Governance at community level: Small towns in rural Victoria

The ‘blurring’ of the boundaries between and within public and private sectors has led to new styles of governing that affect the way that rural communities organise themselves. Some have called this a shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’ where there has been a convergence of neo-liberal and communitarian ideologies to form the basis of a new relationship between the state, the market and civil society. We analyse the impact of these converging ideologies using a survey of development groups in 35 towns in rural Victoria and explore the types of community governance that have emerged as a response to changes in those towns that lost their local government authorities in the last decade of the twentieth century.     

The Millennial Voice in Victoria to 1914

The expression of millennial beliefs in Australia has been little studied, perhaps because of the slight impact of adventism on the general religious experience. This essay surveys the millennial ideas current in nineteenth‐century Victoria. Both Protestant Christian sects and the mainstream churches of British origin are considered; fringe groups which drew inspiration from Christian concepts are also noticed. An outline of the prophetic concerns which emerged in England late in the eighteenth century and refined in detail thereafter is followed by a discussion of the introduction of those ideas to Victoria. Special attention is given to a number of millennial sects that established a presence in the 1850s. This is followed by a consideration of the millennial beliefs employed later in the century by the mainstream denominations, especially as they were faced with threats from liberals, doubters, and freethinkers. In conclusion, the impact of liberalism and moral enlightenment on the Christian faith is discussed and related to the decline in church membership during the twentieth century.     

The Aboriginal Adjustment Movement in Colonial Victoria

Whilst much has been written about Aboriginal religious syncretism in Australia, particularly about what has become known as the “Adjustment Movement” that occurred in Arnhem Land in the 1950s (see McIntosh 2004), there were several remarkable examples of spiritual adjustment by Aboriginal people a century earlier on the Victorian goldfields that hitherto have not been explored by historians. Building on Magowan's (2003) discussion of the connection between Christianity and the ancestral law of Aboriginal culture in northern Australia, this article will examine how Christian influences in colonial Victoria competed with, and conversely moulded, southern Kulin ancestral understanding. Several Kulin ceremonies — including the Myndee ceremony and the “Veinie Sacred Sunday Dance” — will be examined. These ceremonies were described by colonial officials (Joseph Panton, a Gold Commissioner, and William Thomas, the Aboriginal Guardian of Aborigines in Victoria) in the midst of a second wave of invasion and rupture for Victorian Aboriginal people — the first being the sheep herders in the 1830s, and the second being the gold rush which commenced in 1851. Serving as exemplars of what might be called the Victorian Aboriginal Adjustment Movement, these ceremonies demonstrate the extent to which Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria engaged in a culturally congruent mode of Christianity.     

Environmental Systems and Human Impact at Cobrico Crater,South-western Victoria

This study assesses human impact on the landscape around Cobrico, a volcanic crater lake in dairying country in south-western Victoria. It compares the last 150 years of impact of European settlement against approximately the previous 1500 years of prehistoric occupation and land use. Focus is on vegetation dynamics, erosion, productivity changes and the fire regime. Since European settlement there has been woodland clearance and recovery, the introduction of many plant and animal species and a significant increase in the intensity in the fire regime. While many direct linkages are apparent between environmental variables some operate over significant time lags. Fire has played a major role in vegetation dynamics and has favoured open ground taxa at the expense of Eucalyptus and Melaleuca. While major fires do not always lead to erosion in the catchment it is clear that some changes in the chemistry of erosion products have resulted, with potassium and iron showing increases in the historic period.     

Environmental response to land use at Lake Curlip,East Gippsland,Victoria

A palaeoecological approach was undertaken to investigate the last 400 years of change in vegetation, fire, nutrient mobility, lake productivity and erosion associated with Aboriginal and European land-use practices in a forested environment in eastern Victoria. Melaleuca ericifolia scrub, although present prior to European settlement, has expanded around Lake Curlip in the last 200 years, primarily due to the action of fire on a forest already weakened by drought. A fern understorey has declined in extent and a more open aspect has developed in the forest. Fire has been a major component of vegetation dynamics in the historical period. Erosion rates were comparatively low and associated with fire during prehistoric times, but after European settlement its increase is more closely related to land clearance and flooding than fire. The response of vegetation to both anthropogenic and natural influences changed during the historical period. Although fire is an integral part of vegetation change, it is not an over-riding effect at Lake Curlip. Drain construction in the swamp has reduced the impact that any accumulation of pasture improvement chemicals may have had on eutrophication of the lake.     

以瓷为媒的中西文化交流

瓷之韵——大英博物馆、英国国立维多利亚与艾伯特博物馆藏瓷器精品展展览的策划和筹备历时一年多,经过双方策展人的多次讨论,才形成最终的展览内容。大英博物馆和维多利亚与艾伯特博物馆的策展人为此挑选了148件套的精彩展品,为中国观众讲述明清时期中,     

维多利亚时代英国份田运动缘由及绩效的考察

19世纪的英国正处于工业化进程中的关键阶段。然而,由于圈地运动的影响、社会福利制度的不完善、乡村工业尤其是纺织业的逐渐衰败,导致工人严重失业,农村地区生活水平下降,骚乱频仍。为缓解社会矛盾,重塑自己在乡村社会中的形象,贵族地主提出了份田运动的倡议,份田制度逐渐得以建立。份田以精耕细作为特征,属劳动密集型农业。它的推广,补充了济贫法的不足,创造了大量的就业机会,缓解了农村的社会矛盾,提高了土地生产效率,为英国世界工场地位的最终确立提供了稳定的社会环境。     

The Constitution and Democracy in Victoria: Westminster on Trial

This article provides a broad overview and critical appraisal of the major changes to the role and rationale of government and public administration in Victoria brought about by the Kennett Liberal‐National Coalition government (1992–99). It does so in order to revisit and highlight the fading relevance and viability of the Westminster system of 'responsible government' in the constitutional systems of the States. We show how the Victorian Constitution provides very few restraints upon a government seeking to undermine civil and political rights, weaken the Opposition, marginalise contestatory institutions and restrict information. Against the Westminster system, we defend a republican constitutional arrangement that is able to maintain the contestability of public power. To this end, we suggest a range of workable reforms designed to strengthen democracy and to improve the accountability of public power, particularly that of the political executive.