School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSpeckle and Conservation(International Seminars, 2008)The aim of this research is to demonstrate the usefulness of speckle, a trait of an expanded laser beam, for the non-destructive testing of artwork in both the imaging of subsurface structure and the quantitative detection of physical movement of canvas. Laser Speckle Contrast Method (LSCI) is a useful method for the viewing of subsurface layers and movement. By investigating the statistical properties of dynamic speckle it is possible to reveal drawings that are hidden beneath scattering layers such as the primary layer of paint or adhered paper. This is achieved by taking a series of speckle images captured in a short time frame and applying one of a number of post processing algorithms. We explore the limitations of this method when applied to various paper samples that have a sketch executed in various media beneath the top layer. The ability to resolve gray scale images was examined as well as looking at the dependence of the contrast of the revealed drawings to the temperature of the surface. Current work is being done on using LSCI to reveal indentations in artwork caused by the application process. The successful use of Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) both in the laboratory and in-situ for the detection of in-plane movement of painted canvas due to humidity fluctuations and the out-of-plane movement of paint as it dries has also been demonstrated. Canvas paintings can be very susceptible to movement due to changes of the environment. ESPI is a non-destructive technique yielding sensitive results that can detect displacement on a surface of less than the wavelength of the illuminating coherent light source. While ESPI has been successfully applied to the in-situ study of painted frescoes, previous studies have employed tensile testers as a support for painted canvas. We have shown a portable version of ESPI to be of use in tropical environment in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore with original artworks where variations in humidity occur and the samples have not undergone special preparation before analysis, revealing significant directional movements. Furthermore, a simple variation in the direction of beams paths permits the characterisation of out-of-plane movement, specifically as the height of paint shrinks due to the drying process. We have used ESPI to view the drying process of alkyd resin paints over the time period of 24 hours.
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ItemA preliminary understanding of oil paintings in tropical Southeast Asia(Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2008)
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ItemSoutheast Asian Oil Paintings: Supports and Preparatory layers(Archetype Publications, 2008)
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ItemPainting Practice in the Philippines: Two Institutionalised Practices and their Materials and Techniques(University of Melbourne, 2009)
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ItemA contribution to ancient Near Eastern chronology (c. 1600 – 900 BC)( 2008)The chronology of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Near East is currently a topic of intense scholarly debate. The conventional/orthodox chronology for this period has been assembled over the past one-two centuries using information from King-lists, royal annals and administrative documents, primarily those from the Great Kingdoms of Egypt , Assyria and Babylonia . This major enterprise has resulted in what can best be described as an extremely complex but little understood jigsaw puzzle composed of a multiplicity of loosely connected data. I argue in my thesis [Furlong, P. J., Aspects of Ancient Near Eastern Chronology (c. 1600 – 700 BC), PhD Thesis, Melbourne University, 2007; available in full at The University of Melbourne e-Prints Repository: < http://eprints.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00003929/ >] that this conventional chronology is fundamentally wrong, and that Egyptian New Kingdom (Memphite) dates should be lowered by 200 years to match historical actuality. This chronological adjustment is achieved in two stages: first, the removal of precisely 85 years of absolute Assyrian chronology from between the reigns of Shalmaneser II and Ashur-dan II; and second, the downward displacement of Egyptian Memphite dates relative to LBA Assyrian chronology by a further 115 years. Moreover, I rely upon Kuhnian epistemology to structure this alternate chronology so as to make it methodologically superior to the conventional chronology in terms of historical accuracy, precision, consistency and testability.
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ItemRecent Issues in Polish Historiography of the Crusades(Ashgate, 2008)
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ItemWork, work, work: Australian Army nurses after World War I(School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland, 2009)The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), with almost 2500 trained female nurses, provided nursing care and performed a myriad of other medical, administrative and non-nursing roles for the AIF overseas during World War I. In 1919 and 1920, the Army demobilised most. However, the nurses’ military service changed their nursing lives forever. Based on extensive new data, and building on the work of historian Jan Bassett, this paper explores the work of nurses immediately after the war, their continuing ties with the military, how the government’s repatriation system treated them and the commemorations of their work. While some were entitled to pensions, many others struggled financially through life. Many were mentally and physically exhausted from their military service and found general nursing, their own qualifications, too much. Although other historians believe that the AANS set the standards for Australian hospital nursing after the war, many branched out and pioneered other fields such as infant welfare, repatriation nursing, industrial and school nursing while others opened nurses’ homes.
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ItemProof Theory and Meaning: on second order logic(Filosofia, 2008)
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ItemAuthentication, Theology and Narrative in the Gospel Book of Theophanes(Australian Catholic University, 2006)