, waiting and expectation. It argues that these movements while ordinary and routine, bead together the tensions, joys and contradictions at the heart of small-town life.
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    Ross River virus, climate and environment in the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia
    Meadows, Julia ( 2020)
    Ross River virus (RRV) disease is the most significant mosquito-borne disease in Australia with approximately 5,000 cases notified each year. The disease is characterised by joint pain and lethargy which can persist for several months and that places a significant burden on individual patients, the health care system and economy. Given the lack of effective treatment or vaccine for the disease, it is important to develop early warning systems and predictive RRV models that can then inform population health initiatives and RRV prevention. The complex ecology of RRV makes it a complicated disease to predict. The virus is unique in its capacity to exist across all environments and climates of Australia based on the number of vector and reservoir host species involved in transmission. Therefore, predictive models need to be developed at local scales in order to produce accurate and useful results. Moreover, climate has been isolated as a factor which influences animals, humans and the environment and therefore may be useful to RRV predictive models. This thesis aimed to develop a predictive model for RRV disease for the inland region of the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Services (HHS) area in Queensland, Australia. A negative binomial regression model was developed using lagged climate data and RRV notification data from the period of July 2001 to June 2014. Variables were selected using Spearman’s rank correlation and the model was developed using backward elimination. This model was then evaluated through the comparison of observed and model predicted RRV case numbers for the period of July 2014 to June 2019 using Pearson’s correlation and sensitivity and specificity measures. The final model used vapour pressure, solar radiation, relative humidity and the Southern Oscillation Index as predictor variables. The model was moderately effective at predicting RRV case numbers (Pearson’s correlation = 0.420) and RRV outbreaks (accuracy = 55%, sensitivity = 47%, specificity = 58%). Ultimately, this thesis found that climate is an important component of the RRV disease ecology cycle, but climate variables alone cannot accurately predict RRV outbreaks in the Darling Downs HHS, Queensland. This finding supports the One Health approach to population health policy and research which emphasises the interconnectedness between humans, animals and the environment. Therefore, there is a need to consider climate variables as well as socioeconomic and political factors in the development of predictive models for RRV.
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    Subaqueous speleothems from the Flinders Ranges as palaeoclimate archives for the arid zone
    Gould-Whaley, Calla ( 2020)
    There is a distinct paucity of palaeoclimate data across the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in the subtropics. In Australia, the subtropics are largely dominated by arid environments, which do not lend themselves to the preservation of palaeoclimate archives. Erosion and reworking of sediments and low-resolution archives results in discontinuous records that usually cannot be dated to a high degree of accuracy and precision. Alternatively, speleothems can offer high resolution multi-proxy records of past climate that can be tethered to accurate and precise chronologies. Mairs Cave, in the central Flinders Ranges, lies on Australia’s southern arid margin and is filled with subaqueous speleothems, a unique and largely unexplored archive. The subaqueous speleothems in Mairs Cave represent a rare and valuable opportunity to reconstruct the past climate of Australia’s southern arid margin. In this study, uranium-thorium disequilibrium dating, stable-isotope analysis and trace-element analysis were performed on two subaqueous speleothems from Mairs Cave. The results indicate that subaqueous growth began ~89 ka BP, with two periods of continuous growth around the middle of the Last Glacial Period, a burst of growth immediately after the Australian Last Glacial Maximum, and a final burst of growth in the mid-Holocene. The timing of these intervals suggests a strong association between rainfall at the cave site and summer insolation intensity in the Southern Hemisphere, indicating that the growth of the subaqueous speleothems was sustained by episodes of tropical moisture governed by orbital forcing. An inverse relationship is observed between growth rate of the subaqueous speleothems and temperatures in the North Atlantic (interpreted from the NGRIP oxygen isotope record). This relationship is attributed to variations in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and demonstrates the influence of sub-orbital climate changes superimposed over orbital forcing. Magnesium concentration in the speleothems demonstrates a strong association with both insolation and NGRIP records, and is interpreted as a potential indicator of palaeotemperature. This interpretation is in opposition to classical speleothem studies of stalagmites, but in agreement with a recent study of subaqueous speleothems. Contrary to expectations, the oxygen isotope record exhibits a positive relationship with insolation. This is tentatively attributed to the ‘temperature effect’, but further research is required to test this hypothesis. Aside from this unresolved question that has arisen, the growth rate and magnesium records are testament to the potential of the subaqueous speleothems from Mairs Cave as palaeoclimate archives for Australia’s southern arid margin.
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    Planting a stance: food security in solar geoengineering discourse
    van Wulfften Palthe, Katerina ( 2020)
    In order to reduce the impacts of climate change, Solar Geoengineering (SGE) is a technology proposed to reduce impacts of climate change, without the need for CO2 intake. SGE is a largely contested technology and prediction of its impact are contentious, including its expected impact on food security. This study investigated different conceptualisations of food security within SGE debates. Through discourse analysis of 30 texts, 3 storylines were established, being a) food security is not significantly addressed, b) food security will improve under SGE and c) food security will worsen under SGE. The storylines were largely differentiated in their understandings of food security, impacts, and agents. Material and ideational power each storyline and their attached actors and practices was investigated. Material power was lacking overall, however there were distinct differences in how ideational power was attributed to each group.
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    A virtual paradise: Instagram and the production of nature on Palawan Island, the Philippines
    Parris-Piper, Naomi ( 2020)
    Much scholarly work has critically engaged with the adoption of ecotourism as an ostensive ‘sustainable development’ strategy for coastal spaces across Southeast Asia, highlighting how coastal dwellers are often marginalised and excluded by new representations and investments for mass tourism (Fabinyi 2018; Fletcher 2011). Less is known however, about the role of social media platforms in the making of coastal ecotourism destinations and how the proliferation of exoticized and idealised representations of coastal places and people contribute to shifting dynamics of access and control in coastal regions. To address this gap, this thesis joins an emerging conversation in political ecology that connects virtual representations of places and people disseminated online to tangible social and material changes. Drawing on a case study of El Nido—a coastal municipality of Palawan island, the Philippines—it examines how social media representations of coastal places and people have influenced the rise and changing character of ecotourism. Through critical discourse analysis and key informant interviews, it presents a narrative of the rise of ecotourism in El Nido as it intersects with coastal governance policies, investments and the social media activity of governance actors, service providers and tourists. It finds that social media platforms facilitate interactions that contribute to the intensification and acceleration of ongoing processes of coastal change through and for ecotourism with a range of negative social and environmental impacts. Social media incorporates new actors such as ‘Instagram influencers’ and platform algorithms into coastal political economies in ways that influence and govern how users of these platforms imagine and consume coastal places and people.
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    Beach Dynamics in Response to Varying Boundary Conditions: The Role of Rocks & Tidal Deltas
    Doumtsis, Stephanie ( 2020)
    Climate change induced variations in modal wave conditions as are increasing the rates of beach erosion globally, impacting coastal land use and infrastructure. Current research underpinning coastal management has focused on understanding the response of open-coast sandy beaches to changes in wave and tide conditions. However, current predictive models and understandings of shoreline change do not apply to all beach systems as they ignore the influence of different boundary conditions, such as geological constraints and estuarine processes, on beach dynamics. To create sustainable management plans for coastlines, a comprehensive understanding of shoreline change across different boundary conditions is required. This research aims to understand how annual-decadal scale beach change varies in response to changing boundary conditions, using Inverloch in Victoria (Australia) as a case study site. A combination of modern and historical aerial imagery between 1950-2020 and UAV-derived elevation models, were used calculate the rates and magnitude of shoreline change. Particle size analysis was performed to determine the energy environment and sediment transport pathways within Inverloch. At Inverloch, shoreline change was found to be spatially and temporally variable, with geological controls being a primary factor moderating wave energy and driving alongshore variations in shoreline change. The modern morphology of the Inverloch coastline is inherited from a series of storms in 2012-2013, which removed large volumes of sand from the open coast and into the Inlet. The volume of sediment eroded from the open-coast was found to account for only 1/6th of the total sediment deposited, suggesting that there are additional sediment sources, which are hypothesised to be the flood-tide delta and adjacent barrier island. This research displays the unique morphodynamic behaviour of estuarine and geologically controlled beaches and highlights the potential sediment transport pathways within estuaries, which can be used to refine current models of shoreline change.
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    From sandcastles to concrete jungles: researching the sand industry in Victoria, Australia
    Gosch, Sophie ( 2020)
    Carr and Gibson (2016) call for renewed attention to resources which constitute the making of our modern world. I respond to their call by focusing on sand, a primary ingredient in concrete and the making of the contemporary urban form. A critical but under-studied resource, sand requires further research attention and to address this gap, I conducted fieldwork from June to August 2020 into the sand industry in Victoria, Australia. Research included conducting semi-structured interviews, participant mapping, and site observations. I approached this research by bringing together two key frameworks to illuminate the human and non-human actors involved in the production of sand as a resource. First, I deployed frameworks on the tracing or ‘following’ of commodities (Cook et al., 2004; Tsing, 2015). Second, I looked to the literature on 'becoming' a resource (Zimmermann, 1933). This research approach enabled me to not only identify some key actors in Victoria’s sand trade, but also helped to outline the sand production network, from sites of survey and extraction, to consumption and recycling. In outlining the production network of sand, I was also able to show how sand ‘becomes’ a natural resource, attending to both human and nonhuman actors. The key argument I put forward is that a critical part of attending to the production network and the ‘becoming’ of sand is identification of the rhythms and changes in form that it undergoes as it moves across the production network. In doing so, this thesis aims to extend literature on human environment relations to the realm of sand and the sand industry.
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    Surfacing, intensifying and accelerating: how COVID-19 changed social relations in Quanzhou, China
    Wang, Bin ( 2020)
    The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a variety of social, political and economic changes at the global scale. In examining the changing social relations under the influence of the pandemic, this thesis reports the findings of an empirical investigation undertaken in Quanzhou, China. While COVID-19 is considered an overwhelming crisis that created a series of disruptions in people’s everyday lives, it is shown here that the pandemic has influenced the ways people interact with others in a more complex and ambiguous manner. Changes include conflicts occurred to parent-child relationships and spousal relationships in private spaces, as well as othering and digitisation of urban life in public spaces. By examining the observed changes, this thesis demonstrates that rather than being the source of changes, COVID-19 and the resulting policies have played a critical role in surfacing, intensifying and accelerating existing process of change in people’s social relations in the private and public spheres of Quanzhou. It is also evident that through these influences, the pandemic has the potential to facilitate a ‘bounce forward’ from society’s former equilibrium to a new state.
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    Cultural landscapes: a test case from northwest Tasmania
    Rogers, Ellie-Rose ( 2020)
    The influence of Indigenous management on the Australian landscape is subject to ongoing scholarly debate and is often mischaracterised within mainstream discourse as a passive rather than active practise (Bowman, 1998; Gammage, 2011; Pascoe, 2014; Fletcher, Hall and Alexandra, 2020). These debates inform current socio-ecological models in which human agency is largely omitted (Bowman et al. 1981; Jackson 1968; Wood et al. 2012). This project seeks to test the notion that the western Tasmanian landscape was constructed by Aboriginal people and that contemporary rainforest in this region invaded open fire-maintained vegetation following the British Invasion. In order to provide a direct empirical test to the veracity of claims made by early British surveyors this project employs a dendrochronology and aerial imagery analysis to reconstruct forest history pre and post-British Invasion in the Surrey Hills of northwest Tasmania, Australia. This work aims to investigate the landscape history of a part of northwest Tasmania in an attempt to highlight the social and ecological value of Indigenous fire management, and to provide empirical data to challenge contemporary narratives of passive occupation of the Australian landmass by Indigenous Australians. Findings from this research identified a clear relationship between the succession of Indigenous landscape management following the British invasion and exponential rainforest establishment. This research provides further evidence that demonstrates the impact Aboriginal people had on creating and maintaining the Tasmanian landscape which was invaded by the British, and provides an opportunity to reimagine current landscape management regimes and the role of humans within these systems.
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    The effect of mouth state and morphology on stratification in Victorian estuaries
    Edwards, Callum ( 2020)
    Intermittently Open/Closed Estuaries (IOCE) are estuaries with entrances that close to the ocean. Closed periods cause problems for estuary managers because flooding of the estuarine basin often occurs. To mitigate flooding, estuary managers artificially open IOCE by digging a channel from the basin to the ocean to drain the estuary. Mass fish deaths have been directly caused by artificial openings. Artificially opening IOCE when highly stratified, and when the bottom layer of the water column is deoxygenated, is the primary cause of fish deaths. The draining period following the opening is when large drops in dissolved oxygen occur and this period is associated with large changes in mouth morphology. Despite this, it is not well known what dominant processes affect stratification in IOCE and how these processes change during open/closed periods and in IOCE of different sizes and morphologies. There is also a lack of physicochemical measurements (e.g. dissolved oxygen and salinity) during the draining phase and this has limited prior work in linking changes in stratification to changes in mouth morphology. This project aims to fill these knowledge and data gaps by (1) determining what the dominant processes that affect stratification in IOCE are and how these change (a) during open/closed periods and (b) between IOCE of different sizes, and (2) providing a better understanding of how stratification of physicochemical variables is affected by hydrodynamic and morphological changes following artificial openings. To meet the first aim, a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was undertaken on decadal scale time series data. Physicochemical and physical-environmental data (e.g. upstream fluvial discharge, maximum air temperature) during open/closed phases from six different IOCE in Victoria (Australia) of varying sizes and morphologies were sampled. To meet the second aim, fieldwork was undertaken at two artificial openings: the Aire River and Painkalac Creek (Victoria). Physicochemical depth profiles, mouth morphology, upstream water velocity and estuary water level were measured at regular intervals for 24-48 hours after the opening to capture changes in stratification and mouth morphology. From the PCA, it was found that indicators of river inflow and air temperature were the dominant variables affecting stratification. There was a marked difference in the response of stratification to river inflow and maximum air temperature between small and large catchment area IOCE that reflected seasonal variation in stratification. In smaller catchment IOCE, during winter and spring increases in freshwater river inflow overtop the saline water layer, increasing stratification. As river inflow decreases and air temperature increases over summer, the freshwater layer evaporates away, decreasing stratification. In larger catchment estuaries, over winter and spring, saline water is flushed out of the estuary by increased river inflow, decreasing stratification. Then over summer, as river inflow decreases, there is only enough river inflow to overtop the saline water layer, increasing stratification. Analysis of fieldwork data shows two distinct responses to artificial openings. The opening at Painkalac Creek was a small, low energy opening with a small decrease in water level (0.3m) and low discharge at the mouth (maximum of 5-6m3/s). This led to little changes to stratification during the measuring period. At Aire River, there was a much larger drop in water level (>1.0m) and discharge at the mouth was >30 times larger than Painkalac Creek. This higher energy opening caused the estuary water column to become mixed before saline water was flushed out from the estuary by freshwater from upstream. These changes to the water column were found to be related to changes in morphology at the mouth. The results from the PCA analysis provide us with a better understanding of what conditions lead to high degrees of stratification and how stratification in IOCE may change into the future. This will enable estuary managers to identify high risk periods for artificial openings and reduce mass fish deaths in the future. The results from the fieldwork data analysis are important because the size and energy of the opening are affected by what time of day the estuary is artificially opened and the initial dimensions of the channel that is dug between the IOCE basin and the ocean. These variables are easily manipulated by estuary managers. By having more control over what rate of drainage occurs, mass fish deaths can be prevented in the future.