The national railway of Sarah Island : Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the railway became an emblem of technological advancement, stood for the improvement and progression of European life, and became a recognizable symbol for the achievements of governments and citizens. The implementation and use of the railway became closely linked with notions of national identity and character. The railway became an identifiable artefact in official history but at the same time it became a part of everyday life. Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish retells the life-story of a fictionalized convict sent to Sarah Island and who paints fish, eventually he metamorphoses into one. It could be thought that a novel set in convict times would have little to do with notions of national identity, technological advancement, and railway travel. However, Richard Flanagan, in this very complex, almost surreal, novel, has used the construction of a fictional national railway as one of the ways to explore Australia's complex relationship with history and space. The novel tells of the plans of a history-loving Commandant and his desire to build a national railway on Sarah Island. This paper explores how Sarah Island becomes a metonym for Australia as a whole and Flanagan's novel takes on a metaphysical dimension as he reveals the struggles that emerge when official history collides with non-official versions. The fabulations of the novel contribute to an historical reconstruction of the spatial/architectural history of the Tasmanian colonial project.

Book Review : "Statutory Will Applications : A practical Guide by Richard Williams and Sam McCullough"

The jurisdiction of Australian courts to make wills for those lacking testamentary capacity is relatively new, having been granted by legislation progressively enacted across the various states and territories between 1996 and 2010. Given increasing numbers of statutory will applications since the legislative reform, and a growing body of law, the publication of the specialist work, Statutory Will Applications: A Practical Guide, by Richard Williams and Sam McCullough, is timely and valuable. This work will be of great interest to those who act for individual clients, especially wills and estates practitioners, but also personal injury practitioners acting for incapacitated persons who have been awarded substantial damages.

Book Review : "Statutory will Applications in Australia : A Practical Guide by Richard Williams & Sam McCullough"

Although UK courts have, for many years, had power to make wills for those lacking testamentary capacity, this jurisdiction jurisdiction is relatively new in Australia, having been granted by legislation enacted between 1996 and 2010.

ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler & Dr Paul Bennett, a forensic podiatrist

Podiatry is the medical science of the bones, muscle and skin of the foot. Paul Bennett is sometimes called on by police to help solve crime. He can provide vital evidence by applying his medical expertise and extraordinary talent for pattern recognition to footprints left at crime-scenes. Paul is a senior lecturer at the Quensland University of Technology's School of Clinical Sciences.

Book review - Richard Goldberg, Medicinal Product Liability and Regulation (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2013) 214pp

In December 2013, settlement was reached between approximately 100 Australian and New Zealand Thalidomide victims and the company which had acted as the Australian distributor of the infamous drug, thus putting to rest the possibility of litigation. Around the same time, Thalidomide victims in the United Kingdom (UK) launched a similar bid for compensation against the manufacturer and distributor. It is clear that despite a lengthy amount of time having passed ever since the thalidomide disaster commenced in 1962, the controversy over compensation continues. Indeed, the author of Medicinal Product Liability and Regulation (published before the announcement of the British legal claim), Professor Goldberg, notes that claims for resulting birth defects continue to emerge right into the present day. His prescient insight into the contemporary relevance of compensation for pharmaceutical injuries thus makes Medicinal Product Liability and Regulation a very relevant addition to the small body of scholarship that is available on this rather specific and complex issue.

Literaturnaja skazka A.M. Remizova (1900-1920-e gody)

Literary tale of A.M. Remizov (1900’s – 1920’s) The thesis is devoted to a detailed historical-literary description of a tale as a genre tradition in the creative work of Alexei Mikhailovich Remizov (1877-1957), one of the major Russian prose writers of the 20’s century. This very approach allows to specify the place and functional meaning of this genre in literary practice of the writer and to appeal to one of the key problems of the 20-21 century literature history – a specific of modernistic literature composition principle and a role of montage techniques in its formation. Remizov was working on tales during his whole life, though the most productive years of folklore studies fell to 1900’s – 1910’s. During this period he intensively studied folklore materials, narrated several hundreds of folk tales and in 1900’s – 1920’s published eight tale collections which played a significant role in the formation of stylistic and compositional principles of his prose of the 1910’s – 1920’s, especially montage techniques, which in its turn influenced the development of the narrative forms in the Russian post-revolutionary literature. At the same time a tale has specified not only poetics but also problematics of Remizov’s creative work, as when choosing folklore sources the writer always alluded to modern themes and relevant intellectual trends. The current research work, based on various archive materials and a wide spectrum of modern historical-literary data, complies four chapters with a consistent description of creation history, publication and critics’ reviews of Remizov’s tale collections and single tales contributing to his creative evolution characteristic. Furthermore, the work refers to composition and subject of the particular collections. On the whole it enables to follow up genre dynamics. The first chapter of the work is devoted to Posolon’ (Sunwise), the earliest tale collection of Remizov. The main feature of the collection is that its composition is oriented on the agrarian calendar and the subject – on the system of mythological views reflected in the Russian folklore. This very collection to a large extent corresponds to the writer’s views on the myth represented in Pis’mo v redaktsiyu (Letter to the Editor). The history of this manifesto appearing is analyzed in the second chapter. The incident which caused its forthcoming contributed to ‘legitimization’ of Remizov’s narrations as a relevant genre of modern literature and to upgrading the writer in professional hierarchy. The third chapter analyzes Remizov’s collections of 1900’s – early 1920’s, a result of Remizov’s scrupulous work with a specific tale material. He is acting here as a tale repertory researcher and in some cases as a collector as well. The means of such collections’ topical organization is not the myth but the hero of the tale. According to this principle single pieces are grouped into cycles, which then form complicated montage constructs. Texts themselves can be viewed as a sort of hyper-quotations, as they in fact entirely coincide with their original sources. Besides, collections usually have their own ideal patterns. In the fourth chapter a connection of Remizov’s creative work with folk fun culture and a tradition of the folklore noel story is being demonstrated on Zavetnyie skazy (Secret Tales) material. A consistent collections’ history creation analysis convinces us that the tale was a sort of laboratory in which main writer’s prose methods were being worked out.

Metsäpirulainen : Liikemies Erik Johan Längman (1799-1863) talousjärjestelmän murroksessa

The Forest devil. Businessman Erik Johan Längman (1799 1863) in the transition of economic system In Finnish historiography, Erik Johan Längman (1799-1863) bears a bad reputation of his own level: a mean, profit-seeking businessman who did not care too much about methods in his operations. Although little known, Längman has been praised as one of the pioneers of modern industry in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which belonged to the Russian Empire. From the mid 1830s Längman owned iron mill and several sawmills around the country. The growing demand of the markets in the 1830s, especially in Great Britain, marked a strong stimulus to Finnish lumber industry. At the same time claims for stricter rule over the sawmill industry were raised by high officials. The momentum of the conflict, the Forest Act of 1851, brought an end to illegal overproduction. In this biography, particular emphasis is laid on the entrepreneurial behaviour of Längman, but also on the effect the entrepreneurs had on the Crown s policies. On the other hand, how did the limitations imposed by the Crown guide the actions of the sawmill owners? The solutions adopted by the sawmill owners and the manoeuvring of the government are in a constant dialogue in this study. The Finnish sawmill industry experienced a major change in its techniques and methods of acquiring timber during the 1830s. Längman particularly, with his acquisition organisation, was able to find and reach faraway forests with unexpected results. The official regulating system with its strict producing quotas couldn t follow the changes. When the battle against the sawmill industry really started on, in 1840, it didn t happen for the benefit of iron industry, as argued previously, but to save Crown forests from depletion. After the mid 1840s Längman and the leader of the Finnish nationalistic movement, J. V. Snellman questioned the rationality of the entire regulation system and in doing so they also posed a threat against the aristocratic power. The influential but now also badly provoked chairman of the economic division of senate, Lars Gabriel von Haartman, accused the sawmill-owners harder than ever and took the advantage of the reactionary spirit of imperial Russia to launch the state forest administration. Längman circumvented the conditions of privileges, felled Crown forests illegally and accusations were brought against him for destroying his competitors. The repeated conflicts spoke primarily about a superior business idea and organisational ability. Although Längman spent his last years mostly abroad he still had interests in Finnish timber business when the liberation of sawmill-industry was established, in 1861. Surprisingly, the antagonism around the Crown forests continued, probably even more heated.

Luonto, tiede ja teknologia : Kansanvalistuksen Suomi-kuva 1870-1920

Nature, science and technology. The image of Finland through popular enlightenment texts 1870-1920 This doctoral thesis looks at how Finnish popular enlightenment texts published between 1870 and 1920 took part in the process of forming a genuine Finnish national identity. The same process was occurring in other Nordic countries at the time and the process in Finland was in many ways influenced by them, particularly Sweden. In Finland the political realities under Russian rule especially during the Russification years, and the fact that its history was considered to be short compared to other European countries, made this nation-building process unique. The undertaking was led by members of the national elite, influential in the cultural, academic as well as political arenas, who were keen to support the foundation of a modern Finnish identity. The political realities and national philosophy of history necessitated a search for elements of identity in nature and the Finnish landscape, which were considered to have special national importance: Finland was very much determined as a political entity on the basis of its geography and nature. Nature was also used as means of taking a cultural or political view in terms of, for example, geographical facts such as the nation s borders or the country s geographical connections to Western Europe. In the building of a proper national identity the concept of nature was not, however, static, but was more or less affected by political and economic progress in society. This meant that nature, or the image of the national landscape, was no longer seen only as a visual image of the national identity, but also as a source of science, technology and a prosperous future. The role of technology in this process was very much connected to the ability to harness natural resources to serve national interests. The major change in this respect had occurred by the early 20th century, when indisputable scientific progress altered the relationship between nature and technology. Concerning technology, the thesis is mainly interested in the large and at the time modern technological manifestations, such as railways, factories and industrial areas in Finland. Despite the fact that the symbiosis between national nature and international but successfully localized technology was in Finnish popular enlightenment literature depicted mostly as a national success story, concerns began to arise already in last years of the 19th century. It was argued that the emerging technology would eventually destroy Finland s natural environment, and therefore the basis of its national identity. The question was not how to preserve nature through natural science, but more how to conserve such natural resources and images that were considered to be the basis of national identity and thus of the national history. National parks, isolated from technology, and distant enough so as to have no economic value, were considered the solution to the problem. Methodologically the thesis belongs to the genre of science and technology studies, and offers new viewpoints with regard to both the study of Finnish popular enlightenment literature and the national development process as a whole.

Kansakunnan parhaaksi. : Suomalaiset naisten- ja lastensairaalat 1920 1940-luvulla arkkitehtonisena, lääketieteellisenä ja yhteiskunnallisena suunnittelukohteena

This dissertation addresses the modernization process of Finnish hospital architecture between the First and Second World War, with focus on facilities explicitly designed for women and children, which as special hospitals reflect specialization, a distinct feature of the modern era. The facilities considered in the study are the Salus hospital, Dr. Länsimäki s women s hospital, the Folkhälsan in Svenska Finland association s child-care institute, the Helsinki Women s Clinic, the Viipuri Women s Hospital, the Helsinki Children s Clinic and the Children's Castle (Lastenlinna) in Helsinki. The study considers hospital architecture as an architectural, medical and social object of design. The theoretical starting point and perspective are the views of the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault (1925 1983) concerning the relationship of bio-power and architecture. Underlying the construction of health-care facilities for women and children were not only the desire to help but also issues of population policy, social policies, training and professionalization. In this study, hospital architecture is interpreted as reflecting developments in medicine, while also producing and reinforcing discourses associated with the ideologies of the time of design and construction. The results of the present research provide new information on the field of hospital design. The design of hospitals was no longer the sole prerogative of architects. Instead, modern hospital design involved the collaboration and networking of experts in various fields. During the period studied, the pavilion system was incorporated in hospital architecture in the block system, which was regarded as a rational. Rationalization was implemented upon the conditions of medical work. This led to spatial design in accordance with medical practices, through which norms were reinforced and created. An important aspect of the material is that the requirements of light, air, openness and hygiene created architecture in glass of an x-ray character, strongly associated with the element of discipline. The alliance of hygiene and architecture became a strategy for controlling the behaviour and encounters of people, for producing pedagogical and moral hygiene, and for reinforcing class hygiene. The modern hospital building also had to meet the requirements of aesthetic hygiene. Health-care facilities designed for women and children became production-oriented machinery, instruments for producing a healthy population and for reinforcing medical discourses.

"America Would Lose Its Soul" : The Immigration Restriction Debate, 1920-1924

Vuosien 1830 ja 1924 välillä Yhdysvaltoihin muutti noin 35 miljoonaa eurooppalaista. Tämä niinkutsuttu "maahanmuuton vuosisata" päättyi varsin äkillisesti kun Yhdysvallat päätti rajoittaa maahanmuuttoa 1920-luvulla. Vuosina 1921 ja 1924 säädetyt lait asettivat kansallisuuteen perustuvat kiintiöt kaikille eurooppalaisille maahanmuuttajille; vuoden 1924 laki myös lopetti kokonaan japanilaisten maahanmuuton. Tämä työ tutkii näihin kiintiölakeihin johtanutta maahanmuuttajavastaisuuden kasvua sekä etenkin lakien ympärillä käytyä keskustelua. Pääpaino on kongressissa esitetyissä maahanmuuton vastaisissa argumenteissa. Nämä jakautuivat karkeasti ottaen kolmeen kategoriaan: maahanmuuton vastustajat sanoivat, että siirtolaisten vaikutus taloudelliseen tilanteeseen oli epäsuotuisa, siirtolaisten rodullinen ja kulttuurinen "laatu" oli huonontunut, ja siirtolaiset olivat radikaaleja ja bolshevismiin taipuvaisia. Erityistä huolta herätti maahanmuuttajien vaikutus Amerikan kulttuuriseen, rodulliseen ja poliittiseen yhtenäisyyteen. Huoli kansakunnan yhtenäisyydestä oli tulosta paitsi siirtolaisten määrästä myös amerikkalaisessa yhteiskunnassa tapahtuneista muutoksista. Erityisen tärkeitä olivat työväenliikkeen vaikutusvallan kasvu ja teollisuusjohtajien pyrkimys pysäyttää se. Maahanmuuttajien "bolshevismi" olikin käyttökelpoinen argumentti paitsi maahanmuuttajia myös amerikkalaisia työläisiä vastaan: teollisuusjohtajat painottivat että lakot ja työväenliike olivat tulosta siirtolaisten mukanaan tuomista "epäamerikkalaisista" ajatusmalleista, eivät yhteiskunnan epäoikeudenmukaisuudesta. Kongressin keskustelun lisäksi työssä käsitellään myös eri yhteiskunnallisten ryhmien ja vaikuttajien kantaa siirtolaisuuteen. Keskusteluun maahanmuutosta vaikuttivat etenkin eugenistit ja muut sosiaalitieteilijät, jotka väittivät itä- ja eteläeurooppalaisten olevan rodullisesti anglosakseja huonompia. Tämän väitteen vaikutusvaltaa lisäsivät yhteiskunnassa vallalla olleet ennakkoluulot, ja monet yhdistykset ja liikkeet (mm. Ku Klux Klan ja erilaiset isänmaalliset järjestöt) olivatkin tärkeitä rajoittamisen kannattajia. Keskustelu maahanmuutosta painottui ideologisiin ja tunteellisiin kysymyksiin, mutta rajoitusten taustalla oli myös konkreettisempia tekijöitä. Yhteiskunnan teollistuminen ja kaupungistuminen olivat pienentäneet siirtolaisista koituvaa taloudellista hyötyä: siirtolaisia ei enää tarvittu raivaamaan uusia viljelysmaita, kun taas tuotannon koneistuminen vähensi työvoiman tarvetta huomattavasti. Pitkän aikavälin taloudellisten tekijöiden roolin merkitys käy ilmeiseksi kun otetaan huomioon, että muut maahanmuuttomaat (esim. Kanada ja Australia) eivät juuri rajoittaneet siirtolaisuutta tänä aikana vaikka niissäkin esiintyi runsaasti rodullista ja kulttuurista maahanmuuttajavastaisuutta. Pääsyy rajoitusten vähäisyyteen näissä maissa oli juuri maahanmuuttajien tuoma taloudellinen hyöty, sekä teollisena työvoimana että maanviljelijöinä. Vaikka kiintiölakiehdotusten ympärillä käytiin kiivasta väittelyä, kongressi kuitenkin hyväksyi lait varsin suurella enemmistöllä. Siirtolaisia itseään lukuunottamatta varsin harvat näkivät lait haitallisina, kun taas useat erilaiset ryhmät katsoivat hyötyvänsä maahanmuuton rajoittamisesta. Avainsanat: siirtolaisuus, maahanmuutto, Yhdysvallat, 1920-luku, kiintiölait, maahanmuuton rajoittaminen

Portrait of Blanche and Richard Stoppelman (Stoppelmann?) Portraits Couples

Digital Image