The Development of a Print Culture in South Australia Post-WWII to 2008: institutions, politics and personalities

In this thesis, there is an investigation into the factors that contributed to the ascendancy of printmaking in South Australia in the 1960s and the development of political printmaking in the 1970s. An analysis of key individuals is contextualised within the institutional and political frameworks operating in Adelaide at this time. An important aspect of this thesis is the examination of the transition from teaching craft and trade-based print subjects to fine art printmaking courses at the South Australian School of Art (SASA), one of the oldest art schools in Australia. Some of the research was based on the SASA archival material at the University of South Australia, which included the prospectus booklets, presentation of diplomas and prizes leaflets, SASA principal’s reports, and The Advertiser newspaper listings of students’ results. Paul Beadle and Charles Bannon were responsible for key developments in printmaking in South Australia. Beadle was a dynamic and far-sighted principal of the SASA from 1958-60. Bannon taught at St Peter’s College, where he instituted a ‘Bauhaus-style’ education methodology in the preparatory school. When Bannon was placed in charge of high school classes, he chose German printmaker Udo Sellbach to carry on his educational methods in the preparatory school. Beadle invited Sellbach to set up a graphics studio at the SASA and Sellbach and his then wife, Karin Schepers, became leading figures in the revitalisation of fine art printmaking in South Australia. Case studies of Charles Bannon, Barbara Hanrahan, Ann Newmarch and Olga Sankey are employed to extend the thesis narrative of printmaking education and professionalism in South Australia. In each case study, the formative years, studies, overseas travel and printmaking careers are considered in relation to their contribution to printmaking in South Australia. Despite the outstanding achievements of printmaking in Adelaide in the 1960s and 1970s, this has been a neglected area of research. In this thesis, important new research is presented and a number of reasons are canvassed as to why there was a subsequent contraction in printmaking in South Australia, especially in relation to the national context

Linking the knowledge economy, urban intensity and transport in post-industrial cities with a case study of Perth, Western Australia

Cities in post-industrial economies are characterised by a multi-layered intensification of knowledge. This intensification occurs through: • agglomeration of knowledge economic activity; • human capital knowledge; and • the means of knowledge exchange i.e. ICT and transport. This thesis proposes an intensification of key walkable urban centres, particularly universities. Knowledge urban intensification is heavily reliant on rail and walking transport intensification

Kurrwa (stone tool/axehead) to Kartak (container, cup, billycan, pannikin): hand-made/held-ground. An enduring, collaborative, practice-led research journey representing a distinct Australian First Nations Storying/Storywork and First Nations Performative Autoethnography as subalter/N/ative archive and methodology – created from the rememorying, re/imagined standpoint of a Gurindji | Malngin | Mudburra | Anglo-Australian | Chinese | German | Irish woman

Can a visual arts-Gurindji-specific culturally based, creative-led framework comprising collaborative exhibition and performative thesis, develop and present a Gurindji-specific storying of dispossession, cultural reclamation, transmission and exchange through dislocated kinship connections; and if so, how? What does a Gurindji-specific framework look like conceptually, creatively, critically? What does it do to and for history, to theory, to cultural analysis? Is this framework relevant and if so, for whom? This exegesis is a practice-led analysis drawing upon key cultural events and sites, and the involvement and displacement associated with singular and shared Gurindji ‘experience, location and visuality’. As a critical exploration, it radically inverts the limited recognition of what it is to be, do and enact as a Gurindji community member.My research takes shape from the diverse standpoints of descendants living on/in traditional homelands, and from members of the significant Gurindji displaced community. It is conducted through methodologies of critical First Nations Performative Autoethnography, First Nations Storying/Storywork (creative narratives), and what I call “cultural archaeology”. My mode of analysis engages with experimental, intra- and intercultural First Nations aesthetics and embodied action

Student Expectations: The effect of student background and experience

CONTEXT The perspectives and previous experiences that students bring to their programs of study can affect their approaches to study and the depth of learning that they achieve Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Ramsden, 2003). Graduate outcomes assume the attainment of welldeveloped independent learning skills which can be transferred to the work-place. PURPOSE This 5-year longitudinal study investigates factors influencing students’ approaches to learning in the fields of Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science, at two higher education institutes delivering programs of various levels in Australia and New Zealand. The study aims to track the development of student approaches to learning as they progress through their program. Through increased understanding of students’ approaches, faculty will be better able to design teaching and learning strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. This paper reports on the first stage of the project. APPROACH In August 2017, we ran a pilot of our survey using the Revised Study Process Questionnaire(Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001) and including some additional questions related to student demographics and motivation for undertaking their current program of study. Data were analysed to evaluate the usefulness of data collected and to understand the demographics of the student cohort. Over the period of the research, data will be collected using the questionnaire and through focus groups and interviews. RESULTS Participants provided a representative sample, and the data collected was reasonable, allowing the questionnaire design to be confirmed. CONCLUSIONS At this preliminary stage, the study has provided insight into the student demographics at both institutes and identified aspects of students’ modes of engagement with learning. Some areas for improvement of the questionnaire have been identified, which will be implemented for the main body of the study

Outer suburban/interface services and development committee inquiry into liveability options in outer suburban Melbourne

This report presents a range of options for enhancing the liveability of Melbourne’s outer suburbs. Melbourne has an international reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities. However, many areas within Melbourne’s outer suburbs currently lag behind the rest of Greater Melbourne on a range of liveability measures. On a number of those measures, the gap is growing. This situation is primarily due to the rapid pace at which Melbourne’s outer suburbs have expanded in recent years. There are a range of options for preserving and enhancing the liveability of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, many of which are increasingly being adopted by residents, community groups and local governments. The Government of Victoria has also indicated that preserving and enhancing the liveability of Greater Melbourne will be a major priority for the new Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Strategy

How Far is Up? the functional properties and aesthetic materiality of children’s storybook applications

This study centres on a project, a children’s book application titled How Far is Up? This artefact is an interactive, narrative-based digital book containing written text, animation, video, audio narration, music and sound effects. Book applications have become a new format for the picture book. Printed picture books are used to teach children literary and social skills; they are cornerstone tools in early developmental education. Increasing numbers of children now read digital books and engage in literature via digital devices. Given the crucial educational and social role that picture books have played in Western cultures, it is timely that we investigate how this medium has changed due to digitisation. This research evaluates the design of book applications and the educational and social implications of remediating the picture book. Theorists of children’s literature and cognitive science suggest the need for a more comprehensive set of principles aimed at guiding book application designers. In particular, there are concerns relating to the design of interactive, animated activities within these artefacts. Evidence shows that these features may distract users from a story. Further to this, existing applications commonly contain an audio narrator who ‘reads’ the written text aloud. An adult is not required to read these items with a child. This is despite the clear educational and social benefits associated with shared reading. My results demonstrate new insights, focused towards three main areas. Firstly, my findings show how designers can apply a counterpointed triad formed from typographic text, imagery and audio, alongside the alluring qualities of animated and interactive features, in order to form a richly described narrative environment. In presenting a refined level of visual movement, designers can direct users’ attention towards narrative detail. Animated interactive activities may also help users to imaginatively engage in application content. Secondly, as a result of deploying my counterpointed triad technique, whereby typographic text, imagery and audio each impart separate narrative messages, the narrator in How Far is Up? does not ‘read’ the written text; the narrator supplies additional story information. In order to comprehend this application’s textual content, a pre-literate child will need to engage in shared reading. Participant studies show that young children can understand and enjoy the How Far is Up? story when they read the application independently. My findings also show that children enjoy reading this application together with an adult, and that this shared reading activity may invoke deeper narrative comprehension and it may support the formation of close social bonds. This application’s design encourages intergenerational social interaction to occur over a shared mobile device. Finally, this research uncovers connections between material practices and social and experiential activities. By extending the counterpointed triad technique, I form a connection between digital and physical environments; highlighting the ways in which functional and aesthetic practices can lead to usable artefacts existing in social and physical contexts. This project contributes to the fields of digital humanities, education and human-computer interaction, and to the disciplines of interaction design, digital design and picture book design

An assessment of the feasibility of using vegetable oil fuels in light of the impending post fossil fuel dilemma

This work reviews the use of compression ignition engines fuelled by a range of vegetable oil fuels, conducts a 45,000 km on-road trial using a 50/50 blend of waste vegetable oil and diesel fuel, reviews available plant species, availability of land for growing fuel crops and conducts a detailed study of Australia's prospects for growing fuel crops. It finds that diluted vegetable oil is a viable fuel in conventional diesel engines, that there are some 2500 non-food oil-producing ground-crop and tree species available, and that there is nowhere near enough land in the world to feed the growing human population and to provide fuel when fossil-fuels run out. The most promising class of plant species is shown to be halophytes in particular, those which grow in arid and semi-arid areas. The literature review and on-road trials were conducted simultaneously. The review studied 65 publications covering the period 1980-2014 on the use of vegetable oil fuels in automotive and some other compression ignition engines either as straight oils or as blends. Exhaust emission and engine performance findings are tabulated and assessed. Vegetable oil fuel is found from the literature review, to be viable provided that measures are taken to reduce viscosity such as dilution or dual-fuelling and provided that greater ignition-advance is incorporated to allow longer burning time. The on-road trial used mostly 50/50 decanted and sieved waste vegetable oil and diesel fuel with and without homogenising additives in a 1996 IDI diesel engine powered utility vehicle. Difficulties were experienced but they were able to be addressed. Some statistically significant improvements in fuel consumption are reported when performing repeatable, long country runs. While the work demonstrated that this pre-Euro 2 low-pressure mechanically injected vehicle could be operated on the 50/50 blend, this may not necessarily be the case for modern high-pressure, common-rail engines. Upon completion, trial findings were compared with findings by others. The oil-producing species appraisal lists 341 non-food species and 73 food-related species describing a selection of 26 of these in more detail. It is evident that availability of species will not limit use of biofuels and that there should be no need to deplete food oils or fertile food-producing land in order to provide for our fuel needs. Rather with care, the broad range of salt-tolerant saltwater irrigated species such as sea asparagus, sea rocket and sea radish are considered capable of development in coastal margins in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner. Many other, arid area growing species show promise but only if care is taken to avoid the often associated adverse sociological and environmental impacts. The author  delves more deeply into the potential for halophyte species to provide both fuel and food by being grown in coastal margins, arid areas, deserts and salt-affected farmlands. It quickly becomes clear that the 400 Mha of world farmland nominally available for biofuel production is insufficient against the present need for at least 2500 Mha for producing fuel. The current alternative fuel situation in Australia is presented as well as the potential to produce vegetable oil and other biofuels. Available native species, where they grow and how and where they may be cropped for fuel production are addressed. A detailed biogeographical appraisal of Australia estimates that 500,000 km2 are available provided that for each selected location, the correct species is chosen and due consideration is given to existing peoples and land uses. The author concludes that vegetable oils and indeed biofuels as a whole, can presently only be part of the solution to the impending world energy crisis. The full solution is therefore likely to be a combination of vegetable oil and other biofuels together with other sustainable/renewable energy forms such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, wave, tidal and salinity-gradient power. At the same time, as much waste vegetable oil and new non-food oils should be used as is physically, morally and environmentally practicable