Country Town Research Articles

Australia: the complete encyclopedia

Australia presents the story of a land, its people and places, with a breadth of subject matter never before published in a single volume. Australia is one of the oldest continents on Earth and its original inhabitants, the Aborigines, the most ancient continuous culture known. Its history is monumental and its culture rapidly evolving. natural wonders of this land are recognised the world over. This book also explores what Australia has become through the sciences, politics, history, arts, media and people. other unique feature of this book is its detailed description of the cities and towns, spectacular national parks, wineries and tourist destinations across Australia. Place entries are keyed to the detailed road maps that cover the whole country. Coverage extends from the capital cities to the small and charming country towns; to spectacular, rugged destinations that can only be reached by 4WD; and activities such as fishing and vineyard touring. Sections include: The Story of Australia (248 pages) Geology, climate and geography Indigenous Art and Culture Flora History Since 1788 Government Sports Media and the Arts Architecture Science and Medicine Fauna Economy Culture and Society Indigenous History Places in Australia (553 pages) Victoria New South Wales Australian Capital Territory Queensland Northern Territory Western Australia South Australia Tasmania This beautifully produced volume with stunning color photography and detailed cartography is for anyone who wants to know more about this amazing country, its landscape, people, culture and what to see and do when traveling there. CD-ROM contains all the information in the book, plus additional information on trips: for four-wheel-drives, fishing and to national parks. As well there are approximately 500 extra photos on the CD-ROM.

Commodification and Creative Destruction in the Australian Rural Landscape: The Case of Bridgetown, Western Australia

This paper examines the destructive tendencies associated with the commodification of rurality in some of Australia’s more scenic and accessible rural areas. While development based on the consumption of idealised rural landscapes and cultures can contribute to the accumulation of capital in rural areas, it can also result in the destruction of those aspects which consumers find attractive. These attributes include traditional farming landscapes, picturesque country towns, scenic rural environments, and perceptions of congenial and cohesive local communities. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the processes that lead to the degradation of these attributes. The discussion is set within the context of the ‘commodification of rurality’ and ‘creative destruction’ perspectives, and uses the case of Bridgetown in the south‐west of Western Australia to illustrate how an almost unfettered pattern of development is leading to the gradual destruction of the countryside ideal.

‘The town dictates what I do’: the leisure, health and well-being of women in a small Australian country town

The contribution of leisure to individual health and well-being is well documented. It is also clear that patterns of leisure activity are differentiated by gender and regional differences, as well as those of age, class and ethnicity. This paper explores the leisure and well-being of mid aged rural women in a small Australian country town in the late 1990s, focusing on issues which have been identified in the Canadian literature as being significant for women in isolated areas. These issues, which constrain the choices women make about their lives, include poor job opportunities, a lack of public transport and other facilities, family transience, community designs that isolate women in their homes, and the politics of being ‘different’ in a small community. Commonalities in the lives of rural women in North America, New Zealand and Australia indicate that these issues may more broadly characterise the lives of women in isolated towns in western post-industrial societies. Data are drawn from focus group interviews, augmented with observation, and the study is contextualized in findings from the Women's Health Australia longitudinal study (WHA).

Julian Smith: scientific surgeon, photographer, inventor.

Julian Augustus Romaine Smith was one of the surgeons who, in the company of Thomas Dunhill, Hugh Devine, Douglas Shields and David Murray Morton, established Saint Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, as arguably the premier surgical hospital in Victoria, if not Australia. Smith abandoned a most promising scientific career to study medicine, completing his medical course in Melbourne where he graduated top of his year in 1898/1899. He gained his MD in 1901 and set up practice in Morwell, a Victorian country town, where he initiated his surgical career. In 1905 Smith returned to Melbourne and worked as assistant to Mr F. D. Bird, a prominent surgeon. He travelled overseas in 1906, visiting leading medical centres in England where Almroth Wright's work on vaccination made a deep impression on him. On his return to Australia in 1908 he joined the surgical staff at Saint Vincent's Hospital as surgeon to outpatients, finally retiring as surgeon to inpatients in 1928. Smith was made a Foundation Fellow of the Australasian College of Surgeons in 1927. Smith was regarded by his peers as a brilliant innovative surgeon with a special interest in urology. He became an expert cystoscopist. After he retired, he continued his long-standing interest in portrait photography for which he was considered a master. During World War II he designed and built an elegant roller pump for use in direct blood transfusion. He died in 1947, survived by his wife, a daughter and three sons, one of whom became President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Christiaan Neethling Barnard

With the sudden death of Christiaan Barnard⇓ in Cyprus on September 2, 2001, the world lost not only a pioneering cardiac surgeon but also a charismatic, if controversial, figure. On December 3, 1967, Chris Barnard led the surgical team that performed the first human-to-human heart transplant. The operation captured the public’s imagination as no procedure had before or since, and the personable Barnard rapidly became an international celebrity. Monarchs and heads of state honored him. According to French President Jacques Chirac, “Dr Barnard will remain the symbol of audacious modern medicine, able to surpass accepted ideas to bring solutions to victims of suffering and illness.” Born on November 8, 1922, in the small country town of Beaufort West in South Africa, Christiaan Neethling Barnard was one of 4 sons of a church pastor who ministered to the poor. After graduating from the local high school, Barnard entered the University of Cape Town Medical School. By his own admission, he was not an outstanding student academically, but he worked hard and graduated as a doctor in 1946. After spending a short period as a primary care physician and a resident in medicine, during which time he completed a dissertation on the treatment of tuberculous meningitis, Barnard began a busy surgical residency at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. In 1956, he received a scholarship to the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he soon was drawn to the emerging field of open heart surgery. During 2 highly productive and exciting years in the Department of Surgery under the direction of Richard Varco and C. Walton Lillehei, Barnard worked hard in both the clinic and the research laboratory. Some years later, Lillehei expressed his high regard for Barnard, particularly for his innovation, courage, “prodigious” memory, and “intensity and seriousness.” Lillehei noted …

Sport, physical education and country towns

Is it possible for culture to be anything other than diverse? As with 'hybridity', a term so much in vogue in contemporary social science, 'cultural diversity' seems mildly tautological. Applied either to communities of people or individual identities, 'hybrldiry' assumes a pre-existing purity which, certainly in western countries, seems fanciful. Likewise, 'cultural diversity' gestures towards or, perhaps more accurately, away from communities of people which, presumably, are culturally monolithic. But could such a group of people ever exist? Of course, it all depends on how you define 'culture' and, as COmmentators such as Williams (1958 & 1981) and Bagleton (2000) have shown, this is far from a straightforward matter, particularly in a historical moment where 'culture' can mean a way of life (as in 'cafe culture'), a work of art (as in 'high culture') or an episode of The Simpsons (as in 'popular culture'). Perhaps one way of bringing these various meanings together is to think in terms of the things people do. That is, culture is a matter of social practice. In the case of The Sirnpsons, then, we might say that its cultural significance derives from the socially located ways in which the program is made, watched, advertised, consumed, and talked about. In this sense, it is hard to imagine any community of people (as opposed to robots!) not 'doing' their lives in diverse ways. Indeed, are we not told from the moment of our births that we are each 'special' 'individuals', and that it is this particularity which makes us human?

The Garrick Collection at the Folger Shakespeare Library: New Initiatives

David Garrick might be considered the Elvis of his age. His image appeared everywhere, not only in paintings, statues, and engravings, but on jugs, tiles, matchboxes, watch fobs, textiles, loving-cups—almost anything to which an image could be attached. If the eighteenth century had worn T-shirts, undoubtedly he would have been depicted there as well. A theatrical impresario and popularizer of Shakespeare, Garrick seems to have known everyone in the artistic and literary circles of the time, and to have been recognized by thousands more. One might say that he single-handedly created the Shakespeare “industry.” He produced twenty-four of the plays, acted in nineteen Shakespearean roles, and orchestrated the great Shakespeare Jubilee at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1769, the first event that made that sleepy country town a tourist mecca. Today scholars who want to work on Garrick make their pilgrimage to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., site of the largest collection in the world of Garrick manuscripts and related items, including a ticket for the Jubilee Oratorio, signed by George Garrick, the actor's brother (Fig. 1), and the intricately carved Rococo chair made for Garrick's Temple of Shakespeare around 1756.

GLOBALISATION AND REGIONAL RENEWAL: COMPATIBLE OR MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?

All truths wait in all things, They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it. Walt Whitman The changing economy and regional Australia Over the past two decades, Australia has witnessed marked changes in population, employment and educational opportunity. Some regions have declined, while others have experienced growth. The causes are diverse and far from consistent. As noted in a 1999 Productivity Commission report: `Globalisation, technological advances, government policy changes and other factors [have] placed added pressure on businesses and communities in some regions. Yet these same factors [have] resulted in employment growth in other regions.' The population in New South Wales between 1986 and 1996 increased significantly but not uniformly. In coastal regions numbers grew by 13.3%, from 4.5 to 5.1 million, while inland the population grew by only 5%, from 840,000 to 880,000. In remote New South Wales, population fell by 4.6%, from 41,000 to 39,000. The ABS analysis of the 1991 and 1996 censuses with respect to non-metropolitan population in Australia notes that growth is concentrated in particular ecological areas: * peri-urban areas surrounding major urban centres with significant commuter populations; * attractive coastal localities, especially along the east, southeast and southwest coasts; * some major regional centres; * some mining and tourist destinations; and * along some major roads such as the Hume Highway, and rivers. Employment over the period grew by 16.9% in coastal regions, by 7.9% inland, but fell by 2.7% in remote New South Wales. Interestingly, the employment figures better the population number in each instance, probably reflecting the increase in female participation in the work force. Since 1996 these trends in population and employment appear to have accelerated as the impact of micro-economic reforms starts to be felt throughout the whole economy; while advances in information exchange, communications and technology bring new opportunities for economic development in both metropolitan and country regions. In this same period domestic and export markets have expanded, with a more cost-effective operation of existing businesses and the development of many new businesses and services -- but often at a high social price for non-competitive enterprises and individuals. The theory behind trade liberalisation, globalisation and the new economy may be understood and even accepted; yet adapting to change remains difficult. For country Australia the pressures are more intense than in the cities because of the progressive decline in rural incomes from traditional farming sources, aggravated by selling on open markets where price has no relationship to the cost of production. A report released in 1999 by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research identifies a growing concentration of wealth in Sydney and Melbourne. The assessment is based on the availability of 21st century jobs -- in accountancy, computers, engineering, finance, health, media, science and management. All are part of and hence competitive in a global trading environment. In contrast many formerly profitable rural industry sectors have languished or disappeared. In most smaller country towns, population and employment continue to decline and annual personal income in rural Australia remains far lower than in the cities. Banks closures, empty shops, vacant offices and unemployment remain a sad reality. Indeed we may well ask how the rural sector can become part of the new economy. Or, more fundamentally: Is globalisation compatible with regional renewal? Vinod Thomas, a vice-president of the World Bank writes (Economist 7 October 2000) of the centrality of growth in reducing poverty and suggests that what is needed is not merely `more growth but better growth'. Addressing the problems of the developing world, he identifies three difficulties in achieving equal trade opportunity: * severe inequalities in investment in health and education; * poor governance; and * environmental quality. …

From Market Place to Marketing Place: Retail Change in Small Country Towns

From Market Place to Marketing Place: Retail Change in Small Country Towns

Simple process for nutrient removal from food processing effluents

Food processing effluents often contain high levels of nutrients, particularly N. Conventionally, anaerobic ponds are used to purify these effluents in Australia, giving cost-effective removal of BOD but little nutrient removal. It has become apparent that disposal by irrigation as presently practiced normally exceeds sustainable N application rates, thus reduction of nutrient levels before irrigation is becoming mandatory. Meatworks effluent is often discharged to country town sewers, frequently accounting for 50-75% of the nutrient load. Meatworks effluents contain 1,000-4,000 mg/L BOD, 200-400 mg/L TKN and 20-50 mg/LP. Conventional BNR technology can readily remove nutrients from such effluents, either alone or in combination with anaerobic ponds but sludge handling on such a small scale poses economic problems. Laboratory scale trials showed that both BOD removal from meatworks effluent and sludge disposal could be achieved readily in conventional anaerobic ponds. The pond effluent, together with the town sewage if required, could be treated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) designed for nitrification/denitrification service. Optimisation of the anaerobic pond operation was required to ensure production of the minimum BOD:N ratio needed for N removal. This paper will describe the design and commissioning of two plants; a demonstration plant installed at a typical sized meatworks in Gippsland, Victoria, and a full scale plant for treatment of combined domestic sewage and effluent from a large meatworks at Longford, Tasmania. In neither case (for different reasons) has P removal yet been required. It was demonstrated that 98% of BOD and up to 95% N removal may be cheaply and readily achieved in the SBR. Where lagoons are used, levels of N suitable for river discharge can be achieved. P can be readily removed by alum treatment when required.

The source of anthropogenic heavy metals in fluvial sediments of a rural catchment : Coxs River, Australia

A serious health scare involving thesupply of drinking water to Sydney, Australia hasrecently focussed attention on the environmentalstatus of river catchments of the main reservoir, LakeBurragorang. Although the Coxs River – a majorcatchment of Lake Burragorang – comprises mainlyforests and grazing land, it supports a moderate sizedtown, power stations and coal mines. The heavy metal content of stream-bed sedimentscharacterises environmental impact in this ruralcatchment and sources of contamination. Sediment in acreek flowing through a country town (population 12 000) is markedly enriched in Cr, Pb and Zn (3×, 18×and 52×, respectively) over background, probably dueto a long history of metal-based industry. The highestCu, Pb and Zn concentrations (204, 332 and2460 μg g-1, respectively) in fluvialsediment in the town are, however associated withdischarges from a sewage treatment plant. Twocoal-based power stations in the catchment contributeconsiderable Cu and Ni (maximum concentrations 562 and157 μg g-1, respectively) to ambient fluvialsediments, possibly from cooling towers and coalstorage areas. The highest Co and Cr concentrations(113 and 490 μg g-1) in fluvial sediments ofthis catchment are associated with coal-miningactivities. Selective extraction indicates that about50% of the anthropogenic fraction may bebioavailable, whereas sequential extraction proceduressuggest that <25% is associated with the easilyexchangeable/adsorbed phase.Two dams restrict the migration of heavy metals downthe Coxs River and sediment discharging into LakeBurragorang is low in metals.

The socio-economic contributions of a timber mill to a small country town: a case study

Summary Plant closures in small towns have been shown to have devastating socio-economic impacts. This study examined the economy of a small Victorian country town which had one sawmill as its major industry. This was calculated as providing about $60 000 of financial inputs to the town each week. If the major mill closed, these inputs would decrease to about $3 800 and the town population as a whole would decrease by about 10%. Few employment opportunities for redundant mill employees exist within the town. Closure of the mill would be of major detriment to the town's future.

“God Save Ireland”: Manchester-Martyr Demonstrations in Dublin, 1867–1916

On 23 November 1867 three Irishmen--William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien--were executed in Manchester, England. They had been found guilty of murdering a policeman during a successful attempt to rescue two Fenian prisoners from a police van in Manchester. Although the policeman had been killed with just one shot, allegedly by accident, five men were sentenced to death for the killing. Shortly afterward, one of them, Thomas Maguire, was pardoned, and another, Edward O'Meagher Condon, an Irish-American, was reprieved owing to insufficient evidence. As all five men had been tried together on the one indictment and convicted on the same verdict, many observers expected that the case against the other three men would also be dropped. When they were executed, many Irish nationalists believed that the government had refused to exercise mercy not because the men were unquestionably guilty, but in order to satisfy English public opinion, which expected that somebody would be punished for the crime. Much sympathy was also aroused among the Catholic community in Ireland because the three men, who were believed to be devout Catholics, did not receive a proper Christian burial, their bodies having been covered with quicklime in Salford jail. (1) The executions had an immediate impact on public opinion in Ireland. The Irish nationalist press expressed feelings of outrage. Many mock funeral processions were held across Ireland within days of the executions to commemorate the three men. (2) These men became popularly known as the martyrs. For over fifty years demonstrations were held to mark the anniversary of their execution. Thus far, however, little attention has been paid by historians to the Manchester-martyr commemorative demonstrations that were held after 1867. (3) These demonstrations were popular not only in Ireland but also throughout the Irish community in Britain and the US and could vary greatly in size and character, depending on the locality in which they took place. For example, in Britain the usual practice was simply to offer a mass for the souls of the martyrs on their anniversary. In the US commemorative concerts and lectures were often held to mark their anniversary. These events were most popular in those cities that had a large Irish population, such as New York and Chicago. In Irish country towns people often gathered by torchlight in a town square to hear a commemorative speech by a local politician. During the 1870s the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) usually organized the demonstrations in both rural and urban Ireland. After the formation of the Land League, however, many of the demonstrations in rural Ireland were organized by supporters of the constitutional nationalist movement. By contrast, the demonstrations in Dublin were remarkable for the extent to which control of the demonstrations lay more firmly in republican hands. For this reason they were of continued interest to the Dublin Metropolitan Police, which suspected that their success or failure was a rough guideline to the degree of influence that the I.R.B. exercised in the city. On 11 September 1867, six months after the abortive Fenian Rising in Ireland, the police in Manchester apprehended the acting Fenian leader Colonel Thomas J. Kelly and his associate Captain Timothy Deasy. Exactly one week later, as Kelly and Deasy were being transported in a prison van from court back to jail, they were rescued by a body of armed Fenians. During the rescue, depicted in this sketch, an English police sergeant named Charles Brett was killed when one of the rescuers fired a shot through the ventilator of the locked back door of the van. The shot fatally wounded Brett, though the intention was probably not to kill him but to frighten him into opening the door or to break open the lock. A woman prisoner inside the van then took the keys from the dying Brett and passed them out to the rescuers through the ventilator. …

Death and the comedian.

Peter Goldsworthy was born in Minlaton, South Australia, and grew up in various country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin. Since graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide, he has divided his time equally between medicine and writing. He is a part-time general practitioner whose novels have sold more than a quarter of a million copies in Australia alone, and have been translated into many European and Asian languages. He has also published collections of short stories and poetry. Among his numerous literary awards are the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, and the Australian Bicentennial Literary Prize in 1988. His most recent books are the collection of essays. Navel gazing (where this essay. Death and the comedian. first appeared), and the novella Jesus wants me for a sunbeam. His New selected poems will be appearing next year simultaneously in Australia, the UK and the USA. A book-length study of his work, The ironic eye, by Andrew Riemer. was published in 1994.

Reducing nutrient enrichment of waterways through public education: a tale of two cities

Eutrophication of waterways, expressed as excess growth of cyanobacteria, is frequently caused by excessive inputs of phosphorus. Human activities are often the origin of such nutrient enrichment and so many governments have addressed the issue by implementing a range of technological, legislative and biological measures. By contrast, Australia has taken a different approach and also relied heavily on public education. This paper compares the success of two of these ‘Phoswatch’ public education programmes. One campaign occurred within the Murray-Darling Basin in a country town called Albury-Wodonga. The other occurred within the Hawkesbury-Nepean Basin in the western suburbs of Sydney. The campaigns were evaluated using a series of community surveys and by monitoring phosphorus loads at a sewage treatment plant. The Albury-Wodonga campaign was the most effective of the two campaigns with increases in the number of people reporting a range of behaviours and these resulted in a decrease in phosphorus loads entering the local treatment plant. The comparison suggests that clear simple messages, a diversity of media exposure, and some form of feedback are critical to programme success. It is concluded that campaigns such as Phoswatch can provide a long term, cost effective way of addressing eutrophication by focusing on the problem at source and creating community support for an integrated strategy.

Schooling in Rural New South Wales: The Experience of Overseas Students

This paper serves to identify some of the issues encountered by overseas secondary students undertaking studies in rural Australia and illustrates the need for the researchers to be culturally and personally sensitive and adaptable when researching this population. The aim of this study was to document the experiences of a group of overseas students attending boarding school in a town in rural Australia. The country town, where the study participants were located, is unique as it has a large population of school students within the private sector. Study findings indicated that the students received a high level of support from their peers, parents, and their schools. The support they received contributed to their relatively smooth adjustment, although they were, at times, under stress due to English language difficulties and their parents’ high expectation concerning their academic achievement. Female students more frequently reported feeling isolated, lonely, and sad, and generally wished to return home upon the completion of their studies. On the other hand, the male students were much keener to remain in Australia to undertake further study.

Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence &amp; the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town

Book Review| October 01 2000 Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence & the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence & the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town. Joseph A. Amato and John Radzilowski. Richard O. Davies Richard O. Davies Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Agricultural History (2000) 74 (4): 832–833. https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-74.4.832 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Richard O. Davies; Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence & the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town. Agricultural History 1 January 2000; 74 (4): 832–833. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-74.4.832 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsAgricultural History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2000 Agricultural History Society2000 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Diverging Geographies of Social and Business Interaction Patterns: a Case Study of Rural South Australia

Major changes in personal mobility and in country town service provision have taken place in rural South Australia in the period 1968–69 to 1992–93. The later part of this period was one of major rural recession across Australia as a whole. The impact of this recession is considered by investigating changes in three different geographies of rural South Australians. These are their affective identification with place, their local social interaction and their commercial service consumption. There has been a shift of both commercial and social activity up through the hierarchy of settlement, but this is much more pronounced in the case of commercial activity. These differential rates of change are weakening the once mutually reinforcing links between community self‐identification, social interaction and trading patterns. The full impact of the rural crisis commencing in 1982–83 on social and commercial spatial patterns is unlikely to have been achieved by 1992–93, and adjustment is likely to continue.

Human cases of cattle ringworm due to Trichophyton verrucosum in Victoria, Australia.

Between 1962 and 1994, 32 isolates of Trichophyton verrucosum from cases of tinea corporis, tinea faciei and tinea capitis were referred to the Mycology Reference Laboratory of the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit at The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Patients had presented at clinics in metropolitan Melbourne and country towns in the State of Victoria, Australia. They included dairy and cattle farmers, a slaughterman who worked in an abattoir, a veterinary tutor and children who lived on farms. Many patients lived in one of the three dairy farming areas of Victoria. A few lived in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. One cattle farmer came from south-east New South Wales. Specimens were not received for examination from animal contacts of the patients. The only patient from overseas was a boy from Lebanon. The literature recording human infections due to T. verrucosum in Australia is reviewed.

Virtual Culture, Time and Images

Virtual Culture, Time and Images