Australian Icon Research Articles

Reducing koala roadkill: a social marketing formative study

Context Koalas are an Australian icon and their numbers are seriously declining. In some regions, a key threat to koalas is vehicle strikes. Therefore, understanding what might convince people to be more vigilant and willing to slow down in areas with high koala numbers is an important research undertaking. Aims This study aims to use the wildlife value orientation (WVO) framework, a value-based segmentation process, to extend conservation insight. It will do this by demonstrating the application of social cognitive theory (SCT), to investigate how wildlife beliefs can help in identifying worthwhile groups to target with wildlife conservation interventions. The findings of this study can be used to benefit koalas by assisting conservation planning efforts to decrease driving speed and promote positive changes in driving behaviour. Method Data collection through intercept surveys was employed by convenience sampling in 2019. A total of 661 responses were collected from residents of a koala priority conservation area in Queensland, Australia. Respondents were asked about their wildlife values, beliefs, attitudes, norms, barriers, and intentions to slow down, while driving in a koala area. Four key groups were identified based on respondents’ WVO (i.e. mutualists, pluralists, traditionalists and distanced) and multigroup structural equation modelling was conducted to understand group differences. Key results The analysis identified several significant psychographic factors that influenced people’s intentions to protect koalas dependent on what wildlife value respondents held. Injunctive norms were important, positively influencing the intention of traditionalists and pluralists to slow down while driving in a koala area. Individual attitude positively influenced safe driving intention for pluralists, while perceived barriers negatively influenced mutualists’ intention to slow down. Other groups did not show similar results. Conclusion A person’s WVO can influence their intention to protect koalas by modifying their driving behaviour. Various social marketing approaches can benefit conservation strategies aimed at different WVO groups with targeted messages and interventions for each group. Implications This paper demonstrates the value of SCT in explaining people’s intention to slow down to protect koalas. The identification of group differences demonstrates that varied approaches are required to deliver behavioural change to benefit koalas.

The legend of the ‘gentlemen of the flashing blade’: The canecutter in the Australian imagination

The ‘gentlemen of the flashing blade’ laboured in an occupation that no longer exists in Australia: canecutting. It was a hard job done by hard men, and its iconic figure – the canecutter – survives as a Queensland legend, so extensively romanticized in the popular culture of the time as to constitute a subgenre characterized by subject matter and motifs particular to the pre-mechanization sugar country culture. Yet, it may seem like the only canecutters immortalized in the arts are Summer of the Seventeenth Doll’s Roo and Barney. To show the breadth and diversity of this subgenre, and the legend of the canecutter and sugar country culture, this article reviews a selection of novels, memoirs, plays, short stories, cartoons, verse, song, film, television, radio and children’s books. These works address the racial, cultural and industrial politics of the sugar industry and its influence on the economic and social development of Queensland. The parts played by the nineteenth-century communities of indentured South Sea Islanders and the European immigrants who followed are represented along with those of the itinerant Anglos. These works depict, and celebrate, a colourful, often brutal, part of Queensland’s past and an Australian icon comparable with the swaggie or the shearer.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) Tasman Map and Australia: Competing Interests, Myth Making, and an Australian Icon

The floor of the entrance to the Mitchell Library vestibule, which is part of the State Library of New South Wales, displays a stunning mosaic 1939-1941 reproduction of a seventeenth century map recording Abel Tasman’s two journeys of 1642 and 1644. It charts the west, north and southern coasts of the Australian continent, but is incomplete, thus representing the historical moment between an imagined Terra Australis Incognita, and the final survey of the east coast which presaged British colonisation. The original Tasman map, also held by the Mitchell library and currently undergoing restoration, has a strange and chequered biography. This paper explores the myths associated with what is known colloquially as the Bonaparte Tasman map, in honour of its last owner Prince Roland Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon. We examine its contested origins and role as an agent of Dutch East India Company imperial ambitions, relegation to forgotten cast-off when that empire collapsed, Bonaparte’s desire to gift it to the nascent Australian Commonwealth as a symbol of new nationhood, and the international subterfuge involved in its acquisition by not by the nation, but the State Library of NSW. Analysis of what was known of the map in the decades prior to its arrival in Australia challenges the conventional narratives, and we propose the biography of the Tasman map (and its embodiment in the Mitchell Library vestibule mosaic) is a study in imperialism, colonialism, federation, and power.

Engaging dog trainers in a city-wide roll-out of koala aversion skill enhancement: a social marketing program

ABSTRACT Koalas are an Australian icon, and their existence is under threat. Environmental protection efforts that centre on people are needed, ensuring the human dimension is considered in conservation efforts aiming to protect wildlife. This article reports process and outcome evaluation results for a social marketing program that aimed to reduce dog and koala interactions. This project aimed to leverage pilot study outcomes. Specifically, the program sought to embed koala aversion (the ability for a dog to avoid koalas) skills within one local government area. A total of 2013 dog owners were surveyed to assess program outcomes, with improved dog abilities observed following city-wide program implementation. Further evidence of program success was indicated in the process evaluation. Dog trainers and dog owners were satisfied, willing to recommend the program to other people, and they were willing to attend events in future. Lessons learned, implications, limitations of the current study and future directions are outlined.

Generating new directions for reducing dog and koala interactions: a social marketing formative research study

ABSTRACTKoala populations are declining. Conservation of this Australian icon requires a whole of community approach. To effect change, researchers and practitioners must effectively engage the target community, be open to different ways of thinking, and be receptive to new ideas and directions that match the times. This article reports the application of social marketing to decrease dog and koala interactions. A comprehensive program of formative research including a systematic literature review, expert interviews, online surveys and co-design sessions were employed to identify novel ideas and audience-focused strategies that can be applied to reduce dog and koala interactions. Results indicate that dog owners seek a non-koala focussed, dog training program that shows them what to do and a targeted approach alerting them to koala presence in addition to education and awareness efforts favoured by experts. This study indicates the need for more human centred research, which has been absent to date, given identified incongruence between expert and community views. We propose that audience-focused behaviour management strategies will, in turn, increase target audience adoption, campaign reach and promote effective community engagement with programs.

MHC diversity and female age underpin reproductive success in an Australian icon; the Tasmanian Devil

Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a highly contagious cancer, has decimated Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) numbers in the wild. To ensure its long-term survival, a captive breeding program was implemented but has not been as successful as envisaged at its launch in 2005. We therefore investigated the reproductive success of 65 captive devil pair combinations, of which 35 produced offspring (successful pairs) whereas the remaining 30 pairs, despite being observed mating, produced no offspring (unsuccessful pairs). The devils were screened at six MHC Class I-linked microsatellite loci. Our analyses revealed that younger females had a higher probability of being successful than older females. In the successful pairs we also observed a higher difference in total number of heterozygous loci, i.e. when one devil had a high total number of heterozygous loci, its partner had low numbers. Our results therefore suggest that devil reproductive success is subject to disruptive MHC selection, which to our knowledge has never been recorded in any vertebrate. In order to enhance the success of the captive breeding program the results from the present study show the importance of using young (2-year old) females as well as subjecting the devils to MHC genotyping.

Ned Kelly’s legend through the series of paintings of Sidney Nolan

The paper approaches cultural studies in a way which tells us about a life-time story of Ned Kelly, who is a legend, an Australian hero and beloved by many Australians, through the series of 27 paintings of Sidney Nolan. Ned Kelly is an Australian icon man. Both the painter and the main character of the novel are famous and express Australianness well. In this paper, the writer bases on figurative language, the colour of paintings and the life story of the main character to show the Australian nationalism, national myth and Australianness.

Characterisation of CD4 T cells in healthy and diseased koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) using cell-type-specific monoclonal antibodies

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial that is an Australian icon. Koalas in many parts of Australia are under multiple threats including habitat destruction, dog attacks, vehicular accidents, and infectious diseases such as Chlamydia spp. and the koala retrovirus (KoRV), which may contribute to the incidence of lymphoma and leukaemia in this species. Due to a lack of koala-specific immune reagents and assays there is currently no way to adequately analyse the immune response in healthy, diseased or vaccinated animals. This paper reports the production and characterisation of the first anti-koala CD4 monoclonal antibody (mAb). The koala CD4 gene was identified and used to develop recombinant proteins for mAb production. Fluorochrome-conjugated anti-CD4 mAb was used to measure the levels of CD4+ lymphocytes collected from koala spleens (41.1%, range 20–45.1%) lymph nodes (36.3%, range 19–55.9%) and peripheral blood (23.8%, range 17.3–35%) by flow cytometry. Biotin-conjugated anti-CD4 mAb was used for western blot to determine an approximate size of 52 kDa for the koala CD4 molecule and used in immunohistochemistry to identify CD4+ cells in the paracortical region and germinal centres of spleen and lymph nodes. Using the anti-CD4 mab we showed that CD4 cells from vaccinated, but not control, koalas proliferated following in vitro stimulation with UV-inactivated Chlamydia pecorum and recombinant chlamydial antigens. Since CD4+ T cells have been shown to play a pivotal role in clearing chlamydial infection in both human and mouse infections, using this novel antibody will help determine the role CD4+ T cells play in protection against chlamydial infection in koalas and also enhance our knowledge of how KoRV affects the koala immune system.

Death by sex in an Australian icon: a continent-wide survey reveals extensive hybridization between dingoes and domestic dogs.

Hybridization between domesticated animals and their wild counterparts can disrupt adaptive gene combinations, reduce genetic diversity, extinguish wild populations and change ecosystem function. The dingo is a free-ranging dog that is an iconic apex predator and distributed throughout most of mainland Australia. Dingoes readily hybridize with domestic dogs, and in many Australian jurisdictions, distinct management strategies are dictated by hybrid status. Yet, the magnitude and spatial extent of domestic dog-dingo hybridization is poorly characterized. To address this, we performed a continent-wide analysis of hybridization throughout Australia based on 24 locus microsatellite DNA genotypes from 3637 free-ranging dogs. Although 46% of all free-ranging dogs were classified as pure dingoes, all regions exhibited some hybridization, and the magnitude varied substantially. The southeast of Australia was highly admixed, with 99% of animals being hybrids or feral domestic dogs, whereas only 13% of the animals from remote central Australia were hybrids. Almost all free-ranging dogs had some dingo ancestry, indicating that domestic dogs could have poor survivorship in nonurban Australian environments. Overall, wild pure dingoes remain the dominant predator over most of Australia, but the speed and extent to which hybridization has occurred in the approximately 220 years since the first introduction of domestic dogs indicate that the process may soon threaten the persistence of pure dingoes.

Floodplain vegetation of the River Murray in 1987–1988: an important pre-drought benchmark for subsequent studies.

Floodplain vegetation of the River Murray in 1987–1988: an important pre-drought benchmark for subsequent studies.

Reliable genotyping of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) usingDNAisolated from a single faecal pellet

The koala, an Australian icon, has been added to the threatened species list. Rationale for the listing includes proposed declines in population size, threats to populations (e.g. disease) and loss and fragmentation of habitat. There is now an urgent need to obtain accurate data to assess the status of koala populations in Australia, to ensure the long-term viability of this species. Advances in genetic techniques have enabled DNA analysis to study and inform the management of wild populations; however, sampling of individual koalas is difficult in tall, often remote, eucalypt forest. The collection of faecal pellets (scats) from the forest floor presents an opportunistic sampling strategy, where DNA can be collected without capturing or even sighting an individual. Obtaining DNA via noninvasive sampling can be used to rapidly sample a large proportion of a population; however, DNA from noninvasively collected samples is often degraded. Factors influencing DNA quality and quantity include environmental exposure, diet and methods of sample collection, storage and DNA isolation. Reduced DNA quality and quantity can introduce genotyping errors and provide inaccurate DNA profiles, reducing confidence in the ability of such data to inform management/conservation strategies. Here, we present a protocol that produces a reliable individual koala genotype from a single faecal pellet and highlight the importance of optimizing DNA isolation and analysis for the species of interest. This method could readily be adapted for genetic studies of mammals other than koalas, particularly those whose diet contains high proportions of volatile materials that are likely to induce DNA damage.

The sky is falling: how Skylab became an Australian icon

In 1979, the US orbital space station Skylab made a spectacular re-entry that, like the de-orbiting of Mir in 2001, was widely anticipated across the world. As it disintegrated, debris from the spacecraft fell around the towns of Esperance and Balladonia in Western Australia. The Shire of Esperance, tongue-in-cheek, fined the United States Government for littering. While in orbit, the space station was largely invisible. In its re-entry, however, the disembodied spacecraft became tangible, visible, and collectible, in the form of its widely scattered and charred remains. Anyone could own a piece of space if they wanted; the debris was both space junk and a precious artefact. Through these local and personal interventions after its decay, the social significance of Skylab came to outweigh its historic significance and it passed into popular consciousness as a rare Australian space icon. In this article I consider how the parts of Skylab became more than the sum of the whole.

Dynamics of Murray‐Darling floodplain forests under multiple stressors: The past, present, and future of an Australian icon

We review the human actions, proximal stressors and ecological responses for floodplain forests Australia's largest river system—the Murray‐Darling Basin. A conceptual model for the floodplain forests was built from extensive published information and some unpublished results for the system, which should provide a basis for understanding, studying and managing the ecology of floodplains that face similar environmental stresses. Since European settlement, lowlands areas of the basin have been extensively cleared for agriculture and remnant forests heavily harvested for timber. The most significant human intervention is modification of river flows, and the reduction in frequency, duration and timing of flooding, which are compounded by climate change (higher temperatures and reduced rainfall) and deteriorating groundwater conditions (depth and salinity). This has created unfavorable conditions for all life‐history stages of the dominant floodplain tree (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.). Lack of extensive flooding has led to widespread dieback across the Murray River floodplain (currently 79% by area). Management for timber resources has altered the structure of these forests from one dominated by large, widely spreading trees to mixed‐aged stands of smaller pole trees. Reductions in numbers of birds and other vertebrates followed the decline in habitat quality (hollow‐bearing trees, fallen timber). Restoration of these forests is dependent on substantial increases in the frequency and extent of flooding, improvements in groundwater conditions, re‐establishing a diversity of forest structures, removal of grazing and consideration of these interacting stressors.

The fence in Australian short fiction: ‘a constant crossing of boundaries’?

This article contributes to discussions about the significance of fences in the Australian social imaginary. It undertakes a historical and intertextual reading of eight short stories that take the fence as their titular symbol, and explores how the fence story is rewritten at various moments of change in twentieth-century Australia. Developments in narrative form and representation are related to changes in the cultural and political contexts, through a critical engagement with Iser's argument that the institution of literature works through a ‘constant crossing of the boundary between the real and the imaginary’. As an Australian icon, the fence image illustrates the continuing power of settler discourse; however, the literary reworkings of the fence story disclose new visions of identity and otherness.

Koala: a historical biography

The koala is both an Australian icon and an animal that has attained ‘flagship’ status around the world. Yet its history tells a different story. While the koala figured prominently in Aboriginal Dreaming and Creation stories, its presence was not recorded in Australia until 15 years after white settlement. Then it would figure as a scientific oddity, despatched to museums in Britain and Europe, a native animal driven increasingly from its habitat by tree felling and human settlement, and a subject of relentless hunting by trappers for its valuable fur. It was not until the late 1920s that slowly emerging protective legislation and the enterprise of private protectors came to its aid. This book surveys the koala’s fascinating history, its evolutionary survival in Australia for over 30 million years, its strikingly adaptive physiognomy, its private life, and the strong cultural impact it has had through its rich fertilisation of Australian literature. The work also focuses on the complex problems of Australia’s national wildlife and conservation policies and the challenges surrounding the environmental, economic and social questions concerning koala management. Koala embraces the story of this famous marsupial in an engaging historical narrative, extensively illustrated from widely sourced pictorial material.

`Blue Lagoons and Coconut Palms‘: The Creation of a Tropical Idyll in Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is regarded as an ‘Australian icon’. It is an internationally recognised World Heritage site managed for its ‘natural’ values. However, it is a location where visitors rarely enjoy Australian landscapes. This paper contrasts the sensuous engagement of past visitors with contemporary tourist experiences. Analysis of historic and contemporary visual and written materials suggests that tourist landscapes of the Reef have been transformed significantly during the 20th century. In particular, experiences of Reef islands characterised by Australian bush have been displaced by those of a generic Pacific location. The coconut palm, as a symbol of earthly paradise, has played an important role in realising both an imagined landscape and the physical transformation of tourist locations. Whereas the tourism industry is often regarded as responsible for the promulgation of such generic images, this study suggests that they are the product of a shared imagination to which both the tourism industry and tourists subscribe.

‘The boy from bowral’: The role of the bush in the legend of Sir Donald Bradman

The Australian cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman, signifies the Australian icon and is figured as a symbol of national building and a worthy successor to the pioneering explorers and pastoralists upon whom the Australian legend was founded. He as the boy from Bowral creates an image befitting an Australian hero because he was country born and bred boy, white, heterosexual, able-bodied and a sporting male.

Conservation of the platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus: Threats and challenges

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an Australian icon. It is an integral part of the biodiversity of many eastern Australian freshwater ecosystems and is protected by legislation in all States in which it occurs. Its conservation is of considerable importance not only because of its unique features, status and niche but also because it is the only living representative of a significant lineage of platypus-like animals with a 60 million year fossil history. As a result of its specific habitat requirements it is affected by many of the widely recognised threatening processes operating in Australian limnological systems. In spite of these threatening processes, the species has continued to inhabit and reproduce in considerably degraded environments. The present overall distribution of the platypus appears to be little different from pre-European times. There are, however, now almost certainly no naturally occurring populations in South Australia, where it once occurred, and its distribution has apparently shrunk in the lower reaches of the Murray and Murrumbidgee River systems in Victoria and New South Wales. Despite being considered common throughout its current distribution its abundance is not readily measured and therefore its future conservation status is not easily predicted. Several studies have reported fragmentation of platypus distribution within individual river systems. This has been attributed to poor land management practices associated with stream bank erosion, loss of riparian vegetation and channel sedimentation. There is currently also evidence for adverse effects of river regulation and impoundments, introduced species, poor water quality, fisheries by-catch mortality and disease on platypus populations, but none of these has been well studied. Investigations of these aspects of the species’ biology and interaction with human activities are research priorities, while management priorities include the development and implementation of strategies aimed at reducing the effects of these human activities on the platypus and its habitat.

Karra: Karrawirraparri-River Red Gum-Eucalyptus Camaldulensis

Karra was a visual arts project devised for the 2000 Adelaide Festival in Australia. Its focus was the River Red Gum, quite justifiably an Australian icon, and once the most widespread tree in south eastern Australia. The project comprised an installation by three artists and a forty-page publication with essays and visual material from many contributors.