The A.C.T. Teachers' Federation was formed at a mass meeting of teachers in the Canberra Workmens' Club on August 3rd 1972. Its structure was strongly conditioned by the N.S.W. background of many of those who played a role in its early affairs. Changes which have taken place since then have been influenced by the environment within which it operates. It soon obtained, and held, a large proportion of its potential membership. The internal organisation enabled the leadership to keep in touch with rank and file opinion and ensured that democratic practices were observed. It was fortunate in that a legitimate role had been established in Australia for pressure groups and that the governments it dealt with in its early days were prepared to acknowledge its authority to speak for teachers. It was able to take advantage of the opportunities made available to it and to play a prominent part in the early policy formation in a new system. The evolving system was based on a participatory model and the Federation gained access to all major decision centres. It retained, its right, however, to operate outside formal consultative forums and to engage in direct bargaining when necessary.

The aim of the Field Study Project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a package of curriculum materials ("Indian Wedding: an Integrated Study") designed by myself. At Melrose High School, three teachers and 90 students trialled the kit over one term. Drama tutors from the A.C.T. Children's Theatre were also co-opted to help with the drama aspects of the work. I acted as an active participant in the learning process and in organising aspects of the project, and also as an observer, interviewing, watching and administering tests. Results showed the kit to be generally effective. Degree of student and teacher satisfaction with its use was high. Modifications in the approach to be used with the kit in the classroom, and to the kit components have been detailed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Anthropology,Geography and Environmental Studies and the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Australia is a suburban nation. Today, with increasing concern regarding the sustainability of cities, an appreciation of the complexities of Australian suburbia is critical to the debate about urban futures. As a built environment and a cultural phenomenon, the Australian suburbs have inspired considerable scholarly literature. Yet to date, such scholarly work has largely overlooked the changing environmental values and visions of those shaping and residing within suburban landscapes, and the practices through which such values and visions are materialised in the processes of suburban development. Focusing on the post-war suburban landscapes of Canberra and Perth, this thesis centralises the environmental, political and economic forces that have shaped human action to construct suburban spaces, paying particular attention to the extent to which individual understandings and visions of 'environment' have determined the shape and nature of suburban development. Specifically, it examines how those operating within Australia’s suburbs, including planners, developers, builders, landscape designers and residents have imagined the 'environment', and how such imaginaries have shifted in response to varying spatial, temporal and ideological contexts. Tracing the shifting nature of environmental concern throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century, it argues that despite the somewhat unsustainable nature of Australia's suburban landscapes, the planning and development of such landscapes has long been influenced by and has responded to differing understandings of 'environment', which themselves are the product of changing social, political and economic concerns. In doing so, this thesis challenges a number of perceptions concerning Australian suburbs, environmental awareness and sustainability. In particular, it contests the assumption that environmental concern for Australia's suburban development emerged with the urban consolidation debates of the 1980s and 1990s, and analyses a range of environmental sensibilities not often acknowledged in current histories of Australian environmentalism. By examining, for example, how the deterministic and economic concerns of differing planning bodies, along with the aesthetic and ecological concerns of various planners, are intertwined with the housing and domestic lifestyle preferences of suburban homeowners, this history brings to the fore the often conflicting environmental ideas and practices that arise in the course of suburban development, and provides a more nuanced history of the diversity of environmental sensibilities. In sum, this thesis enhances our understandings of the changing nature of environmental concern and illuminates the complex, still largely misunderstood, environmental ideas and practices that arise in the processes of suburban development.

Text in French, with abstracts in French and English / Au lendemain des indépendances africaines, les écrivains tentent de dénoncer, sinon l’aliénation des intellectuels, du moins ce que le peuple désignait sous ce terme dans les excolonies françaises et belges. Le recours fréquent, dans la construction du récit, à la thématique de la faute de l’intellectuel se présente comme résultat d’un manquement au rôle qui lui revient. Pour mener à bien notre enquête, la théorie utilisée est l’Analyse de contenu thématique (A.C.T.) de Pierre Lannoy. Ce modèle aidera à cerner tout ce qui menace l’équilibre de l’édifice social. Cependant l’étude de l’aliénation des intellectuels a montré que l’émergence d’une crise semblable relève d’une série de causes complexes. Sa compréhension fait appel à de multiples champs scientifiques : sociologie, psychologie, économie, […] La seule solution est le compromis pour tous. C’est une vaine prétention que de vouloir établir ici un bilan exhaustif : l’étude de l’image de l’intellectuel ne peut qu’être évolutive. / In the aftermath of African independence, writers tried to denounce, if not the alienation of intellectuals, at least what people meant by this term in the former French and Belgian colonies. Frequent recourse to the theme of the fault of the intellectual in the construction of the narrative is presented as the result of a failure to fulfil the role that was assigned to him. To carry out our investigation, the theory used is Pierre Lannoy's Thematic Content Analysis (T.C.A.). This model will help to identify anything that threatens the balance of the social edifice. However, the study of the alienation of intellectuals has shown that the emergence of a similar crisis is due to a series of complex causes. Its understanding involves multiple scientific fields: sociology, psychology, economics, [...] The only solution is compromise for all. It is a vain claim to want to establish an exhaustive assessment here: the study of the image of the intellectual can only be evolutionary. / Classics and World Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (French)