The Australian Archives A.C.T. Conservation Laboratory performs various tasks relating to the preservation program. The two streams of work - Treatment of Materials and Laboratory Services are considered to be of equal importance. The first deals with the actual treatment of items in the collection while the latter concerns preventive conservation, During the period of my internship I have carried out most of the Laboratory Services which I will discuss in this dissertation with the exception of Disaster Planning. I was also involved in the treatment of various objects from the Australian Archives collection as well as from other government agencies, completed with written and photographic documentation. One of the projects, taking several months of treatment, was a series of old letter books containing letters from the Administrator in Sydney to the Chief Magistrate of Norfolk Island. This project, along with the conservation of some other government records, demonstrates the difference between archival conservation and conservation of other art and cultural objects. Attendances at technical seminars and conferences are also discussed.

Is scenario planning a process that can be used by agencies of the Australian Public Service to generate and develop information that is relevant to the future, and thereby make possible improved strategic planning? This is the core question of this dissertation. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the case for investigating the benefits of scenario planning. Literature defining and describing the benefits of scenario planning for both private and public sector organisations is examined, and factors that appear to be critical to effective implementation of the process are discussed. Against this theoretical background the empirical evidence of seven cases of the application of scenario planning in six agencies of the Australian Public Service is considered. Several conclusions are drawn on the basis of the data obtained from the seven cases studied. Scenario planning is more likely to make possible improved strategic planning of public sector agencies such as those that comprise the Australian Public Service (irrespective of their function or size) if it has the active involvement of senior management during the developmental phase of the process, and their ongoing support for any follow-up activity. In addition, a well resourced and in-depth research phase is integral to the success of the process. Even if these elements are not present to a high degree, a well managed scenario planning exercise will improve to some degree the ability of an agency�s senior executive to think more openly and proactively about its future business context. In addition, well resourced and properly supported scenario planning can also help a public sector agency to improve the quality of its information gathering, test the viability of its strategy options and develop appropriate contingency plans.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

"This research project explores the possibility of a relationship between Abstract art and Aboriginal art in Australia from the mid twentieth century to present. [...] The investigation commences with background information on the history and origins of Abstraction, including the influence of 'primitive art' upon leading practitioners in this field during the movement's formation, before moving to Australia and focussing on two Australian painters. [...] The text also reflects on the rise of the perception of Aboriginal art from being seen as cultural curios in the mid 20th century to its current status as an internationally recognised art movement."--p. 2. / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

The phenomenon and acceptance of electronic publishing has proliferated in the last five years due to the expansion in the use of the World Wide Web in the general community. The initial fears that newspapers would be decimated by the introduction of this technology have been proven groundless, but despite a high web presence by newspapers world wide, profitable models of cyber papers are elusive. In an online environment traditional relationships between newspaper advertising and editorial may not stand. Despite the considerable body of published literature concerning the movement of print newspapers to an online environment, little was found concerning online content. A need to re-evaluate what content and functions are considered to be desirable by print readers, in an online environment was identified as the main objective of this research. Evaluation the of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into areas such as developing effective models for profitable online newspapers. To achieve this objective, the research tools used were a content analysis, an online newspaper user survey and newspaper management personal interviews. The study looked at Victorian regional daily newspapers that also had online versions. By focussing on the regional newspapers, meaningful comparisons could be made between content, staff attitudes and readership interests. The content analysis measured the quantum and nature of the content of the print and online versions of the regional dailies during a one week period. This provided a measure of the type and source of the articles included both in print and online. Newspaper editorial staff interviews contributed a personalised view of content priorities, which was then contrasted with a web based questionnaire which measured user requirements in relation to content and interactivity. It was found from the survey that content alone would not provide a sufficient basis to build a profitable online regional newspaper site. The findings were analysed in relation to the literature, newspaper site content and editorial staff interviews. Despite regularly accessing online newspaper sites, it was found that users are unwilling to pay for the experience. Users indicated a desire for a higher level of interactivity, in addition to the content, which is currently provided, by online regional newspapers. Evaluation of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into the development of effective for profitable online newspapers. / Master of Business

The years between 1940 and 1964 constitute a significant period of growth of ceramics as part of the burgeoning Australian crafts movement. This phase is linked with Bernard Leach's influential text, A Potter's Book, where the author assesses the impact of this work on Australian ceramics. / The post-war years in Australia brought increased scope for leisure, work and education. Greater numbers of people than ever before became involved, as participants or audience, with activities in the cultural sphere. A notable feature of this time was a resurgence of interest in the manual arts. These traditional skills, reconfigured within contemporary society as creative hobbies or art related activities, became part of a movement known as the Crafts. / Nowhere was this more noticeable than with hand-made pottery in its transition from an essential trade to a redundant but nonetheless widely practiced craft and in the attendant social, aesthetic and theoretical shifts necessary to accommodate these changes in value, status and intent. Of all the activities coming within the ambit of the crafts, pottery garnered the most public interest. More people made pottery, more was written about pottery, more galleries exhibited pottery and more people bought pottery than any of the other crafts. Pottery was taught in almost every school and it often was the only hand-craft taught at a tertiary level. In examining the transformation of Australian ceramics during this time one can isolate many factors that played a part, but underpinning much of this activity was a remarkably influential book, Bernard Leach’s 1940 publication ‘A Potter’s Book’. / Building on a legacy of cross-cultural borrowings, Leach may be credited with establishing Japan as the site of craft authenticity in the imagination of countless potters. Added to this is the significance of ‘A Potter’s Book’ as an invaluable technical aid, at a time when there was little practical information specifically tailored to the needs of the studio potter. / The years between 1940 and 1964 constitute a significant period in the growth of ceramics as part of the burgeoning Australian Crafts Movement. By concentrating on this crucial phase of Australian pottery and linking it to what was the most influential text in the field, a framework is created to assess the depth and variety of practice. / Looking at Australian Pottery through the structures and arguments set forth in ‘A Potter’s Book’, an assessment of the impact of this important work on Australian ceramics can be made that extends beyond the anecdotal. Despite the importance of Leach’s text and the unprecedented vitality of Australian pottery at the time, no significant analysis of the degree of connectivity between the two exists. This thesis hopes to contribute to a fuller understanding of this area of Australian craft history. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (MArch)--University of South Australia, 1998

"This research project explores the possibility of a relationship between Abstract art and Aboriginal art in Australia from the mid twentieth century to present. [...] The investigation commences with background information on the history and origins of Abstraction, including the influence of 'primitive art' upon leading practitioners in this field during the movement's formation, before moving to Australia and focussing on two Australian painters. [...] The text also reflects on the rise of the perception of Aboriginal art from being seen as cultural curios in the mid 20th century to its current status as an internationally recognised art movement."--p. 2. / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

In 1802, a French scientific expedition under the command of Nicolas Baudin made an uscheduled visit to the British colony at Port Jackson, New South Wales. It was a pivotal episode in the course of Baudin's Australian voyage. The commander had already fulfilled most of his instructions, though imperfectly, and only the north coast of New Holland remained unexamined. He and his men stayed at anchor in Port Jackson for over five months. When they set sail once more, they embarked on what historians agree was a new phase of the expedition. Baudin and his men did not proceed directly to the north coast, but returned to the southern and western coasts, where they perfected and augmented the work in geography and natural history that they had carried out earlier. This thesis examines what occurred during the sojourn at Port Jackson, as well as the circumstances that led up to it, in order to determine in precise terms why and how this episode came to be a turning point in Baudin's voyage. It asks: was the second campaign just an extension of the first or was it an opportunity for Baudin to redefine the voyage? The Port Jackson sojourn thus serves as a site of interrogation regarding the nature of Nicolas Baudin's leadership and the construction, on British colonial territory, of a French scientific voyage. However, the opportunity to gain real insight into the sojourn of the voyagers at Port Jackson has been limited by a perceived scarcity of resources. The fact that Baudin's journal falls silent here has meant that there is no one privileged source of information on the commander's role or on the day-to-day activities of the expeditioners, and that scholars examining this episode have tended to focus on the details of the larger picture rather than on the larger picture itself. This is not to say that the presence of the Baudin expedition in Port Jackson has left no material traces. In fact, there is a diverse range of archival records – expense accounts, correspondence, inventories of specimens, journals kept by officers and savants and the logbooks of the Géographe – from which the day-to-day life of the commander and his men at Port Jackson can be reconstructed. Commencing with an analysis of the events that led up to the sojourn and influenced Baudin's approach to it, this study examines the relationships that Baudin built in the colony, his manner of command aboard the Géographe and the scientific results of the stay. After then analysing the way in which Baudin managed the sojourn and planned the second campaign, we conclude that Baudin did not simply seek to satisfy the expectations of his superiors but in fact he seized this opportunity to create the “perfect” scientific voyage. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2010

This thesis examines the representation of Aboriginal people in Australian painting between 1850 and 1900. In particular, the thesis discusses and seeks to account for the decline in the frequency with which Aboriginal people were represented in mainstream academic art in the decades preceding Australia’s Federation in 1901. In addition, this thesis investigates the ways in which a visual discourse of Aboriginality was realised in mid- and late nineteenth-century Australian painting. / The figures of Aboriginal people formed a significant presence in Australian painting from the moment of first contact in the late eighteenth century until well into the nineteenth century. I argue that in paintings of the Australian landscape, as well as in portraiture and figure studies produced in the second half of the nineteenth century, images of Aboriginal people were used to signify the primordial difference of the antipodean landscape. In these paintings, Aboriginality emerged as a motif of Australia’s precolonial past: a timeless, arcadian realm that preceded European colonisation, and in which Aboriginal people enjoyed uncontested possession of the Australian landscape. This uncolonised landscape represented the antithesis of colonial civilisation, both spatially and temporally distinct from the colonial nation. / I argue that prior to Federation in 1901, Australian national identity was dependent upon the recognition and construction of a ‘difference’ that was seen to be implicit within the Australian landscape itself. This sense of difference derived from the settlers’ perception of the Australian environment, and became embodied in those objects which appeared most ‘different’ from settlers’ notion of the familiar. Colonial artists drew upon an iconography based upon this recognition of difference to signify the geographical identity of the landscape which they painted. Aboriginal people were central to these icons of ‘Australian-ness’. Further, the association of Aboriginal people with a precolonial Australia served to rationalise acts of colonial dispossession. / Representations of Aboriginal people dressed in a traditional manner, as well as those in which they are portrayed in European costume as ‘white but not quite’, underwrote colonial assertions of Aboriginal ‘primitiveness’ and precluded Aboriginal participation in the foundation of the Australian nation. The strengthening nationalist movement of the 1880s and 1890s meant that a new iconography was needed, one in which the triumph of the white settler culture over indigenous cultures could be celebrated. As a result, Aboriginal people began to disappear from the canvases of Australian artists, replaced by ‘white Aborigines’, who symbolised a new depth in the relationship between setter-Australia and the landscape itself. As well and more broadly, they were replaced by the image of the white frontiersman, the leitmotif of settler culture. This exclusion of Aboriginal people from the conceptualisation of the Australian nation reflects not only their ‘disenfranchisement’ within Australian society, but more significantly reveals the effectiveness with which a visual discourse of ‘Australia’ painted Aboriginal people out of existence.