Environmental change, carbon cycling and human impact in tropical Australia. This fellowhip will provide the fundamental science outputs required to understand the complex linkages between terrestrial ecosystems, environmental change and human impact in the tropics - in Australia and globally - thereby assisting in
(i) predicting the response of tropical ecosystems to future environmental change and respond to the impacts of tropical climate variability
(ii) developing and validating method ....Environmental change, carbon cycling and human impact in tropical Australia. This fellowhip will provide the fundamental science outputs required to understand the complex linkages between terrestrial ecosystems, environmental change and human impact in the tropics - in Australia and globally - thereby assisting in
(i) predicting the response of tropical ecosystems to future environmental change and respond to the impacts of tropical climate variability
(ii) developing and validating methodologies for improved carbon sequestration, verifiable carbon accounting and emissions trading
(iii) achieving sustainability in the utilization of the natural resource base of tropical Australia by optimizing the balance between wealth creation and environmental impact
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The Darwinian Screen: Race in Pacific and Australian Film 1900-1970. This project examines the influence of Darwinism in filmic narratives which deal with race that are set in Australia and the Pacific from 1900-1970. Science Fiction, Travel, South Seas Island Romance, Colonial Adventure and Jungle films made in Australia, New Zealand, America, the UK and France will be considered in order to determine the design and construction of race. The search for primitive man, the construction of 'types' ....The Darwinian Screen: Race in Pacific and Australian Film 1900-1970. This project examines the influence of Darwinism in filmic narratives which deal with race that are set in Australia and the Pacific from 1900-1970. Science Fiction, Travel, South Seas Island Romance, Colonial Adventure and Jungle films made in Australia, New Zealand, America, the UK and France will be considered in order to determine the design and construction of race. The search for primitive man, the construction of 'types', the creation of utopian spaces for white subjects, the representation of evolution and devolution, the making of the Pacific as site for scientific endeavour and the production of narratives of survival are among the areas to be considered.Read moreRead less
A study of travel writing in Australian colonial history. Travel writing is a key mechanism by which readers learn about other peoples and cultures, a genre that is crucial to the formation of identities, ideologies, and ideas. Australian travel writing provided foundational texts for those emigrating to the colony. This project positions Australian texts within an international comparative sphere. It will advance the understanding of colonial culture in Australia, and of the perceptions and val ....A study of travel writing in Australian colonial history. Travel writing is a key mechanism by which readers learn about other peoples and cultures, a genre that is crucial to the formation of identities, ideologies, and ideas. Australian travel writing provided foundational texts for those emigrating to the colony. This project positions Australian texts within an international comparative sphere. It will advance the understanding of colonial culture in Australia, and of the perceptions and values of those who settled colonial Australia. It will make available to Australian and international students and researchers a rich archive of texts that have not been previously mapped. Australians are keenly interested in travel and its literature, and this project brings colonial travel texts to public attention.Read moreRead less
Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. Th ....Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. This project explores the role of Walkabout in the development of a modern national identity. Walkabout deliberately cultivated one of Australia's key modern economic foundations-the travel industry-and did so whilst also influencing knowledge formation and circulation. Read moreRead less
Using ancient DNA to investigate the environmental impacts of climate change and humans through time. This project will provide important information about how climate change and human impact have effected our environment over the past 50,000 years, removing many of the large mammals and altering the landscape. It is critical that the background to our current environment is properly understood if we are to predict the effects of on-going changes such as global warming. The research will concent ....Using ancient DNA to investigate the environmental impacts of climate change and humans through time. This project will provide important information about how climate change and human impact have effected our environment over the past 50,000 years, removing many of the large mammals and altering the landscape. It is critical that the background to our current environment is properly understood if we are to predict the effects of on-going changes such as global warming. The research will concentrate on the effects of climate change on large mammals in North and South America, New Zealand, Australia and Africa over this time period, and will examine the additional impact of humans in each location.Read moreRead less
Sex in a Strange Country: Literary Obscenity in Twentieth-Century Australia. As recently as February 2004, Australian newspapers were again raising the question of how obscenity is defined. This project is the first comprehensive literary treatment of Australian obscenity censorship. It places the Australian case in context for similar studies in the UK and US, and particularizes it as an instance of colonial regimes. The publications that result will enhance the knowledge base of key stakeholde ....Sex in a Strange Country: Literary Obscenity in Twentieth-Century Australia. As recently as February 2004, Australian newspapers were again raising the question of how obscenity is defined. This project is the first comprehensive literary treatment of Australian obscenity censorship. It places the Australian case in context for similar studies in the UK and US, and particularizes it as an instance of colonial regimes. The publications that result will enhance the knowledge base of key stakeholders in that debate, from the Australian Film and Literature Classification Board to writers and other cultural producers, to public policy debates, and scholarship in the fields of literary, legal and cultural history in Australia.
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Links across Empire: Australia and India 1880-1925. This project explores links between Australia and India between 1880-1925 and posits that India and Indians provided a foil against which Australians operated as they forged their nation and an Australian identity. It explores links around trade, religion, tourism , travel and the development and operation of the White Australia Policy to demonstrate the 'Othering' of India, but also the circumstances where closer understandings developed. In e ....Links across Empire: Australia and India 1880-1925. This project explores links between Australia and India between 1880-1925 and posits that India and Indians provided a foil against which Australians operated as they forged their nation and an Australian identity. It explores links around trade, religion, tourism , travel and the development and operation of the White Australia Policy to demonstrate the 'Othering' of India, but also the circumstances where closer understandings developed. In exploring relations between two very different colonies it pioneers new aspects of imperial history. It reveals the virtually un-researched history of relationships between Australia and India and thus historicises Australia's place in the Asia-Pacific.Read moreRead less
Whitewashing: Miscegenation, Assimilation and Genocide in the United States and Australia, 1860s-1960s. This project will investigate historical moments when miscegenation was seen as a means of removing indigenous identity in Australia and the United States. This research will answer recent calls for transnational histories which explore the intimate side of colonisation. My hypothesis is that the presence of a large population of African American people in the United States made white America ....Whitewashing: Miscegenation, Assimilation and Genocide in the United States and Australia, 1860s-1960s. This project will investigate historical moments when miscegenation was seen as a means of removing indigenous identity in Australia and the United States. This research will answer recent calls for transnational histories which explore the intimate side of colonisation. My hypothesis is that the presence of a large population of African American people in the United States made white Americans comparatively more apprehensive about miscegenation than white Australians. My findings will contribute to ongoing debates about genocidal practice in settler societies by questioning prevailing assumptions about the benign nature of the process of indigenous assimilation.Read moreRead less
Australian Literature and the Sacred: Contesting the Myth of Australian Secularism. The dominant myth of Australian culture has stressed its modern, post-religious secularism. This project, focussing on Australian literature since 1940, challenges this most tenacious myth, current in the wider culture and in Australian literary scholarship. It will investigate how the contemporary sacred is transforming in the context of urgent recent claims to the sacred by indigenous peoples, migrants and wome ....Australian Literature and the Sacred: Contesting the Myth of Australian Secularism. The dominant myth of Australian culture has stressed its modern, post-religious secularism. This project, focussing on Australian literature since 1940, challenges this most tenacious myth, current in the wider culture and in Australian literary scholarship. It will investigate how the contemporary sacred is transforming in the context of urgent recent claims to the sacred by indigenous peoples, migrants and women. This project will redefine and systematize what sacredness might mean in a supposedly secular Australian culture. It will produce a new model of the sacred in Australian literary history and make significant interventions in post-colonial debates.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing past population dynamics to understand human and climatic impacts in prehistory. More than 100 species have become extinct since humans first colonised Australia, and over 1000 are considered threatened. This research will determine the factors most strongly governing the interaction between humans and native fauna in Australia over the last 46 millennia. Our approach is powerful and novel because it will effectively draw together multidisciplinary evidence on natural resource exp ....Reconstructing past population dynamics to understand human and climatic impacts in prehistory. More than 100 species have become extinct since humans first colonised Australia, and over 1000 are considered threatened. This research will determine the factors most strongly governing the interaction between humans and native fauna in Australia over the last 46 millennia. Our approach is powerful and novel because it will effectively draw together multidisciplinary evidence on natural resource exploitation and habitat alteration by ancient people, and the influence of dramatic climatic shifts on the Australian biota. Information on past biological responses to environmental change is critical to properly contextualising the current impact, and long-term consequences of, threats such as global warming, habitat loss and invasive species.Read moreRead less