Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Landscapes Victoria'

Throughout the world, the increasing use of land for agriculture has been associated with extensive loss and fragmentation of natural habitats and, frequently, the degradation of remaining habitats. The effects of such habitat changes have been well studied for some faunal groups, but little is known of their consequences for bats. The aim of this study was to investigate the ecology and conservation of an assemblage of insectivorous bats in a rural landscape, with particular focus on their foraging and roosting requirements. This increased knowledge will, hopefully, assist the formulation of policy and management decisions to ensure the long-term survival of bats in these altered environments. The distribution and abundance of insectivorous bats in the Northern Plains of Victoria was investigated to determine the impacts of land-use change and to identify factors influencing the distribution of bats in rural landscapes. Thirteen species of insectivorous bats were recorded across the region by sampling at 184 sites. Two species were rare, but the remaining 11 species were widespread and occurred in all types of remnant wooded vegetation, ranging from large blocks (≥200 ha) to small isolated remnants (≤5 ha) and scattered trees in cleared farm paddocks. There was no significant difference between remnant types in the relative abundance of bat species, in species richness, or in the composition of bat assemblages at study sites. In a subsequent study, no difference in the activity levels of bats was found between remnants with different tree densities, ranging from densely-vegetated blocks to single paddock trees. However, sites in open paddocks devoid of trees differed significantly from all types of wooded remnants and had significantly lower levels of bat activity and a different species composition. In highly cleared and modified landscapes, all native vegetation has value to bats, even the smallest remnant, roadside and single paddock tree. Roost sites are a key habitat requirement for bats and may be a limiting resource in highly modified environments. Two species, the lesser long-eared bat Nyctophilus geoffroyi and Gould's wattled bat Chalinolobus gouldii, were investigated as a basis for understanding the capacity of bats to survive in agricultural landscapes. These species have different wing morphologies, which may be influential in how they use the landscape, and anecdotal evidence suggested differences in their roosting ecology. Roosting ecology was examined using radio-tracking to locate 376 roosts in two study areas with contrasting tree cover in northern Victoria. Both species were highly selective in the location of their roosts in the landscape, in roost-site selection and in roosting behaviour, and responded differently to differing levels of availability of roosts. The Barmah-Picola study area incorporated remnant vegetation in farmland and an adjacent extensive floodplain forest (Barmah forest). Male N. geojfroyi roosted predominantly within 3 km of their foraging areas in remnants in farmland. However, most female N. geoffroyi, and both sexes of C. gouldii, roosted in Barmah forest up to 12 km from their foraging areas in farmland remnants. These distances were greater than previously recorded for these species and further than predicted by wing morphology. In contrast, in the second study area (Naring) where only small remnants of wooded vegetation remain in farmland, individuals of both species moved significantly shorter distances between roost sites and foraging areas. There were marked inter- and intra-specific differences in the roosts selected. C. gouldii used similar types of roosts in both areas - predominantly dead spouts in large, live trees. N. geoffroyi used a broader range of roost types, especially in the farmland environment. Roosts were typically under bark and in fissures, with males in particular also using anthropogenic structures. A strong preference was shown by both sexes for roosts in dead trees, and entrance dimensions of roosts were consistently narrow (2.5 cm). In Barmah forest, maternity roosts used by N. geoffroyi were predominantly in narrow fissures in large-diameter, dead trees, while at Naring maternity roosts were also found under bark, in buildings, and in small-diameter, live and dead trees. The number of roost trees that are required for an individual or colony is influenced by the frequency with which bats move between roosts, the proportion of roosts that are re-used, the distance between consecutive roosts, and the size of roosting colonies. Both species roosted in small colonies and regularly shifted roost sites within a discrete roost area. These behavioural traits suggest that a high density of roost sites is required. There were marked differences in these aspects of behaviour between individuals roosting in Barmah forest and in the fragmented rural landscape. At Naring, N. geqffroyi remained in roosts for longer periods and moved greater distances between consecutive roosts than in Barmah forest. In contrast, C. gouldii used a smaller pool of roosts in the farmland environment by re-using roosts more frequently. Within Barmah forest, there is an extensive area of forest but the density of hollow-bearing trees is reduced due to timber harvesting and silvicultural practices. Individuals were selective in the location of their roosting areas, with both species selecting parts of the forest that contained higher densities of their preferred roost trees than was generally available in the forest. In contrast, in farmland at Naring, where there were small pockets of remnant vegetation with high densities of potential roost sites surrounded by cleared paddocks with few roosting opportunities, little selection was shown. This suggests that in Barmah forest the density of trees with potential roosts is lower than optimal, while in farmland roosting resources may be adequate in woodland remnants, but limiting at the landscape scale since more than 95% of the landscape now provides no roosting opportunities. Insectivorous bats appear to be less severely affected than some other faunal groups by habitat fragmentation and land-use change. A highly developed capacity for flight, the spatial scale at which they move and their ability to cross open areas means that they can regularly move among multiple landscape elements, rather than depend on single remnants for all their resources. In addition, bats forage and roost mainly at elevated levels in trees and so are less sensitive to degradation of wooded habitats at ground level. Although seemingly resilient to habitat fragmentation, insectivorous bats are fundamentally dependent on trees for roosting and foraging, and so are vulnerable to habitat loss and ongoing rural tree decline. Protection of the remaining large old trees and measures to ensure regeneration to provide ongoing replacement of hollow-bearing trees through time are critical to ensure the long-term conservation of bats in rural landscapes.

"This research project aims to provide a contemporary visualisation of "specific sites." The visualisation of these selected landscapes will draw upon and add to existing traditions of representation of this region, embedding my experiences within this dialogue."
Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

"This research project aims to provide a contemporary visualisation of "specific sites." The visualisation of these selected landscapes will draw upon and add to existing traditions of representation of this region, embedding my experiences within this dialogue."
Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

The Picturesque aesthetic emerged in the later 18th century, uniting the Sublime and the Beautiful and had its roots in the paintings of Claude Lorrain. In Britain, and in Australia, it came to link art, literature and landscape with architecture. The Picturesque aesthetic informed much of colonial culture which was achieved, in part, through the production and dissemination of architectural pattern books catering for the aspirations of the rising middle classes. This was against a background of political change including democratic reform. The Italianate villa, codified and promoted in such pattern books, was a particularly successful synthesis of style, form and function. The first Italianate villa in England, Cronkhill (1803) by John Nash contains all the ingredients which were essential to the model and had a deeper meaning. Deepdene (from 1807) by Thomas Hope gave the model further impetus. The works of Charles Barry and others in a second generation confirmed the model's acceptability. In Britain, its public status peaked with Osborne House (from 1845), Queen Victoria's Italianate villa on the Isle of Wight, Robert Kerr used a vignette of Osborne House on the title page of his sophisticated and influential pattern book, The Gentleman's House (1864,1871). It was one of many books, including those of J.C, Loudon and AJ. Downing, current in colonial Victoria. The latter authors and horticulturists were themselves villa dwellers with libraries and orchards, two criteria for the true villa lifestyle. Situation and a sense of retreat were the two further criteria for the villa lifestyle. As the new colony of Victoria blossomed between 1851 and 1891, the Italianate villa, its garden setting and its landscape siting captured the tenor of the times. Melbourne, the capital was a rich manufacturing metropolis with a productive hinterland and international markets. The people enjoyed a prosperity and lifestyle which they wished to display. Those who had a position in society were keen to demonstrate and protect it. Those with aspirations attempted to provide the evidence necessary for such acceptance, The model matured and became ubiquitous. Its evolution can be traced through a series of increasingly complicated rural and suburban examples, a process which modernist historians have dismissed as a decadent decline. These villas, in fact, demonstrate an increasingly sophisticated retreat by merchants from ‘the Town’ and by graziers from ‘the Country’. In both town and country, the towers of villas mark territory newly acquired. The same claim was often made in humbler situations. Government House, Melbourne (from 1871), a splendid Italianate villa and arguably finer than Osborne House, was set in a cultivated landscape and towered above all It incorporated the four criteria and, in addition, claimed its domain, focused authority and established the colony's social status. It symbolised ancient notions of democracy and idealism but with a modem appreciation for the informal and domestic. Government House in Melbourne is the epitome of the Italianate villa in the colonial landscape and is the climax of the Picturesque aesthetic in Victoria.

Over the last two decades the potential for the combined study of literature and archaeology has been increasingly recognised. The Victorian era, which gave rise to new literary forms, and to archaeology as a science, offers a fertile area of enquiry. This thesis seeks to bring together the imaginative possibilities of archaeology and literature, conceiving their close association to be rooted in the observance and appreciation of the natural world. Focusing on the work of Thomas Hardy and Richard Jefferies, who both wrote about Wessex landscapes rich in archaeology, the thesis identifies the processes involved in the authors’ engagement with nature in archaeological settings. In 1851, Sir Daniel Wilson welcomed archaeology into the ‘circle of the sciences’, and the subject rose to popularity in the periodical press alongside rural pursuits; driven by the closing divide between town and country. Literary depictions of nature in ancient settings elevated the imaginative conception of the past, and found a receptive audience in London papers such as the Graphic and the Pall Mall Gazette, to which Hardy and Jefferies contributed. Both authors associate the mysterious qualities of prehistoric times, and the consonant sense of ‘untrodden space’, with the discovery of new subterranean territories in the self. In a society that was ‘adrift on change’, and seeking new meaning, these connections between the literary and archaeological imagination, and between the present and the past, forged at least temporary consolation. Both authors anticipated early Modern approaches to an archaeology of mind.

The late-Victorian and Edwardian period marked the zenith of urban park construction, spurred on in part by concerns about the physical and moral health of those living in the city. For the middle-class reformers at the time, public parks offered a space through which the unique and complex social issues of the era could be addressed and resolved. The public park was unique in that it made children visible on an unprecedented scale. Their role was fixed at the very heart of discourses on health; of the body, the mind, the nation, and the empire. This research explores these discussions of identity, and how that was negotiated by children in the very specific landscape of the public park. Previous work on the concept of childhood during this period has focused on an adult interpretation of the figure of the child, steeped in nostalgia and imbued with an adult fear and hope for the future. I argue that this ignores the lived experience of the child, and denies them agency in creating their own identity. This thesis uses a methodology inspired by current research in the emerging interdisciplinary field of childhood studies and drawing on the insights of material cultures studies to address this. The park space offers a unique opportunity to study lived experiences of childhood, designed as it was for use by the general public, with children firmly in mind. This work addresses the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of public urban parks in relation to children and explores the idea of a late-Victorian and Edwardian childhood identity as a complex and nuanced phenomenon. Throughout my thesis I use three parks as my primary case studies. These are Saltwell Park in Gateshead, Whitworth Park in Manchester, and Greenhead Park in Huddersfield. All three parks are situated in towns in the north of England that experienced dramatic change as a result of the industrial revolution and so reflect the anxieties present nationwide as a result of this change. By way of contrast I also consider parks in London and elsewhere to understand the uniqueness of these parks but also how they were situated within broader national debates over children and childhood. My investigation is broken down into three major thematic areas, each of which seeking to explore and analyse a particular aspect of childhood identity. The first of the three themes is the ‘Natural Child’. I explore the notion that children were thought of having a greater connection with, or affinity for, the natural world, and that they benefitted in particular from access to nature. The second area of research is the ‘Playful Child’. Here the idea that children were inherently playful, frivolous and could be shaped through correct play will be discussed. Finally, I investigate the ‘Empire Child’, exploring the notion of the child as the future of the Empire and the Nation, and the embodiment of concerns over racial superiority, military conquest and economic power. Within each of these sections I examine the way that this idea is expressed in the prescriptive and other literature, before addressing the way in which these notions could be articulated in the park landscape. The material culture of the park and the way in which the parks encouraged or discouraged children’s behaviour is analysed in relation to each of these themes. Significantly I also show how children engaged with, or rejected, notions of childhood identity, acknowledging that children were not just passively receiving instruction, but were actively involved in negotiating their own identity.

Despite the important values forests play in the tropics, sustainable forest management still remains a challenge as manifested through continued forest loss. The objective of this study was to provide information on the dynamics of forest cover and their drivers vital for enhancing sustainable forest management in the Lake Victoria crescent, Uganda. Several methodologies including remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems techniques, analysis of landscape patterns and various social science techniques were integrated in working towards the stated goal. Results showed that the Lake Victoria crescent, Uganda covering an area of about 1,509,228 ha, experienced a decline in forest cover from 9.0% in 1989 to 4.4% in 2009. This was in comparison with non-forest cover which increased from 58.7% in 1989 to 63.5% in 2009 while open water coverage generally remained unchanged averaging 32.3% from 1989 to 2009. Mean annual deforestation rate from 1989 to 2009 decreased with a weighted mean rate of 2.56%. Both deforestation and afforestation declined between 1989 and 2009 although deforestation still exceeded afforestation. In addition to deforestation, the Lake Victoria crescent also experienced forest fragmentation from 1989 to 2009. Forests greater than 100 ha in size were the most vulnerable to forest fragmentation yet they still constituted a big proportion of forest cover in 2009. Deforestation was a consequence of proximate causes which were triggered by a number of underlying drivers acting singly or in combination, with underlying drivers being more influential. In a bid to promote sustainable forest management, there is a need to continue with efforts to curb deforestation and forest fragmentation, especially amongst forests greater than 100 ha. This could be achieved through empowerment of local communities to take a core role in sustainable management of forest resources.
Ph. D.

Attention to participatory watershed management is increasing across the developing world as soil erosion continues to degrade agricultural land; reservoirs and irrigation infrastructure are clogged with sediment. The realization of the importance of watersheds is crucial for sustainable utilization especially in developing countries where rural livelihoods and economies are highly dependant on the exploitation of natural resources. The Lake Victoria basin is characterized by high population pressures, low productive subsistence agriculture, poor farming methods, loss of soil fertility and deforestation due to demand of fuel wood and charcoal, timber and building materials that are posing serious threat to watersheds. High population density in the basin also means new needs emerge too fast to which rural societies cannot respond in time leading to more area expansion for agricultural land. In spite of positive efforts under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, there remains a huge gap between policy and institutional framework development at the top level and the actual implementation of actions on the ground to prevent land degradation, soil erosion and decrease sediment load. The study focused on Kagera and Nyando catchments of Lake Victoria Basin and aiming to establish if there exist and the extent to which participatory watershed management has been implemented on the ground to decrease land degradation and sediment load. It therefore provides an insight into watershed management in the Kagera and Nyando catchments by illustrating the link between policy formulation and actual implementation and enforcement.

Les lecteurs de Victor Hugo s'accordent à penser qu'il est un regardeur. Mais de quel regardeur s'agit-il ? Pour ce poète qui voyage, l'action de voir constitue, plus qu'un goût, un principe esthétique et poétique. Si Hugo s'attache à un beau paysage, c'est en vue d'en faire resurgir ce qui, tout en échappant au regard, prend la forme d'une pensée. Pour le dire autrement, le réel visible est, pour lui, tant régi par la Vérité cachée qu'il ne cesse de mettre en jeu l'existence du sujet. L'évocation d'un paysage est en ce sens la véritable pierre de touche du sujet : le paysage représente, comme inévitablement, le moi qui essaie de participer aux réseaux de l'univers. C'est pourquoi notre étude avait pour objet en particulier les paysages du voyage et de la poésie, afin d'examiner un moi et des moi intertextuels chez Hugo. La relative rareté des études sur le je en voyageur s'explique par une tradition critique qui le considère comme une incarnation immédiate d'un moi unique de l'auteur. Toutefois, on ne saurait trop souligner que, malgré les apparences, le je dans les textes de voyage est protéiforme non moins que le je poétique. Cette thèse dont les réflexions s'articulent autour des regards hugoliens vise ainsi à montrer la complexité du moi de Hugo, et à apporter une lumière nouvelle sur ses poèmes lyriques
Victor Hugo's readers agree that he is a viewer. But what viewer is it? For this poet who travels, the action of seeing constitutes, more than a fondness, an aesthetic and poetic practice. If Hugo attaches to a beautiful landscape, it is in order to bring out the truth escaping the gaze. To put it another way, the visible reality is, for him, so governed by the hidden truth that it emphasise the existence of the subject. The evocation of a landscape is in this sense the true touchstone of the subject: the landscape represents, as inevitably, the ego that tries to participate in the principle of the universe. This is why our study was particularly concerned with landscapes of travel and poetry, in order to examine an ego or egos intertextual in Hugo. The relative rarity of the studies on the traveler is explained by a critical tradition which considers him an simple embodiment of an ego of the author. However, it can not be over-emphasized that, in spite of appearances, the I in the travel texts is protean no less than the poetic I. This thesis whose reflections are articulated around the Hugo's landscapes aims thus to show the complexity of the ego of Hugo, and to bring a new light on his lyrical poems

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-15T23:44:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Aline de Alcantara Silva1.pdf: 10151807 bytes, checksum: 916723639dd7d82d1459391f9434b14b (MD5) Aline de Alcantara Silva2.pdf: 24579662 bytes, checksum: 9d20f9549f9618e5742c995d7821699e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-27
Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa
The open spaces, green areas, parks and squares are of great importance to the urban structure, to qualify and regenerate. Some types of urban actions can come from the public sector or through partnerships between the public and private, all benefit when this type of partnership is well developed and applied. One example is the case studies in this research, the Victor Civita Square, the Brascan Century Plaza and Rochaverá Corporate Towers, each within its context was structured public-private partnerships. These projects are described and analyzed within the whole of the contemporary urban landscape that are inserted, covering the whole urban context and history of each one, how their sidewalks and plazas communicate with the environment as, as well the elements of their vegetation and green areas.
Os espaços livres, áreas verdes, parques e praças são de grande importância para a estrutura urbana, pois a qualificam, a regeneram. Alguns tipos de ações urbanísticas podem vir do setor público ou através de parcerias entre o setor público e privado, todos se beneficiam quando esse tipo de parceria é bem aplicada e desenvolvida. Um exemplo são os estudos de caso da presente pesquisa, a Praça Victor Civita, o Brascan Century Plaza e o Rochaverá Corporate Towers, cada um dentro do seu contexto foi estruturado por parcerias publico-privadas. Esses empreendimentos serão descritos e analisados dentro do conjunto da paisagem urbana contemporânea a que estão inseridos, que engloba todo o contexto urbano e histórico de cada um, a forma como suas calçadas e praças se comunicam com o entorno, bem como os elementos que compõem sua vegetação e áreas verdes.

The search for quality and relevance in higher education curriculum drives educational reform. In 2004, research supporting an ‘Inquiry into the suitability of current preservice teacher education courses’ was presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Training in Victoria (Victorian Parliament, Education and Training Committee 2005) and another in 2009 titled, ‘Inquiry into effective strategies for teacher professional learning’ Final report (Victorian Parliament, Education and Training Committee 2009). In response to this reconceptualisation of teacher education for the 21st century, questions have been raised by academics; and in this new context, debate and research are focussing on the hegemony of preservice teacher education (Shulman 1987; Cochran-Smith 2001; Loughran 2006). Reform of teacher education has been a focus of historical and contemporary community debate. The development of educational programs for teachers implies the generation of higher levels of thinking, metacognition and learning to enable preservice teachers to think about their own thinking (Pohl 2000). The aim of this research is to describe the layers of learning experiences and development involved in preservice teacher education and, in particular, to articulate a reflective pedagogical paradigm that is inherent in the process of becoming a reflective practitioner. Research into higher education plays a meaningful role by informing contemporary public debate and assisting in directing policy-makers in the development and optimisation of higher education.

The thesis addresses the broader theme of coexistence between black and white Australians through an extended case study of the mediation of overlapping Aboriginal ‘heritage’ interests in land with the interests of non-Indigenous landowners and land managers in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (the ‘VRD’). The thesis shows that while an historical perspective reveals marked changes in many of the outward manifestations of intercultural relations (for example, changes in white categorisations of Aboriginal people from ‘station blacks’ to ‘Aboriginal custodians’, and changes in the conduct of relations from violent to non-violent behaviours), the overall tenor of relations has changed little. The VRD community remains ‘racially’ segregated, characterised by separate cultural domains, poor intercultural communication and entrenched Aboriginal marginality and socio-economic disadvantage. The thesis shows how recognition of Aboriginal heritage interests in land is largely determined by the parameters of this pattern of relations, which are analysed in the thesis through the themes of power, cultural difference and strategic action. The thesis also examines the Western paradigm of heritage, from its conceptual origins to the structures and processes which have subsequently been developed in Indigenous heritage policy, including heritage protection legislation and processes of consultation. The integration of heritage protection with development approvals processes has created many difficulties for Aboriginal communities in the VRD, whose heritage interests are often placed in opposition to the economic interests of the wider Australian community. The thesis endorses a coexistence approach to mediating Indigenous heritage interests with the interests and needs of non-Indigenous land owners and land managers. This must include effective statutory protection of Indigenous heritage interests together with mechanisms and resources to promote and negotiate voluntary agreements between Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders.

In this thesis I explore community mapping as a tool for transformative community learning and planning for sustainability. This inquiry is set within the context of “grassroots post-modernism” which prioritizes the realm of locally-based knowledge and narrative. The first part of the thesis explores the landscape of discourse and the tension between hegemonic and situated knowledge. Deconstructing the power relations behind colonial and globalized worldviews provides a foundation for examining pedagogy and its relationship to power relations and everyday life. The argument is made for an inclusive community and eco-system-based approach to knowledge production as a cornerstone of healthy and sustainable development. This leads into the second part of the thesis: the exploration of mapping and case study of community mapping as a practical application of this theoretical framework. As discourse, I look at maps as subjective reflections of the world and the culture of the mapmaker. In this sense they are paradigmatic. They reflect cultural patterns and worldviews and therefore offer a medium for inquiry that reveals the interdependence of worldview, pedagogy and planning. Maps can help to create a sense of place, provide space for dialogue, and bridge personal knowledge to community learning and planning. Mapping is also a tool for narrative, for “storied residence,” and, when applied in a community context, it can facilitate creative and engaging expression. Overall, maps have significant spatial power, reflecting social, economic, and ecological relations that influence communities and patterns of development worldwide. The thesis attempts to show how mapping discourse, grounded in ecological and social narrative, can be tied practically to asset-based community learning, and participatory planning for sustainability. This is accomplished through a case study of the Common Ground Community Mapping Project based in Victoria, British Columbia and through a profile of various approaches to, and examples of, community mapping methodologies and projects.

The spatial and temporal pattern of fire occurrence within landscapes is a principal factor influencing species distributions and a core driver of biodiversity. However, climate change, land use change, invasive species and detrimental land management practices are altering the distribution, frequency, scale and intensity of large wildfires globally. This poses a major challenge to biodiversity management as ecosystems adapt to novel patterns of fire occurrence. Within fire-affected landscapes, areas which experience unique disturbance regimes may act as refuges for biota, reducing the impacts of fire on species and increasing their likelihood of survival. However, very few studies have attempted to quantify the desirable spatial attributes of such areas within fire mosaics for faunal conservation. This thesis aimed to quantify the ecological role of fire refuges by examining the factors responsible for refuge establishment, how the spatial properties of refuges influence their use by fauna, and the mechanisms underpinning faunal responses. To investigate the factors responsible for the spatial distribution of fire refuges in montane forests I tested the operational validity of a pre-constructed fire simulation model with actual fire severity patterns produced following a large fire in the modelled landscapes. I found that for fires which occurred in extreme fire conditions, severity patterns were largely determined by stochastic factors, such as weather. When fire conditions were moderate, physical landscape properties appeared to mediate fire severity distribution. The study highlighted that fire refuges are a potentially ecologically important outcome of large wildfires. I recommend that detrimental land management practices are minimized to enable the ecological processes relevant to the establishment and subsequent use of fire refuges to be maintained. In recently burnt Mountain Ash forests in south-eastern Australia, I examined how fire severity, patch size and landscape context influenced the abundance of arboreal marsupials. We aimed to determine if fire refuges are an important mechanism for facilitating the survival within extensively burnt landscapes. I found the mountain brushtail possum had a positive response to a particular kind of topographic refuge (unburnt peninsulas connected to larger areas of unburnt forest), whereas the greater glider had a negative response to fire in the landscape. The study highlighted the need for a more developed understanding of how post-fire habitat patterns facilitate species survival within burnt landscapes. In a correlative landscape-scale study, I examined how bird use of potential refuges was influenced by 1) the size and connectivity of each refuge, 2) the extent of fire severities at different scales in the surrounding landscape, and 3) the interaction between severity patterns, vegetation structure and environmental gradients. I found that unburnt mesic gullies facilitated the retention of forest birds within extensively burnt montane forest landscapes. The study presented a key advance, in that the effects of fire-induced habitat patterns on the distribution of fauna varied between areas depending on their spatial relationships with key biotic and abiotic landscape patterns. I demonstrated that developing contingent theory by examining ecological interactions between fire induced habitat patterns and biotic and abiotic gradients is essential to understanding complex faunal responses to fire. Using GPS telemetry within a replicated landscape scale study design, I examined how the spatial patterns of fire severity created by a large wildfire influenced the spatio temporal movement patterns of an arboreal marsupial, the Mountain Brushtail Possum, Trichosurus cunninghammi. I found a difference in temporal movement dynamics, habitat selection and spatial movement patters between forested landscapes which were burnt to differing extents. Forest systems recently burnt at high severity may provide suitable habitat for some species, if protected from subsequent disturbance such as salvage logging. However, spatial and temporal patterns of habitat selection and use differed considerably between burnt and undisturbed landscapes. The spatial outcomes of ecological disturbances such as wildfires have the potential to alter the behaviour and functional roles of fauna across large areas. Employing a qualitative research approach, I identified the barriers and enablers to spatially managing fire for biodiversity. I then developed a conceptual framework and set of key steps to achieve the integration of spatial approaches to fire into management. I identified that spatial approaches to fire management must co-exist within a complex system of social and ecological feedbacks between landscapes, academic research, socio-political land management systems, and environmental pressures. I suggest that the integration of spatial approaches to fire can be achieved by developing community understanding of fire science, improving the relevance of fire research outputs to land management, amending existing government policy approaches and refining management tools, structures, scales and monitoring to meet biodiversity and fire risk objectives. The insights into fire refuge ecology provided by the papers in this thesis are highly relevant to faunal conservation. Collectively, this thesis constitutes an important contribution to global forest fire ecology and management and has implications for both understanding the impacts of ecosystem disturbances on faunal persistence and distributions, and for developing effective future research and conservation strategies.

This thesis seeks to explain how site-scale design decisions can assist retention of rare plant communities concentrated in and near settled areas. To do so it focuses on a specific species and development context. Explanations are sought through examination of case studies of landuse developments in proximity to retained Garry oak plant communities located in the perimeter of Victoria, British Columbia. In the study region, exponential declines in species populations, health, and diversity of rare Garry oak ecosystems have been largely attributed to impacts from land-use developments. Over the past century, land-use developments have transformed the floral, spatial, structural and functional characteristics of the settled landscape. Isolated islands of imperiled plant associations remain on protected bioreserves: for recruitment and connectivity, these rare fauna rely on private-land greenways. Architectural teams have the potential to influence the decision-making processes that create ecologically-vital greenspace on private land, thereby enhancing survival for declining plant communities. Case-study evidence for the importance of land-use decisions on diminishing Garry oak meadow is gathered through vegetation surveys conducted on Garry oak meadow in proximity to six architectural projects on Victoria's western edge. Observed changes in growth extensions are then categorized in relation to human activities associated with built form, and correlated with principles from Landscape Ecology. An ARC of design strategies, developed in primary research by K. D. Rothley is adapted for architectural use as follows: firstly, AREA of a plant community is kept free of encroachment by the orderly frame established around vegetation; secondly, RARE SPECIES and habitat are identified with borders or signage; thirdly, CONNECTIVITY between retained landscapes is secured by siting roads and buildings to minimize ecosystem fragmentation. To effectively communicate preexisting landscape ecology principles, grouped under the ARC of strategies, illustrations and key-word phrases are developed. These principles, when integrated into architectural teams' structural knowledge, extend the architects' perceived role beyond aesthetics and economic efficiency. Enhancing habitat value through retention or restoration of rare ecosystems at the margins of suburban development, becomes an additional realm of influence for professional teams designing the spatial configurations of peri-urban landscapes.

Doctor of Philosophy
This thesis explores the sense of place formed during childhood, as remembered by adult Australians who reconstruct their youth through various forms of life writing. While Australian writers do utilize traditional tropes of Western autobiography, such as the mythology of Eden and the Wordsworthian image of the child communing with Nature, these themes are frequently transformed to meet a uniquely Australian context. Isolation and distance from Europe, and the apparent indifference of our landscape towards white settlement, have received much critical attention in Australian studies generally and, indeed, broadly influence the formation of children’s sense of place across the continent. However, writers are also concerned with the role of place on a more local level. Through a comparison of writing from Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria, this thesis explores regional landscape preoccupations that create an awareness of local identity, variously contributing to or frustrating the child’s sense of belonging. Western Australian writing is dominated by images of isolation, the fragility of white settlement in a dry land lacking fresh water, and a pervasive beach culture. A strong sense of the littoral pervades writing from this region. Queensland’s frontier mythology is of a different flavour: warm and tropical, nature here is exuberant, constantly threatening to overwhelm culture, already perceived as transient due to the flimsy aspect of the “Queenslander” house. Writing from Victoria, to some extent, tends to more closely follow English models, juxtaposing country and city environments, although there is a distinctly local flavour to many representations of urban Melbourne and its flat, grid-like organization. As Australian society becomes more concentrated on the coastal fringe, the beach is an increasingly significant environment. Though more prominent in writing from some regions than others, coastal imagery broadly reflects the modern Australian’s sense of inhabiting a liminal zone with negotiable boundaries.

This thesis analyses the impact of life experience on Irish settlement patterns in colonial Victoria. It represents the first scholarly analysis of a settler farmer in the Pyalong district. The thesis focuses on how Irish settler Patrick Cooke adapted successfully to life in the Antipodes and how he forged a relationship with the land on which he settled. The significance of the study goes beyond one individual’s experience of late-nineteenth colonial settlement. With emphasis on the spatial connection between people and place, it provides new insights into the relationship of individuals to the geographical space they inhabited during settlement in inland Victoria. The thesis draws on extensive Irish and Australian research data, to locate Cooke’s life in the context of Australia and Ireland, the places in which he lived. By focusing on an underresearched rural district in central Victoria it furthers historical understanding of colonial settlement and shows how Irish immigrants redefined themselves and gave meaning to their lives in their new land.

Steiner education, also known as Waldorf education, has represented a form of education “against the grain” in the Australian education landscape since its introduction as a practice in Sydney in 1957. Now with sixty schools or programs nationally, and an accredited Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework, Steiner education has shown that educational roots can be sunk into a different educational soil and can prosper. Contributing to the history of education in Australia, as well as to the contemporary understanding of educational alternatives in the Australian context, this study examines the localised development of Steiner education between the years spanning approximately 1970-2010, predominantly in Victoria. Three periods are covered, comprising a founding school phase (1970s), a second-generation Steiner school phase (1980s) and a publicly funded Steiner “streams” phase (approx. 1990 – 2010). Interviews with forty Steiner educators are drawn on, in addition to documentary sources such as school newsletters and newspaper articles, to examine the creation of six Steiner schools or programs. The thesis by publication comprises five papers – four already published and one under review – and an exegesis. Three of the papers are historical, one explores the ethical and methodological considerations stemming from the insider-outsider positioning of the researcher, and one examines the place of Steiner education in the contemporary education landscape in Australia. The orientations of each paper draw on different elements of the methodology, including: practice theory, Gee’s D/d discourse analysis, oral history, biographical sociology, and auto-ethnography. The basis of Steiner education in an epistemology of movement, representing a foundational interest in dynamic performative discourse and concepts, in contrast to representational, static ones, represents a further red thread throughout this study. The exegesis places these papers in a broader context of debates on education and Steiner education more broadly, pulling together some of the literature and the methodological orientation as a whole. The focus for this study is firstly on the local circumstances of the creation of the schools and programs being examined, from the perspective primarily of Steiner educators involved, and secondly on the evolving external socio-political and bureaucratic contexts for these initiatives. The significance of this study lies in how it shows that while policies such as ‘choice’ may afford important opportunities for the creation of new Steiner schools and programs, they also constrain the conceptualisation of Steiner education. Secondly, it demonstrates that neoliberal approaches to education has narrowed conceptions of epistemological diversity within schooling, contributing to a glossing over of philosophical alternatives in contemporary scholarship on alternative education. Thirdly, the value of examining alternative education to highlight ideological and philosophical tensions and fault lines is shown, particularly in relation to the challenges of philosophical educational change. And finally, the case is made that contemplative inquiry, as well as philosophical and theoretical developments emphasising dynamic concepts of enactment and performance, such as socio-materialism, present helpful new framings for the notion of applied inner- life activity as recognised within Steiner education.

Ao longo dos anos, as cidades foram desenvolvidas de acordo com as necessidades da sua população, fornecendo várias infraestruturas importantes, tais como uma rede viária, habitação, espaço público e serviços. De forma a gerar renda para suportar todas essas infraestruturas, as cidades passaram por vários ciclos económicos, alguns temporários e outros de longo prazo ou permanentes, tal como o turismo. A Madeira, ou mais especificamente o Funchal, seguiu os passos dessas cidades em que o turismo está presente desde o século XIX, hoje é considerado a principal fonte de rendimento económico. Com a evolução do turismo terapêutico para um turismo de lazer presente hoje, o peso do turismo num pequeno território como a Madeira começou a manifestar-se, criando assim o interesse pelo estudo do mesmo. O objetivo principal deste estudo foi entender se as antigas vilas do turismo terapêutico podiam ser restauradas com base nas exigências de um turismo mais comercial de hoje. O estudo iniciou-se analisando o desenvolvimento do turismo terapêutico até o turismo presente hoje no Funchal, verificando a relação entre as quintas com a paisagem e as suas vantagens. A quinta e a sua evolução ao longo dos anos devido às várias influências - incluindo a inglesa - também são analisadas, mais especificamente a casa mãe, o jardim e as áreas de produção que criam vários espaços de contemplação para a cidade e o mar. Por último, há estudos de caso de quintas que foram restauradas intencionalmente para fins turísticos com um programa cultural ou como alojamento e que servem para um turismo mais sustentável.
Over the years cities have been developed according to necessities of their population, providing various important infrastructures such as roads, housing, public space and services. To generate income to support all these infrastructures cities withstand various economic cycles, some of which are temporary and others long term or permanent, like tourism. Madeira or more specifically Funchal followed the footsteps of these big cities with tourism being present since the nineteenth century where today it is considered the main source of economic income. With the evolution of therapeutic tourism to tourism of leisure present today, the weight of tourism in a small territory such as Madeira begins to manifest itself thus creating an interest in studying this topic. The main objective of this study was to understand whether the old villas from the therapeutic tourism could be restored based on the requirements of a more commercial tourism. This study analysed the development of the therapeutic tourism until the tourism present today in Funchal, analysing the relationship between the villas with the landscape along with all its advantages. The villa and its evolution over the years due to various influences - including the English - is also analysed, more specifically the house, the garden and areas of produce that then create various spaces of contemplation towards the city and sea. Lastly there are case studies of villas which have been restored intentionally for tourism purposes with a cultural programme or as accommodation and serve towards a more sustainable tourism.