Lake Pedder's Loss and Failed Restoration: Ecological Politics Meets Liberal Democracy in Tasmania

The flooding of Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania for hydro-electricity in the early 1970s is recognised as one of the world's great ecological tragedies. The hope for its restoration, long held by some, has been given impetus by the activities of Pedder 2000, a nation-wide restoration lobby group founded in 1994. The legitimacy, feasibility and desirability of Pedder's restoration has been acknowledged, if not endorsed, by a recent federal inquiry. Restoration proponents see Pedder's recovery not only as a means of making amends for past follies, but as a new millennium project that offers hope to future generations. This paper reviews Pedder's inundation and the efforts towards its recovery, and finds little support for restoration in the absence of compelling economic and political benefit. This is cause to reflect, it is argued, upon the difficulties that ecological politics has encountered within Tasmania that saw Lake Pedder dammed in the first place.     

Invasion of a karst aquifer by hydrothermal fluids: evidence from stable isotopic compositions of cave mineralization

Mineral deposits in the Cupp‐Coutunn/Promeszutochnaya cave system (Turkmenia, central Asia) record a phase of hydrothermal activity within a pre‐existing karstic groundwater conduit system. Hydrothermal fluids entered the caves through fault zones and deposited sulphate, sulphide and carbonate minerals under phreatic conditions. Locally, intense alteration of limestone wall rocks also occurred at this stage. Elsewhere in the region, similar faults contain economic quantities of galena and elemental sulphur mineralization. Comparisons between the Pb and S isotope compositions of minerals found in cave and ore deposits confirm the link between economic mineralization and hydrothermal activity at Cupp‐Coutunn. The predominance of sulphate mineralization in Cupp‐Coutunn implies that the fluids were more oxidized in the higher permeability zone associated with the karst aquifer. A slight increase in the δ³⁴S of sulphate minerals and a corresponding δ³⁴S decrease in sulphides suggest that partial isotopic equilibration occurred during oxidation. Carbonate minerals indicate that the hydrothermal fluid was enriched in ¹⁸O (δ¹⁸O_SMOW ～ + 10‰) relative to meteoric groundwater and seawater. Estimated values for δ¹³C_DIC (δ¹³C_PDB ～ ? 13‰) are consistent with compositions expected for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) derived from the products of thermal decomposition of organic matter and dissolution of marine carbonate. Values derived for δ¹³C_DIC and δ¹⁸O_water indicate that the hydrothermal fluid was of basinal brine origin, generated by extensive water–rock interaction. Following the hydrothermal phase, speleothemic minerals were precipitated under vadose conditions. Speleothemic sulphates show a bimodal sulphur isotope distribution. One group has compositions similar to the hydrothermal sulphates, whilst the second group is characterized by higher δ³⁴S values. This latter group may either record the effects of microbial sulphate reduction, or reflect the introduction of sulphate‐rich groundwater generated by the dissolution of overlying evaporites. Oxygen isotope compositions show that calcite speleothems were precipitated from nonthermal groundwater of meteoric origin. Carbonate speleothems are relatively enriched in ¹³C compared to most cave deposits, but can be explained by normal speleothem‐forming processes under thin, arid‐zone soils dominated by C4 vegetation. However, the presence of sulphate speleothems, with isotopic compositions indicative of the oxidation of hydrothermal sulphide, implies that CO₂ derived by reaction of limestone with sulphuric acid (‘condensation corrosion’) contributed to the formation of ¹³C‐enriched speleothem deposits.     

The heritage tourist: an understanding of the visitor experience at heritage attractions

This study seeks to explore the visitor experience at heritage sites pre, during and post visit. A conceptual model depicting the heritage visitor experience was proposed. A self-administered survey (n?=?195) was completed by visitors at six heritage sites across Northern Ireland. Visitor characteristics and pre-experience were analysed and results showed that heritage visitors are primarily motivated by recreation and base their visitation decision on advice from friends and family. Results from the exploratory factor analysis showed that audio and visual communication, atmospherics, on-site engagement, information and heritage preservation were the most influential factors during a visit. Post-experience results indicate that 54% of the sample was satisfied with their visit and 85% would revisit the heritage site. The final model suggests a range of factors which positively contribute to the visitor experience at heritage sites though this requires further testing.     

Technological change and Post Office communications in Britain, 1918–1945

The pressures of both World War I and World War II made the British Post Office a central concern in national politics. Yet this development has received little attention in the historiography of the Post Office or the British state. The demands of war and expectations for service from individuals living in a consumer society raised questions as to how to improve technology and infrastructure to satisfy these divergent needs. The Post Office’s position as a department within the Civil Service meant that debates over the nature of technology, and the levels of spending required to sustain and improve Post Office services inevitably led to heated discussions concerning the practicalities of increased spending during the economic downturns of the 1920s and 1930s, and the subsequent pre-war planning period from 1937. This article will explore these issues by examining the nature of the Government-Post Office relationship in this period, and trace how the relationship evolved to accommodate the growing needs of the domestic and wartime economy. It will show the growing centrality of the Post Office to the nation’s communications planning. Moreover, it will demonstrate how a mixture of new technology, and an adaptation of working practices helped it adapt to both the peacetime economy of the 1920s, and the pressures of the World War II.     

Old-Time Fiddling in Big Sky Country

Old-time fiddling in Montana and neighboring states and provinces is highly organized but, except for a few well publicized contests, is rather invisible to people outside the fiddlers' circle. In Montana, old-time fiddling is structured around a state-wide association and organized into seven regional districts. The old-time fiddlers' association is much more than just a musical group. It is also a tightly knit social organization. Each district holds an annual series of jamborees and other “fiddle faddles.” These are festive social events, not competitions. Old-time fiddling is more active in Rocky Mountain Montana than in Great Plains Montana, and in the Missoula, Bitterroot and Flathead valleys than elsewhere in the mountains. The fiddlers and accompanists are amateur musicians, come from all walks of life, are predominantly in the older age group and more of them are men than women. The songs played are generally old-time fiddle tunes, not country-western music and the instruments used are mostly ordinary violins and guitars, not expensive ones. The highlight of each year's activities is the state fiddle contest held at Poison on Flathead Lake during the local cherry harvest.     

Book reviews

Australian politics

John Cain, John Cain's Years. Power, Parties and Politics (Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1995) pp.323 $29.95 ISBN 0 522 34615 7.

Braham Dabscheck, The Struggle for Australian Industrial Relations (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1995) pp.194 $26.95 ISBN 0 19 553486 7.

Timothy Doyle and Aynsley Kellow, Environmental Politics and Policy Making in Australia (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1995) pp.296 $32.95 ISBN 0 7329 2794 5.

Roy Green and Rodin Genoff (eds), Making the Future Work: Crisis and Change in the South Australian Economy (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1993) pp.254 $26.95 ISBN 1 86373 526 7.

Comparative and international politics

Howard Adelman, Allan Borowski, Meyer Burstein and Lois Foster (eds), Immigration and Refugee Policy: Australia and Canada Compared. 2 Vols. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1994) pp.725 $34.95 @ Vol.1 ISBN 0 52285 559 2, Vol.2 ISBN 0 52284 560 6.

David Arase, Buying Power: The Political Economy of Japan's Foreign Aid (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1995) pp.307 $US49.95 ISBN 1 55587 447 9.

Mohammed Ayoob, The Third World Security Predicament. State Making, Regional Conflict, and the International System (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995) pp.216 $US18.95 ISBN 1 55587 567 9.

Bruce J. Berman and Colin Leys (eds), African Capitalists in African Development (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.275 $US45.00 ISBN 1 55587 417 7.

Robert Ellas and Jennifer Turpin (eds), Rethinking Peace (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.380 $US19.95 ISBN 1 55587 488 6.

John R. Faust and Judith F. Kornberg, China in World Politics (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995) pp.281 SUS19.95 ISBN 1 55587 427 4.

Elie Kedourie, Nationalism, 4th ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.154 $US16.95 ISBN 0 63118 885 1.

Jan‐Erik Lane and Svante Ersson, Comparative Politics: An Introduction and New Approach (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994) pp.270 $35.95 ISBN 0 7456 1257 1.

Rosemary Righter, Utopia Lost: The United Nations and World Order (New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995) pp.420 $58.20 ISBN 0 87078 358 0.

Herbert F. Weisberg (ed.), Democracy's Feast: Elections in America (New Jersey: Chatham House, 1995) pp.353 $US29.95 ISBN 1 56643 011 9.

Spencer Zifcak, New Managerialism: Administrative Reform in Whitehall and Canberra (Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1994) pp.229 $39.95 ISBN 0 33519 304 8.

Political theory and methodology

R. Darcy and Richard Rohrs, A Guide to Quantitative History (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1995) pp.323 $35.25 ISBN: 0 275 95237 1.

Ernest Gellner, Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1994), pp.225 $35.00 ISBN 0 241 00220 6.

Jurgen Habermas, The Past as Future, interviews with Michael Haller (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994) pp.181 $34.95 ISBN 0 74561 454 X.

G.J. Mulgan, Politics in an Antipolitical Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994) pp.215 $US19.95 ISBN 0 745 60813 2.

Hugh Stretton and Lionel Orchard, Public Goods, Public Enterprise, Public Choice: Theoretical Foundations of the Contemporary Attack on Government (London: Macmillan Press, 1994) pp.301 $39.95 ISBN 0 33360 725 2.

Vernon Van Dyke, Ideology and Political Choice; the search for freedom, justice, and virtue (Chatham: Chatham House Publishers, 1995) pp.320 $US24.95 ISBN 1 56643 017 8.