Legacies of White Australia : race, culture and nation

The White Australia policy continues to haunt Australia. Here, leading Australian scholars provide an informed debate on the essential issues of race, identity and nation that will determine our attitudes to immigration, multiculturalism and Australian-Asian engagement in the twenty-first century.

Visual narratives in the children's picture story book : an investigation of the extent to which the formal structuring of a visual narrative retrieves a pastiche of past experiences and images which in turn shapes and redirects the story

Throughout this research, the notion that illustrators of children's books embark on two types of activity has been reinforced at every turn. On one hand the artist acknowledges the external world by organising images of actions and events in the contexts of place and time. This process involves bringing ideas into a physical form and demands the structuring of characters, settings, and story development. Planning and decisions are informed by imperatives that recognise the need for conventions of articulation and communication to a particular target audience. These then become a mayor priority of bookmaking and are constantly impacted on by publishers1 demands and ethical constraints. The other perspective sees the illustrator as expresser where the core of visual narratives for children celebrates the potency of imagination. Here dreams, fantasies, memories and the unconscious become the conduits to shaping sequential images. The artist is engaged not simply in visually telling a story, but rather telling facets of his or her own story. This exegesis traces the evolution of my own picture story book Eddie's Fantastic Fortnight published by Five Mile Press Publishers in tandem with the insights and reflections of five of Australia's most prominent illustrators. It examines whether the structure invested in a visual narrative liberates expressive response, ascribing to the premise that bookmaking plays an informing role to imagination. Equally it adopts the alternative position which asserts that the essence of children's books is indeed fantasy, memory and dreams. This proposition views imagination and inspiration as the primary catalyst around which illustrators build their narrative. In the often lengthy processes of bookmaking, these considerations constantly shift. I have attempted to explore and reveal these mobile and ever changing priorities, not only in my own work, but also through leading exponents in the field.

Rearing juvenile Australian native percichthyid fish in fertilised earthen ponds

The post-larvae and fry of Australian native species, including those of species belonging to the family Percichthyidae, are routinely reared to a fingerling size (35-55 mm in length) in fertilised earthen fry rearing ponds. The juveniles of Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii\ trout cod (Maccullochella macquariensis) and Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasicd) (Percichthyidae) are grown in fry rearing ponds at the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute, Snobs Creek (Vie. Australia) for production of fingerlings for stock enhancement and aquaculture purposes. However, no detailed studies have been undertaken of the productivity of these ponds and factors that influence fish production. An ecologically based study was undertaken to increase the knowledge of pond ecology and dynamics, particularly in relation to the rearing of juvenile Murray cod, trout cod and Macquarie perch in ponds. Over nine consecutive seasons commencing in 1991, water chemistry, plankton, macrobenthos (2 seasons only) and fish were monitored and studied in five ponds located at Snobs Creek. A total of 80 pond fillings were undertaken during the study period. Additional data collected from another 24 pond fillings undertaken at Snobs Creek collected prior to this study were included in some analyses. Water chemistry parameters monitored in the ponds included, temperature, dissolved oxygen pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, orthophosphate and alkalinity. Water chemistry varied spatially (within and between ponds) and temporally (diurnally, daily and seasonally). Liming of ponds increased the total alkalinity to levels that were considered to be suitable for enhancing plankton communities and fish production. Water quality within the ponds for the most part was suitable for the rearing of juvenile Murray cod, trout cod and Macquarie perch, as reflected in overall production (growth, survival and yield) from the ponds. However, at times some parameters reached levels which may have stressed fish and reduced growth and survival, in particular, low dissolved oxygen concentrations (minimum 1.18 mg/L), high temperatures (maximum 34°C), high pH (maximum 10.38) and high unionised ammonia (maximum 0.58 mg/L). Species belonging to 37 phytoplankton, 45 zooplankton and 17 chironomid taxa were identified from the ponds during the study. In addition, an extensive checklist of aquatic flora and fauna, recorded from aquaculture ponds in south-eastern Australia, was compiled. However, plankton and benthos samples were usually numerically dominated by a few species only. Rotifers (especially Filinia, Brachionus, Polyarthra, and Asplanchnd), cladocerans (Moina and Daphnid) and copepods (Mesocyclops and Boeckelld) were most abundant and common in the plankton, while chironomids (Chironomus, Polypedilum, and Prodadius) and oligochaetes were most common and abundant in the benthos. Both abundance and species composition of the plankton and macrobenthos varied spatially (within and between ponds) and temporally (diurnally, daily and seasonally). Chlorophyll a concentrations, which ranged from 1.8 to 184 \ig/L (mean 29.37 ng/L), initially peaked within two weeks of filling and fertilising the ponds. Zooplankton peaked in abundance 2-4 weeks after filling the ponds. The maximum zooplankton density recorded in the ponds was 6,621 ind./L (mean 721 ind./L). Typically, amongst the zooplankton, rotifers were first to develop high densities (2nd-3rd week after filling), followed by cladocerans (2nd-4th week after filling) then copepods (2nd-5th week after filling). Chironomid abundance on average peaked later (during the 5th week after filling). The maximum chironomid density recorded in the ponds was 27,470 ind./m2 (mean 4,379 ind./m2). Length-weight, age-weight and age-length relationships were determined for juvenile Murray cod, trout cod and Macquarie perch reared in ponds. These relationships were most similar for Murray cod and trout cod, which are more closely related phylogenetically and similar morphologically than Macquarie perch. Growth of fish was negatively correlated with both size at stocking and stocking biomass. Stocking density experiments showed that, at higher densities, growth offish was significantly reduced, but survival was not affected. The diets of juvenile Murray cod trout cod and Macquarie perch reared in fry ponds were similar. The cladocerans Moina and Daphnia, adult calanoid and cyclopoid copepods and the chironomids, Chironomus, Polypedilum and Procladius were the most commonly occurring and abundant prey. Selection for rotifers and copepod nauplii was strongly negative for all three species of fish. Size range of prey consumed was positively correlated with fish size for trout cod and Macquarie perch, but not for Murray cod. Diet composition changed as the fish grew. Early after stocking the fish into the ponds, Moina was generally the more common prey consumed, while in latter weeks, copepods and chironomids became more abundant and common in the diet. On a dry weight basis, chironomid larvae were the most important component in the diets of these fish species. Selective feeding by fish on larger planktonic species such as adult copepods and cladocerans, may have influenced the plankton community structure as proposed by the trophic cascade or top -down hypothesis. The proximate composition and energy content of Murray cod, trout cod and Macquarie perch, reared in the ponds did not vary significantly between the species, and few significant changes were observed as the fish grew. These results suggested that the nutrient requirements of these species might not vary over the size range of fish examined. Significant differences in the proximate composition of prey were observed between species, size of species and time of season. The energy content of prey (cladocerans, copepods and chironomids) on a pond basis, was closely related to the abundance of these taxa in the ponds. Data collected from all pond fillings during the present study, along with historical data from pond fillings undertaken prior to this study, were combined in a data matrix and analysed for interactions between pairs of parameters. In particular, interactions between selected water chemistry parameters, zooplankton and chironomid abundance indicators were analysed to identify key factors that influence fish production (growth, survival, condition and yield). Significant correlations were detected between fish production indicators and several water chemistry and biota (zooplankton and chironomids) parameters. However, these were not consistent across all three species of fish. These results indicated that the interactions between water chemistry, biota and fish were complex, and that combinations of these parameters, along with other factors not included in the present study, may influence fish production in these ponds. The present study, showed that more stringent monitoring of fry rearing ponds, especially water quality, zooplankton and benthos communities and fish, combined with an associated increase in understanding of the pond ecosystem, can lead to substantial improvements in pond productivity and associated fish production. In the present study this has resulted in a general increase in fish survival rates, which became less variable or more predictable in nature. The value of such knowledge can provide managers with a more predicative capacity to estimate production of ponds in support of stock enhancement programs and provision of juvenile for aquaculture grow-out.

Separate and invisible : a carceral history of Australian islands

This article examines the history of four islands used for incarceration in Australia: the ‘secondary punishment’ of convicts on Norfolk Island; the management and quarantine of indigenous people on Palm Island; the quarantine of all new migrants and visitors on Bruny Island; and the incarceration of enemy aliens on Rottnest Island. Incarceration has been used throughout Australia’s history as a method of social and political control, targeting categories of people perceived to pose a threat to the racial composition, social cohesion, or national security of the Australian community. By providing a space both separate and invisible to the community, Australia’s carceral islands served as a solution to a recurring problem for a young nation apprehensive about the composition, durability and security of its community. The human consequences of incarceration could be devastating.