A menace to this realm : the new guard and the New South Wales police, 1931-32

In 1931 and 1932, New South Wales faced civic collapse. During the last months of the Lang government, the semi-fascist New Guard became a serious threat to the state. This article examines the challenge posed by the New Guard to the New South Wales police, and the strategies used by the police to suppress the group. Superintendent W.J. MacKay, the colourful and Machiavellian future commissioner, effectively and ruthlessly exercised police power against the New Guard. This article disputes the dominant historical interpretation of this period, which sees the police as collaborators with a reactionary secret army, the ‘Old Guard’.

From the hustings to harbour views : electoral institutions in New South Wales 1856-2006

'Easy to enrol, easy to vote' was the slogan devised by the New South Wales electoral office in the 1980s. How did this system evolve from a British based model to a distinctively Australian one?

Inspired by the past, driven by the passion: music in state-supported education in New South Wales and Victoria 1848-1920

This investigation considers the development of class music teaching in New South Wales and Victoria during the first seventy-two years of state-supported primary education. The first chapter describes the English background including music teaching methods (resulting from the mid-nineteenth century English choral singing movement) and the subsequent development of music teaching in English elementary schools. The promotion of school music is then considered on a broadly chronological basis in the two states and several themes are identified in relation to school music policy and practice. These include the status of music (core curriculum or extra-curricular subject), who should teach music (generalist or specialist teachers), what teaching methods and music notation should be used (staff or Tonic Sol-fa), musical training for generalist teachers, and curriculum content in relation to the aims and objectives of school music. Comparisons are made between developments in both states and between both states and English school music. The final chapter demonstrates the relevance of many of the historical themes identified for music education today. The thesis concludes by identifying a recurring problem from the past. namely the lack of co-ordination between various aspects of school music policy, as the most serious problem to be overcome in the future.

Re-gendering labour: class and gender determinants of New South Wales electoral behaviour 1930-32

Historians have neglected tbe impact of female enfranchisement on Australian electoral outcomes. This papers employs multivariate analysis to explore electoral behaviour in New South Wales during the Great Depression. It argues that women were less prone to support Labor than men, but that women in paid employment constituted a partial exception to this pattern. In 1932 the conservative parties significantly eroded Labor's working-class support. Part of this success was due to the ability of employers to coerce workers with the threat of dismissal. Female wage earners were particularly vulnerable to this coercion. Conservative electoral appeals recast masculinity in terms of family responsibility rather than class assertion. Conflict in the household economy possibly influenced women to vote against Labor due to its identification with the cause of male breadwinners. Overall female voting behaviour was more stable than that of men and this despite the higb profile of issues that would have been expected particularly to influence female voters.

The rise and decline of the New South Wales cooperative housing societies

In the past, New South Wales cooperative housing societies made an important contribution to the financing of housing construction. In this paper the expansion and later contraction of the societies is explained. It is shown that, in recent times, not only have they suffered from a drying up of loan funding, but also a great number have operated at far below their possible level of efficiency.

Educational enrolment of students with a disability in New South Wales and Victoria

The extent to which legislation and special education policy have impacted on the nature of the educational enrolment of students with a disability in Australia has not been clearly addressed. Although there are no detailed and systematic national data on the enrolment of students with a disability in inclusive settings, special classes and special schools in Australia, some broad trends are apparent. The legislative background to these trends is discussed. As might be expected, there are variations in the nature of the educational enrolment of students with a disability across the states and territories of Australia. Enrolment trends in the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, are examined and discussed within the context of their respective special education policies, disability discrimination legislation, and educational precedent.

Injury profiles of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in New South Wales

Objectives:
To compare the injury profiles of the Indigenous population in New South Wales with that of the non-Indigenous population.
Design and setting:
Descriptive analysis of NSW Health data obtained from the Health Outcomes Information and Statistical Toolkit (HOIST) database. Hospitalisation data were collected for the period 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2003. Mortality data were collected for the period 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2002.
Main outcome measures:
Hospitalisation and death rates due to injury by age, sex, injury mechanism and Indigenous status. Rate ratios for comparison between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.
Results:
Rates of death from injury were higher for all age groups in the Indigenous population, except people older than 65 years. Indigenous people aged 25–44 years were twice as likely to be hospitalised as their non-Indigenous counterparts (rate ratio [RR], 2.09; 95% CI, 2.03–2.14), and five times as likely to be hospitalised for interpersonal violence (RR, 5.19; 95% CI, 4.98–5.40).
Conclusion:
The higher rates of injury-related hospitalisation and death in the Indigenous population in NSW are consistent with data reported for other parts of Australia. Of particular concern is the number of Indigenous deaths and hospitalisations due to interpersonal violence.

Inter-annual rainfall variations and suicide in New South Wales, Australia, 1964-2001

The suicide rate in New South Wales is shown to be related to annual precipitation, supporting a widespread and long-held assumption that drought in Australia increases the likelihood of suicide. The relationship, although statistically significant, is not especially strong and is confounded by strong, long-term variations in the suicide rate not related to precipitation variations. A decrease in precipitation of about 300 mm would lead to an increase in the suicide rate of approximately 8% of the long-term mean suicide rate.

The all for Australia league in New South Wales : a study in political entrepreneurship and hegemony

In 1931, the All for Australia League and other 'citizens movements' mounted a major challenge to the established conservative parties. Traditional views of the League saw it as a reflection of economic group interests, whether of the business establishment or dissident capitalists such as manufactures. More recent scholarship has stressed middle-class concerns with 'sound finance' as the inspiration of the League. This paper instead situates the League in the historical context of centre party projects in New South Wales, and of progressivism, in particular industrial psychology. The economic crisis and the rightward shift of the nationalists enabled a group of political entrepreneurs to transform the League from a front group for business into a populist movement. However, the shift of mainstream conservatism back to the political centre fatally undercut the League's support base.

Has the ban on smoking in New South Wales restaurants worked? A comparison of restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne

Objective: To evaluate compliance with a legislative ban on smoking inside restaurants by comparing smoking in Sydney restaurants (where it is legally banned) with smoking in Melbourne restaurants (not subject to a legal ban).

Design and participants: Unobtrusive observational study of restaurant patrons, and interviews with restaurant staff, carried out by 159 volunteers.

Setting: 78 Sydney restaurants with smoke-free indoor environments (as required by legislation) and 81 Melbourne restaurants not subject to legislation preventing smoking. The study took place from 20-31 October 2000.

Intervention: Legislation to ban smoking in indoor areas of restaurants was introduced in New South Wales in September 2000 (about six weeks before our study).

Outcomes: Observed incidents of smoking inside restaurants; staff attitudes to the ban; customer satisfaction as indicated by comments to staff; staff perceptions of restaurant patronage.

Results: No restaurant patrons were seen smoking in 78 Sydney restaurants during 156 hours of observation of 2646 diners, compared with 176 smokers among 3014 Melbourne diners over 154 hours of observation. Thirty-one per cent (24/78) of Sydney restaurants had experienced smokers attempting to smoke indoors after the legislation was introduced; 6% (5/78) reported instances of smokers refusing to stop smoking when asked; 79% (62/78) of restaurants had received favourable comments from patrons about the smoke-free law; 81% (63/78) of restaurant staff interviewed either supported or strongly supported the law. Since introduction of the legislation, 76% of restaurants reported normal trade, 14% increased trade, and 9% reduced trade.

Conclusions: Smoke-free restaurants do not require "smoking police" to enforce bans, present few ongoing difficulties for staff, attract many more favourable than unfavourable comments from patrons, and do not adversely affect trade.