vii, 256 leaves : ill., maps, appendices / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geology, 1970

The management and sustainable use of Central Australian rangelands for livestock production and conservation requires improved knowledge of the temporal and spatial distribution of primary production in this region. To provide such information, this thesis investigated methods that could rapidly and efficiently estimate regional herbage biomass production in these arid landscapes. Two different approaches were examined, using (1) ground-based or (2) satellite-based data sources. Soil moisture and herbage growth data were collected over several growth seasons and five landscape types in Central Australia, and the data used to develop a model of soil moisture balance and herbage production for the region. The model has few parameters and only requires inputs of rainfall and potential evaporation to predict daily soil moisture and plant growth. Moisture loss in the 0-500 mm soil profile was modelled using a negative exponential function that depends on available soil moisture and is driven by potential evaporation. The growth of herbage, whilst soil moisture is above wilting point, is a linear function of actual evapotranspiration, with the decay of plant material represented by a logistic curve through time. Soil moisture, herbage biomass and species composition assessments made at hectare and square kilometre scales at four locations within Central Australia were examined to determine if a small sample area could be used to accurately describe the soil and plant conditions at a landscape scale. Moisture levels of the 0-200 and 0-500 mm soil profiles from nine samples were analysed for the beginning and conclusion of a growth season, whilst herbage biomass and species composition from 50 samples were compared at the end of the growth season. Results suggest that mean soil moisture levels determined in a 1 ha area are comparable with mean values in the surrounding 1 km2 area. Herbage biomass and species richness for a square kilometre can be assessed at a hectare site for some landscape types, but a larger sampling area (> 1 ha) is recommended for most rangeland assessments. Satellite data (NOAA-11) were examined for their potential application in assessing primary productivity in Central Australia. Several image correction techniques were tested to minimise the adverse effects of atmospheric contamination and illumination. Two measures of atmospheric moisture: (1) radiosonde data and (2) temperature differences between bands 4 and 5 of the NOAA satellite (split-window) were used to explain variations in NOAA-11 normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) on inert desert sites. The splitwindow approach provided the best single factor relationship (r2=0.63) and, when combined with scattering angle (illumination) effects, up to 81% of the variation in NDVI data could be explained. Field measurements of herbage biomass were correlated with four growth indices derived from NOAA-11 NDVI data. The influence of preflight and sensor degradation calibrations of Bands 1 and 2, and atmospheric correction techniques were also tested. Correlations between temporal sums of NDVI and herbage biomass data were relatively poor (r2<0.42) and unsuitable for herbage assessment in Central Australia. However, correlations between atmospherically corrected and background-adjusted maximum NDVI data and observed herbage biomass were strong (r2=0.91), that will allow primary production in the arid rangelands of Central Australia to be assessed rapidly and efficiently using remotely-sensed information.

Thesis (D. Ph)-- Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. / "Submitted by Simon Charles Nepean Pockley ... as a partial requirement for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Project 18th July, 1998". "WARNING culturally sensitive material". Available [on line] http://www.cinemedia.net/FOD/FOD0043.html. Archived at ANL http://purl.nla.gov.au/nla/pandora/FOD http.

The thesis examines the history of Central Australia and specifically the development of health services in the Northern Territory. The continuing colonial realtionships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia are explored as a reason for the peristence of poor Aboriginal health status, including the cycle of vself destructive behaviours. It rovides an explanation of the importance of community agency to address community problems, and the potential of community controlled ABoriginal health services as vehicles for such community action.

The thesis examines the history of Central Australia and specifically the development of health services in the Northern Territory. The continuing colonial realtionships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia are explored as a reason for the peristence of poor Aboriginal health status, including the cycle of vself destructive behaviours. It rovides an explanation of the importance of community agency to address community problems, and the potential of community controlled ABoriginal health services as vehicles for such community action.

All forms of cultural interaction are expressive and creative. In particular, what the performing arts express is not always the conscious, the ideal and the rational, but more often the preconscious, pre-verbal, asocial and irrational, touching on darker undercurrents of human and extra-human interrelations, experiences, beliefs, fears, desires and values. So what is performance and how does it differ in cultures? A performance is a translation of an idea into a synaesthetic experience. In the context of this thesis, however, translation does not imply reductive literal translation as can be attempted by analogy in spoken or written descriptions and notation systems. The translation is one through which participating groups and individuals seek to understand the being in the world of the Other by means of mutual, embodied negotiation of meaning - sensually, experientially, perceptually, cognitively and emotionally - that is, by means of performance. As a contribution towards a social theory of human performance, the author offers reflections on an exchange between two performance ecologies - those of a group of Aboriginal Australian performers from Mimili, Central Australia and a mixed ethnic group of Australian performers from Penrith, NSW, Australia. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study investigates the ecology of one of the best known Australian marsupials, the Common Brushtail Possum Trichosurus vulpecula, in central Australia. Trichosurus vulpecula is one of few medium-sized mammal species that persist in arid Australia today. Its distribution within the arid zone has declined markedly since European settlement. Two populations, one within the East MacDonnell Ranges along the Hale River and the other on Irving Creek, a River Red Gum creek in the Petermann Ranges, were studied in the southern Northern Territory. Others locations in the region were visited opportunistically. Trie central Australian Trichosurus is not distinct genetically from populations elsewhere in Australia. The diet of T. vulpecula consisted of a range of leaves, flowers and fruits of perennial dicotyledonous species as well as some ephemeral herbs. Grasses were absent from the diet. Variation in the diet reflected seasonal availability in flowers and fruits. The species preferentially consumed at each site had significantly higher moisture content and dry matter digestibility than species not consumed. Preferred species included Amyema maidenii leaves (a mistletoe), Acacia spp. flowers and fruits, Santalum lanceolatum leaves (a shrub), Marsdenia australis leaves (a vine), Solarium quadriloculatum fruit (shrub) and Euphorbia spp. leaves (herb). Small amounts of invertebrate material were consumed throughout the year. Other non-plant material consumed included honeycomb and unfledged birds eg. Budgerigars. There were no significant differences in the diet between the sexes. Trichosurus vulpecula were found in six main habitats: Acacia aneura/Callitris glaucophylla on rocky hills; E. camaldulensis sandy creek-lines; mixed Acacia rocky hills, Rocky Eucalyptus creek-lines; Degraded drainage lines; and Wet gullies. Logistic regression modelling revealed a significant correlation between mistletoe species richness, higher levels of soil nitrogen and the presence of T. vulpecula. In habitats occupied by T. vulpecula species richness of mistletoes was associated with the absence of fire and the presence of reliable ground water supplies. Trichosurus vulpecula were highly mobile with mean home ranges at Hale River of 44.21 � 22.76 ha and considerably higher than those recorded in previous studies in Australia. Mean home ranges at Irving Creek were much smaller, at 4.99 � 1.46 ha and VII similar to that recorded in other studies in Australia. At both sites, males had larger home ranges and there was a high degree of overlap with other males and females. At the Hale River study site, T. vulpecula predominantly denned in caves or cavities in rocks, whereas at Irving Creek all den sites were in large Eucalyptus camaldulensis on the drainage line. Adult and pouch young sex ratios were at parity. During this study, T. vulpecula was found to breed continuously, with births recorded in almost all months. Growth of the young were more rapid than previously recorded for Trichosurus in Australia. This is interpreted as an adaptation for living in an arid environment, enabling the young to achieve independence before quality food supplies diminish. No single exotic predator or competitor was solely responsible for the decline of T. vulpecula in arid Australia, implying an interactive impact. Prey switching by dingoes from rabbits to T. vulpecula, macropods and echidnas followed the crash of rabbit populations at Hale River. Predation by dingoes on T. vulpecula was only recorded once, at the Irving Creek study site, where numbers of rabbits remained stable throughout the study. The impact of exotic herbivores occurred through habitat degradation rather than competition. Evaluation of the ecological data collected during this study generally supports current models of decline and extinction in medium-sized mammals in arid Australia, integrating the effects of predators, competitors, drought and fire. However, the importance of each factor on populations of T. vulpecula was found to vary depending on their location in the landscape. This study suggests two separate models to explain the decline of T. vulpecula in arid Australia after the arrival of Europeans. The first operates in the riparian lowlands and the second on the rocky ranges. In both models, prior to European settlement, T. vulpecula occupied refuge habitats characterised by readily available moisture for plant growth (run on areas and/or shallow water tables) and soils with higher soil nutrient concentrations. The impact of fires on these refugia was minimal, as Aboriginal burning practices protected them with mosaic burning generally preventing large-scale fires from developing. Following European settlement, the forces impacting on populations were different in the riparian lowlands from those affecting rocky ranges. In the riparian lowlands, the effects of rabbits and livestock together with predation were found to have the major impact on T. vulpecula populations. Fire was not a significant factor in these areas. In the rocky ranges, fire was the most significant factor affecting T. vulpecula populations. Introduced herbivores did not degrade these habitats as they did in the riparian lowlands because the rugged and steep nature of the ranges acted as a physical barrier. Similarly, predator numbers were lower because of the relative difficulty in moving over rough ground and the generally lower relative abundance of preferred prey such as rabbits. An adaptive management strategy needs to be implemented to determine the effects of different management regimes on T. vulpecula population viability. The key elements of a management strategy in the riparian lowlands involves the manipulation and monitoring of predators, rabbits and livestock numbers. In the rocky ranges, the key management strategy involves the implementation of a patch burning to prevent fires entering habitats occupied by T. vulpecula. Importantly, any management strategies should involve Aboriginal people. Trichosurus vulpecula is an important part of Aboriginal culture. Its decline is of great concern to many people and several of the remaining populations and potential reintroduction locations are on Aboriginal land. Because of their relationship with the land and the animals, people have both the knowledge of the animal and the skills (such as patch burning) to provide information to managers which will assist with management. To achieve these management directions a coordinated national education programme is required to inform and convince the Australian community that conservation of T. vulpecula is deserving of attention in arid and semi-arid Australia. This is particularly important given the perception that T. vulpecula is a common species throughout Australia, despite its massive decline in arid Australia since European settlement.

During the early 1980s the Warlpiri at Yuendemu, a remote Aboriginal community in Central Australia, began their own experiments in local television and radio production. This was prior to the launch of the AUSSAT satellite in 1985 which brought broadcast television and radio to remote Australia for the first time. There was concern amongst remote Aboriginal communities, as well as policy makers, that the imposition of mass media without consultation could result in permanent damage to Aboriginal culture and language. As a result, a policy review 'Out of the Silent Land' was published in 1985 and from that developed the Broadcasting in Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS) which allowed communities to receive radio and television from the satellite. BRACS also provided the option to turn off mainstream media and insert locally produced material. This study of the Warlpiri at Yuendemu has found that, since the original experiments, they have enthusiastically used modern communication technology including radio, video making, locally produced television, and, more recently, on-line services. The Warlpiri have adapted rather than adopted the new technology. That is they have used modern communications technology within existing cultural patterns to strengthen their language and culture rather than to replace traditional practices and social structures. The Warlpiri Media Association has inspired other remote broadcasters and is now one of eight remote media networks that link to form a national network via the National Indigenous Media Association of Australia. The Warlpiri have actively adapted modern communication technology because it is to their advantage. The new technology has been used to preserve culture and language, to restore, and possibly improve, traditional communications and to provide employment and other opportunities for earning income. It appeals to all age groups, especially the elders who have retained control over broadcasts and it also provides entertainment.

This thesis is about the depth of colonisation through translation. I develop an analytic framework that explores colonisation and translation using the trope of romantic love and an experimental textual construction incorporating translation and historical reconstruction. Utilising both the first and the final drafts of “Chapter X, Songs of Human Beauty and Love-charms” in Songs of Central Australia, by T. Strehlow, I show how that text, written over thirty years and comprised of nine drafts, can be described as a translation mediated by the colonising syntax and grammar. My interest lies in developing a novel textual technique to attempt to illustrate this problem so as to allow an insight into the perspective of a colonised person. This has involved a re-examination of translation as something other than a transtemporal structure predicated on direct equivalence, understanding it instead as something that fictionalises and reinvents the language that it purports to represent. It begins by establishing an understanding of the historical context in which the translated text is situated, from both objective and personal viewpoints, and then foregrounds the grammatical perspective of the argument. Utilising the techniques and processes of multiple translation, Internet-based translation software, creative writing and historical reconstruction, it continues to consider the role of imagination and begins the construction of a visceral argument whereby the reader is encouraged to experience a cognitive shift similar to that understood by the colonised other, which is revealed in a fictional autobiography written by an imagined other. It concludes by considering the coloniser within the same context, using, as an example T. Strehlow, who had a unique understanding of the Arrernte language. Tracking his extensive alterations, revisions and excisions within his drafts of Chapter X, this thesis traces a textual history of change, theorising that the translator, no matter how "authentic", is as much translated by the text as she or he is a translator of the text. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the responses of non-indigenous pastoralists in Central Australian rangelands to two social movements that profoundly challenge their occupancy, use and management of land. Contemporary environmentalism and Aboriginal land rights have both challenged the status of pastoralists as valued primary producers and bearers of a worthy pioneer heritage. Instead, pastoralists have become associated with land degradation, biodiversity loss, and Aboriginal dispossession. Such pressure has intensified in the 1990s in the wake of the native Title debate, and various conservation campaigns in the arid and semi-arid rangelands. The pressure on pastoralists occur in the context of wider reassessment of the social and economic values or rangelands in which pastoralism is seen as having declined in value compared to ???post-production??? land uses. Reassessments of rangelands in turn are part of the global changes in the status of rural areas, and of the growing flexibility in the very meaning of ???rural???. Through ethnographic fieldwork among largely non-indigenous pastoralists in Central Australia, this thesis investigates the nature and foundations of pastoralists??? responses to these changes and critiques. Through memory, history, labour and experience of land, non-indigenous pastoralists construct a narrative of land, themselves and others in which the presence of pastoralism in Central Australia is naturalised, and Central Australia is narrated as an inherently pastoral landscape. Particular types of environmental knowledge and experience, based in actual environmental events and processes form the foundation for a discourse of pastoral property rights. Pastoralists accommodate environmental concerns, through advocating environmental stewardship. They do this in such a way that Central Australia is maintained as a singularly pastoral landscape, and one in which a European, or ???white???, frame of reference continues to dominate. In this way the domesticated pastoral landscapes of colonialism and nationalism are reproduced. The thesis also examines Aboriginal pastoralism as a distinctive form of pastoralism, which fulfils distinctly Aboriginal land use and cultural aspirations, and undermines the conventional meaning of ???pastoralism??? itself. The thesis ends by suggesting that improved dialogue over rangelands futures depends on greater understanding of the details and complexities of local relationships between groups of people, and between people and land.