Thesis (M.Sc. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / Bibliography : leaves 74-81.

Thesis (PhD.)-- University of Western Sydney, School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning, 2005. / "A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning, University of Western Sydney." Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2009. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, in collaboration with Moore Theological College, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.

Thesis (Ph.D.) (Communication & Media) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / A thesis submitted in requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy - Communication & Media, University of Western Sydney, 2003. Bibliography : leaves 350-372.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2007. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, Urban Research Centre, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis uses the theory of abjection to understand differentiations in non-heterosexual identity performances in two distinct spaces - the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) parade and its associated press coverage, and latrinalia (graffiti found inside public toilets). At the same time, this thesis also presents evidence for a new concept of neo-normativity, where the stereotypical is normalised, both internally and externally, and actively reproduced. Neo-normativity, in turn, succeeds in explaining the many abjected relationships that between non-heterosexual communities and the stereotypical and quintessentialised performances. At the 2005 SGLMG parade such quintessentialised (or neo-normalised) performances were treated with both contempt - for being stereotypical and narrowly representative of the very diversity of non-heterosexual communities - as well as a tool for attracting commercial sponsorships which have growingly become an integral part to the continued survival of the annual parade. On a different level, another expression of abject was also revealed when these neo-normalised performances are persistently criticised by academics, news reporting and official photography for being stereotypical and non-representative which in itself are both a recognition as well as an ejection of the non-normative aspects of non-heterosexualities. Such an expression of abject was also evident in latrinalia found in several public toilet facilities throughout Greater Sydney were the interplay of desire and ejection were played out in a more covert manner, all the while highlighting the marginality of non-heterosexualities in these presumably heteronormative spaces. This application of abject theory emphasises neo-normative performances as permanently peripheral, a marginality of which makes these performances (and identities) intrinsically Queer.

A direct enrichment procedure has been developed for selectively recovering low numbers of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from oyster tissue. This procedure makes use of a selective enrichment step, using a broth medium composed of 2% proteose peptone, 1% yeast extract, 0.2% potassium L-aspartate, 0.25% sodium chloride as basal medium (PYA broth)plus 0.2% bacteriological charcoal, polymyxin (5000 IU/ litre), cefoperazone(30 mg/litre), trimethoprim (10 mg/litre), cycloheximide (50 mg/litre), sodium pyruvate (0.25g/litre), sodium metabisulphate (0.25g/litre) and ferrous sulphate (0.25g/litre). In this study the procedure has been used to study the occurrence of thermophilic campylobacters in Sydney rock oysters. Seventy nine samples were screened during the winter months of April to July in 1985. Approximately 8% of the samples contained C.jejuni and 6% of the samples were positive for C.coli. The survival of C.jejuni and C.coli in the Sydney rock oyster was also investigated and results discussed. In contaminated shell stock stored at 20 and 30 degrees Centigrade, C.jejuni and C.coli survived for periods varying from 2 to 9 days. The failure of the organism to multiply in oyster tissue at any of these temperatures studied is an important phenomenon. / Master of Science (Hons)

The Neighbourhood Centres (NCs) in Sydney, Australia, were established to encourage forms of local control and resident participation and to provide a range of activities to build, strengthen and support local communities and marginalised groups. This thesis is concerned with exploring the personal conceptions, passions and frameworks, as well as the political and professional identities, of activists and community workers in these NCs. It also explores stories of practice and of how these subjective experiences have been shaped through the discourses around the NCs, some of which include feminism, environmentalism, multiculturalism and social justice. The following key research questions encouraged stories of community practice: What do the terms empowerment, participation, community service and citizenship mean for community organisation? What did community workers and organisers wish for when they became involved in these community organisations? What happened to the oppositional knowledges and dissent that are part of the organisational histories? Foucault’s concept of governmentality is used to explore the possibility that these NCs are also sites of ‘government through community’. This theoretical proposition questions taken-for-granted assumptions about community development and empowerment approaches. It draws on a willingness of the research participants to take up postmodern and poststructuralist theories. ‘Practising place’ emerges in the research as a description of a particular form of activism and community work associated with these inner city Sydney NCs. The central dimensions of ‘practising place’ include: a commitment to identity work; an openness to exploring diverse and fluid citizenship and identity formations; and the use of local knowledges to develop a critique of social processes. Another feature of ‘practising place’ is that it involves an analysis of the operation of power that extends beyond structuralist explanations of how to bring about social change and transform social relations. The research has deconstructed assumptions about empowerment, community participation, community organisations and community development, consequently another way of talking about the work of small locally based community organisations emerges. This new way of talking builds upon research participants’ understandings of power and demonstrates the utility of applying a poststructural analysis to activist and community work practices. Overall the research suggests that if activists and community workers are to work with new understandings of the operation of power, then the languages and social practices associated with activist and community work traditions need to be constantly and reflexively analysed and questioned.

The gay sauna played a central role in the battle for gay liberation in Sydney during the latter part of the twentieth century. This thesis examines the conjunction of social and political forces which contributed to the acceptance of the gay sauna by Sydney???s civic society. Two questions reveal this process: 1. How was an illegal and clandestine place for homosexuals, perceived as a threat to the moral standards of Sydney, transformed into an institutional entity, legally recognised as ???crucial???, and important within particular environs of this city? 2. How did the evolving public domain of gay saunas contribute to the development of gay culture in Sydney by fostering the opportunities for individual and collective expression of homosexual practices? This study is contextualised within international and Australian studies of the sexualisation of urban spaces???such as Michel Foucault???s, Manuel Castells??? and Lawrence Knopp???s???and the role of the built environment in the development of sexual identity and sexual practices???such as Gayle Rubin???s, John Ricco???s, and Joel Brodsky???s. The first part of the thesis is an empirical analysis of development applications for gay saunas in Sydney between 1967 and 2000 which reveals the play of forces within state and local government, legislative processes, the homosexual community and broader civic stakeholders through which the gay sauna achieved acceptance in Sydney???s civic society. Two principal research approaches???documentary research and twenty in-depth interviews???were used in this first part. The second part of the thesis is an ethnography that uses twenty-nine in-depth interviews to provided a unique insight into the evolving public domain of Sydney???s gay saunas and how they fostered the experiences of gay men, allowing gay men to develop individual and collective sexual identities and practices. This exploration of the interplay of built form, sexuality, civic governance, social identity and social action provide a sociological contribution which will also be of interest to gay studies, anthropology, architecture, geography and planning. Essential to an experience of the thesis is a concurrent reading of the Special Enclosures???a schematic chronology of Sydney gay saunas, plans of Sydney and architectural plans of its saunas.

This study traces the development of the system of Catholic systemic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney from early colonial times to the present, and analyses the perceptions and expectations that a sample of secondary school principals in the System had of the systems level administration in 1985. The development of Catholic schools in the penal colony of New South Wales was extremely slow. The first Catholic school was opened in 1817, and from 1833 to the 'free, secular, and compulsory' education act in New South Wales in 1880, denominational schools received some government grants. When 'state-aid' was withdrawn in 1880, the wonder of education history in Australia was that a separate Catholic school 'system' emerged. This was brought about in large measure by the ability of the Bishops and Clergy to activate the Catholic community, which had been generally apathetic religiously and educationally, and by their recruiting teachers who were members of Religious Congregations both from abroad and locally. The Religious carried the Catholic Schools 'system' in Sydney for some seventy-five years (1880-1955). However, the recruiting of Religious teachers declined from the 1950s. This, together with rapid increases in school population, widening of the curriculum, decreased class sizes and lighter teaching loads brought on a crisis of survival for the Catholic schools. It was averted by the reintroduction of 'State-Aid' and the recruiting and training of lay teachers. Following the Karmel Report of 1973, Commonwealth Government grants and programs grew many fold. In order to cope with the new organisational complexities, including both financial and educational accountability requirements of the government, many of the Catholic schools, which had previously been organised on an individual parish or Religious Congregation basis, joined together to form systems. These Catholic Education Office systems (or CEO systems) rapidly developed administrative bureaucracies. The Sydney CEO System is the largest in Australia with nearly 6000 teachers and over 110,000 pupils. In this process of building an organisational system, the vital role of the school principal is changing. This study examines the responses of twenty-four secondary school principals, in the interview situation, to questions on their perceptions and expectations of the systems level administration. The researcher has analysed the data in the light of some of the literature on motivation theory and theories about complex organisations and has suggested some facets of the systems level administration that need to be addressed if the system is to grow in effectiveness.