A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers ....A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers of the late Dr Diane Barwick. Through this innovative study of past life courses we seek to understand the unique experience of 'fourth world' people in the health transition, and the deep historical forces structuring the persistent health problems of Indigenous Australians.Read moreRead less
Epidemics, mortality and longevity in Tasmania, 1838-1930. This project will investigate areas of contemporary importance that can only be explored using historic-demographic data. National benefits include (1) gaining a better understanding of how epidemics spread through families and communities, and possible mortality and case-fatality rates, to assist in preparation for future epidemics; (2) improved accuracy in projecting older-age mortality and population ageing in Australia and other coun ....Epidemics, mortality and longevity in Tasmania, 1838-1930. This project will investigate areas of contemporary importance that can only be explored using historic-demographic data. National benefits include (1) gaining a better understanding of how epidemics spread through families and communities, and possible mortality and case-fatality rates, to assist in preparation for future epidemics; (2) improved accuracy in projecting older-age mortality and population ageing in Australia and other countries; and (3) more precise estimates of women's capacity to naturally conceive and carry to term by characteristics such as her age, her partner's age, and her number of previous births. The project will also result in augmentation of a unique publicly available dataset.Read moreRead less
HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH: Biometric explorations of Australia's socio-economic fabric in the long run, 1860-1970. HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH is a biometric analysis of Australian living standards. This project is significant because it illuminates the very fabric of Australian social and economic organisation. It traces what happened to living standards over the long run 1860-1970, covering booms, busts and wars. It examines the functioning of the family as an economic unit at the core of dis ....HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH: Biometric explorations of Australia's socio-economic fabric in the long run, 1860-1970. HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH is a biometric analysis of Australian living standards. This project is significant because it illuminates the very fabric of Australian social and economic organisation. It traces what happened to living standards over the long run 1860-1970, covering booms, busts and wars. It examines the functioning of the family as an economic unit at the core of distributing welfare-enhancing resources. It identifies who were the winners and the losers. It teaches lessons about vulnerability and strength during economic change that should inform future policy makers. Finally, it pushes the methodology in new directions with implications for its use around the world.Read moreRead less
UNDERSTANDING COLONIAL AUSTRALIA / BUILDING A NATIONAL RESOURCE. Understanding colonial Australia uses new methods with old data to penetrate the workings of the convict labour markets, the levels of wellbeing they supported, and the ways in which families distributed those resources among their members. Australia's position in the league-table of living standards is established against the four countries which contributed people to European Australia: England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The o ....UNDERSTANDING COLONIAL AUSTRALIA / BUILDING A NATIONAL RESOURCE. Understanding colonial Australia uses new methods with old data to penetrate the workings of the convict labour markets, the levels of wellbeing they supported, and the ways in which families distributed those resources among their members. Australia's position in the league-table of living standards is established against the four countries which contributed people to European Australia: England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The outcome is a history of wellbeing and inequality in colonial Australia. A spin-off from this research is the creation of a unique national resource: a computerised longitudinal data base on Australia's first white citizens, the convicts.Read moreRead less