Sydney Population Research Articles

Historical dictionary of Sydney

Part 1 THE DICTIONARY Part 2 Appendix 1: Population of Sydney and Surrounding Communities Part 3 Appendix 2: Mayors and Lord Mayors of Sydney Part 4 Appendix 3: Anglican Bishops and Archbishops of Sydney Part 5 Appendix 4: Catholic Archbishops of Sydney Part 6 Appendix 5: Variant Spellings of Aboriginal Names Part 7 Appendix 6: Periodicals from and about Sydney Part 8 Appendix 7: Slang, Nicknames, and Catchphrases from Sydney Part 9 Bibliography

Asking the right questions of disadvantaged and homeless communities: the role of housing, patterns of illness and reporting behaviours in the measurement of health status.

To assess the self-reported health status and its relationship to key demographic variables among patrons of a charity-run meals service at The Exodus Foundation, in urban Sydney, Australia. Random-sample cross-sectional study of 100 face-to-face interviews (79% recruitment rate). Self-reported health status was measured by subjective rating scale, open-ended and checklist questions about presence and type of acute and chronic disease. Anaysis by logistic regression of fair-poor health status on demographic variables in Exodus patrons and genera Sydney population adjusted for age and sex using the 1995 National Health Survey. Compared to housed but poor counterparts within the Exodus sample, homeless people were significantly more likely to report fair-poor health status (age-adjusted OR-3.0, 95% CI 1.3-7.1). Exodus patrons, as a whole, were much more likely than Sydney's general population to report fair-poor health status, after adjusting for age and sex (OR-4.5, 95% CI 2.9-7.0) and had a more serious pattern of illness (diseases of the digestive system; depression; common cold; bronchitis; refractive errors; drug and alcohol dependence; diabetes mellitus Type II). Exodus patrons reported fewer acute and chronic illnesses with open-ended questions than with a checklist (p<0.001). In this population there was a strong relationship between poor health and homelessness. When patterns of illness and injury were measured within this disadvantaged group, they showed more serious illness types than in the general population. Such patterns may not be identified by methods often used in traditional population health surveys.

Public health surveillance during the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This article describes the Olympic Surveillance System developed by NSW Health to monitor the health of the population of Sydney during the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The surveillance system will be the most comprehensive ever undertaken in NSW and will provide more coverage than the systems used during previous Olympic Games.

Is male homosexuality maternally linked?

Is male homosexuality maternally linked? In 1993 Hamer et al. noted a preponderance of male relatives in the maternal lines of gay men relative to heterosexual controls, and then reported a possible X-chromosome linkage to male homosexuality. This paper is the first notice of an ongoing investigation measuring whether this is a maternal inheritance effect or a general fecundity effect through the female line. The test of Hamer's proposition is, first, in finding a difference in the numbers of gay uncles and male cousins between maternal and paternal parental lines; then, in finding a difference in the numbers of gay male cousins between the male and female maternal lines; and last, in finding an increased reproductive rate for maternal line relatives, particularly female ones. A genetic pedigree was taken of a matched sample of 60 straight and 60 homosexual men drawn from the gay population of Sydney, Australia, and the first two tests were not supported and only partial support was found for the third pr...

Health surveillance during the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This article describes the Olympic Surveillance System developed by NSW Health to monitor the health of the population of Sydney during the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The surveillance system will be the most comprehensive ever undertaken in NSW and will provide more coverage than the systems used during previous Olympic Games.

Interpretation at Wetland Sites in the Sydney Region

Interpretation of wetland issues and values for the broader community, as well as for students, is regarded as an important strategy toward achieving better wetland management, reversing past degradation, and halting wetland loss along the east coast of Australia, where population pressure has heavily affected these systems. This paper presents the results of a review of interpretive and educational facilities and programs at five wetland sites across the Sydney region to gain a regional perspective on the provision of wetland education and interpretation of wetland ecology and conservation. This review considered goals, range of facilities and programs, wetland themes covered for the general public and in formal educational programs, and evaluation methods. The results are discussed in light of the overall goal of wetland conservation and more detailed goals at individual sites. Goals were found to focus primarily on “public awareness” of wetlands, a goal inadequate to meet the broader goal of long-term protection and conservation. At sites most accessible to the majority of the Sydney population, a considerable discrepancy existed between the aspects of wetland ecology and management presented to school groups and those presented to the general public, making it difficult to meet even the goal of public awareness.

Nursing as a career choice: perceptions of school students speaking Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Turkish or Vietnamese at home.

Australia is a multicultural society and nowhere is this more evident than in Sydney where 25% of the population speaks a language other than English. In one of the largest area health services in New South Wales, the five most frequently spoken languages at home are Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Turkish or Vietnamese, with these language groups comprising 12% of Sydney's population. Yet nurses speaking one of these five languages comprise less than 1% of the nursing workforce. A cost-effective method of addressing the shortage of nurses speaking languages other than English is to recruit students who already speak another language into the profession. This study examined high school students' perceptions of nursing in order to determine appropriate methods of recruiting students speaking one of these languages. Implications for the design of recruitment campaigns are also discussed.

The experiences of female spouses of survivors of acute myocardial infarction: a pilot study of Lebanese-born women in south-western Sydney, Australia.

Lebanese migrants form a significant proportion of the population in southwestern Sydney (SWS), and in New South Wales, Australia. This pilot study was undertaken in south-western Sydney, a rapidly expanding and socioeconomically disadvantaged region, to explore the experiences of English speaking women of Lebanese origin whose spouses had recently experienced an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Lebanese-born women at 2- and 4-week intervals, following the discharge of their husbands from hospital. Qualitative analysis of narrative text revealed four distinct themes. These were: struggle to resolve distress; intensive monitoring of the AMI survivor; searching for avenues of support; and reflecting on the future. Study findings are discussed in relation to the literature. Implications for nursing practice and research are drawn from study findings.

Observations on the biology of the Bleating Tree FrogLitoria dentata(Anura: Hylidae), made on a single population in Sydney, New South Wales

In a sample of 49 mature Litoria dentala from a single Sydney population collected over two consecutive nights in early autumn, males were significantly more common than females. Males and females had similar average weights, but females averaged larger in snout-vent length. Females had smaller fat bodies more frequently than did males. Amplexus was axillary. Females contained horn at least 512 to 3054 eggs. and averaged 1868.3 eggs in unambiguously complete clutches. There was no relationship between either clutch size or weight, and female snout-vent length or weight. Relative clutch mass ranged from 0.34 to 0.63, and averaged 0.41. The phalangeal formula for the manus and pes was 2.2.3.3/2.2.3.4.3 for all specimens. The left lemur was longer than the right femur both in terms of number of animals and in mean length.

Representativeness of Three Survey Methods in Ethnic Health Research

Study objective: To identify the survey method which generates the most representative sample of respondents in an ethnic community Design: Three survey methods (including sampling from the telephone book and telephone surveys, cluster sampling of households from areas with known high concentrations of migrants from the target community and face-to-face interviews, and sampling of persons listed on the electoral roll and a mailed survey) were employed concurrently in a defined area. Setting: Metropolitan Sydney, Australia. Participants: Persons aged 18 years or more born in Lebanon. Main results: The telephone survey method consistently outperformed cluster sampling and sampling from the electoral roll in terms of cost, response and contact rates, ease and speed of administration and representativeness of the sample. All methods generated a similar age profile but over-represented females compared with census data for the study area. There was relatively little duplication of respondents. The proportion of respondents who rated their health as fair or poor was comparable. Conclusions: Telephone surveying of migrant populations is a recommended strategy for health research in the Lebanese migrant population in metropolitan Sydney, and is also likely to be recommended for migrant populations with ethnically identifiable surnames.

Plasma selenium concentrations in a Sikh population in Sydney, Australia.

Selenium is essential for humans because it protects the heart against cardiomyopathy. It may also reduce ischaemic heart disease owing to its antioxidant activity. It is known that Indian migrants in a number of countries have high incidences of ischaemic heart disease. In this study, fasting plasma selenium concentrations of Sikh migrants in Sydney (Australia) were measured to investigate whether selenium concentration is reduced in this community. The mean concentration of selenium in plasma (91.8 +/- 15.0 ng ml-1, n = 196) was within the normal range. A significantly higher plasma selenium concentration was demonstrated in males than in females (p < 0.01). This was mainly due to the difference in mean selenium concentrations between genders in vegetarians because no significant difference was observed in non-vegetarian males versus females. The mean concentration of selenium in teetotal males was similar to those who consumed alcohol. Despite significant variations with gender and diet, the selenium concentrations were within the normal range. The results suggest that selenium status is adequate in the Sikh community even though vegetarian diet is common and alcohol use is condones in males.

Nursing home residence and risk of hip fracture.

This population-based case-control study was performed to determine whether the high incidence of hip fractures in people living in nursing homes is explained by the generally poor physical and mental health status of institutionalized older people. The study, which was conducted between 1990 and 1991, involved 209 hip fracture cases and 207 controls randomly selected from the same population in Sydney, Australia. Data on potential confounders were collected by using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio for the association between nursing home residence and risk of hip fracture was 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.4-4.3). However, after adjustment for multiple confounders, the odds ratio was 0.6 (95% confidence interval 0.2-1.6). It appears that living in a nursing home is not an independent risk factor for hip fracture.

Developing an Appropriate Wastewater Management Strategy for Sydney's Future Urban Development

Over the next 20 years, Sydney's population is expected to increase by about one million, with most of this growth proposed to be within the already environmentally stressed Hawkesbury-Nepean River catchment. The Water Board is providing infrastructure to the future urban development using a combination of conventional and innovative structural and non-structural solutions within an integrated river basin planning approach. The package of total water resource management initiatives that form the servicing strategy for the first major urban release area is outlined. It is demonstrated that the use of appropriate technologies can be effectively combined with resource management techniques to mitigate the potentially adverse environmental impacts of urban growth.

IS PROBABILITY SAMPLING ALWAYS BETTER? A COMPARISON OF RESULTS FROM A QUOTA AND A PROBABILITY SAMPLE SURVEY

Two surveys in the same defined population in Sydney's western suburbs in 1986 and 1987 provided the opportunity to compare results obtained from a quota and a probability sample survey. These surveys were designed to provide information for the planning of local health promotion programs. The quota sample survey was conducted in shopping centres and used quota sampling to select 1727 respondents. In the second survey, area probability sampling was used to select 484 respondents. This survey had a response rate of 65 per cent. There were 15 questions common to both surveys; results of only three differed significantly (p<0.05) between surveys. None of these differences was important from a public health perspective.The agreement between the results of these two surveys probably reflects the fact that the same selection bias has operated in both. Unless a very high response rate can be achieved, quota sample surveys with age and sex quota controls may be an acceptable alternative to probability sample surveys for gathering local data relevant to the development of health programs.

Settlement Dimensions of the Vietnam‐Born Population in Metropolitan Sydney

Australia has the largest Indochinese population per capita in the world, and Sydney supported sizeable populations from Vietnam in 1986. These populations became socially visible because of physical characteristics and clustering and have generated the response by some commentators that ghettos are forming. This paper examines the extent of residential concentration of Vietnamese‐bom population in Sydney and changes over time in the distribution of settlement with reference to new immigration and internal migration. Gravitation group migration has reinforced concentration, but the result has not been ghettos, although there have been specific local problems of unemployment and housing access which may constrain residential mobility for some time. Manufacturing and residential restructuring have affected unemployment and have constrained dispersion. Institutional factors have reinforced concentration. Some residential mobility will be required for entry into a diversity of labour markets, if unemployment is to be reduced in the context of the restructuring of manufacturing production.

Cardiovascular disease-related knowledge and attitudes in a high-risk Australian population.

The population of Sydney's western suburbs has higher-than-average mortality rates of heart disease and has raised prevalence rates of the associated risk factors. To enquire into the cardiovascular disease-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of this population, a survey that used a multistage area-probability sampling method was conducted in May 1987. A total of 484 subjects was interviewed. The self-reported prevalence rates of angina, heart attacks, strokes and diabetes all were high compared with the rates from the Australia-wide National Heart Foundation's Risk Factor Prevalence Study in 1983. The rates of smoking, hypertension, high blood-lipid levels and sedentary life-style also were raised. Awareness of cardiovascular disease-related issues was high but detailed knowledge often was deficient. The majority of respondents reported having attempted to change their health-related behaviours. Of special note was the finding that 80% of current smokers had tried to quit smoking. The high level of awareness of the importance of making life-style changes, and the frequency with which attempts at behavioural changes were reported, suggest that improvements in the health of the population of Sydney's western suburbs will require two complementary strategies: the teaching of the skills that are needed to maintain healthy behaviours successfully and environmental changes to facilitate healthy life-style choices.

A Morphological and Electrophoretic Examination of Hydrobia Buccinoides, a Variable Brackish-Water Gastropod From Temperate Australia (Mollusca, Hydrobiidae)

The morphology of the abundant brackish-water hydrobiid snail known as 'Hydrobia buccinoides' is described. A new genus, Ascorhis, is provided for it and the valid species name for the southern (South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania) and eastern (New South Wales, Queensland) populations is shown to be victoriae T. Woods. The species name buccinoides is based on Assiminea tasmanica and is an earlier name for that species. Morphological and allozyme differences indicate that the Western Australian populations should be distinguished as a separate species and a new name (A. occidua) is provided for these. Both species show a considerable intrapopulation variation in shell sculpture. Salinity tolerance experiments on three Sydney populations indicate that Ascorhis victoriae tolerates a wide range of salinities, the middle of the preferred range being about that of normal seawater.

Key Issues in Planning Submarine Outfalls for Sydney, Australia

This paper describes three large tunnelled submarine ocean outfalls, planned to safely discharge primary effluent from about two-thirds of the regional population of Sydney, Australia into deep ocean water. Environmental and investigation aspects are dealt with briefly. Interesting aspects of design and construction planning are described. The design includes the handling of special hydraulic problems such as dilution and salt water removal. The construction planning foreshadows the extensive use of tunnelling machines including roadheaders and a full face tunnel boring machine. The offshore engineering describes the design and testing of innovative G R P risers and diffusers, and their intended installation by a semi–submersible drill ship using standard oil field techniques. The cost estimate and program is included.

Evaluation of the Sydney “Quit. For Life” anti‐smoking campaign: Part 2. Changes in smoking prevalence

Between June and November 1983, the "Quit. For Life" media campaign was conducted in Sydney to reduce the prevalence of smoking. Surveys on a cross-sectional sample of the Sydney population were conducted before and after the campaign, and similar measures were undertaken in the rest of Australia for comparison. The sample sizes for both the Sydney and control areas comprised more than 4000 subjects. In addition, a cohort of 949 residents of Sydney and Melbourne were followed for changes in the prevalence of smoking during the year of the campaign. The cross-sectional survey results for 1984 and 1983 demonstrated decreases in the prevalence of smoking of approximately 1% for both men and women in Sydney compared with the rest of Australia. In the cohort study there was a 3.4% decrease in smoking prevalence in Sydney compared with a 0.8% increase in Melbourne. The pooled estimate of the difference in smoking prevalence attributable to the campaign was 2.8% (95% confidence interval, 0.5%-5.1%).

The molecular and hematological heterogeneity of alpha thalassemia.

A study of genotypes in alpha thalassemia and their corresponding hematological phenotypes has shown that alpha(+) thalassemia is the most frequent type encountered in a Sydney population. Phenotypes of heterozygous alpha(+) thalassemia (alpha alpha/-alpha) in adults or children differ little from normal and so the disorder is difficult to identify. In contrast, Hb Bart's (gamma 4) is a useful marker for alpha alpha/-alpha in cord blood samples. Abnormal phenotypes are present in homozygous alpha(+) thalassemia (-alpha/-alpha), heterozygous alpha(0) thalassemia (alpha alpha/--) and non-deletional alpha thalassemia. Therefore, detection by routine hematological studies should be possible. A less severe phenotype in -alpha/-alpha compared to alpha alpha/-- was found which is interesting since 2 alpha globin genes are lost in both instances.