Theory and the analysis of Australian politics

Sharman's 1989 APSA Presidential Address is a welcome critique of the interpretation of Australian politics, but the questions that it raises need to be taken further. The importance of Australian political experience in the formation of an indigenous political tradition is recognised, but it is misleading to see it as stemming from the desire to limit executive power. This article explores the nature of this indigenous governmental tradition, and goes on to consider what we learn from this debate about the nature of constitutional theory, and the relationship of academic debate to constitutional models.     

GREENSTONE AXES FROM EASTERN CENTRAL SWEDEN: A TECHNOLOGICAL-PETROLOGICAL APPROACH*

Thin-section study of Mesolithic-Neolithic axes from five sites in eastern central Sweden and of dolerites occurring in the vicinity showed that the axes were almost definitely produced from local material. Knapping experiments were carried out on blanks from two of these local dolerite varieties and on control material from Delaware, New Jersey, to produce thin-butted axes. These showed that the unconventional shape of the Swedish preforms is mainly, if not completely, determined by the intrinsic properties of the rock and not by local or regional cultural differences or bad craftsmanship. A number of features were observed in thin-section, such as a relatively coarse grain size, veining and small cracks, which may lead to the inferior knapping qualities of the Swedish dolerites.