[Truncated abstract] Many primary schools in Western Australia do not employ a specialist physical education (PE) teacher, leaving the teaching of this subject to the class teacher. There are concerns that some of these teachers lack the skills, confidence or knowledge to successfully implement a developmentally appropriate PE programme. A potential solution to this problem involves utilising an externally provided physical activity programme (EPPAP). Before considering this option, it is important to ensure these programmes adequately meet the needs of students, teachers and the educational curriculum. Outcomes for one such EPPAP were evaluated and compared against the outcomes attained in regular primary school PE classes. These outcomes were then compared to the Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area outcomes (LAO) within Outcomes Based Education (OBE) of the Western Australian Curriculum Framework (CF). Approximately 460 primary school students in the Peel Region of WA participated in the EPPAP and subsequent research in 2004. In addition, approximately 135 students from the same area were invited to participate as controls. All students completed self-report questionnaires pre and post-participation in the EPPAP. ... Although not originally promoted as a programme to replace PE, the EPPAP is delivered within curriculum time with some schools intending to replace their traditional PE programme with the EPPAP. Therefore, reference to the CF is warranted. There were few opportunities to develop `skills for physical activity? (SPA) transferable to the sporting context and explicit teaching points were not consistently provided, or reinforced through teacher feedback. Activities in the lessons were generally delivered uniformly to all participants across Year 4-7 with no developmental theme, negating the opportunity for differentiation, progression or extension. In summary, the main objectives of the EPPAP was to provide students with a range of fun activities and games that were inclusive and encouraged participation. These objectives were fulfilled in this two-term evaluation. The disadvantages of the programme were it?s uniform delivery across all year groups, lack of developmental progression in both skills and games and a teacher centred approach that did not allow for student differentiation. The programme delivery and content was most suited to the students within Years K-3.

[Truncated abstract] Industrial processing to refine alumina from bauxite ore produces millions of tonnes of refining residue each year in Australia. Revegetation of bauxite residue sand (BRS) is problematic for a number of reasons. Harsh chemical conditions caused by residual NaOH from ore digestion mean plants must overcome extremely high pH (initially >12), saline and sodic conditions. At such high pH, manganese (Mn) is rapidly oxidised from Mn2+ to Mn4+. Plants can take up only Mn2+. Thus, Mn deficiency is common in plants used for direct BRS revegetation, and broadcast Mn fertilisers have low residual value. Added to this, physical conditions of low water-holding capacity and a highly compactable structure make BRS unfavourable for productive plant growth without constant and large inputs of water as well as Mn. However, environmental regulations stipulate that the residue disposal area at Pinjarra, Western Australia, be revegetated to conform with surrounding land uses. The major land use of the area is pasture for grazing stock. Hence, pasture revegetation with minimum requirement for fertiliser and water application is desirable. This thesis investigates a number of avenues with potential for maintaining a productive pasture system on BRS whilst reducing the current level of Mn fertiliser and irrigation input. Emphasis was placed on elucidation of chemical and physical factors affecting Mn availability to plants in BRS

[Truncated abstract] The southwest of Western Australia is an intraplate area classified as a stable continental region. It comprises predominantly Archaean and Proterozoic geology and has generally subdued topography. The region currently experiences significant seismicity in the Southwest Seismic Zone (SWSZ), which is one of the most seismically active areas in Australia and is thought to represent the highest seismic hazard of the region. In recent years, numerous scarps, potentially related to large palaeoearthquakes have been recognised not only within the SWSZ, but also in a broader region of the southwest of Australia. Palaeoseismological investigations of two of these scarps, the Dumbleyung and the Lort River scarps, confirm their association with surface-rupturing palaeoearthquakes and indicate events with likely maximum magnitudes of ~Mw 7.0 on faults of low to medium slip rates. Two trenches across the Dumbleyung Fault scarp revealed a thrust fault in alluvial sediments with two associated earthquakes in the last ca 24-60 ka. A possible Holocene age was recognised for the last recorded earthquake event exposed in these trenches. Two trenches across the Lort River Scarp show that this feature results from thrust faulting in the weathered gneissic country rock. These trenches exposed evidence of two events in the last ca 35 ka, with a likely late Pleistocene age for the last earthquake. On both sites, the earthquakes are interpreted as associated with the last phase of fault activity, which was likely been preceded by a long period of quiescence. Assessment of the earthquake hazard associated with large earthquakes at the Dumbleyung and Lort River Faults resulted in calculated peak ground accelerations of up to 2 g in the near-fault fields. Such earthquakes would significantly affect nearby towns such as Dumbleyung, Wagin, Katanning, and Esperance, but they are unlikely to cause any significant damage in Perth. The palaeoseismological investigations show that the earthquake activity in the southwest of Western Australia is not only confined to the SWSZ, as it has been considered in previous assessments of the seismic hazard, but that there is also potential for strong earthquakes across much of the region. The seismicity in the southwest of Western Australia appears to be transient and migratory. This is suggested by the lack of local relief associated with places of current seismicity and fault scarps, the widespread distribution of the fault scarps across the region, the increase in seismicity in the SWSZ following strong recent events, and the apparent long periods of earthquake recurrence at fault sites. Accordingly, the current seismicity in the SWSZ is inferred to be transient and probably associated with stress changes produced by the recent earthquakes. '...' This uplift could be associated with dynamic topography effects resulting from processes along the plate margins. The uplift is probably enhanced by a flexural response of the lithosphere to local differential loads and density contrast along the southern margin, a mechanism that may also help explain the occurrence of some earthquake activity. The results from this study, complemented by additional palaeoseismological studies must be included in future probabilistic assessments of the seismic hazard of the southwest of Western Australia.

Architect and soldier Sir J.J. Talbot Hobbs was born on 24 August 1864 in London. After migrating from England to Western Australia in the late 1880s, Hobbs designed many buildings that were constructed in Perth, Fremantle, and regional areas of the State. Although Talbot Hobbs has previously been recognised as a significant and influential contributor to architecture in Australia, his development as an architect has not been documented, nor has his design output undergone critical analysis. A number of problems confront attempts to interpret Hobbs' contribution to architecture. One is that a number of his most prominent building designs have been demolished. Another is that national recognition for his achievements as a First World War Army General have overshadowed his extraordinarily productive pre and post-war career as an architect. Military service was intrinsic to his character, and thus is woven in to this architectural biography. The thesis examines Hobbs' life and work, filling the gap in documented evidence of his contributions, and fitting it within the context of Australian architectural and social history. The main proposition to be tested is whether Hobbs' Australian architecture, of English derivation, combined with vast community service, warrants his recognition as an architect and citizen of national significance. Completely new important issues, information, discussion and facts that have resulted from the research for this thesis are: 1. Biographical knowledge about Hobbs' life – including his upbringing, education and training in England, and his fifty years of comprehensive work and community service in and for Australia; 2. The elucidation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century architectural issues that were relevant to Hobbs and other architects in Western Australia; 3. Examination of the important works of Hobbs' architect predecessors and contemporaries in Perth, and the setting of his own work within this context; 4. Revelation of his primary and pivotal role in war memorial design and organisational work for the far-flung theatres of Australian Army conflicts and selected personal design works within Australia itself during 1919-38; and 5. A chronology and summary of Hobbs' life, with thorough documentation of his output as a sole practitioner in the period 1887-1904 by development of a detailed web-based database - an extremely valuable tool for future researchers.

[Truncated abstract] Recovery of soil nutrients, microbial populations and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling processes are critical to the success of rehabilitation following major ecosystem disturbance. Bauxite mining represents a major ecosystem disturbance to the jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest in the south-west of Western Australia. Mining has created a mosaic of mined areas in various stages of succession surrounded by non-mined forest areas. Initial site preparations within rehabilitation areas such as contour ripping alter soil structure (creation of mound and furrows) and over time also influence the distribution of vegetation and litter. Current performance criteria developed by industry, government and other stakeholders have determined that before post-bauxite mined areas of jarrah forest can be integrated back into normal forest management practises they should be functional and demonstrate resilience to normal forest disturbances such as fire. Furthermore, resilience should be of a manner comparable to non-mined analogue forest sites. Currently little is known of the resilience of microbial communities and C and N cycling in rehabilitation sites to normal forest disturbances such as prescription burning. As such, before rehabilitated jarrah forests can be successfully integrated into broad scale forest management regimes, a more thorough knowledge of the potential impacts of burning practises on the soil microbial community and C and N cycling processes in these systems is required. ... While there are similar rates of C and N cycling the underlying microbial community structure was distinctly different; implying a high degree of functional redundancy with respect to C and N cycling. Differences in the C and N cycling and structure of the microbial communities were likely to be due to differences in soil environmental conditions (i.e. soil alkalinity/acidity, soil moisture) and C substrate availability which influence the physiological status of the microbial community and in turn are related to successional age of the forests. Results also suggest that the measurement of CLPP can be a useful approach for assessment of changes in the functional ability of microbial communities. However, the interpretation of how well these rehabilitation forests have recovered heterotrophic abilities was greatly affected by the methodological approach used (e.g. MicroRespTM or Degens and Harris, 1997). Importantly, results from Chapter 4 and 5 suggested that the effects of a moderate prescription fire on C and N processes, CLPP and microbial community structure of 18 year old rehabilitation forests are likely to be short-lived (< 2 years). Furthermore, the effects of the moderate spring prescription fire were not large enough to decouple C and N cycling processes over the short-term (< 1 years) which suggests that by 18 years of age rehabilitation forests demonstrate comparable functional resilience to a moderate prescription burn.

[Truncated abstract] Insufficient water use by annual crop and pasture species leading to costly rises in saline watertables has prompted research into potentially profitable deep-rooted perennial species in the Western Australian wheatbelt. Native mallee eucalypts are currently being developed as a short-rotation coppice crop for production of leaf oils, activated carbon and bio-electricity for low rainfall areas (300—450 mm) too dry for many of the traditional timber and forage species. The research in this study was aimed at developing a knowledge base necessary to grow and manage coppiced mallee eucalypts for both high productivity and salinity control. This firstly necessitated identification of suitable species, climatic and site requirements favourable to rapid growth, and understanding of factors likely to affect yield of the desirable leaf oil constituent, 1,8-cineole. This was undertaken using nine mallee taxa at twelve sites with two harvest regimes. E. kochii subsp. plenissima emerged as showing promise in the central and northern wheatbelt, particularly at a deep acid sand site (Gn 2.61; Northcote, 1979), so further studies focussed on physiology of its resprouting, water use and water-use efficiency at a similar site near Kalannie. Young E. kochii trees were well equipped with large numbers of meristematic foci and adequate root starch reserves to endure repeated shoot removal. The cutting season and interval between cuts were then demonstrated to have a strong influence on productivity, since first-year coppice growth was slow and root systems appeared to cease in secondary growth during the first 1.5—2.5 years after cutting. After decapitation, trees altered their physiology to promote rapid replacement of shoots. Compared to uncut trees, leaves of coppices were formed with a low carbon content per unit area, and showed high stomatal conductance accompanied by high leaf photosynthetic rates. Whole-plant water use efficiency of coppiced trees was unusually high due to their fast relative growth rates associated with preferential investments of photosynthates into regenerating canopies rather than roots. Despite relatively small leaf areas on coppice shoots over the two years following decapitation, high leaf transpiration rates resulted in coppices using water at rates far in excess of that falling as rain on the tree belt area. Water budgets showed that 20 % of the study paddock would have been needed as 0—2 year coppices in 5 m wide twin-row belts in order to maintain hydrological balance over the study period. Maximum water use occurred where uncut trees were accessing a fresh perched aquifer, but where this was not present water budgets still showed transpiration of uncut trees occurring at rates equivalent to 3—4 times rainfall incident on the tree belt canopy. In this scenario, only 10 % of the paddock surface would have been required under 5 m wide tree belts to restore hydrological balance, but competition losses in adjacent pasture would have been greater

Salsola australis is an introduced weed of crop and pasture systems in the Western Australian broad acre cropping and pasture region (wheat-belt). This thesis investigated the classification, biology and ecology of the genus Salsola in southwest Australia, as well as modelling the effectiveness of possible weed control practices. Prior to this research, S. tragus was the only recognised species of the Salsola genus within Australia. However, genetic analysis revealed that four genetically distinct putative taxa of the genus Salsola were found in southwest Australia, none of which were S. tragus. The taxa that is the most prevalent agricultural weed was classified as S. australis, but the other three putative taxa could not be matched to recognised species. All four taxa were diploid (2n = 18), as opposed to tetraploid (2n = 36) S. tragus. Within the agricultural system of southwest Australia, S. australis plants established throughout the year, although the majority of seed production occurred in late summer and autumn. Total seed production (138-7734 seeds per plant) and seed viability (7.6-62.8%) of S. australis were lower than that reported for other agricultural weed species of the Salsola genus. Seed dispersal occurred when the senesced plants broke free of their root system to become mobile. Wind driven plants travelled and shed seed over distances of 1.6 to 1247.2 m. Movement of approximately half the plants was restricted to less than 100 m by entanglement with other S. australis plants within the stand. Some seed was retained on the senesced plants, but the germinability of this seed fell to less than 2% in the two month period following plant senescence (i.e. a decline of 79%). Once seed shed into the soil seed bank, anywhere from 32.3 to 80.7% of the viable seeds germinated in the year following seed production, with the rest remaining dormant or degrading. A model of the life cycle of S. australis based on the population ecology data indicated that the dormant seed bank had very little effect on annual seedling recruitment, but seed dispersal from neighbouring populations had a large impact on population growth rate. Therefore, the most successful weed control measures were those that restricted seed dispersal from neighbouring populations, or those that were applied to all populations in the region rather than to a single population. Weed control techniques applied to a single population, without reducing seed dispersal, could not reduce population size.

Field measurements and numerical modelling of the shallow coastal waters offshore in south-western Australia were used to describe changes in the water column's vertical structure and the biological response on temporal scales of the order of hours and days. A cycle of chlorophyll a concentration, primary production, and photosystem II function on a diel timescale, which was related to changes in the solar irradiance and thermal structure, was identified. The diel cycle included (1) vertically well-mixed (or weakly linear) conditions in density and chlorophyll a early in the morning, resulting from vertical mixing through penetrative overnight convection; (2) depleted chlorophyll a concentration in the surface layer during the middle of the day due to photoinhibition; (3) an increased chlorophyll a concentration in the bottom layer by late afternoon due to optimum light conditions; and (4) the formation of a chlorophyll a break point (CBP) at the thermocline, which migrated downwards with the deepening surface mixed layer. On a longer timescale (days), moored acoustic instruments were used to derive echo level (EL), which approximated suspended particulate matter (SPM). Wind events ultimately controlled SPM, a conclusion based on (1) elevated EL during high windgenerated turbulence and bed shear stress, (2) positive time-lagged correlations between wind speed and EL at three field sites with different exposures to wave action, and (3) significant negative correlations between wind speed and depth-differentiated echo level (d(EL)/dz) at all sites. Sea breezes produced a similar response in EL through the water column to a small storm event, and wind-driven SPM resuspension resulted in a reduction in the sub-surface light climate (kd). Near-bed dissolved oxygen concentrations varied in accord with elevated wind speeds, EL and kd, highlighting a possible suppression of photosynthesis. One-dimensional modelling revealed that wind stirring was most often the dominant process in these waters. It was found that for a brief period during thermal stratification there was shear production of turbulent instabilities that migrated from the thermocline to the surface and the seabed. Convective cooling was not able to mix the water column entirely overnight without the addition of wind, and minimum wind speeds were determined for this complete vertical mixing. Bottom-generated turbulence was limited to a small region above the bed, and was deemed insignificant compared with mixing generated at the surface. Minimum wind speeds required for de-stratification and prevention of stratification were determined for summer, autumn and winter. A hypothetical desalination outfall was simulated for all seasons and it was concluded that positioning of the discharge at middepth was preferable compared to at the seabed. The results of this thesis advance the current knowledge of coastal biophysical oceanography and provide new insights into the temporal dynamics of the coastal water column of south-western Australia.

[Truncated abstract] Currently, Alcoa World Alumina Australia (Alcoa) mines and undertakes procedures to rehabilitate approximately 550 ha of jarrah forest each year at two open-cut bauxite mines in South-West Western Australia. Alcoa aims to establish a self-sustaining jarrah forest ecosystem that maintains the functions of the landscape prior to mining, including biodiversity, on areas that have been mined for bauxite. Indigenous terrestrial orchids form a significant proportion of the indigenous geophytic plant species that either fail to colonise rehabilitated areas or do so very slowly. Terrestrial orchids are considered to be particularly sensitive to competition from weeds and disturbance, which combined with the obligate nature of the orchid-mycorrhizal fungus association suggests that orchids would colonise rehabilitation areas only when both microhabitat sites and soil microflora have established. Occurrence of certain orchids may therefore be expected to be useful as indicators of ecosystem health, the success of vegetation establishment and the recovery of edaphic conditions suitable for orchid mycorrhizal fungi. Vegetation surveys were undertaken to compare orchid species richness and population size of a chrono-sequence of rehabilitation areas with adjacent unmined forest. ... Orchid taxa present in each vegetation assemblage were generally not exclusive to these assemblages, with the following broad exclusions: D. bracteata was found only in species assemblages associated with rehabilitation areas; and Eriochilus sp. and T. crinita were found only in species assemblages associated with unmined forest. No single orchid species appears to be an indicator of ecosystem recovery. However, the presence of populations of C. flava, P. sp. crinkled leaf (G.J.Keighery 13426) or P. recurva in combination with the absence of the disturbance opportunist orchid taxa D. bracteata and M. media appears to be a measure of the maturity of the rehabilitation vegetation. Orchid species richness and clonal orchid population size were correlated with changes in vegetation structure, but apart from the absence of orchids in 1 year old rehabilitation areas, these orchid population characteristics did not show any direct relationship with rehabilitation age or vegetation maturity. Only two orchid taxa appeared to have potential as indicators of vegetation characteristics: T. crinita as an indicator of undisturbed jarrah forest; and D. bracteata as an indicator of disturbed ecosystems. The results of this study suggest that most jarrah forest orchid taxa will readily colonise the post bauxite mining landscape, but that the unassisted colonisation by recalcitrant orchid taxa may be a prolonged process. It is recommended that field-based transplantation and/or seeding trials be undertaken with these recalcitrant taxa to determine if these procedures will enhance recruitment. The results of this work have applications not only in the management of post-mining landscapes but also in vegetation monitoring and conservation work in Western Australia and elsewhere.

Australia is experiencing widespread ecosystem degradation, including dryland salinity, erosion and vegetation loss. Approximately 1 million hectares (5.5%) of the south-west agricultural zone of Western Australia is affected by dryland salinity and is predicted to rise to 5.4 million hectares by 2050. Such degradation is associated with many environmental outcomes that may impact on human health, including a decrease in primary productivity, an increase in the number of invasive species, a decrease in the number of large trees, overall decrease in biodiversity, and an increase in dust production. The resulting degradation affects not only farm production but also farm values. This study examines the effects of such severe and widespread environmental degradation on the physical and mental health of residents. Western Australia has an extensive medical record database which links individual health records for all hospital admissions, cancer cases, births and deaths. For the 15 diseases examined in this project, the study area of the south west of Western Australia (excluding the capital city of Perth) contained 1,570,985 morbidity records and 27,627 mortality records for the 15 diseases examined in a population of approximately 460,000. Environmental data were obtained from the Western Australian Department of Agriculture?s soil and landscape mapping database. A spatial Bayesian framework was used to examine associations between these disease and environmental variables. The Bayesian model detected the confounding variables of socio-economic status and proportion of the population identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. With the inclusion of these confounders in the model, associations were found between environmental degradation (including dryland salinity) and several diseases with known environmentally-mediated triggers, including asthma, ischaemic heart disease, suicide and depression. However, once records of individuals who had been diagnosed with coexistent depression were removed from the analysis, the effect of dryland salinity was no longer statistically detectable for asthma, ischaemic heart disease or suicide, although the effects of socio-economic status and size of the Aboriginal population remained. The spatial component of this study showed an association between land degradation and human health. These results indicated that such processes are driving the degree of psychological ill-health in these populations, although it remains uncertain whether this 4 is secondary to overall coexisting rural poverty or some other environmental mechanism. To further investigate this complex issue an instrument designed to measure mental health problems in rural communities was developed. Components of the survey included possible triggers for mental health, including environmental factors. The interview was administered in a pilot study through a telephone survey of a small number of farmers in South-Western Australia. Using logistic regression a significant association between the mental health of male farmers and dryland salinity was detected. However, the sample size of the survey was too small to detect any statistically significant associations between dryland salinity and the mental health of women. The results of this study indicate that dryland salinity, as with other examples of ecosystem degradation, is associated with an increased burden of human disease.