Thesis (M.A.)--University of Sydney, 1990. / Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 15, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the Dept. of Fine Arts, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 1990; thesis submitted 1989. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed 16th July, 2007). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Degree awarded 2007. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

This thesis seeks to examine the nineteenth-century art collections and architectural style of the original buildings at the University of Sydney in order to demonstrate ways in which visual material may be employed to shape public perception of an institution. I shall argue that the architectural style of the original university buildings was specifically chosen with particular aims which extended beyond the mere establishment of a tertiary institution for the colony. I will also argue that the style shaped the character of the institution, contributed to the maintenance of law and order in the colony, linked the colony more firmly than hitherto to the mother country and provided social benefits for the founders of the institution. The instant history and character thus imposed upon the institution was reinforced by the assembly of a portrait collection in emulation of other collections of portraits at leading institutions of the colony and the mother country, including the Oxbridge universities. Once the building proclaimed that the institution was comparable with the great universities of the world, the subjects of the portraits at the university could be placed in the class of founders of a great historical institution, thus at the same time enhancing the reputation of the institution and the individuals. The construction of an indentity through visual images was extended by the benefactions of Sir Charles Nicholson, the principal donor of works of art to the university in the nineteenth century. I argue that his intentions in relation to his collections were didactic but were also concerned with the entrenchment of the imperial hegemony over the colony, and again with the enhancement of his personal repuatation. This analysis shows how, by a complex of personal ambition and aspiration for the colony, the style of the buildings and the art collections formed were used to establish the colony as civilized and the new university as a bastion of English tradition.

During 1984 I carried out an Internship in Materials Conservation under the supervision of Mrs. Patricia Johnson, the Conservator of the Nicholson Museum of Antiquities, the University of Sydney. My area of specialization was in the conservation of artifacts. The majority of artifacts examined and treated during the Internship were from archaeological excavations in the Middle East, at the site of Pella, in Jordan. The site of Pella has produced artifacts from a wide chronological range ; Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic (Greek), Roman, and Arabic historical periods. A selection of these artifacts has been granted to the University of Sydney by the Jordanian government, and constitute the present Pella Collection. Most of the materials are inorganic, i.e. ceramics, metals, glass, and stone, although bone and ivory artifacts, as well as skeletal material, form a part of the collection. Upon an initial examination of the collection, conservation problems were identified and a program of conservation work for the collection was formulated. Priority treatment was given to the metals in the collection, particularly to the small bronzes which were found to be suffering from "bronze disease" (active corrosion), to ceramics needed for study and display, and to glass with unstable surfaces. Improvements in storage conditions for the Pella Collection, particularly in the packing of small finds and the storage of metals, were also given a high priority. Taken altogether, the Pella Collection has proved to be a wellbalanced collection, covering almost every period of Kiddle Eastern Archaeology, and containing artifacts representative of most types of materials and of ancient technology. Planned as a research and teaching collection for the students of the Department of Archaeology, the University of Sydney, it also proved to be an excellent teaching collection for a student of materials conservation. The following, therefore, is a report on my Internship in Archaeological Conservation, and includes a description of the institution which sponsored the Internship, a description of both the program of work and the program of instruction for the Internship, detailed descriptions of all conservation work and other activities which were undertaken as part of the: Internship, and a final evaluation of the Internship.

This thesis seeks to examine the nineteenth-century art collections and architectural style of the original buildings at the University of Sydney in order to demonstrate ways in which visual material may be employed to shape public perception of an institution. I shall argue that the architectural style of the original university buildings was specifically chosen with particular aims which extended beyond the mere establishment of a tertiary institution for the colony. I will also argue that the style shaped the character of the institution, contributed to the maintenance of law and order in the colony, linked the colony more firmly than hitherto to the mother country and provided social benefits for the founders of the institution. The instant history and character thus imposed upon the institution was reinforced by the assembly of a portrait collection in emulation of other collections of portraits at leading institutions of the colony and the mother country, including the Oxbridge universities. Once the building proclaimed that the institution was comparable with the great universities of the world, the subjects of the portraits at the university could be placed in the class of founders of a great historical institution, thus at the same time enhancing the reputation of the institution and the individuals. The construction of an indentity through visual images was extended by the benefactions of Sir Charles Nicholson, the principal donor of works of art to the university in the nineteenth century. I argue that his intentions in relation to his collections were didactic but were also concerned with the entrenchment of the imperial hegemony over the colony, and again with the enhancement of his personal repuatation. This analysis shows how, by a complex of personal ambition and aspiration for the colony, the style of the buildings and the art collections formed were used to establish the colony as civilized and the new university as a bastion of English tradition.