Academic literature on the topic 'Textile design Australia'

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges facing the Australian fashion industry (textile, clothing and footwear or TCF sector). Just at the point where Australian fashion has achieved international attention for its distinctive design practice, the industry is on the point of collapse. Since the 1980s, radical re-structuring aimed at reducing industry protection to encourage greater international competitiveness and innovation. Key policies have included tariff reduction, new forms of industry assistance, new manufacturing techniques, changing retail forms, and reform of employment and workplace conditions. Design/methodology/approach – Overview of recent trends in the Australian fashion industry due to industry policies and the effects of globalisation. Findings – Severe decline in industry viability. Originality/value – Important multifaceted analysis of the state of the industry and tracking of effects of government policies.

This article is evidence of a practice-based investigation into the imaginative worlds of mining and textiles as a starting point for transforming ways of thinking and creating in the locality. Featuring artist-in-residence and archival processes of research, and performative and site-responsive interventions, a number of recurring themes of enquiry will be developed that combine elements of clothing design, historical studies, nature studies, photography, inflatable construction and social anthropology. The article will draw from the authors artistic practice in the extraction of multi-narrative responses from textiles as an inventive method for engaging site-specifically with former mining locations in UK and Australia.

Background Relapse remains an unresolved issue in smoking cessation. Extended stop smoking medication use can help, but uptake is low and several behavioural relapse prevention interventions have been found to be ineffective. However, opportunistic ‘emergency’ use of fast-acting nicotine replacement treatment or electronic cigarettes may be more attractive and effective, and an online behavioural Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol has shown promise. The present trial aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these two interventions. Design A randomised controlled trial. Setting English stop smoking services and Australian quitlines, Australian social media and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, VIC. Participants Ex-smokers abstinent for at least 4 weeks, with some participants in Australia also recruited from 1 week post quit date. The planned sample size was 1400, but the trial was curtailed when 235 participants were recruited. Interventions Participants were randomised in permuted blocks of random sizes to (1) oral nicotine replacement treatment/electronic cigarettes to use if at risk of relapse, plus static text messages (n = 60), (2) the Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol and interactive text messages (n = 57), (3) oral nicotine replacement treatment/electronic cigarettes plus the Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol with interactive text messages (n = 58) or (4) usual care plus static text messages (n = 59). Outcome measures Owing to delays in study set-up and recruitment issues, the study was curtailed and the primary outcome was revised. The original objective was to determine whether or not the two interventions, together or separately, reduced relapse rates at 12 months compared with usual care. The revised primary objective was to determine whether or not number of interventions received (i.e. none, one or two) affects relapse rate at 6 months (not biochemically validated because of study curtailment). Relapse was defined as smoking on at least 7 consecutive days, or any smoking in the last month at final follow-up for both the original and curtailed outcomes. Participants with missing outcome data were included as smokers. Secondary outcomes included sustained abstinence (i.e. no more than five cigarettes smoked over the 6 months), nicotine product preferences (e.g. electronic cigarettes or nicotine replacement treatment) and Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol coping strategies used. Two substudies assessed reactions to interventions quantitatively and qualitatively. The trial statistician remained blinded until analysis was complete. Results The 6-month relapse rates were 60.0%, 43.5% and 49.2% in the usual-care arm, one-intervention arm and the two-intervention arm, respectively (p = 0.11). Sustained abstinence rates were 41.7%, 54.8% and 50.9%, respectively (p = 0.17). Electronic cigarettes were chosen more frequently than nicotine replacement treatment in Australia (71.1% vs. 29.0%; p = 0.001), but not in England (54.0% vs. 46.0%; p = 0.57). Of participants allocated to nicotine products, 23.1% were using them daily at 6 months. The online intervention received positive ratings from 63% of participants at 6 months, but the majority of participants (72%) completed one assessment only. Coping strategies taught in the Structured Planning and Prompting Protocol were used with similar frequency in all study arms, suggesting that these are strategies people had already acquired. Only one participant used the interactive texting, and interactive and static messages received virtually identical ratings. Limitations The inability to recruit sufficient participants resulted in a lack of power to detect clinically relevant differences. Self-reported abstinence was not biochemically validated in the curtailed trial, and the ecological momentary assessment substudy was perceived by some as an intervention. Conclusions Recruiting recent ex-smokers into an interventional study proved problematic. Both interventions were well received and safe. Combining the interventions did not surpass the effects of each intervention alone. There was a trend in favour of single interventions reducing relapse, but it did not reach significance and there are reasons to interpret the trend with caution. Future work Further studies of both interventions are warranted, using simpler study designs. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN11111428. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 68. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. Funding was also provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia (NHMRC APP1095880). Public Health England provided the funds to purchase the nicotine products in England.

This issue is a Special Issue in that it predominantly features a series of articles that have arisen from the CPCE Health Conference 2019. The special issue commences with an editorial where Professor Yuen emphasises the ongoing collaboration with this Journal, the ACHSM and the Hong College of health Services Executives and with the CPCE. His leadership and contribution are appreciated. The first article of the Special Issue is by Hasegawa, Matsumoto, and Hirata of Toho University Tokyo Japan who present an article entitled ‘Aging and Diversity of Medical Needs: Cost of Illness of Cerebrovascular Disease in Each Prefecture of Japan. This is followed by the contribution from Ng, Fong and Kwong of Hong Kong on the ‘Transition of hospital acute-centric to long term care in an ageing population in Hong Kong - is it an issue of service gap’. In the next article, Chu and Chong of Hong Kong address the ‘Oncology Pharmacist’s role and the impact on multidisciplinary patient-centred practice of oncology clinic in public hospitals in Hong Kong. Two interesting articles follow from Kwan, Yick and Wong of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University of Hong Kong who provide a research article on the ‘Impact of Co- creation Footwear Workshops on Older Women in Elderly Centres in Hong Kong’ and the following article from Yick, Yip and Ng, again from the Institute of Textiles and Clothing and from the Division of Science and Technology of the Hong Kong College of the same University. The latter article examines the importance of thermal comfort in foot wear design for the elderly and is entitled ‘Thermal equations for predicting foot skin temperature’. In conclusion, Kwong and Fong provide a review article on a contemporary issue of ‘promotion of appropriate use of electronic devices among Hong Kong adolescents. We thank Professor Yuen and his authors for this important contribution to our understanding of humane, wholistic and integrated care from diverse international health systems. In support of this effort of our colleagues above, we have added some more articles ready for publication. This includes an editorial on Health Reform that was prompted by my plenary session contribution at the CPCE Hong Kong Conference. We also continue the international emphasis of this issue with a contribution from Sharma of Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Northern India with a research article on the ‘Extrinsic Rewards, Occupational Commitment, Career Entrenchment and Career Satisfaction of Dentists’. Our next article is by Mak and colleagues in a research article entitled ‘What is the Professional Identity of Allied Health Managers?’ Isouard and Martin provide a further contribution about the Australian workforce in an article entitled ‘Managers of aged care residential services: 2006-2016.’ Way and colleagues conclude this issue with an analysis of management practice in one local health district in Australia entitled ‘The pursuit of purposeful partnerships-making a health matrix successful’.

Abstract Background The construction and development of Dawan district has further promoted the innovative application of cultural resources, brought the long-standing Lingnan culture into the international stage, and become an important carrier and tool to strengthen international cultural exchanges and promote economic cooperation and development. Dawan district. Gauze, as a traditional and ancient manual weaving and dyeing process, has been listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list. It is on the verge of disappearing and in urgent need of rescue. Lightweight business wear is playing an increasingly important role in today's consumer market and has become a cultural image card to convey friendship and mutual assistance. This paper studies the innovative design of light and thin business clothing, and deeply integrates the two elements of shuisha and Lingnan culture, especially the changes of people's emotional behavior towards culture in the process of communication. At present, there is no relevant research report. Topics and Methods Take water yarn as the carrier, transform Lingnan traditional culture into design elements, deeply integrate light and thin business clothing design, explore the new visual expression and process production of traditional water yarn in style, color and pattern, and give new artistic expression to traditional water yarn. The author studies the application status of gauze in related fields of cultural industry, including the advantages and limitations of gauze; Difficulties in design and production; Advantages and limitations of washing gauze clothing style types, styles and patterns. This paper will explain how to overcome the compatibility problem of the combination of light and thin business clothes and washed yarn, and put forward practical solutions from the aspects of fabric and technology. The research methods include creative practice, literature analysis, observation, field investigation and expert discussion. At the same time, the emotional behavior of water conservancy workers in various places was investigated. This study adopts the profile of mood states (POMS), which was compiled by Australian scholars grore and prapavessis in 1992 and revised by Professor Zhu Beili. It is considered to be a good tool to study emotional states. The average reliability of the scale is 0.71, which is in the standard value of 0.60 ~ 0.82. There are 40 adjectives in the questionnaire, which are divided into seven subscales: tension, anger, fatigue, depression, energy, panic and self-esteem. The corresponding score scale of 0-4 was used. The final result (TMD) of the total score of mood state is five negative emotion scores minus two negative emotion scores, plus a constant of 100 for correction. Results The deep integration of “water yarn + Lingnan cultural elements + light business dress” will broaden the design field of water yarn and endow it with new artistic expression to meet the needs of the times. The combination of water yarn and other textile fabrics can improve the problems of single color, thin texture and high cost of water yarn. Through the summary of creative practice, it is found that there has been a new breakthrough in traditional technology and modern design, and found a new research perspective, which provides a theoretical basis for the application of traditional water yarn in fashion design. Conclusion This study is not only conducive to revitalizing local culture, promoting the flow of innovative elements and continuously improving the value of urban culture, but also has practical application value for the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage, and is ready for transformation. From “China's garment industry” to “China's manufacturing industry”. Acknowledgements This paper is wrote by He Xiaochun and it is a research project of Guangdong Literary & Art Vocational College, Guangdong Province Education Science “13th Five-Year Plan” 2020. Project name: Research on Innovative Design of Traditional Watered Gauze in Light Business wear under the Background of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao Greater Bay Area Construction, Project Number: 2020GXJK313).

Recently, new developments in the design and performance optimization of smart mechanisms associated with natural and man-made hazards have progressed considerably. This is mainly owing to advances in smart sensing mechanisms including communication and data technologies. This work provides a detailed overview of existing improvements on smart hazard monitoring equipment and materials applied in textile sensing systems. Given that fire is one of the most common disasters in many countries such as Australia, and every year many firefighters are affected by these unfortunate incidents, the focus of this study is on firefighters' protective clothing Fire Fighter Protective clothing. This review provides a unique opportunity to study smart sensing systems in coating technologies, potentially provides more effective techniques for training and better safety protocols of fire fighters. It aims to revisit the existing advances and address recent challenges and opportunities for improvement in the domain of smart coating and fire protective wearables. The goal of this review is to provide information about smart coating in protective clothing for firefighters. The capability of some of these clothing in managing thermal stresses, responding to humid environment, monitoring some critical parameters and adapting to the size of the wearers (clothes fabricated with phase change and shape memory substances) made them attractive choice in adjusting specific design features of industrial textiles. Various types of phase change and shape memory substances are defined and a combination of these substances within the structure of fabrics are presented. This paper also provides a detailed review on the heat exposure and capability of the shape memory substances (SMM) and phase change materials (PCM) to delay the heat transfer through fire fighter protective clothing. Referring to the former research, several issues have been detected using such substances. For instance, combination of phase change and shape memory materials needs fundamental improvements with regards to assessment techniques and testing criteria. Additionally, recent improvements in the domain of PCM and SMM including modifying mechanical features, functionality, and durability under different conditions have been informed. It has been suggested that the major problem in developing fabric-Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and Shape memory material (SMM) systems is their usage methods. At last recent developments on wearable monitoring systems applied in the firefighters’ protective gear. Wearable sensors are usually used directly on the body or located on wearable items to monitor information related to firefighters’ safety.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of Cordyline Australis fibers as an alternate raw material for textile. Design/methodology/approach The water retting method was used to extract the fiber. Cordyline Australis fibers were characterized in terms of the morphology of fibers (fiber cross-sectional and longitudinal), fiber chemical functional groups, tensile strength and elongation, fineness, fiber length, moisture regain and friction coefficient. Findings Cordyline Australis fiber strands consist of several individual fibers. At the longitudinal section, the fiber cells appeared as long cylindrical tubes with a rough surface. The cross-section of the Cordyline Australis fibers was irregular but some were oval. The key components in the fibers were cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The tensile strength of the fiber per bundle was 2.5 gf/den. The elongation of fibers was 13.15%. The fineness of fiber was 8.35 Tex. The average length of the fibers was 54.72 cm. Moisture Regain for fiber was 8.59%. The friction coefficient of fibers was 0.16. The properties of the fiber showed that the Cordyline Australis fiber has the potential to be produced into yarn. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, there is no scientific article focused on the Cordyline Australis fibers. Natural fibers from the leaves of the Cordyline Australis plant could be used as an alternate material for textile.

PurposeAustralians consume twice the global average of textiles and are deeply engaged in a linear take/make/waste fashion model. Furthermore the Australian fashion sector has some unique supply chain complications of geographical distances, sparse population and fragmentation in processing and manufacturing. This research aims to examine how Australian fashion small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are overcoming these challenges to run fashion businesses built around core principles of product stewardship (PS) and circularity.Design/methodology/approachSMEs make up 88% of the Australian apparel manufacturing sector. This qualitative exploratory study included in-depth interviews with three Australian fashion SMEs engaged in circular design practice, and a focus group of 10 Western Australian fashion advocates of sustainability. Analytic coding and analysis of the data developed eight distinct themes.FindingsThis study examines the barriers to circular economy (CE) that exist in the Australian fashion sector, and maps the practice of Australian SMEs with circular business models in overcoming these barriers. In CE innovation, Australian SMEs may have an advantage over larger fashion companies with more unwieldy structures. Employing design-thinking strategies, Australian SMEs with a foundation of PS and circular purpose are creating new systems of viable closed-loop business models and design processes.Originality/valueThe themes from this research contribute to the limited literature on circular innovation examples that link CE theory with practice in the fashion sector. The model for circularity maps the practice of three SMEs built around core principles of PS and circularity in overcoming the barriers to CE in an Australian context, and may be used as a visual tool in education and understanding.

Walk, walk, fashion babyWork it, move that b***h crazy — Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance” There's a brand new dance but I don't know its nameThat people from bad homes do again and againIt's big and it's bland, full of tension and fearThey do it over there but we don't do it hereFashion! Turn to the leftFashion! Turn to the right — David Bowie, “Fashion” Piece by pieceMy emotions are glued togetherYou’re a new patternSent towards one another: We have a secretive and thrilling motionOoh ooh ooh, you are my fashion — TaeYeon, “Fashion” The word ‘fashion’ conjures images of glitzy 90s supermodels stomping down a catwalk, a flock of Victoria Secret Angels flying in formation, or a crew of K-pop girl and boy bands sporting the latest looks and setting trends in hair, makeup, and fitness. In an age of Instafame and TikTok influencers, it is easy to view ‘fashion’ purely as something trivial or fleeting. We might talk of the latest fashions, or the ‘centuries old’ traditions of regional and folk garments. Fashion can mean the manner in which something is done or a fashionable way of thinking. It can also be used to discuss how things are created or fabricated, from heavy metals used in technology to lightweight garment fabrics and trims. Much of fashion studies focusses on Europe and North America, with the Fédération Française de la Couture (French Federation of Fashion and of Ready-to-Wear Couturiers and Fashion Designers) still holding sway over haute couture houses. If East Asian and South East Asian fashion is mentioned, it is usually in terms of textiles and manufacturing rather than couture or innovation. However, Japanese designer Hanae Mori (1026-2022) was the first Asian woman to be admitted as a design house to the Fédération in 1951. Mori notably had the patronage of Empress Masako, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan and Grace Kelly. More recently, Chinese designer Guo Pei (b. 1967) was the first Asian designer to be invited as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (Trade Association of High Fashion) as part of the Fédération. We started this editorial with lyrics to pop and K-pop songs that reference fashion, but anyone familiar with Guo Pei will be aware of her rise in the popular zeitgeist when Bajan singer Rhianna attended the 2015 Met Gala in a 2008 yellow fur gown that weighed 25 kilos. However, fashion is also a place of protest and resistance. We need only look at the current protests in Iran which have seen women burn their hijabs in public after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested in September for allegedly breaking the country’s dress code, and mysteriously died in custody. At the time of writing, at least 83 people, including children, have been killed in the protests which are, above all, about a woman’s right to control her body and her clothing choices. The theme for this issue is drawn from the 2021 “Fashioning Gender in Asia” Women in Asia conference, convened by the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Women’s Forum by Dr Emerald L. King, Dr Wendy Mee, Associate Professor Kerstin Steiner, and Associate Professor Sallie Yea. With much of the world’s textile and clothing production located in Asia, the theme for this issue lends itself to a wide interpretation of ‘fashion’ such as the slow fashion movement, garment construction, haute couture, cosplay and ‘bounding’, and gender expression through clothing. In this issue, we consider how bodies are fashioned and re-fashioned through social pressure, protest, resistance, and illness. We also consider how fashion and fashioning the body across time and space have become contested symbols not only of persona, gender, or sexualised bodies, but also of national identity or of how the nation is embodied through fashion. We begin with a feature article by Monika Winarnita, Sharyn Graham Davies, and Nicholas Herriman which looks at how Indonesian policewomen’s bodies are clothed and controlled in their role as border control and symbol of the nation. This article was based on a plenary talk by Sharyn Graham Davies for the 2021 Women in Asia Conference described above. Kathryn M. Tanaka discusses the importance of maintaining individual identity through dress and makeup in the face of institutionalisation and loss of self after a diagnosis of Hansen’s disease in turn-of-the-century Japan. Michelle Aung Thin reveals how secret fashion shoots in 70s Myanmar were an act of resistance and rebellion that is mirrored by current-day campaigners during the 2021 coup d’état. Carmen Sapunaru Tamas draws back the curtain on the glamourous world of Taisu Engeki in Japan, positing that this relatively unknown form of performance is just as valid as its more respected cousins kabuki, noh, and drag. In stark contrast, Robyn Gulliver discusses how ordinary tote bags and t-shirts have become a space of everyday protest in Australasia. Arnoud Arps looks at the performance of memory by Indonesian re-enactor groups who create modern-day interpretations of key moments during the turbulent and violent war for independence between 1943 and 1949. Megan Catherine Rose, Haruka Kurebayashi, and Rei Saionji return to Japan, where they investigate the affective potential of the ensembles created by Harajuku and decora street style practitioners. Moving from the streets of Japan to China, Amber Patterson-Ooi and Natalie Araujo look at how designers such as Guo Pei can use haute couture to interrogate and explore specific cultural imaginaries as well as the nature of gender and the socio-political climate in contemporary China. We close with an excerpt from Denise N. Rall’s 2022 edited collection, Fashion, Women, and Power: The Politics of Dress, which traverses the globe in its critique of power dressing and gender.

Introduction Fashion has long been associated with resistance movements across Asia and Australia, from the hand-spun cotton Khadi of Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom struggle to the traditional ankle length robe worn by Tibetans in the ‘White Wednesday Movement’ (Singh et al.; Yangzom). There are many reasons why fashion and activism have been interlinked. Fashion can serve as a form of nonverbal communication (Crane), which can convey activists’ grievances and concerns while symbolising solidarity (Doerr). It can provide an avenue to enact individual agency against repressive, authoritarian regimes (Yangzom; Doerr et al.). Fashion can codify a degree of uniformity within groups and thereby signal social identity (Craik), while also providing a means of building community (Barry and Drak). Fashion, therefore, offers activists the opportunity to develop the three characteristics which unite a social or environmental movement: a shared concern about an issue, a sense of social identity, and connections between individuals and groups. But while these fashion functions map onto movement characteristics, it remains unclear whether activists across the world deliberately include fashion into their protest action repertoires. This uncertainty exists partly because of a research and media focus on large scale, mass protests (Lester and Hutchins), where fashion characteristics are immediately visible and amenable to retrospective interpretation. This focus helps explain the rich volume of research examining the manifestation of fashion in past protests, such as the black, red, and yellow colours worn during the 1988 Aboriginal Long March of Freedom, Justice, and Hope (Maynard Dress; Coghlan), and the pink anti-Trump ‘pussyhats’ (Thompson). However, the protest events used to identify these fashion characteristics are a relatively small proportion of actions used by environmental activists (Dalton et al.; Gulliver et al.), which include not only rallies and marches, but also information evenings, letter writing sessions, and eco-activities such as tree plantings. This article aims to respond to Barnard’s (Looking) call for more empirical work on what contemporary cultural groups visually do with what they wear (see also Gerbaudo and Treré) via a content analysis of 36,676 events promoted on Facebook by 728 Australian environmental groups between 2010 and 2019. The article firstly reports findings from an analysis of this dataset to identify how fashion manifests in environmental activism, building on research demonstrating the role of protest-related nonverbal communications, such as protest signage (Bloomfield and Doolin), images (Kim), and icons, slogans, and logos (Goodnow). The article then considers what activists may seek to achieve through incorporating fashion into their action repertoire, and whether this suggests solidarity with activists seeking to effect environmental change across the wider Asian region. Fashion Activism Fashion is created through a particular assemblage of clothes, accessories, and hairstyles (Barry and Drak), which in turn forms a prevailing custom or style of dress (Craik). It is a cultural practice, providing ‘real estate’ (Benda 7) for an individual to express their social roles (Craik) and political identity (Behnke). Some scholars argue that fashion became overtly political during the 1960s and 70s, as social movements politicised appearance (Edwards). This has only increased in relevance with the rise of far right, populist, and authoritarian regimes, whose sub-cultures enact politicised identities through their distinct fashion characteristics (Gaugele and Titton; Gaugele). Fashion can therefore play an important role in protest movements, as “political subjectivities, political authority, political power and discipline are rendered visible, and thereby real, by the way fashion co-establishes them” (Behnke 3). Across the literature scholars have identified two primary avenues by which fashion and activism are connected. The first of these relates to activism targeting the fashion industry. This type of activism is found in both Asia and Australia, and promotes sustainable consumption choices such as buying used goods and transforming existing items (Chung and Yim), as well as highlighting garment worker exploitation within the fashion industry (Khan and Richards). The second avenue is called ‘fashion activism’: the use of fashion to intentionally signal a message seeking to evoke social and/or political change (Thompson). In this conceptualisation, clothing is used to signify a particular message (Crane). An example of this type of fashion activism is the ‘SlutWalk’, a protest where participants deliberately wore outfits described as slutty or revealing as a response to victim-blaming of women who had experienced sexual assault (Thompson). A key element of fashion activism thus appears to be its message intentionality. Clothes are specifically utilised to convey a message, such as a grievance about victim-blaming, which can then be incorporated into design features displayed on t-shirts, pins, and signs both on the runway and in protest events (Titton). However, while this ‘sender/receiver’ model of fashion communication (Barnard, Fashion as) can be compelling for activists, it is complex in practice. A message receiver can never have full knowledge of what message the sender seeks to signify through a particular clothing item, nor can the message sender predict how a receiver will interpret that message. Particular arrangements of clothing only hold communicative power when they are easily interpreted and related to the movement and its message, usually only intelligible to a specific culture or subculture (Goodnow). Even within that subculture it remains problematic to infer a message from a particular style of dress, as demonstrated in examples where dress is used to imply sexual consent; for example, in rape and assault cases (Lennon et al.). Given the challenges of interpreting fashion, do activists appear to use the ‘real estate’ (Benda 7) afforded by it as a protest tool? To investigate this question a pre-existing dataset of 36,676 events was analysed to ascertain if, and how, environmental activism engages with fashion (a detailed methodology is available on the OSF). Across this dataset, event categories, titles, and descriptions were reviewed to collate events connecting environmental activism to fashion. Three categories of events were found and are discussed in the next section: street theatre, sustainable fashion practices, and disruptive protest. Street Theatre Street theatre is a form of entertainment which uses public performance to raise awareness of injustices and build support for collective action (Houston and Pulido). It uses costumes as a vehicle for conveying messages about political issues and for making demands visible, and has been utilised by protesters across Australia and Asia (Roces). Many examples of street theatre were found in the dataset. For example, Extinction Rebellion (XR) consistently promoted street theatre events via sub-groups such as the ‘Red Rebels’ – a dedicated team of volunteers specialising in costumed street theatre – as well as by inviting supporters to participate in open street theatre events, such as in the ‘Halloween Dead Things Disco’. Dressed as spooky skeletons (doot, doot) and ghosts, we'll slide and shimmy down Sydney's streets in a supernatural style, as we bring attention to all the species claimed by the Sixth Mass Extinction. These street theatre events appeared to prioritise spectacle rather than disruption as a means to attract attention to their message. The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre ‘Climate Action Float’, for example, requested that attendees: Wear blue and gold or dress as your favourite reef animal, solar panel, maybe even the sun itself!? Reef & Solar // Blue & Gold is the guiding theme but we want your creativity take it from there. Most groups used street theatre as one of a range of different actions organised across a period of time. However, Climacts, a performance collective which uses ‘spectacle and satire to communicate the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crisis’ (Climacts), utilised this tactic exclusively. Their Climate Guardians collective used distinctive angel costumes to perform at the Climate Conference of Parties 26, and in various places around Australia (see images on their Website). Fig. 1: Costumed protest against Downer EDI's proposed work on the Adani coalmine; Image by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0). Sustainable Fashion Practices The second most common type of event which connected fashion with activism were those promoting sustainable fashion practices. While much research has highlighted the role of activism in raising awareness of problems related to the fashion industry (e.g. Hirscher), groups in the dataset were primarily focussed on organising activities where supporters communally created their own fashion items. The most common of these was the ‘crafternoon’, with over 260 separate crafternoon events identified in the dataset. These events brought activists together to create protest-related kit such as banners, signs, and costumes from recycled or repurposed materials, as demonstrated by Hume Climate Action Now’s ‘Crafternoon for Climate’ event: Come along on Sunday arvo for a relaxed arvo making posters and banners for upcoming Hume Climate Action Now events… Bring: Paints, textas, cardboard, fabric – whatever you’ve got lying around. Don’t have anything? That’s cool, just bring yourself. Events highlighting fashion industry problems were less frequent and tended to prioritise sharing of information about the fashion industry rather than promoting protests. For example, Transition Town Vincent held a ‘Slowing Down Fast Fashion – Transition Town Vincent Movie Night’ while the Green Embassy promoted the ‘Eco Fashion Week’. This event, held in 2017, was described as Australia’s only eco-fashion week, and included runway shows, music, and public talks. Other events also focussed on public talks, such as a Conservation Council of ACT event called ‘Green Drinks Canberra October 2017: Summer Edwards on the fashion industry’ and a panel discussion organised by a group called SEE-Change entitled ‘The Sustainable Wardrobe’. Disruptive Protest and T-Shirts Few events in the dataset mentioned elements of fashion outside of street theatre or sustainable fashion practices, with only one organisation explicitly connecting fashion with activism in its event details. This group – Australian Youth Climate Coalition – organised an event called ‘Activism in Fashion: Tote Bags, T-shirts and Poster Painting!’, which asked: How can we consistently be involved in campaigning while life can be so busy? Can we still be loud and get a message across without saying a word? The iconic 21st century activist "t-shirt and tote-bag" combination is hard to miss these days! Unlike street theatre and sustainable fashion practices, fashion appeared to be a consideration for only a small number of disruptive protests promoted by environmental groups in Australia. XR Brisbane sought to organise a fashion parade during the 2019 Rebellion Week, while XR protesters in Melbourne stripped down to underwear for a march through Melbourne city arcades (see also Turbet). Few common fashion elements appeared consistently on individual activists participating in events, and these were limited to accessories, such as ‘Stop Adani’ earrings, or t-shirts sold for fundraising and promotional purposes. Indeed, t-shirts appeared to be the most promoted clothing item in the dataset, continuing a long tradition of their use in protests (e.g. Maynard, Blankets). Easy to create, suitable for displaying both text and imagery, t-shirts sharing anti-coal messages featured predominantly in the Stop Adani campaign, while yellow t-shirts were a common item in Knitting Nanna’s anti-coal seam gas mining protests. Fig. 2: Stop Adani earrings and t-shirts; Image by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0). The Role of Fashion in Environmental Activism As these findings demonstrate, fashion appears to be deliberately utilised in environmental activism primarily through street theatre and the promotion of sustainable fashion practices. While fewer examples of fashion in disruptive protest were found and no consistent fashion assemblage was identified, accessories and t-shirts were utilised by many groups. What may activists be seeking to achieve through incorporating fashion via street theatre and sustainable fashion practices? Some scholars have argued that incorporating fashion into protest allows activists to signal political dissent against authoritarian control. For example, Yanzoom noted that by utilising fashion as a means of communication, Tibetan activists were able to embody their political goals despite repression of speech and movement by political powerholders. However, a consistent fashion repertoire across protests in this Australian dataset was not found. The opportunities afforded by protected protest rights in Australia and absence of violent police repression of disruptive protests may be one explanation why distinctive dress such as the masks and black attire of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters did not manifest in the dataset. Other scholars have observed that fashion sub-cultures also developed partly to express anti-establishment politics, such as the punk movement in the 1970s. Radical clothing accessorised by symbols, bright hair colours, body piercings, and heavy-duty books signalled opposition to the dominant political ideology (Craik). However, none of these purposes appeared to play a role in Australian environmental activism either. Instead, it appears that Maynard’s contention that Australian protest fashion barely deviates from everyday dress remains true today. Fashion within the events promoted in this large empirical dataset retained the ‘prevalence of everyday clothing’ (Maynard, Dress 111). The lack of a clearly discernible single protest fashion style within the dataset may be related to the shortcomings of the sender/receiver model of fashion communication. As Barnard (Fashion Statements) argued, fashion is not always used as a vehicle for conveying messages, but also as a platform for constructing and reproducing identity. Indeed, a multiplicity of researchers have noted how fashion acts as a signal of what social groups individuals belong to (see Roach-Higgins and Eicher). Activist groups have a variety of goals, which not only include promoting environmental change but also mobilising more people to join their cause (Gulliver et al., Understanding). Stereotyping can hinder achievement of these goals. It has been demonstrated, for example, that individuals who hold negative stereotypes of ‘typical’ activists are less likely to want to associate with them, and less likely to adopt their behaviours (Bashir et al.). Accordingly, some activist groups have been shown to actively promote dress associated with other identity groups, specifically to challenge cultural constructions of environmental activist stereotypes (see also Roces). For example, Bloomfield and Doolins’s study of the NZ anti-GE group MAdGE (Mothers against Genetic Engineering in Food and the Environment) demonstrated how visual protest artifacts conveyed the protesters’ social identity as mothers and customers rather than environmental activists, claiming an alternative cultural mandate for challenging the authority of science (see also Einwohner et al.). The data suggest that Australian activists are seeking to avoid this stereotype as well. The absence of a consistent fashion promoted within the dataset may reflect awareness of problematic stereotypes that activists may be then deliberately seeking to avoid. Maynard (Dress), for example, has noted how the everyday dress of Australian protesters serves to deflect stereotypical labelling of participants. This strategy is also mirrored by the changing nature of groups within the Australian environmental movement. The event database demonstrates that an increasing number of environmental groups are emerging with names highlighting non-stereotypical environmental identities: groups such as ‘Engineers Declare’ and ‘Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action’. Beyond these identity processes, the frequent use of costumed street theatre protest suggests that activists recognise the value of using fashion as a vehicle for communicating messages, despite the challenges of interpretation described above. Much of the language used to promote street theatre in the Facebook event listings suggests that these costumes were deliberately designed to signify a particular meaning, with individuals encouraged to dress up to be ‘a vehicle for myth and symbol’ (Lavender 11). It may be that costumes are also utilised in protest due to their suitability as an image event, convenient for dissemination by mass media seeking colourful and engaging imagery (Delicath and Deluca; Doerr). Furthermore, costumes, as with text or colours presented on t-shirts, may offer activists an avenue to clearly convey a visual message which is more resistant to stereotyping. This is especially relevant given that fashion can be re-interpreted and misinterpreted by audiences, as well as reframed and reinterpreted by the media (Maynard, Dress). While the prevalence of costumed performance and infrequent mentions of fashion in the dataset may be explained by stereotype avoidance and messaging clarity, sustainable fashion practices were more straightforward in intent. Groups used multiple approaches to educate audiences about sustainable fashion, whether through fostering sustainable fashion practices or raising awareness of fashion industry problems. In this regard, fashion in protest in Australia closely resembles Asian sustainable fashion activism (see e.g. Chon et al. regarding the Singaporean context). In particular, the large number of ‘crafternoons’ suggests their importance as sites of activism and community building. Craftivism – acts such as quilting banners, yarn bombing, and cross stitching feminist slogans – are used by many groups to draw attention to social, political and environmental issues (McGovern and Barnes). This type of ‘creative activism’ (Filippello) has been used to challenge aesthetic and political norms across a variety of contested socio-political landscapes. These activities not only develop activism skills, but also foster community (Barry and Drak). For environmental groups, these community building events can play a critical role in sustaining and supporting ongoing environmental activism (Gulliver et al., Understanding) as well as demonstrating solidarity with workers across Asia experiencing labour injustices linked to the fashion industry (Chung and Yim). Conclusion Studies examining protest fashion demonstrate that clothing provides a canvas for sharing protest messages and identities in both Asia and Australia (Benda; Yangzom; Craik). However, despite the fashion’s utility as communication tool for social and environmental movements, empirical studies of how fashion is used by activists in these contexts remain rare. This analysis demonstrates that Australian environmental activists use fashion in their action repertoire primarily through costumed street theatre performances and promoting sustainable fashion practices. By doing so they may be seeking to use fashion as a means of conveying messages, while avoiding stereotypes that can demobilise supporters and reduce support for their cause. Furthermore, sustainable fashion activism offers opportunities for activists to achieve multiple goals: to subvert the fast fashion industry, to provide participation avenues for new activists, to help build activist communities, and to express solidarity with those experiencing fast fashion-related labour injustices. These findings suggest that the use of fashion in protest actions can move beyond identity messaging to also enact sustainable practices while co-opting and resisting hegemonic ideas of consumerism. By integrating fashion into the vibrant and diverse actions promoted by environmental movements across Australia and Asia, activists can construct and perform identities while fostering the community bonds and networks from which movements demanding environmental change derive their strength. Ethics Approval Statement This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Queensland (2018000963). 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In 2007 the Curriculum Council of Western Australia (CCWA) introduced a new Visual Arts Course of Study (2007), which contains a postmodern perspective and is inclusive of social criticism, multiculturalism, feminism and non-Western art forms. In keeping with the new Visual Arts Course of Study in this Creative Visual Arts Project, I have used the CCWA course outcomes as a framework to develop a visual arts program that is a vehicle for exploring individual personal identity, and has the potential to increase self-esteem in students in Western Australian secondary schools. The research stems from my personal view that students can benefit significantly from investigating their identity, enabling them to situate their self in a stronger position in their present day life-world when they have a more definite sense of who they are and where they come from. I have placed myself in the position of ‘the subject’ in order to transfer the process into a visual art program that can be utilised within the classroom. The visual arts program is underpinned by Efland’s expressive psychoanalytic model for aesthetic learning, which posits that art is self-expression, a form of learning that contributes to emotional growth. Visual art awakens intellectual inquiry in an individual, increases cognitive potential through enabling personal liberation, and is an adjunct to informing society and culture. The research project culminates in an exegesis and an exhibition of artworks that communicate personal memories and significant historical events exclusive to my whakapapa (Maori genealogy). The artworks are a vehicle for exploring my individual self-identity, enabling me to connect more deeply with my Maori cultural roots. The research paradigm utilised is narrative inquiry, a process of collecting and structuring stories that is characteristic of the traditional Maori practice of storytelling. This project has resulted in a reinterpretation of the perception of myself within my personal life-world. I have a deeper understanding of my cross-cultural roots, a stronger sense of who I am, and a sense of empowerment. I believe Year 11 students can also achieve this outcome through the visual arts program, using it as a tool for investigating their own identity, challenging cultural, social and gender limitations that impact on them, and ultimately empowering their personal life-world.

This creative production thesis considers how Japanese aesthetic philosophies have influenced textile design and art by examining its use, significance and representation in fashion and art in Australia. Correlations between the space indicated in Japanese pictorial principles and the open space of the Australian landscape are considered, as are the conventions of constructed exoticism inherent to Japonism. The thesis and creative works respond to issues of Australian cultural identity, hybridity, orientalism and cultural yearning.

Australia introduced conventional longitudinal diamond grinding of highway concrete pavements in 2009 with the purchase of two "4‐foot" highway grinding machines by two contractors. The availability of these machines in Australia has enabled contractors to improve ride quality of new pavements, rather than accept a deduction to the tendered rate for the supply and placement of concrete pavement. Grinding of new concrete base is permitted up to an IRI of 3.5 m/km, thereby reducing the need to remove and replace concrete pavement which met the specified thickness, strength and density, but not ride quality. More importantly, with the introduction of the grinding machines, asset managers have the opportunity to use diamond grinding to treat existing concrete pavements that have a rough ride, or when the textured surface no longer meets specified levels for skid resistance. Although the primary use of diamond grinding was to improve ride quality of new and existing concrete pavements, it has also been used to: treat stepping across transverse contraction joints in PCP, improve skid resistance at roundabouts, improve both ride quality and texture for JRCP pavements (greater than 40 years of age) with a thin wearing course and spalling in the asphalt at transverse joints. The above treatments to concrete pavement allow asset preservation and avoid high reconstruction costs. The Austroads concrete pavement design procedure is based on the PCA design method and road smoothness is not a design parameter, unlike the USA approach to concrete pavement design where ride quality is a design input. There is still much work to be done to convince asset managers in Australia that the removal of the high areas of a concrete pavement to smooth the surface, reduces the dynamic wheel loading and minimises accumulated fatigue stress in the concrete. This paper reviews the last 10 years of diamond grinding projects and the success of this pavement preservation treatment for new and existing urban and rural concrete pavements in Australia. Recommendations to reduce the cost of diamond grinding concrete pavements and extend the use of this treatment are also provided.