Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Rockhampton'

This dissertation has used an historical approach to investigate nursing at the Rockhampton Hospital between 1930 and 1950. It has focussed on the work practices of those nurses who carried out the majority of the work, the trainee nurses. The work practices examined include those related to infection control, treatments and interventions, monitoring activities and ward management issues such as hierarchical structure and communication.

This dissertation has placed nursing history at the centrepoint of three related disciplinary fields - medical, labour and women's history. This has allowed some of the origins of the rituals, traditions and culture of nursing to be identified. In particular the image of nurses as the doctor's handmaiden has been examined. This dissertation has revealed that while a large proportion of nursing activities were regulated by doctors, nurses controlled a significant amount of their work. This dissertation has, therefore, supported and challenged the foundations of the handmaiden image.

The seasonal periodicity of hydrology, physical and chemical water quality parameters and phytoplanktonic assemblages was studied at two sites in a large tropical Australian riverine impoundment. This study, the first in the lower Fitzroy River at Rockhampton, occurred between August 1990 and November 1993. It covered extremes in riverine flow conditions including major flooding and drought.

The annual flow regime was characterized by major flows in the "wet" season (summer and autumn) and greatly reduced or no flow in the "dry" season of winter, spring and sometimes early summer. Consequently, the thermal regime at both of the study sites was divided into two phases. The first was a phase of water column heating in the late winter to early summer. Features of this heating phase were long term stratification with progressive epilimnetic deepening, high pH, regular occurrence of epilimnetic oxygen supersaturation and decreased or undetectable levels of oxidized nitrogen in the surface layer. Hypolimnetic anoxia was recorded late in this phase. The second, between substantial wet season inflows and late winter was characterized by nutrient rich inflows and water column cooling and mixing.

Distinct interannual differences occurred in the volume, source and timing of inflows and subsequent water chemistry. In 1991, conductivity, water clarity, filterable reactive phosphorus (FRP) and pH increased markedly following major flooding from northern tributaries, while oxidized nitrogen decreased. This was in marked contrast to the drier years of 1992 and 1993 where turbidity and oxidized nitrogen were higher during the initial post-flood period and conductivity and FRP were lower. Extremes of mostly abiogenic turbidity (range 1.6 to 159 NTU) were a feature of the light climate. Ratios of euphotic depth/mixing depth below 0.3 occurred in early 1992 and 1993.

Steep gradients in the physical and chemical environment were paralleled by variations in the phytoplankton. Algal biomass (as chlorophyll a) at Site 1, midstream opposite the water intake for the city of Rockhampton, ranged from 1.5 to 56.6 ug L-1. The vertical water column distribution of chlorophyll was variable with assemblages normally dominated by phytoflagellates and various species of cyanoprokaryotes. There was also higher relative abundance of chlorophyll a (reflecting increasing dominance of cyanoprokaryotes) in the latter half of the year and at the lower end of light availability. The specific vertical water column positioning with respect to light and temperature is shown for assemblages dominated by the genera Anabaena, Aphanizomenon and Cylindrospermopsis.

The most striking aspect of the phytoplankton was the long term dominance of cyanoprokaryotes and the species richness (particularly that of cyanoprokaryotes) when compared with the dearth of information to date on other tropical rivers. Seasonal successions were varied. Regularly occurring assemblages were cyanoprokaryotes (Oscillatoriales), euglenophytes or non-flagellated chlorophytes during flows followed by flagellated chlorophytes and then cyanoprokaryotes (Nostocales) during the dry season. Genera present indicated highly eutrophic conditions. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering of phytoplankton data and comparison with a principal components analysis of corresponding environmental data were used to demonstrate the linkage between steep environmental gradients and variation in the phytoplankton assemblage. The specific environmental conditions associated with the success of various species were also analysed and presented. Using the above information, a two-part model was proposed which predicts the most likely genera of phytoplankton with respect to multidimensional environmental gradients. This model covers a wide gamut of conditions varying from highly variable lotic to lentic environments.

As Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii was considered a most important species in relation to the quality of the water supply for Rockhampton, the physical, chemical and biotic conditions prior to and during a bloom of this species are described. A number of possible grazers of C. raciborskii were identified with a view to future biomanipulation. One of these, the large ciliate, Paramecium cf. caudatum was found to be an effective grazer of toxic straight C. raciborskii in the laboratory.

This study is unique in that it analyses the impact of episodic events (eg. major flooding) on the subsequent phytoplankton in the lower Fitzroy River. The model relating phytoplankton to multidimensional environmental gradients provides great information for use in management, particularly in relation to the prediction of toxic algal blooms.

By examining the example of its operation in one (1) secondary college in Central Queensland this thesis examines issues surrounding the performance reviews of middle managers holding Positions of Added Responsibility in the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton in the context of teacher appraisal generally.

This thesis examined the history of competition between two Rockhampton daily newspapers focusing predominantly on the influences exercised in reporting labour issues and industrial relations between 1891 and 1915, examining the influence by both owners, editors and local politicians alike on the way these issues were reported.

The research was undertaken to improve current knowledge on press reporting of the labour movement through key events. The thesis addressed a specific timeframe with the same methodology applied to key events. The proposed methodology has arisen from a review of primary sources (newspapers) within set timeframes focused around key events and people. A case study of Rockhampton daily newspapers was undertaken during the period 1899 to 1915. This time period was chosen because it was a time of political unrest and labor party development.

The general theme of industrial relations was selected to demonstrate the similarities and differences in how newspapers reported events to influence readers in order to explore the connection between press and politicians in greater details. In so doing, this thesis identifies the close connection between press and politicians, such as William Kidston and T.J Ryan over this turbulent period and is a comparative study of such seminal events as the 1899 shearers' strike, the 1911 sugar strike and the 1912 tramway and general strike.

This thesis is a study in competition between two daily newspapers in the polemical tradition, encompassing an analysis of the Fourth Estate through the press -political nexus. This thesis proposes that the reporting of key events and people influenced the success of the labour movement in Queensland

The Rockhampton Diocese of Catholic Education represents a large, diverse and unique body of school environments, spread across a vast area of regional central Queensland. The Diocese provides Catholic education to approximately 11,500 students in 27 Primary Schools and 8 Secondary Colleges located from Bundaberg in the south to Mackay in the north and from the Capricorn Coast in the east to Longreach in the west.

Over recent years the Rockhampton Diocese of Catholic Education has been investigating and embracing information and communication technology (ICTs) in the provision of Catholic education. The use of ICTs has clearly enhanced the teaching and learning processes and assisted with the efficient administration and management of both the Catholic Education Office (CEO) and schools. However, as technology use has grown, there have been increasing and continuing requests from many staff throughout the Diocese for leadership and guidance to be provided by CEO.

In response to these requests, CEO embarked upon a Diocese wide Technology Planning Initiative (WI) intended to provide a systematic approach towards ICT planning. Integral to the Technology Planning Initiative was the need for development of a systemic Technology Master Plan for the Diocese. It was considered essential that CEO base future directions for the adoption and use of ICTs on the 'real' situation and the actual problems being faced by schools and staff throughout the Diocese.

This report is the result of an investigation of technology needs throughout the Diocese as a basis for development of a holistic Technology Master Plan. This study involved a range of strategies to provide alternate sources of data upon which to base recommendations for future direction. The project included extensive interaction with staff in the Diocese and the embedding of the research component into the culture, committee structures and practices of the organisation. This has included collaboration with stakeholder groups before, during and following the actual research component of the project, thereby ensuring organisational acceptance of the processes being followed, understanding of the findings and ownership of the future directions.

Site visits and ICT audits have revealed valuable information about access, equity and availability of various technologies within school environments. The current technology-related skills of school staff (Principals, Teachers, and Library staff) was determined, which revealed considerable variation in the abilities of staff at all levels and across all aspects of school operations. The study revealed that staff attitudes towards the use of ICTs across all schools was extremely positive, with considerable enthusiasm among school staff towards the use of technology.

The study revealed that very few schools have performed formalised ICT planning for their school and that the majority of schools do not have a planning group or committee that focuses on ICT-related issues for the school. Many areas were identified as barriers to ICT adoption in the Diocese, with many respondents also providing suggestions and proposing initiatives to overcome these barriers. The study has pinpointed limitations in the current provision of ICT-related staff development across schools, and identified specific focus areas for future staff development activity.

The study has revealed the current situation within the Rockhampton Diocese of Catholic Education and enabled the translation of the current state into an action plan for future directions. The 'product' of this study is a series of sixty-two recommendations that have provided the core themes for development of a holistic Technology Master Plan for the Rockhampton Diocese of Catholic Education.

This report also provides a retrospective evaluation of progress made with implementation of the Diocesan Technology Master Plan. This reveals that significant progress has been made with the adoption and use of technology throughout the Diocese, along with substantial organisational learning.

In history, the progress of a city's water supply often parallels the growth of the city, and in Rockhampton's case, also reflects a number of adversities that the local councillors had to overcome. This dual local and water history dissertation explores the history of Rockhampton's water supply. In doing so it engages with themes within local history such as politics, local government, adversity, resilience and identity. This history also reveals patterns of local power relations. These themes are set against the backdrop of broader Australian history in order to provide context.1 Rockhampton sits astride the large Fitzroy

River, but despite this fortune of geography, the c;ity has had a history of challenges in securing a safe and reliable water supply. The forethought of mayors and local government officers was an integral feature of directing Rockhampton away from using unhygienic lagoon water, to having possibly one of the safest and best water supply systems in Australia, and this can only be appreciated by understanding the history of this local area. The development of Rockhampton was a phenomenon unlike most towns in Queensland. The duffer's gold rush at Canoona, bringing in hundreds of people almost instantly,

prevented Rockhampton developing slowly like other towns, which depended mainly on agriculture. The challenge for the leading citizens in a new town that virtually grew

overnight was to source adequate drinking water for a town on the bank of a salty river.

Local history narratives like this rely on the stories of people in the area. This local history narrative encompasses some local political history, although Councillors were not politically aligned in the early days of Rockhampton. The significant water history events that are explored in this thesis include the following, and each represents progress in ideas and technology. The first resolution passed by the first Council in 1861, was to apply to the Queensland Colonial Government for permission to cart water from Yeppen Yeppen Lagoon, later known as Yeppen Lagoon as the town water supply. In 1875 a more sophisticated reservoir was built to supply water to approximately 1,400 houses with lagoon water and by the 1926, a pumping station and water treatment works were built at Yaamba and potable water was piped the thirty-five kilometres to Rockhampton. In 1970 a barrage was built across the Fitzroy River at the "Rocks" to prevent tidal salt water contaminating the fresh Fitzroy River water. Subsequently, a new pumping station and water treatment works were built within the city at Glenmore in 1971. The thesis argues that the people who progressed Rockhampton's water supply faced adversity in achieving a continuous articulated potable water supply for the city. The city is adjacent to a saltwater river, yet the incremental progress made encouraged large businesses and even adjacent towns to eventually flourish, as well as helped to green Rockhampton. Furthermore, this water history shows Rockhampton's distinctive identity when it obtained its iconic Council-owned Barrage.

The aims of the present study were to (a) evaluate and to compare the adequacy of a social psychological model and a cognitive appraisal model in predicting intention and action with respect to the adoption of protective health behaviours, (b) investigate the direction and strength of the path coefficients linking the predictor and criterion variables in each model in order to determine which predictor variables played a significant role in the (non)adoption of protective health behaviours, and (c) investigate the direct and indirect roles that gender role and SES play in determining the decision to adopt or not to adopt protective health behaviours. Existing knowledge about disease and illness makes it imperative for health researchers to understand the factors involved in reducing exposure to these endemic threats. Whilst extensive research has been carried out to investigate health beliefs and health threats, most of the results that have been obtained have been descriptive in nature. They say very little about how males and females internalise and conceptualise the identified social psychological and cognitive appraisal variables or how these variables influence the health decision-making process. Two theoretical models were developed to represent the decision-making process regarding the adoption of good health behaviours. A total of 550 males and 759 females (total n = 1,309) from Rockhampton and Gladstone in the State of Queensland, Australia, participated in the study by responding to one of three questionnaires designed to measure the study's critical variables. Whilst the overall findings generally supported the decision-making process represented by both models, the results indicated that the social psychological model represented a better predictor of the health decision-making process than the cognitive appraisal model. The findings also indicated that high masculinity combined with low femininity and a low SES directly decreased the motivation of males and females to adopt protective health behaviours when confronted by a health threat. Finally, for both models, the results indicated that the exogenous variables of gender role and SES had both direct and indirect influences on behavioural intention and action for males and females across the three disease dimensions. The implications of the findings with regards to differences in male and female health status are discussed.