Warrnambool's Wesleyan heritage, 1847-1977

The thesis is about Methodism in Warrnambool. The key argument is that the Wesleyan heritage, so important to the early Wesleyan pioneers, continued to shape the life of the Warrnambool Methodist Church and was perpetuated by its leaders, in particular its local lay leaders, for a period of 130 years.

Rags of time

A collection of writings from members and associates of Deakin Literary Society.

Groundwork

A collection of writings from members and associates of Deakin Literary Society

Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's Early History. Volume 1 Amateur Heroes and the Rise of the Clubs, 1858 to 1876

This is volume 1 in a series of four volumes about the origins of Australian football as it evolved in Victoria between 1858 and 1896. This volume addresses its very beginnings as an amateur sport and the rise of the first clubs. Invented by a group of Melbourne cricketers and sports enthusiasts, Australian Rules football was developed through games played on Melbourne's park lands and was originally known as "Melbourne Football Club Rules". This formative period of the game saw the birth of the first 'amateur heroes' of the game. Players such as T.W. Wills, H.C.A. Harrison, Jack Conway, George O'Mullane and Robert Murray Smith emerged as warriors engaged in individual rugby-type scrimmages. The introduction of Challenge Cups was an important spur for this burgeoning sport. Intense competition and growing rivalries between clubs such as Melbourne, South Yarra, Royal Park, and Geelong began to flourish and the game developed as a result. By the 1870s the game "Victorian Rules" had become the most popular outdoor winter sport across the state. In subsequent decades, rapid growth in club football occurred and the game attracted increasing media attention.

Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's Early History. Volume 2 : A golden era begins : Football in 'Marvellous Melbourne', 1877 to 1885

This is the second volume of a five volume series that describes, assesses, and analyses football in Victoria during the nineteenth century. This volume looks at the cultural contexts of the sport in the late 1870s and early 1880s, describes the important matches played, and provides a full statistical account of this time period. This book is the first comprehensive discussion of the early period in Australian football's development.

Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's Early History. Volume 3: Covert 'Professionalism': The Power of the Wealthy Clubs 1886 to 1890

This volume continues the story of football in Marvellous Melbourne during the 1880s. At this time the VFA continued to expand as Melbourne’s boom continued apace. In 1886 Port Melbourne, Prahran, St Kilda, Footscray and South Williamstown joined the competition, and the Ballarat clubs Ballarat, Ballarat Imperial and South Ballarat were also contending for the VFA premiership. In 1886 matches were divided into four quarters, goal umpires waved two flags to announce a goal, and time clocks and bells were employed to mark the end of quarters. Victoria also played inter-colonial matches against New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia. VFA secretary T.S. Marshall was at the forefront of fighting the game’s turn towards professionalism, but although it was illegal to pay players, the practice continued. The period 1886 to 1890 also set the stage for the eventual formation of the Victorian Football League, for by the end of the 1880s the Victorian Football Association had become in effect a two-tier competition. The most popular clubs in the VFA, South Melbourne, Geelong, Carlton and Essendon collected the lion’s share of the gate money, which they used to build their wealth and entrench their position as the dominant Victorian teams. The lower tier clubs had to make do with paltry gate money and season fixtures that advantaged the strong clubs. In these fixtures the strong clubs elected to play each other first to increase their gate money, and only deemed to play the poorer clubs at the start of the season. This led to an increasing divide between the VFA’s rich and poor, and by 1890 South Williamstown and Prahran merged with Williamstown and St Kilda respectively, University dropped out of senior ranks, and the Ballarat clubs were excluded from competing for the VFA premiership, which left 12 senior clubs until Collingwood’s emergence in 1892. At this time, no team was as powerful as South Melbourne, which experienced the greatest success in the club’s VFA and VFL history when it collected triple premiership crowns in 1888, 1889, and 1890. South Melbourne was a most ambitious club and spearheaded the move towards professionalism, although this could not be made public. The fine teams it produced at this time contained some of the greatest players of the era, such as Peter Burns, “Sonny” Elms and “Dinny” McKay, and it looked after players with health insurance, jobs, inter-colonial trips, and other incentives. Geelong’s premiership in 1886 was perhaps its greatest triumph, but this success was followed by a premiership drought that would last for 39 years. Carlton remained one of Victorian football’s power clubs, and after securing the premiership in 1887 continued to compete for top honours. As always, the game became ever more popular and world record crowds of over 30,000 attended matches between South Melbourne, Carlton, Geelong and Essendon.

Closer settlement in the Western District of Victoria: a case study in Australian land use policy, 1898-1914

The promotion of closer settlement in the Australian state of Victoria between 1898 and 1914 was viewed as a panacea to many of the problems that beset the state. The region known as the Western District of Victoria was seen as particularly suitable for the application of land re-settlement policy. The study of this region highlights several important features of the closer settlement experiment in Victoria. First, it illustrates how the basic principles of closer settlement were used to further the interests of particular groups. Second, it highlights the flaws in foundations of the Closer Settlement Act which impacted on the settlers chances of success. And thirdly it points to the disastrous implications of policy implementation that paid little attention to the geographical and economic parameters governing the outcome of farming enterprises.

Beach-foraging behaviour of Forest Ravens Corvus tasmanicus and an Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria

Observations are presented of Forest Ravens Corvus tasmanicus, and an Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen, foraging by gleaning the sand on a beach.

A bioeconomic evaluation of a commercial scale recirculating finfish growout system - an Australian perspective

This study, based on 3 years of commercial data, presents the results of an economic analysis of a 20-tonne per annum (TPA) commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility located in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Based on the assumptions of the analysis, results highlight the non-viability of the facility, with a 10-year projected negative cumulative cash flow of − $648,038, and negative net present value (NPV) of − $707,546. Economies of scale were assessed by the development of economic models for hypothetical 50-TPA and 100-TPA facilities, based on the actual figures obtained from the 20-TPA case study. These analyses highlighted marginal viability for the 50-TPA facility (with a ten-year projected cumulative cash flow of $1,030,300; negative NPV of − $167,651 and internal rate of return (IRR) of 11.75%), and an economically viable 100-TPA facility (with a ten-year projected cumulative cash flow of $3,176,750; NPV of $522,200 and IRR of 21.03%). Sensitivity analysis highlighted that the greatest gains to be realised in improving profitability were those associated with increasing the productive capacity of the facility, increasing the sale price of the product, and decreasing the capital costs of RAS facilities. Contradictions between the results from the present study to similar studies clearly highlight a need for further economic analyses of commercial RAS facilities, using commercial data sets and standard economic analysis procedures.