Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less
Talking fish: researching oral history and local knowledge in building community participation in Murray-Darling Basin river rehabilitation. Collecting oral histories of fishing in the Murray-Darling Basin reflects an appreciation of the environmental knowledge of local communities who are on-the-spot custodians of the rivers. Researching everyday fishing will enhance community engagement for river rehabilitation activities, and contribute to international scholarship on inland rivers.
Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements with Indigenous Peoples in Settler States: their role and relevance for Indigenous and other Australians. The project aims to examine treaty and agreement making with Indigenous Australians, including legal history and foundations, and the nature of the legal rights encompassed by agreements and treaties. It would include an audit of the current state of agreements with Indigenous parties, their purposes, status and outcomes; and would include inte ....Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements with Indigenous Peoples in Settler States: their role and relevance for Indigenous and other Australians. The project aims to examine treaty and agreement making with Indigenous Australians, including legal history and foundations, and the nature of the legal rights encompassed by agreements and treaties. It would include an audit of the current state of agreements with Indigenous parties, their purposes, status and outcomes; and would include international comparative research on treaty and agreement making. Outcomes would include a database on treaties and agreements in Australia and overseas and publication of collected papers and would contribute to the efforts by Indigenous organisations to secure political and economic rights through agreements with governments, industry and the community.Read moreRead less
Fragmentation of rocks upon impact. The project aims to create a new understanding of how rocks fragment upon impact to allow more realistic predictions of rockfall hazards. Rockfall results in loss of human life, damage to infrastructure and economic loss; each year in Australia, millions of dollars are spent on rockfall protection. To mitigate rockfall risk, it is important to understand and predict how blocks break as they fall down a slope. Unfortunately, there is limited data and knowledge ....Fragmentation of rocks upon impact. The project aims to create a new understanding of how rocks fragment upon impact to allow more realistic predictions of rockfall hazards. Rockfall results in loss of human life, damage to infrastructure and economic loss; each year in Australia, millions of dollars are spent on rockfall protection. To mitigate rockfall risk, it is important to understand and predict how blocks break as they fall down a slope. Unfortunately, there is limited data and knowledge on this phenomenon. This project aims to produce a comprehensive, high-quality database of fragmentation events and develop an innovative fragmentation model that can be included in existing rockfall codes. This project is expected to lead to optimised and cost-effective rockfall barrier protection measures.Read moreRead less
Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to im ....Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes. This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record of earthquakes using geological, geochronological, geospatial, seismological, statistical and numerical modelling data. It will use maximum credible magnitudes, maximum shaking intensities of intraplate earthquakes and spatiotemporal relationships between large prehistoric and contemporary earthquakes to improve models of future seismic hazard in Australia and globally. This will lead to improved predictions of future earthquake impacts in urban and natural environments and development of new paleoseismic techniques.Read moreRead less
Settler society in the Australian colonies: The political and cultural changes of the 1830s - 1860s in imperial context. This project directly addresses issues identified as central by the national summit on the Australian history curriculum convened by the Federal Minister for Education in August 2006. Professor John Hirst reported in The Sydney Morning Herald on 21 August that the summit had agreed on a list of 'big questions' for school history curricula. The list includes the transition from ....Settler society in the Australian colonies: The political and cultural changes of the 1830s - 1860s in imperial context. This project directly addresses issues identified as central by the national summit on the Australian history curriculum convened by the Federal Minister for Education in August 2006. Professor John Hirst reported in The Sydney Morning Herald on 21 August that the summit had agreed on a list of 'big questions' for school history curricula. The list includes the transition from a convict to a free society, and relations between men and women. Current knowledge of these topics and their interconnection is limited. This project will advance our understanding of a key historical period, and the formation of Australian national identity.Read moreRead less
Fostering Women Leaders Through Educational Exchange, 1930-1980. This project plans to explore what makes it possible for women to exercise leadership. This project is a transnational study of women from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Philippines who participated in educational exchange programs with the United States in the mid-20th century. The project asks how these cross-cultural encounters and international networks facilitated and transformed the practices of leadership in the Unite ....Fostering Women Leaders Through Educational Exchange, 1930-1980. This project plans to explore what makes it possible for women to exercise leadership. This project is a transnational study of women from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Philippines who participated in educational exchange programs with the United States in the mid-20th century. The project asks how these cross-cultural encounters and international networks facilitated and transformed the practices of leadership in the United States, Asia and the Pacific. The project, in partnership with the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, aims to provide a historical perspective on leadership which can inform contemporary debates on the conditions for fostering women as leaders.Read moreRead less
Slavery, freedom and colonial development: Robert Bostock and his legacy. Understanding our nation and our world is one of the major challenges facing Australia in the present day. West Africa, a region perceived by most Australians to be distant and incomprehensible, increasingly has an effect on Australia and other western nations which is little understood. This project will help to ensure that Australian scholarship remains at the cutting edge of research into slave studies and colonial hist ....Slavery, freedom and colonial development: Robert Bostock and his legacy. Understanding our nation and our world is one of the major challenges facing Australia in the present day. West Africa, a region perceived by most Australians to be distant and incomprehensible, increasingly has an effect on Australia and other western nations which is little understood. This project will help to ensure that Australian scholarship remains at the cutting edge of research into slave studies and colonial history more generally, and will bolster international networks of scholars working in this area. It will ensure national input into an issue of major international importance - human trafficking - and promote academic leadership more generally.Read moreRead less
Australia's Black Past: the shared history of transatlantic slave trading and convict transportation to Africa and Australia. Every nation needs an understanding of its past-the significance of this project is that it examines a part of Australia's history that is very little understood. European settlement of the continent was implemented at a time that ideas of race, and the relationship of skin colour to freedom, were altering significantly. These changes had a fundamental effect on the convi ....Australia's Black Past: the shared history of transatlantic slave trading and convict transportation to Africa and Australia. Every nation needs an understanding of its past-the significance of this project is that it examines a part of Australia's history that is very little understood. European settlement of the continent was implemented at a time that ideas of race, and the relationship of skin colour to freedom, were altering significantly. These changes had a fundamental effect on the convict colony and the relationship of the early colonists with the aboriginal people. Only by gaining knowledge of how early racial interpretations were influenced by global events can Australia interpret her ever controversial racial history.
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An Australian storm wave damage and beach erosion early warning system. This project aims to develop a new coastal hazard early-warning system capability for Australia, to alert coastal communities, emergency managers and coastal engineers to impending storm wave damage and coastal erosion. Emergency preparedness informed by early warning is expected to significantly benefit vulnerable communities and infrastructure along Australia’s coasts.