Since C J Dennis wrote The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke in 1915 the Little Lonsdale Street precinct has been a symbol of rough, immoral inner Melbourne working-class community life. Scholars and journalists have perpetuated this negative image, and the major archaeological survey conducted by Justin McCarthy in 1989 confirmed the impression of a "lowlife slum". The only industry of substance that was acknowledged by these writers was prostitution. The Museum of Victoria has erected an exhibition, and prepared a web-site, about Little Lon based on McCarthy’s report. In recent years Alan Mayne, Tim Murray and Susan Lawrence have published research questioning the slum image and have argued instead that the precinct was, essentially, a residential neighbourhood. My hypothesis is that Little Lon was much more than a poor, working-class area. Over a long period it contained a significant enclave of successful family firms engaged in manufacture and other diverse activities. / My research has involved a macro-survey of all the industries in the precinct from 1860-1950 and micro-surveys of seven individual firms. Careful note has been taken of the manner in which Nonconformist, Lebanese and Chinese entrepreneurs clustered separately, but within the same small precinct. The influence within Little Lon of Chinese cabinetmakers between about 1905 and 1925, both industrially and residentially, was strong indeed. Preceding the Chinese was a cluster of Lebanese traders (some later becoming clothing manufacturers) and, throughout the century the Nonconformist industrialists consolidated their respective positions. Research questions concerning their motivation and effectiveness have been asked of each entrepreneur. The impact of religion has been noted. My research has produced a set of commercial histories of relatively long-term small enterprises, located within a defined city area. The development of each firm has been monitored by comparison with its respective industry as a whole.

Out of the Shadows: The Mezzotints of Graeme Peebles investigates Victorian printmaker Graeme Peebles' engagement with the mezzotint medium since the early 1970s. Over fifty works from the artist's oeuvre of nearly 300 mezzotints are examined to demonstrate Peebles' high quality technical skills and his unique approach to subject matter. This has ranged from enigmatic, surrealist-inspired subject matter to landscapes of the Lake Eucumbene region in the Kosciusko National Park, which range from the ominous and foreboding to the romantic and sublime. In this thesis I explore the intellectual groundwork on which much of Peebles work is based. In doing so I am redressing the imbalance between the popularity of Peebles' work and the lack of critical writing about his art. While his work has been widely collected (see for instance the list of Public Collections that contain holdings of Peebles' work, on page 96), to date his work has not received the attention as deserved by a master of their chosen medium. In reviewing his work in such a manner I believe that Peebles deserves greater recognition in contemporary Australian Art. In conjunction with this thesis I have curated an exhibition bearing the same title, which was displayed at the QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, 12 March - 30 May 2004. It then toured to the Latrobe Regional Gallery, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Geelong Gallery, Gold Coast City Art Gallery and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. A 16-page colour catalogue was also produced to accompany the exhibition.