The Australian mortality decline: all-cause mortality 1788-1990

This review describes the Australian decline in all-cause mortality, 1788-1990, and compares this with declines in Europe and North America. The period until the 1870s shows characteristic 'crisis mortality', attributable to epidemics of infectious disease. A decline in overall mortality is evident from 1880. A precipitous fall occurs in infant mortality from 1900, similar to that in European countries. Infant mortality continues downward during this century (except during the 1930s), with periods of accelerated decline during the 1940s (antibiotics) and early 1970s. Maternal mortality remains high until a precipitous fall in 1937 coinciding with the arrival of sulphonamide. Excess mortality due to the 1919 influenza epidemic is evident. Artefactual falls in mortality occur in 1930, and for men during the war of 1939-1945. Stagnation in overall mortality decline during the 1930s and 1945-1970 is evident for adult males, and during 1960-1970 for adult females. A decline in mortality is registered in both sexes from 1970, particularly in middle and older age groups, with narrowing of the sex differential. The mortality decline in Australia is broadly similar to those of the United Kingdom and several European countries, although an Australian advantage during last century and the first part of this century may have been due to less industrialisation, lower population density and better nutrition. Australia shows no war-related interruptions in the mortality decline. Australian mortality patterns from 1970 are also similar to those observed in North America and European countries (including the United Kingdom, but excluding Eastern Europe).

The Australian species of Lobatocreadium Madhavi, 1972, Hypocreadium Ozaki, 1936 and Dermadena Manter, 1945 (Digenea: Lepocreadiidae), parasites of marine tetraodontiform fishes

The genera Lobatocreadium, Pseudocreadium, Hypocreadium and Dermadena are redefined and host lists given. Provisional keys to species of Lobatocreadium, Hypocreadium and Dermadena are presented. The following species are described from (1) the Great Barrier Reef: Lobatocreadium exiguum from Balistapus undulatus and Sufflamen bursa; Hypocreadium cavum n. sp. from Abalistes stellatus (type-host) and Cantheschenia grandisquamis; H. grandisquamis n. sp. from Cantheschenia grandisquamis; Dermadena spatiosa n. sp, from Cantheschenia grandisquamis; and (2) southwestern Australia: D. stirlingi n. sp. from Meeschenia hippocrepis. The following new combinations are made: Lobatocreadium vitellosum (Ozaki, 1936) n. comb. (originally Leptocreadium); Hypocrendium balistes (Nagaty, 1942) n. comb. (originally Pseudocreadium); H. biminensis (Sogandares-Bernal, 1959) n. comb. (originally Pseudocreadium); H. indicum (Madhavi, 1972) n. comb. (originally Pseudocreadium); and H. galapagoensis (Manter, 1945) n. comb. (originally Pseudocreadium). Several nominal species of Pseudocreadium and Hypocreadium are considered incertae sedis.

Western Images of Islam, 1700-1900

This paper traces fluctuating attitudes to Islam and its Prophet, particularly in the eighteenth and nineteenth. Western perceptions, as revealed by writers of the period, encyclopaedias, biographies and commentaries, were sometimes sympathetic, sometimes dismissive; sometimes celebrating Islam's piousness; sometimes accusing it of fraud. Sometimes Islam is seen as benign; sometimes its violence is seen as endemic. Often the cultural biases of western observers are obvious: the west is progressive and historically dominant, the east (and its cultural accoutrements) is degenerate and over-zealous. But we ought not judge religions or cultures by their worst manifestations alone. Oriental societies were never just Islamic or traditional. They comprise not only those who perpetuate oppressive practices towards women but also modernizers who seek change.