Remote Australia Online

Regional planning for and management of the environment and natural resources are the new foci of the Australian Government's funding initiative, the Natural Heritage Trust Phase Two (NHT2). NHT2 attempts to integrate and coordinate the efforts of the many local environmental community groups that work on-ground. By operating at the regional scale, it is expected that more strategic and targeted outcomes will be achieved. This paper examines how the shift to regional-scale delivery has affected key stakeholders in South Australia, focussing on the experiences of a sub-regional environmental community group. Interviews with key regional stakeholders, participant observation and document analysis highlighted difficulties in the transition to regional delivery, for both regional and local groups. Limited funding, restrictive timelines, vague guidelines and prescriptive information, slowed the development of the regional plan and frustrated regional groups. A lack of communication and limited community participation in developing the regional plan created uncertainty and confusion in the sub-regional community group, resulting in mistrust of and alienation from the regional groups. Concern was also expressed over the loss of the local-scale focus, particularly as community leaders moved to higher decision-making positions within the region. It is too early too assess the effectiveness of the regional groups. However, if the issues identified during the transitional phase are not addressed, then the regional groups may struggle to achieve their objectives.

This paper considers the likely future population in Australia to 2050 and is cast within the context of environmental limitations, to which Griffith Taylor alerted the nation in the 1920s and 1930s, and for which he was vilified in several quarters. While acknowledging the relative accuracy of his long-range forecasts, the arguments here depart from environmental determinism, although varying sets of environmental ethics and values are considered in relation to Australia's global responsibilities and international commitments. It is argued that an increase in population to 26 million by 2050 will not place severe stresses on the physical environment, provided environmental and resource management strategies are put firmly in place, and if consumption and resource use practices are significantly modified. An ideological linkage exists between a resurgent Australian nationalism and a number of environmental perspectives, but one which rejects growth and biological diversity among humans while embracing environmentalism. This inward-looking nationalism–environmentalism is seen

This book examines so-called population turnaround describing the very significant migration of nearly one million people from metropolitan to non-metropolitan Australia over the last 30 years.

This book provides a basic understanding of the main techniques and concepts of quantitative and qualitative research using simple examples and practice exercises. It includes information on ethics of research and guidelines for writing up research reports. Contents: • Pt. 1. General Orientation. 1. Contrasting perspectives. 2. Ethics of research. 3. Selecting a research topic and reviewing the literature • Pt. 2. Quantitative Methods. 4. Descriptive statistics. 5. Normal distribution and statistical significance. 6. Sampling and standard error of the mean. 7. Hypothesis formation and testing. 8. Levels of measurement. 9. Variables. 10. Research design and the control of error. 11. Choosing statistical tests. 12. Power and effect size. 13. Testing hypotheses of difference I: Independent groups design. 14. Testing hypotheses of difference II: Paired groups design. 15. Testing hypotheses of relationship I: Chi square. 16. Testing hypotheses of relationship II: Correlation. 17. Other correlation techniques. 18. Predication and simple linear regression. 19. Analysis of variance (ANOVA). 20. Reliability and validity. 21. Meta-analysis. 22. The experimental research report • Pt. 3. Qualitative Methods. 23. Ethnographic research. 24. Unstructured interviewing. 25. Action-research. 26. Case studies. 27. Historical research. 28. The qualitative research report • Pt. 4. Survey Methods. 29. Attitude surveys. 30. Structured interview and questionnaire surveys.

Pt. 1. Concepts and Approaches to Depth Interviewing. Interview 'Facts' as Evidence to Support Inferences to Eventual Theorisation Representation Models. Conceptual Frameworks for Studying and Inferring from (Research) Interview Interaction Practice. Models of Research Design and their Application to Semi-Structured Depth Interviewing. Lightly and Heavily-Structured Depth Interviewing: Theory-Questions and Interviewer-Questions Pt. 2. Up to the Inerview: Strategies for Getting the Right Materials. Preparing for Any Interviewing Sequence. Preparing Lightly-Structured Depth Interviews: A Design for a BNIM-Type Biographic-Narrative Interview. Preparing Moderately- or Heavily-Structured Interviews Pt. 3. Around the Interview: Contact Management - Theory and Practice. Before Making Contact and Starting the Fieldwork Phase of the Research Process. The Session Pt. 4. After the Interview: Strategies for Working the Materials. Copying, Indexing and Transcribing. Analyzing/​Interpreting Any Interview Materials: Answers to TQs. Analysing/​Interpreting SQUIN-BNIM Interview Materials: Answers to TQs Pt. 5. Comparison of Cases: From Contingencies of Cases to Types of Typologies. Resources for Typification and General-Models Within Single-Case Research. Types of Typologies Pt. 6. Writing Up: Strategies of Re-Presentation. Conceptual Frameworks for Studying and Re-presenting. Writings Up: Theorizing and Narrating in 'Presentation' Strategies. 'Writing Up' Biographic Sub-genres: Suggestions by Way of a Conclusion.

Qualitative interviewing: Asking, listening and interpreting

refer May, T. 2002 'Qualitative Research in Action'

Provides students, researchers and practitioners with a thorough exposition of the value of using in-depth interviewing in qualitative research. Examples of research are used across the disciplines to show its wide applications. Minichiello and Hays, University New England, Australia; Aroni, Monash University, Australia. Contents: Introduction Preparation work In-depth interviewing Interview processes Life history Group interviewing : from focus group interviews to consensus groups Pragmatics of in-depth interviewing Ethics and politics Assembling and organising the data Analysing the data and writing it up

Q methodology combines the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, and its use in research has been facilitated by recent developments in computer software. Q methodology is briefly illustrated in a single-case study of the subjective experience of health care, and the data generated are used to illustrate the QMethod package, a menu-driven freeware program for mainframes and PCs that facilitates Q-sort data entry, correlation and factor analysis, theoretical rotation of factors, and calculation of factor scores. Instructions are provided for obtaining QMethod, for subscribing to a journal devoted to Q methodology, and for joining the Q methodology electronic discussion group.

Q method is a quantitative technique for eliciting, evaluating, and comparing human subjectivity. We introduce the method here and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, especially with regards to its incorporation into human geographic research. We conclude that Q method is particularly appropriate for human geographies informed by anti-essentialist notions of the subject and constructivist accounts of social and natural reality. Claims by the founders of Q method that hold that the procedure distances and removes the bias of the researcher are shown to be unfounded and epistemologically naïve. Nevertheless, Q method is a rigorous, hermeneutic, and iterative technique that allows the researcher to surrender the monopoly of control in their relationship with the researched and so contribute to more democratic research design and implementation.

This report documents the outcomes of processes undertaken as a result of the national research project Missed Opportunities: Harnessing the Potential of Women in Australian Agriculture. In 1997 the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australia (AFFA) (formerly the Department of Primary Industries and Energy) commissioned a national three stage research project to investigate the role that women play in the agricultural sector. This is a report on Stage 2 of the project. Stage 1 involved extensive consultation with a range of players in the agriculture and resource management sectors. Its outcomes are recorded in the report, Missed Opportunities-Harnessing the Potential of Women in Australian Agriculture. The Report documents the potential contribution women can make to agriculture, both directly and through participation in decision-making. It also identifies barriers to women’s participation in numerous areas such as leadership, decision-making and innovation as well as identifying possible change strategies and best practices for involving women in the agricultural sector. The Stage 1 report identified three common issues, recurring across different components of the agricultural sector, which need to be addressed by those who are involved within the sector. These issues form the basis for the work undertaken in Stage 2 of the project. The issues are: • The culture within the sector, which is seen to be male-oriented and unwelcoming, or even exclusive of women as leaders and managers • The competing demands of work within the sector and family responsibilities, the overwhelming burden of which still fall to women • The extent to which women’s self-perception or lack of confidence inhibits their progress to positions as leaders and managers within their sector The objectives of Stage 2 are to increase women’s recognition and input within the rural sector by: • Applying the strategies identified in Stage 1, and other agreed change management strategies, in two case study organisations, in order to identify those strategies most likely to succeed; and • Utilise the outcomes from the case study activities to develop ‘best practice’ models for increasing women’s input and influence in organisations within the sector

This publication is designed to assist others to learn from the experiences of fourteen of these towns, each of which has a population of less than 3,000 people. Whilst these towns vary among themselves in history and geography, there are some recurring elements in the processes of their social and economic revitalisation. As well as examining these particular processes, this kit provides information on a wide range of resources that are available to assist rural communities in developing strategies appropriate to their own situations.

The Fourth Edition of Designing Qualitative Research once again provides pragmatic guidance for developing and successfully defending proposals for qualitative inquiry. With expanded coverage of ethics, analysis processes, and approaches, authors Catherine Marshall and Gretchen B. Rossman have updated this highly popular text to reflect the advances and challenges presented by provocative developments and new applications since the previous edition. Contents: • Introduction • The "what" of the study : building the conceptual framework • The "how" of the study : building the research design • Data collection methods • Managing, analyzing, and interpreting data • Planning time and resources • Articulating the value and logic of qualitative research.

The out-migration of youth is a particular concern facing rural communities. A study of eight communities in the Blackwood region of South Western Australia demonstrates the key role of educational availability in encouraging the out-migration of people, especially young people, from rural areas. The study also highlights difficulties involved in university study for people who do not reside in a metropolitan area. Finally, the study suggests three possible ways that access to educational services can be increased for people in rural towns: via innovative delivery styles, diversification of the client base, and differentiation of educational products.

This study explores current education, training, and employment issues and opportunities for rural youth in Australia, and suggests ways in which relevant education, training, and employment options and prospects can be generated for rural youth. Specifically, this study documents the ways that economic and social changes in rural communities have impacted young people; identifies service gaps for young rural people that contribute to or hinder their effective participation in education, employment, and training; examines the adequacy of employment counseling services in local rural economies; identifies barriers to employment, education, and training opportunities for rural youth; documents likely growth industries in rural Australia that are relevant to young women and men; describes innovative models that generate education and training options for rural youth; and explores current and proposed use of information technologies that support education, training, and employment outcomes. Recommendations are made in areas of education, pathways, employment, retention, participation, and specific Indigenous issues. The recommendations reflect the realization that strategies must address individual community demographics, culture, and need. They emphasize the importance of local creativity and partnerships between business, communities, schools, and government in responding to rural issues. Eight appendices present conferences attended, consultation tools, contact details for innovative programs, summary of youth consultation issues and comments, principles that enhance youth participation, and a discussion of youth entrepreneurship education.

This study seeks to highlight the response made by the people of Tumby Bay to the extremely negative publicity the town received in an article in The Advertiser, South Australia's only daily newspaper, in 1991. The township, whilst believing that this publicity was inaccurate, was concerned about the social impact of the rural recession upon its community. Families were leaving the district. Stress levels amongst families that chose to stay were high, with the associated consequence of marital breakdown. There was an increase in psychological and medical complaints - depression and anxiety, and rumours of an increase in the rate of suicide. Local businesses were feeling the pinch of a depressed economy and, in general, community morale was low. There was a growing awareness that something had to be done, and that the community could no longer depend on government assistance, or a sudden turnaround in the economy to change their situation. Thus, in retrospect, the negative publicity acted as a catalyst in mobilising the community into action. The findings of the study identify the need to address financial debt reduction proposals with banking and State authorities, as well as promoting the assets of these towns. Educational facilities enabling local community involvement coupled with an increased commitment of local government to social concerns are seen as the means of enhancing community development.

Three basic assumptions, common in the literature on tourism, regarding “commoditization”, “staged authenticity”, and the inability of tourists to have authentic experiences are re-examined. Authenticity is conceived as a negotiable rather than primitive concept, the rigor of its definition by subjects depending on the mode of their aspired touristic experience. New cultural developments may also acquire the patina of authenticity over time — a process designated at “emergent authenticity”. It is also argued that commoditization does not necessarily destroy the meaning of cultural products, although it may change it or add new meanings to old ones. Conclusions contrary to the deductions following from the above assumptions are spelled out, and a new approach to the study of authenticity and meaning in tourism, which could help the formulation of a more discerning tourism policy, is advocated.

The primary focus of my research is Australian rural women. I am interested in unearthing within their space(s), the issues with which they contend whilst engaging in self-management of chronic illness, so that health policies and strategies for health management might reflect these issues and needs. In this paper I will argue that the mythology of the ‘rural idyll' is full of dogmatic traditions. The dogmatism inherent in this idealistic view has direct implications for the lives of rural women, as it disguises or renders invisible the conflict, subordination, exploitation, inequality, marginalisation and exclusion which are reality for many women, and which portrays them as one happy, subordinate and homogenous group. It also ignores the diversity of the spaces and roles of Australian rural women.

This paper examines the implications, for overall social welfare and inequality comparisons, of using different definitions of the unit of analysis - the income recipient - in computing summary measures. Comparisons are made using the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS), a simulation model of the Australian direct tax and benefit system, of the effects of flattening the marginal tax rate structure. The reform was found to reduce inequality in all cases. However, it was not always judged to improve social welfare, depending on the degree of inequality aversion and the type of income unit chosen.

This title draws together many of the contemporary issues and themes in Australian and international tourism in a manner that is easy to understand and useful to students of tourism, hospitality, leisure, recreation, geography, environmental studies and resource management. Contents The scope of tourism studies 2. Historical dimensions of tourism 3. Why do we travel? Tourist motivations and markets 4. Imaging and branding the destination 5. Government and tourism: the national level 6. State, regional, and local government approaches to tourism 7. Industry and labour 8. The economic dimensions and impacts of tourism 9. The social and cultural dimensions of tourism 10. The environmental dimensions and impacts of tourism 11. Tourism planning and destination development 12. Special interest tourism in rural and perpheral areas: farm, wine, adventure and nature-based tourism 13. Urban tourism development: retailing, culture, heritage, events, and the city as product 14. The future direction of tourism.

Unique in concept and content, this book examines the relationship between the sectors that represent opposite sides of the cultural tourism coin. While tourism professionals assess cultural assets for their profit potential, cultural heritage professionals judge the same assets for their intrinsic value. Sustainable cultural tourism can only occur when the two sides form a true partnership based on understanding and appreciation of each other's merits. The authors - one, a tourism specialist, the other, a cultural heritage management expert - present a model for a working partnership with mutual benefits, integrating management theory and practice from both disciplines.The book combines the different perspectives of tourism management and cultural heritage management. It examines the role of tangible (physical evidence of culture) and intangible (continuing cultural practices, knowledge, and living experiences) heritage, describes the differences between cultural tourism products and cultural heritage assets, and develops a number of conceptual models, including a classification system for cultural tourists, indicators of tourism potential at cultural and heritage assets, and assessment criteria for cultural and heritage assets with tourism potential. Ö. Contents Ch. 1. Introduction Ch. 2. Challenges in Achieving Sustainable Cultural Tourism Ch. 3. How Tourism Works Ch. 4. Cultural Heritage Management Ch. 5. Tangible Heritage Ch. 6. Intangible Heritage and Its Management Ch. 7. Cultural Tourism Products - A Regional Perspective Ch. 8. Commodification, Environmental Bubbles, and Cultural Tourism Products Ch. 9. The Cultural Tourism Market: A Cultural Tourism Typology Ch. 10. Gatekeepers Ch. 11. Assessment Ch. 12. Asset Auditing and Planning Ch. 13. Marketing Ch. 14. Presentation and Management of Heritage Assets.

Part 1. Populate and prosper: understanding the connections between economics, business and population in Australia Part 2. How many footprints on the wide brown land? The environmental dimensions of population policy Part 3. Migration, fertitlity and cultural life: population policy and the evolution of Australian identity Conclusion. The contours of the debate: agreements, disagreements and the barriers to a meaningful population policy The Population Summit 2002 communiqué.

First published in Italian in 1851; account of first contact with Aborigines and abortive attempts to found missions; fighting among Aborigines; foundation of New Norcia; place of Aborigines among races of the world; religious beliefs; language (with vocabulary list of two dialects at New Norcia); music; social organization; body ornamentation; Material culture especially weapons; hunting methods and native foods (plant, insect, etc.); native medicine and sorcery; [Tribes are Juet and Balardong identified in an Appendix by R.M. Berndt q.v. for annotation] Contents Western Australia: the origin and development of the Benedictine mission to the natives The Australian natives Australia and its natural history The colonization of Australia

Tourism is often seen as a panacea for the ills of declining rural communities. The paper argues that there is an element of blind optimism in this view although a shift of focus from production to consumption within advanced economies like Australia's will undoubtedly provide opportunities for the development of the leisure, recreation and tourism industries, both in metropolitan and rural areas. The paper suggests that an increased focus on lifestyle will come to characterise Australia. Some rural communities will be able to capitalise on this, both for temporary visitors and for in-migration, but many will not. The well-established concepts of threshold and range, when coupled with the idea of specialisation, will have a large influence on which places 'win' and which 'lose' in any lifestyle-led and leisure-oriented society. 'Place marketing' will become increasingly important for towns competing against each other for the 'leisure and lifestyle dollar'.

This report summarises the findings from the investigation of the predicted economic impact of rising saline groundwater in six rural towns representing the range of situations found in the agricultural areas of WA. The six towns are Brookton, Corrigin, Cranbrook, Katanning, Merredin and Morawa, and separate reports have been published for each. An electronic Decision Support Tool called the Urban Salinity Economic Analysis Package (USEAP) and associated Operating Manual were also produced.