From Sydney and Shanghai : Australian and Chinese women writing modernism

In the 1930s and 1940s, Australian women writers published novels, poems, and short stories that pushed the boundaries of their national literary culture. From their position in the Pacific, they entered into a dialogue with a European modernism that they reworked to invigorate their own writing and to make cross-continental connections. My interest in the work of Australian women prose writers of this period stems from an appreciation of the extent of their engagement with interwar modernism (an engagement that is generally under-acknowledged) and the realization that there are commonalities of approach with the ways in which contemporaneous Chinese authors negotiated this transnational cultural traffic. China and Australia, it has been argued, share an imaginative and literal association of many centuries, and this psychic history produces a situation in which ‘Australians feel drawn towards China: they cannot leave it alone.’1 Equally, Chinese exploration of the great southern land began in the fifteenth century, prior to European contact. In recent times, the intensity of Australia’s cultural and commercial connections with Asia has led to a repositioning of the Australian sense of regionalism in general and, in particular, has activated yet another stage in the history of its relationship with China. In this context, the association of Australian and Chinese writing is instructive because the commonalities of approach and areas of interest between certain authors indicate that Australian writers were not alone in either the content or style of their response to European modernism. This recognition, in turn, advances discussions of modernism in Australia and reveals an alternative way of looking at the world from the Pacific Rim through literature. The intent is to examine selective Australian and Chinese authors who are part of this continuous history and whose writing demonstrates common thematic and stylistic features via the vector of modernism. I focus on the 1930s and 1940s because these are the decades in which Australia and China experienced wideranging conflict in the Pacific, and it is significant that war, both forthcoming and actual, features as an ominous soundtrack in the writing of Chinese and Australian women. I argue that, given the immensity of cultural difference between Australia and China, there is an especially interesting juncture in the ways in which the authors interrogate modernist practices and the challenge of modernism. The process in which writing from the Pacific Rim jointly negotiates the twin desires of engaging with European literary form and representing one’s own culture may be seen as what Jessica Berman identifies as a geomodernism, one of the ‘new possible geographies’ of modernism.2 My discussion centres on the work of the Australian women, to which the Chinese material serves as a point of reference, albeit a critical one. The Chinese writing examined here is restricted to authors who wrote at least some material in English and whose work is available in translation.

Air evacuation in war : the role of RAAF nurses undertaking air evacuation of casualties between 1943-1953

Air transportation of Australian casualties in World War II was initially carried out in air ambulances with an accompanying male medical orderly. By late 1943 with the war effort concentrated in the Pacific, Allied military authorities realised that air transport was needed to move the increasing numbers of casualties over longer distances. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) became responsible for air evacuation of Australian casualties and established a formal medical air evacuation system with trained flight teams early in 1944. Specialised Medical Air Evacuation Transport Units (MAETUs) were established whose sole responsibility was undertaking air evacuations of Australian casualties from the forward operational areas back to definitive medical care. Flight teams consisting of a RAAF nursing sister (registered nurse) and a medical orderly carried out the escort duties. These personnel had been specially trained in Australia for their role. Post-WWII, the RAAF Nursing Service was demobilised with a limited number of nurses being retained for the Interim Air Force. Subsequently, those nurses were offered commissions in the Permanent Air Force. Some of the nurses who remained were air evacuation trained and carried out air evacuations both in Australia and as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Australia became responsible for the air evacuation of British Commonwealth casualties from Korea to Japan. With a re-organisation of the Australian forces as part of the British Commonwealth forces, RAAF nurses were posted to undertake air evacuation from Korea and back to Australia from Iwakuni, Japan. By 1952, a specialised casualty staging section was established in Seoul and staffed by RAAF nurses from Iwakuni on a rotation basis. The development of the Australian air evacuation system and the role of the flight nurses are not well documented for the period 1943-1953. The aims of this research are three fold and include documenting the origins and development of the air evacuation system from 1943-1953; analysing and documenting the RAAF nurse’s role and exploring whether any influences or lessons remain valid today. A traditional historical methodology of narrative and then analysis was used to inform the flight nurse’s role within the totality of the social system. Evidence was based on primary data sources mainly held in Defence files, the Australian War Memorial or the National Archives of Australia. Interviews with 12 ex-RAAF nurses from both WWII and the Korean War were conducted to provide information where there were gaps in the primary data and to enable exploration of the flight nurses’ role and their contributions in war of the air evacuation of casualties. Finally, this thesis highlights two lessons that remain valid today. The first is that interoperability of air evacuation systems with other nations is a force multiplier when resources are scarce or limited. Second, the pre-flight assessment of patients was essential and ensured that there were no deaths in-flight.

Making sense of Australia's war memorials

War memorials are an important part of the Australian landscape and culture. This essay suggests five possible explanations for this: a) imperial loyalty, at least initially; b) the warrior cult; c) guilt at the loss of so many young people in a seemingly senseless fashion; d) the demise of formal religion, and; e) the insecure nature of Australian nationalism.

A New robot for environmental monitoring on the Great Barrier Reef

A vast amount of research into autonomous underwater navigation has, and is, being conducted around the world. However, typical research and commercial platforms have limited autonomy and are generally unable to navigate efficiently within coral reef environments without tethers and significant external infrastructure. This paper outlines the development and presents experimental results into the performance evaluation of a new robotic vehicle for underwater monitoring and surveying in highly unstructured environments. The hybrid AUV design developed by the CSIRO robotic reef monitoring team realises a compromise between endurance, manoeuvrability and functionality. The vehicle represents a new era in AUV design specifically focused at providing a truly lowcost research capability that will progress environmental monitoring through unaided navigation, cooperative robotics, sensor network distribution and data harvesting.

The constitutional power to make war: domestic legal issues raised by Australia's action in Iraq

The legal power to declare war has traditionally been a part of a prerogative to be exercised solely on advice that passed from the King to the Governor-General no later than 1942. In 2003, the Governor- General was not involved in the decision by the Prime Minister and Cabinet to commit Australian troops to the invasion of Iraq. The authors explore the alternative legal means by which Australia can go to war - means the government in fact used in 2003 - and the constitutional basis of those means. While the prerogative power can be regulated and/or devolved by legislation, and just possibly by practice, there does not seem to be a sound legal basis to assert that the power has been devolved to any other person. It appears that in 2003 the Defence Minister used his legal powers under the Defence Act 1903 (Cth) (as amended in 1975) to give instructions to the service head(s). A powerful argument could be made that the relevant sections of the Defence Act were not intended to be used for the decision to go to war, and that such instructions are for peacetime or in bello decisions. If so, the power to make war remains within the prerogative to be exercised on advice. Interviews with the then Governor-General indicate that Prime Minister Howard had planned to take the matter to the Federal Executive Council 'for noting', but did not do so after the Governor-General sought the views of the then Attorney-General about relevant issues of international law. The exchange raises many issues, but those of interest concern the kinds of questions the Governor-General could and should ask about proposed international action and whether they in any way mirror the assurances that are uncontroversially required for domestic action. In 2003, the Governor-General's scrutiny was the only independent scrutiny available because the legality of the decision to go to war was not a matter that could be determined in the High Court, and the federal government had taken action in March 2002 that effectively prevented the matter coming before the International Court of Justice

The relationship between Australians and the overseas graves of the First World War

The purpose of this thesis is to outline the relationship that existed in the past and exists in the present, between Australians and the War Graves and Memorials to the Missing. commemorations of Australians who died during the First World War. Their final resting places are scattered all over the world and provide a tangible record of the sacrifice of men and women in the war, and represent the final result by Official Agencies such as the Imperial, and later, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and its agency representative, the Office of Australian War Graves, of an attempt to appropriately commemorate them. The study follows the path of history from the event of death of an individual in the First World War, through their burial; temporary grave or memorial commemoration; the permanent commemoration; the family and public reaction to the deaths; how the Official Agencies of related Commonwealth Governments dealt with the dead; and finally, how the Australian dead are represented on the battlefields of the world in the 21st century. Australia.s war dead of the First World War are scattered around the globe in more than 40 countries and are represented in war cemeteries and civil cemeteries; and listed on large „Memorials to the Missing., which commemorate the individuals devoid of a known graves or final resting place.

Journalists at war

Journalism is an especially hazardous profession when it takes the reporter into zones of war and conflict. The Committee to Protect Journalists records that in 2010 44 journalists were killed while carrying out their duties. Some of these were reporting conflict in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and elsewhere. Others were on assignments covering crime and corruption in Mexico, Russia, Venezuela*all places where telling truth to power can easily get you killed, beaten or banged up. In the last 20 years some 874 journalists have been killed on the job, and we salute them all. Journalists get criticised a lot by we scholars, and often for good reason. They can be villains, for sure, but they can also be heroes, when they lay down their lives in the pursuit of the truth. As this piece was being edited, photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed in Libya.

A discussion of Fashion Victims: Various responses to the report by War on Want, Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 3 Iss: 2, pp.170 - 185

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a selection of responses to the report Fashion Victims, published by War on Want in December 2006. It offers a range of viewpoints presented by members of the Editorial Advisory Board of CPOIB. These are presented in chronological order of submission. There is some cross-reference by contributors to the work of others, but no attempt is made to present a unified argument. Design/methodology/approach – Presents the full contributions of involved participants, without mediation or editorial change. Findings – A number of different perspectives are presented on the central issue that is summarised by the opening heading in War on Want’s report – “How cheap is too cheap?” It is seen that the answer to this question is very much dependent upon the standpoint of the respondent. Originality/value – In presenting this form of commentary, members of the CPOIB Editorial Board seek to stimulate debate about an issue of concern to contemporary society, without resort to the time delay and mediating processes of peer-review normally attached to academic writing. It is hoped that this discussion will provoke further contributions and a widening of the debate. Keywords Corporate social responsibility, Multinational companies, Conditions of employment, Trade unions

Culture and creative industries in Australia

It has been argued that the origins of modern creative industries policies can be found in Australia. The Creative Nation national cultural policy statement released by the Labor government headed by the Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1994 sought an original synthesis of arts and media policies that was outwardly looking, identifying the opportunities presented by what were then new digital media technologies, and clearly stated the economic opportunities presented by promotion of what were referred to at the time as the cultural industries. Several commentators have identified the influence that Creative Nation had on the Blair Labour government when it came to power in the United Kingdom in 1997. Faced with the question of how to revitalise the once-mighty industrial cities of the U.K. after the Conservative government, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport drew upon policy documents such as Australia’s Creative Nation, as well as the experience of local governments in these cities, in looking to the cultural sectors to spearhead new jobs growth, as well as re-branding the cities as cultural or creative cities in a post-industrial economic landscape. This growing alignment of culture and economics, that has been a characteristic of creative industries policies as they have developed in Australia, Britain, East Asia and Europe, marks an interesting shift in the traditional focus of arts and cultural policy as compensatory to the economic domain. The first Chair of what would become the Arts Council of Great Britain (now the Arts Council of England) was the famous economist John Maynard Keynes. In the First Annual Report of the Arts Council for 1945-1946, prepared in the latter stages of the Second World War, Keynes proposed that “the day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems — the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behaviour and religion”. 中文摘要 1994年工黨執政時期澳洲總理基挺（Paul Keating）發表創意的國家（The Creative Nation）的文化政策聲明堪稱是澳洲現代創意產業的起源，該聲明試圖將藝術與媒體政策結合在一起，其目的在面向海外，為新數位媒體技術尋找機會。聲明中明確指出要推動文化產業為經濟帶來機會。「文化政策也是經濟政策。文化創造財富與附加價值，對創新、行銷與設計有重要貢獻，是我們工業的標誌（badge）。我們創意的層次實際上決定了我們適應新經濟imperatives的能力。文化本身就是項重要出口，是其他產品出口的主要附件（essential accompaniment）。文化吸引觀光與學生，也是我們經濟成功之關鍵。」 創意產業的策略是構建藝術、媒體與資訊電信科技的網絡以利文化產業在國家創新政策策略中擁有一席之地。此一策略最早是由1990年代末英國布萊爾（Tony Blair）的新工黨政府所採行，其後歐洲聯盟、澳洲、紐西蘭、新加坡、台灣、南韓與中國。

Journeys to health services in Great Britain : an analysis of changing travel patterns 1985-2006

This paper examines changing patterns in the utilisation and geographic access to health services in Great Britain using National Travel Survey data (1985-2006). The utilisation rate was derived using the proportion of journeys made to access health services. Geographic access was analysed by separating the concept into its accessibility and mobility dimensions. Regression analyses were conducted to investigate the differences between different socio-spatial groups in these indicators over the period 1985-2006. This study found that journey distances to health facilities were significantly shorter and also gradually reduced over the period in question for Londoners, females, those without a car or on low incomes, and older people. However, most of their rates of utilisation of health services were found to be significantly lower because their journey times were significantly longer and also gradually increased over the periods. These findings indicate that the rate of utilisation of health services largely depends on mobility level although previous research studies have traditionally overlooked the mobility dimension.

Problems with a great idea : referral by prehospital emergency services to a community-based falls-prevention service

Background and aim Falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults. Identifying people at risk before they experience a serious fall requiring hospitalisation allows an opportunity to intervene earlier and potentially reduce further falls and subsequent healthcare costs. The purpose of this project was to develop a referral pathway to a community falls-prevention team for older people who had experienced a fall attended by a paramedic service and who were not transported to hospital. It was also hypothesised that providing intervention to this group of clients would reduce future falls-related ambulance call-outs, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions. Methods An education package, referral pathway and follow-up procedures were developed. Both services had regular meetings, and work shadowing with the paramedics was also trialled to encourage more referrals. A range of demographic and other outcome measures were collected to compare people referred through the paramedic pathway and through traditional pathways. Results Internal data from the Queensland Ambulance Service indicated that there were approximately six falls per week by community-dwelling older persons in the eligible service catchment area (south west Brisbane metropolitan area) who were attended to by Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics, but not transported to hospital during the 2-year study period (2008–2009). Of the potential 638 eligible patients, only 17 (2.6%) were referred for a falls assessment. Conclusion Although this pilot programme had support from all levels of management as well as from the service providers, it did not translate into actual referrals. Several explanations are provided for these preliminary findings.