School of Geography - Theses
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ItemMuseums in the time of COVID-19: visitor participation and experience at Immigration Museum and Sovereign Hill( 2021)Immigration Museum, Melbourne and Sovereign Hill, Ballarat are two iconic sites of Victoria, the cultural capital of Australia. Tied together by their histories of immigration, I aim to decipher the socio-cultural impacts of these sites during the precarious time of COVID-19. Through the perspective of eight interview participants and their shared multimedia, I analyse the visitor experience during 2021. The research findings are organised around the central themes of representation, time, and culture: representation meaning static versus progressive representations of the world at these sites; time meaning the COVID-19 reflections on these sites; and culture meaning how these sites foster connection and creativity during a crisis. I argue that these museums are fundamental to our sense of state identity, provide an escape from reality, and transport us to both confronting and optimistic times. In providing an insight into these sites during the time of COVID-19, this research contributes to the emerging scholarship of place-making, identity, social media and community during a time of disconnect at museums globally.
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ItemFrom sandcastles to concrete jungles: researching the sand industry in Victoria, Australia( 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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ItemEnvironmental policy and orthodox economics: a case study of Victorian solid waste( 2007)In this thesis I use the idea of 'rational ideologies' to investigate the value and role of orthodox economics in solid waste policy in Victoria, and its relationship with a dominant set of policy ideas that I call industrial ecology. I show that many orthodox economists criticise industrial ecology and prescribe alternative policies based principally on market-based instruments (MBIs) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) with environmental valuation. They largely ignore the economic underpinnings of industrial ecology. I report on four empirical research projects. Firstly, I investigate the influence of unit-based pricing of domestic garbage in Melbourne on garbage quantities. I find its effects trivial except where rates were set at levels higher than orthodox economic theory would suggest is appropriate. Home owners have reduced garbage for non-economic reasons. Secondly, I compare 37 cost-benefit studies of recycling, revealing enormously varied approaches and results that are often apparently infused by analyst ideology or sponsor interests. Rather than the hard rationality it seems to promise, CBA with environmental externality valuation diverts debate into complexities that are the preserve of experts. The ideological foundations of some orthodox economic interpretations of environmental issues are shown to be weakly supported by theory or logic. Thirdly, I review the history of Victorian solid waste policy since 1970. As an early pollution crisis was overcome, the agenda shifted to waste minimisation. Regulation, corporatist agreements, targets and strategies have helped to level off the quantity of waste to landfill and grow post-consumption recycling into a major industrial operation. Costs have risen substantially but public support remains strong. Industry, local government and environment groups have competed for influence in the policy arena. While waste management has been transformed into a competitive market structure, orthodox economics has played only a small role in the policy history. Where CBAs have not be desultory they have failed to resolve policy disputes. Use of MBIs has been beset by administrative and sunk-cost concerns. Finally, I report on a survey of 46 members of the solid waste policy community on the economics of solid waste. There is a surprisingly high degree of in-principle acceptance of orthodox economics conceptions of the environment, such as CBA, environmental valuation and MBIs. There is more disagreement over resource efficiency,, recycling targets and interpretation of the value of economic tools in practice. Variation in views is linked with professional grouping more than economics education. There is strong support for the economic underpinnings of industrial ecology. I suggest that environmentalists' simultaneous acceptance of orthodox economists' intellectual framework yet rejection of their prescriptions demonstrates the practical weakness of that framework but also represents a latent danger to environmentalism. In concluding, I interpret orthodox economics as a rational ideology that is blind to its ideological content. I argue that this blindness has led to overconfidence, inflexibility and overambition, and that these characteristics have marginalised orthodox economics in Victorian solid waste policy. I argue for analytical plurality and the supremacy of political judgement.
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ItemMultiple purpose river basin development: principles and practice in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria( 1968)No abstract available
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ItemThe resistance of herbaceous vegetation to erosion: implications for stream form( 2006)Vegetation growing on the banks of a stream channel influences geomorphological processes operating in that channel. A large body of research has investigated the role of vegetation in controlling the erosion of stream channels, but the majority of this research has considered riparian trees and other woody vegetation. Consequently, our understanding of the influence of herbaceous vegetation on channel erosion is limited. The overall aim of this thesis was to address this knowledge gap by establishing the resistance to erosion of herbaceous vegetation in terms of shear stress and the length of time (duration) of exposure to shear stress, then comparing it to the shear stress and duration of exposure that occur in a number of streams in Victoria, Australia. The study focuses on the influence of herbaceous vegetation on the fluvial entrainment of sediment from horizontal surfaces. Horizontal surfaces are a particular subset of geomorphological features that occur in alluvial streams that include bars and benches. The erosion resistance of herbaceous vegetation directly sampled from horizontal surfaces in streams was estimated using a custom-built laboratory flume that generated very high bed shear stresses. The influence of stem length and substrate size on erosion resistance was tested in the flume study: mature herbaceous vegetation with long stems withstood high levels of shear stress for several days of continuous exposure. Erosion resistance was found to be inversely related to substrate size and positively related to stem length. The maximum erosion resistance of herbaceous vegetation in the flume study was greater than values reported in the literature for herbaceous vegetation growing in artificial drainage channels and on hillslopes. The shear stress exerted in stream channels is often estimated using methods based on cross-sectional average hydraulic conditions. Comparison of cross-sectional mean shear stress and the local shear stress exerted on horizontal surfaces estimated at six study sites in Victoria using high-resolution two-dimensional hydraulic modelling indicated that the erosion of horizontal surfaces is unlikely to be accurately predicted by mean shear stress. It is also possible that mean shear stress will not accurately predict the erosion of other sub-cross-section-scale geomorphological features. The frequency of erosion of horizontal surfaces covered with herbaceous vegetation was estimated at the study sites using erosion prediction analyses that combined the erosion resistance data from the flume study, estimates of local shear stress and exposure duration of horizontal surfaces at the study sites. The exposure duration was estimated by analysing the long-term sub-daily discharge records. The erosion prediction analyses indicated that mature herbaceous vegetation had sufficient resistance to erosion to withstand the shear stress and exposure duration at all study sites, and consequently would not be eroded. Immature herbaceous vegetation, however, would be eroded at all study sites; the frequency of erosion varied and was dependent on the stem length. The erosion prediction analysis method was applied to investigate the variation in the effectiveness of herbaceous vegetation in stabilising horizontal surfaces at the catchment-scale. Although the results were not conclusive, it appears that the influence of herbaceous vegetation is greatest in the upper catchment, which contrasts with previous research that identified a mid-catchment peak in fluvial entrainment of bank material. The duration of exposure to inundation is likely to be the main driver of herbaceous vegetation degradation in the lower catchment, as hydrograph attenuation leads to long duration events that cause oxygen deprivation stress on the herbaceous vegetation. A number of conceptual models of the temporal variation in erosion resistance of horizontal surfaces for different management scenarios were developed. Further data on the influence of vegetation other than herbaceous vegetation on the erosion resistance of horizontal surface are required, but based on the outcomes of the thesis and previous research it is clear that stream restoration designs that aim to increase channel stability with woody vegetation should be carefully considered. It is possible that rather than stabilising the channel, the impact of the maturing woody vegetation on the herbaceous vegetation understorey will lead to a reduction in overall stability.
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ItemMeasuring rural community sustainability: the use of social indicators in an adaptive approach to catchment management( 2005)An understanding of social issues is imperative for effective planning and policy development to foster sustainability. Social sustainability, or well-being, of communities is integral to any assessment of sustainability since it reflects, and impacts upon, ecological and economic sustainability. One area where this has direct implications is the management of natural resources. The catchment, or watershed, has assumed importance as a planning unit for natural resource management (NRM) in Australia. Integrated catchment management (ICM) has widely been adopted for NRM at the catchment scale but is largely confined to biophysical issues. To combat this bias, social issues need to be represented in a format that can be used to assist decision-making. Such feedback can fulfil a range of purposes. In the case of ICM, insight into social conditions can be used to both inform the social context for decision-making and provide feedback on policy and program outcomes, to enable an adaptive approach to catchment management. This thesis was concerned with the development of a system to monitor trends in the social sustainability of rural communities. Several theoretical areas and a multi-staged empirical investigation informed this thesis. In particular, it is ground in the notions of 'community sustainability' and 'social sustainability' that evolved from the discourse on sustainable development; consideration of methodological frameworks for social indicators; and through a case study. The case study draws upon the needs and concerns held by local stakeholders from multiple communities across the Woady Yaloak catchment in rural Victoria, Australia. Through interviews, personal observation and questionnaires, some insight is offered into the social dimensions of community sustainability in a rural context, and a suite of perceptual social indicators were constructed and applied to validate the tool and measure how stakeholders consider the social condition of their communities. A series of social indicators were developed and validated to represent the components of community sustainability in a manageable format that can be quantified. This provides a comprehensive framework of the issues to consider, a mechanism that can be applied to inform the social context for decision-making and the strengths that can be harnessed or the weaknesses that need to be addressed, for planning or policy evaluation, or for sustainability considerations. It is argued that this system of perceptual social indicators is useful to counter the emphasis on objective measures. This system can be used in conjunction with objective measures to provide a broader picture.
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ItemEnvironmental floods for Victorian regulated rivers( 2005)Dams, whilst critical to society for water supply, impact on the environment and alter flooding patterns downstream of a dam. Floods perform an important role in sustaining many abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem, such as channel maintenance and triggers for fish spawning. Environmental floods are a promising management technique but their release has only been reported from 16 of more than 45,000 large dams worldwide. This thesis is the first review of issues surrounding the implementation of environmental floods from large Victorian dams. The study identifies the large dams in Victoria that (a) have the most altered flood hydrology downstream of the dam, and (b) have the least physical constraints on releasing floods. The extent of flood regime change from 21 dams is quantified using flood statistics. All of the 21 dams reduced the magnitude of natural 1 to 10-year recurrence interval floods and extended the recurrence interval of natural floods. A worldwide review of environmental floods reveals six major limitations to environmental floods and five factors common to all successful environmental flood releases. One of these limitations - capacity of the dam to release an environmental flood is examined in more detail. Twelve Victorian dams have the physical capacity to release a natural one-year recurrence interval flood. Foremost among these are Thomson, Rocklands, Eildon and Upper Yarra dams which have a high impact on floods and potential to release a flood without requiring infrastructure modifications. Implementing an environmental flood in Victoria is a long term process taking up to ten years. Environmental flood design requires that a link between flood change and ecological condition be established. This requires substantial data to be available. Coordination among stakeholders involved in environmental flood planning, particularly optimising the operation of a dam to maximise environmental benefits of a flood release while minimising impacts on other water users, is a key aspect of environmental flood implementation.
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ItemAgriculture and land use in the Ovens and Kiewa River valleys of N. E. Victoria( 1964)No abstract available
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