Rainforests,Agriculture and Aboriginal Fire‐Regimes in Wet Tropical Queensland,Australia

This paper challenges the hypothesis that Aboriginal fire‐regimes in the coastal wet tropics of north Queensland have been responsible for significant rainforest decline in the past, and rejects the narrative that recent rainforest expansion is the result of the disappearance of Aboriginal people and their fire practices from the area. Mapping of vegetation in the Mossman district in c. 1890 from surveyors’ plans, and in 1945 and 1991 from aerial photography demonstrates that the expansion of rainforest since 1945 represents a recovery following extensive rainforest destruction associated with sugar cane cultivation in the first 70 years of European occupation. Kuku‐Yalanji Aboriginal people continued to occupy their traditional lands, and participated in the sugar industry, throughout this period. They adapted their fire management practices to the changed economic and social circumstances. Management of fire by the Kuku‐Yalanji people prior to European occupation ensured the presence of extensive rainforest cover, whilst also providing access to fire‐prone forests and their cultural resources.     

An examination of student veteran education pathways at an American university

Military veterans are enrolling in higher education at the highest rates since the Second World War. This research seeks to examine how military experiences related to student experiences within the discipline of Geography. We use a survey instrument to measure student motivations, attitudes, and aspirations for declared Geography majors. Given a high presence of military connected students, we then examine the similarities and differences in motivations, attitudes, and aspirations between military connected and non-military students. Findings suggest that there are similarities between military and non-military students with regard to motivating factors for selecting Geography as a major, there are differences with regards to attitudes towards cultural geography, and differences in how students perceive their future interactions with the environment. Differences in demographics and travel experiences also are identified and likely contribute to shaping undergraduate geography experiences. The results offer useful insight on current Geography student needs, and assist faculty and departments in tailoring learning based on student experience.     

The Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland (ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100): An overview

Those communities that lived in Britain and Ireland ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100 represent particularly well-researched examples of the complex agrarian, nonurban, societies with high population densities that characterize the Pre-Roman Iron Age across temperate Europe. This paper provides a critical introduction to the extensive recent literature on the Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland. Evidence from the large number of salvage excavations and surveys, the application of a wide range of analytical techniques, and important changes in interpretative frameworks are transforming understandings of this period. After reviewing these developments, a chronological account of the period is outlined which attempts to integrate these new results. This suggests that current interpretations of social processes across Iron Age Europe in terms of state formation, urbanization, and core-periphery relations with Mediterranean civilization need revision.     

The un‐reconstructed republic

Al Grassby, The Australian Republic (Leichhardt, NSW: Pluto Press, 1993) pp.315 $24.95 ISBN 0 04013 894 0.

Alan Atkinson, The Muddle‐Headed Republic (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.145 $16.95 ISBN 0 19553 638 X.

George Winterton (ed.), We, the People: Australian Republican Government (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1994) pp.209 $19.95 ISBN 1 86373 640 9.

David Headon, James Warden and Bill Gammage (eds), Crown or Country: The Traditions of Australian Republicanism (St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1994) pp.197 $24.95 ISBN 1 86373 599 2.

Geoffrey de Q. Walker, Suri Ratnapala and Wolfgang Kasper, Restoring the True Republic (St Leonards, NSW: The Centre for Independent Studies, 1993) pp.74 $n.p. ISSN 0726 3635.