Culture In Australia Research Articles

‘The Great Australian Loneliness’: On Writing an Inter-Asian Biography of Ernestine Hill

The Great Australian Loneliness (1937) is a famous book of travel reportage by Ernestine Hill (1899–1972), a key figure in the mid-twentieth century shaping of popular media culture in Australia. Through her journalism she disseminated debate about the great public issues of her day: the status of Aboriginal peoples, immigration from Asia and the state’s role in national development. In this paper, I take the White Australian ‘loneliness’ her title invokes as a methodological challenge to situate both her life and the ethnically diverse sociability she actually described in an inter-Asian framework of analysis capable of unsettling those bonds between ethnicity and nationality that many twentieth-century writers worked so hard to secure. In the process, I argue for an ‘Australian Asian’ approach to cultural history.

Dance, Dreams and Defiance: Asian Diasporic Music Cultures in Australia

In the field of Asian Australian studies, questions recur around the production, reception, performance, resistance and negotiation of cultural identities. Implicit in these questions has been a concern with modes of sociability – how culturally marked groups have engaged with each other and how people have negotiated the strictures of racist histories to alter those histories’ frameworks and enable new, sociable forms of marking time and recording history. This article focuses on some of the modes of sociability and solidarity that emerge in contexts of Asian Australian music cultures. It concentrates especially on music cultures with Iranian Australian links and examines some diverse examples of music, attitudes and practices in this context.

Indigenous sport and heritage: Cherbourg's Ration Shed Museum

So much has been lost about the culture of Australia's Indigenous people. Their languages, traditions and heritage were dissipated under the process of white colonization from 1788. This paper investigates the actions of the people from Cherbourg, an Aboriginal settlement in southeast Queensland, Australia, to reclaim their culture, identity and heritage. The focus is specifically on the Ration Shed Museum (RSM), which officially opened in Cherbourg in 2004. The RSM is a particular type of Indigenous museum, a community museum, in which those who curate the museum are simultaneously its subjects. Through a combination of ideas drawn from new museology, critical heritage and cultural geography, the relationships between the three buildings of the museum – the Ration Shed, the Superintendent's Office and the Boys’ Dormitory – and the displays of sport are examined via the voices of Cherbourg people. The buildings evoke stories of surveillance, discipline, punishment and control and, in many ways, sport mirrors these features of life at Cherbourg. Importantly, however, sport functioned in a parallel capacity by creating identity: sporting achievements were symbols of pride, resilience and hope for Indigenous people.

From Shadowy Zone to Daily Routine: Finance Culture in Australia

This paper contributes to accounts of the role of finance and financialization in Australia. We examine recent signs of disenchantment with financialization, then show how it is difficult to yoke contemporary instabilities in a dominant, financeled governmental regime to wider projects for change given the normalization of finance culture in Australia. The paper describes and analyzes this normalization, paying particular attention to the part various media play in Australians’ acquisition of a finance rationality. While we aim to add to historicizations of finance and finance culture that interpret financialization, its various actors, its rationality and its technologies as something other than the natural habitat of people in the 21st century, we do so by looking at the problems counter-inscriptions and arguments currently face in building constituencies for alternative and oppositional finance policies.

Forgotten Histories: Ephemeral Culture for Children and the Digital Archive

The history of children's popular culture in Australia is still to be written. This article examines Australian print publication for children from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, together with radio and children's television programming from the 1950s to the 1970s. It presents new scholarship on the history of children's magazines and newspapers, sourced from digital archives such as Trove, and documents new sources for early works by Australian children's writers. The discussion covers early television production for children, mobilising digital resources that have hitherto not informed scholarship in the field.

Deception down under: is Australia a hot spot for deception?

The Australian continent is renowned for its idiosyncratic flora and fauna and high diversity of endemic taxa (e.g., Eucalyptus, marsupials, and monotremes; Braithwaite RW. 1990. Australia’s unique biota: implications for ecological processes. J Biogeogr. 17:347–354.). Given this diversity, it is perhaps not surprising that Australia is a coveted and productive field site for behavioral ecologists worldwide. The prevalence of some unusual animal behaviors is well documented, such as cooperative breeding in birds, low rates of herbivory, and high rates of pollination by vertebrates. However, other behavioral phenomena, especially those involving deception and exploitation, are also remarkably prevalent in some systems and still require comprehensive treatment. We examine 3 distinct forms of deception in entirely different taxa, cuckoos, crab spiders, and orchids, where there is strong evidence that deception is more prevalent in Australia than in other geographic regions. We offer several explanations addressing environmental conditions, evolutionary isolation, the prevalence of behavioral ecologists, and the research culture in Australia. The aim of this Idea paper is to draw attention to intriguing patterns of deception in a limited number of well-studied systems and to generate several testable predictions. It is not intended as a thorough review of all deceptive systems, but we hope to stimulate more research, a systematic review, and further testing in this area.

Grandparents doing gender: Experiences of grandmothers and grandfathers caring for grandchildren in Australia

Reliance on grandparents for children’s informal care is very popular in Australia. Yet little is known about the gendered dynamics of grandparental care. This study, based on 3000 grandparents taking part in Wave 7 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA) and 14 in-depth interviews with grandparents, reveals that gendered inequalities associated with providing childcare significantly influence the lives of older Australians, particularly grandmothers. Grandmothers doing grandchildcare experience greater dissatisfaction with free time and more than their fair share of domestic labour compared to grandfathers. Gendered meanings and practices of grandchildcare evident in interviews position grandmothers as nurturing, coordinators of care. Grandfathers are somewhat influenced by notions of ‘involved fathering’ as they are emotionally engaged in children’s recreational activities, yet are relatively free to opt in and out of caring labour. We conclude that the gendered organisation of grandchildcare is consistent with a dominant maternalist culture in Australia.

Spatial distribution of mortality in Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas: reflection on mechanisms of OsHV-1 transmission

The ostreid herpesvirus OsHV-1 has the potential to devastate Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas culture in Australia as it has done in many other countries, highlighting the need for a better understanding of disease expression and transmission. The aim of this study was to assess the spatial distribution of OsHV-1-associated mortalities in one of only two infected areas in Australia, Woolooware Bay (Botany Bay, New South Wales). In October 2011, healthy sentinel Pacific oysters were placed in 3 different locations at 3 different tidal levels, and OsHV-1 associated mortalities were closely monitored over 7 mo. The outbreak started in November 2011, and the disease remained active until April 2012. Three major mortality events were detected. Rather than being a propagating epizootic, it appeared that most oysters were infected from a common environmental source. The distribution of OsHV-1-associated mortalities was spatially clustered, highly variable and clearly dependent on the age of oysters and their position in the water column. Non-random distribution of mortalities at macro scale (sites several km apart) and micro scale (within rearing trays), and vertical clustering patterns in the water column are discussed in regard to factors known to influence mechanism of disease transmission in aquatic environments (hydrodynamics, physical disturbances, host density/distribution, and variations of environmental parameters). A new hypothesis proposing that OsHV-1 may be carried through water by particles, possibly plankton, is also suggested to explain the patchy distribution of mortalities in Woolooware Bay.

Has Sculthorpe Misappropriated Indigenous Melodies?

The celebrated Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe has sometimes been criticized for his adaptations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island melodies. But what are the underlying political issues, and what are the ethics of such cross-cultural borrowings? The 1980s marked changes in Sculthorpe's music: a new stylistic synthesis, the fascination with Kakadu National Park and the recycling of a small number of Indigenous melodies dubbed the ‘Kakadu songlines’. These melodies can be seen to conform to one of two pre-existing styles within Sculthorpe's works: one Japanese and one Balinese. Whereas Sculthorpe has carefully selected melodies that easily conform to these pre-existing styles, he has also shaped and moulded his idiom around the ‘Kakadu songlines’. Sculthorpe's careful attribution of the ‘Kakadu songlines’ as Indigenous in origin suggests that he is subtly positioning himself in the cultural and political spectrum. Identification with Aboriginality has arguably benefited him in perpetuating his quintessentially Australian image. Nevertheless, Sculthorpe's persistent fascination with these melodies and his persistent identification with Aboriginal attitudes suggest that a sincere homage to Aboriginal culture is being made. Although Sculthorpe's methods may appear to be vestiges of a bygone era, he has consistently acknowledged his Indigenous sources and heralded Indigenous cultures in Australia and abroad.

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Rickettsia felis exposure in dogs from Southeast Queensland and the Northern Territory, Australia

BackgroundThe recent detection of Rickettsia felis DNA in dogs in Australia suggests that dogs are potential mammalian reservoir hosts for this emerging rickettsia. To date, there is no published report addressing the seroprevalence of R. felis in dogs in Australia.MethodsAntigens for R. felis were produced by inoculating confluent XTC-2 monolayer cell cultures with three pools of cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) homogenates. Infection was confirmed by real-time (qPCR), conventional or nested PCRs targeting the ompB, gltA, 17 kDa and ompA genes. Two hundred and ninety-two dogs from Southeast Queensland and the Northern Territory were tested for the presence of R. felis antibodies using a microimmunofluorescence (IF) test and the seroprevalence and associated risk factors for exposure were determined using both uni- and multi-variate analyses.ResultsRickettsia felis was successfully isolated in cell culture from all three cat-flea pools. One hundred and forty-eight dogs (50.7%) showed seropositivity with titres ≥64 and 54 (18.5%) with titres ≥128. At antibody titres ≥64, dogs with active ectoparasite control were less likely to be seropositive to R. felis (OR: 2.60; 95% CI: 1.20 - 5.56).ConclusionsThis first reported isolation of R. felis in cell culture in Australia allowed for the production of antigen for serological testing of dogs. Results of this serological testing reflects the ubiquitous exposure of dogs to R. felis and advocate for owner vigilance with regards to ectoparasite control on domestic pets.

Reinventing the heights: the origins of rockclimbing culture in Australia

Australian rockclimbing culture and climbers have been imagined in a particular way with the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century press playing a key role. Australian landscapes, including mountains, were incorporated into Indigenous cosmology for millennia before Aboriginal people discovered Europeans. But with the colonial invasion, the very nature of the landscape in the new colony meant that climbing culture was bound to take on a different persona from its European antecedent and undergo a rethinking or reinvention process. Figuring strongly in this discursive reconstruction was the particular geography of one region in Australia – southeast Queensland – with its diverse collection of volcanic peaks within range of a major population centre, along with a climate that encouraged the emergence of a set of complementary leisure activities. This article explores the emergence of rockclimbing culture in Australia from a range of often competing and contradictory discourses – Aboriginal cosmology, a unique landscape, the influence of the European idea of climbing and charismatic, visionary individuals. From the turn of the twentieth century, the role of local newspapers and magazines was a crucial element in this imagining process creating briefly a space for female climbers that has only recently been reclaimed. From the late 1880s, and particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, press reports of climbing and associated activities offered new ways of conceptualizing mountains and their place in shaping Australian culture.

Immigrant-Background Australians' Recollections of Justice, Injustice and Agency in Stories about Starting School

This article investigates the recollections of justice, injustice and agency in the autobiographical narratives of a group of Australian immigrants who shared their experiences of starting school. The data consists of 24 autobiographical narrative interviews with participants who started school either overseas and then in Australia, or in Australia, between 1955 and 1991. By the time of starting school, they not only lived in different microsystems — home and school — but also oscillated between two macrosystems: the cultural heritage of the family and the mainstream culture of Australia. The results indicate that, for this group of people, starting school represented a significant encounter between these macrosystems. Experiences of justice, injustice and agency during the early school career had potential to shape identity construction and have a lasting impact on the life course. The stories told during the interviews were about past experience, but also about what that experience meant in the present life of the narrator. They gave voice to the experiences of the participants as children and space to the adults to make sense of their childhood experiences.

Bogans: a sticky subject

This paper is about the cultural figure of ‘the bogan’. It offers an analysis of the modes of sociality, the affective flows and the relational intensities through which the heterogeneous categories of ‘bogan’ and ‘anti-bogan’ take shape. It draws on the work of Sara Ahmed on ‘Affective Economies’ to explore how ‘bogan’ works as a ‘sticky sign’. The paper sits alongside other scholarly studies that elaborate the material-affective registers through which ‘bogan’ and ‘anti-bogan’ take shape, and are embodied and placed. However, where some see anti-boganism, in its various forms, as representing a newly animated class war driven by disgust, this paper argues that what is most remarkable, and challenging to analyse, is the very ordinariness of the identifications, and disidentifications, with ‘bogan’. This is not to suggest that class does not matter, but rather, that what happens around ‘bogan’ is as fleeting and labile as it is congealed and sticky. Attunement to the ambiguity and complexity of these movements, and the curious mingling of contempt and love that ‘bogan’ signifies, may afford some insights into the matter of class and culture in Australia.

The Logics of Good Teaching in an Audit Culture: A Deleuzian analysis

This article examines the attempted reform of education within an emerging audit culture in Australia that has led to the implementation of a high-stakes testing regime known as NAPLAN. NAPLAN represents a machine of auditing, which creates and accounts for data that are used to measure, amongst other things, good teaching. In particular, we address the logics of a policy intervention that aims to improve the quality of education through returning ‘good teaching’. Using Deleuze’s concepts of series, events, copies and simulacra, we suggest that an attempt to return past commonsense logics of ‘good teaching’ as a result of NAPLAN is not possible. In an audit culture as exemplified by NAPLAN, ‘good teaching’ is being reconceptualized through those practices and becomes unrecognizable. Whilst policy claims to improved equity and quality are admirable, this article suggests that the simulacral change to logics of good teaching may actualize something very different.

The Relationship between Wellbeing and Indigenous Land, Language and Culture in Australia

A consistent finding in the literature on Indigenous peoples is the importance of the sustainability of land, language and culture. All three are related, with the maintenance of one helping to protect the others. This paper uses a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of the Indigenous Australian population to look at the factors associated with individual measures of sustainability. Geography matters for those in remote areas who are much more likely to have participated in hunting, fishing and gathering than those in non-remote areas and somewhat more likely to be learning an Indigenous language. However, those in remote areas are somewhat less likely to have participated in Indigenous cultural production. Participation in the mainstream economy is not necessarily a barrier to these aspects of wellbeing as those with high levels of formal education were more likely to speak, understand or be learning an Indigenous language. While important in their own right, such aspects of sustainability also have the potential to directly contribute to narrower measures of social and emotional wellbeing. A positive relationship was found between the sustainability of Indigenous land, language and culture and an Indigenous person's subjective emotional wellbeing.

From Intuition to Reality: Measuring Federal Political Culture in Australia

Federalism is associated with a range of political values, but their institutionalization in practice varies significantly. This article uses a new empirical approach to measuring “federal political culture” through the Australian Constitutional Values Survey, to explore the gap between theory and reality. It presents analysis by gender to demonstrate the approach, highlighting the importance of resolving the mix of theory and practice needed to understand contemporary preferences in institutional design. Overall, Australians were shown to be predominantly federalist in their values. However, women were on average somewhat stronger federalists than men, being stronger supporters of decentralism and legal diversity, while also being somewhat less likely than men to consider that Australia’s present system delivers adequately on these values. The findings contribute to federal reform debates.

Celebrating the End of School Life: A Pilot Study

Celebrating the end of secondary schooling ("Schoolies Festival") is an established part of the school culture in Australia, with thousands of young students converging at beachside locations to celebrate this rite of passage. The aim of this study was to identify what young people believe is important to remain safe and healthy at this mass-gathering event. This study was conducted using postcard surveys requesting demographic data and responses to the questions: (1) What do you think is important to stay safe and healthy at this event?; (2) What do you think is risky attending this event?; (3) Which of these is most likely to affect you at this event?; and (4) Where would you seek medical support? The surveys were distributed to attendees of a "Schoolies Festival" in Adelaide, Australia in 2008. One hundred sixty-five of the 300 postcards were returned completed. The average age of the respondents was 17.7 years. "Not using drugs" was considered important to staying safe and healthy by 120 (73%) of respondents; "drinking alcohol responsibly" was considered important by 89 (54%); and "violent behavior" and "exposure to illicit drugs" were identified as important risks by 135 (82%) and 98 (59%) of participants, respectively. Only 35 (21%) of respondents indicated that they would seek on-site health care if needed. Young people attending mass-gathering celebrations have valid concerns about drinking responsibly, exposure to illicit drugs, and sexual harassment. Health messages or health promotion strategies aimed at their specific concerns would be helpful in the mitigation of illness or injury at such events.

Conflict in the Statutory Elicitation of Aboriginal Culture in Australia

In order for Aboriginal rights and interests to be recognised under the Native Title Act (1993), such rights and interests must arise from laws and customs that can be shown to have continuity with the particular set of laws and customs that existed at the time of sovereignty, or, at least, at the time of first European contact. This interpretation of continuity has been applied in Australian native title cases since the High Court's Yorta Yorta decision (Yorta Yorta v the State of Victoria [2002] HCA 58). Yet today's Aboriginal native title claim groups are also required to participate in other statutory ventures outside of the native title domain. For example, ‘tribal’ representatives in north Queensland are obliged to represent their interests on the Wet Tropics Management Authority, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. In native title terms, however, the activity and time spent participating in these ventures do not ‘count’ as instantiations of traditionally based rights and interests. Furthermore, the powers and rights granted to Aboriginal groups under these statutory ventures are often in conflict with the strictures of current native title interpretations of ‘traditional law and custom and rights and interests’. The effect is to elicit versions of Aboriginal action that may contradict each other legally. In this paper, I discuss some examples of these institutional conflicts engendered by the statutory actions of state and federal government, and comment on the implications for the contemporary Aboriginal articulations of identity and tradition.

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Continuity or Change? The Strategic Culture of Australia

Important puzzles remain in security policy literature, including whether strategic culture can change over time, and if so, under what conditions. This study proposes a model of strategic cultural change that identifies key actors and conditions at work in the process. The article then applies the model to chart the evolution of Australian security policy in the past two decades. We find that structural changes, including geostrategic situation and new security threats, coupled with elite interpretation and discourse, have produced a new “regional defense plus” strategic cultural frame for Australia. This, in turn, has led to measureable changes in defense policy. This work concludes with insights on the implications of change for the broader literature on strategic culture and constructivist security studies.