scholarly journals Take My Breath Away

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Deane Fergie ◽  
Rod Lucas ◽  
Morgan Harrington

This article eschews the singularity of much disaster, crisis and catastrophe research to focus on the complex dynamics of convergent crises. It examines the prolonged crises of a summer of bushfire and COVID-19 which converged in Eurobodalla Shire on the south coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2019–2020. We focus on air and breathing on the one hand and kinship and the social organisation of survival and recovery on the other. During Australia’s summer of bushfires, thick smoke rendered air, airways and breathing a challenge, leaving people open to reflection as well as to struggle. Bushfire smoke created ‘aware breathers’. It was aware breathers who were then to experience the invisible and separating threat of COVID-19. These convergent crises impacted the ‘mutuality of being’ of kinship (after Marshall Sahlins) and the social organisation of survival. Whereas the bushfires in Eurobodalla drew on grandparent-families in survival, the social distancing and lockdown of COVID-19 has cleaved these multi-household families asunder, at least for now. COVID-19 has also made plain how the mingling of breath is a new index of intimacy.

Two specimens of this curious animal, lately brought from New South Wales, the one male and the other female, and both full grown and perfect, having been submitted to the inspection and close examination of Mr. Home, by Sir Joseph Banks, this gentle­man has availed himself of the favourable opportunity to draw up the full account of all that is hitherto known concerning its habits, of its external appearance, and internal structure now before us. The animal has hitherto been only found in the fresh-water lakes, in the interior parts of the above-mentioned country. It does not swim upon the surface of the water, but comes up occasionally to breathe. It chiefly inhabits the banks of these lakes, and is supposed to feed in the muddy places which surround them; but the particular kind of food on which it subsists is not known.


1987 ◽  
Vol 33 (114) ◽  
pp. 231-235
Author(s):  
Maxwell R. Banks ◽  
Eric A. Colhoun ◽  
David Hannan

AbstractThe effects of past glaciation in what is now Australian territory were first recognized on Macquarie Island, probably by David Ramsay, in 1821. The recognition by Darwin in 1836, and reporting by Milligan in 1848 of ice-transported pebbles and boulders in late Palaeozoic marine rocks in Tasmania, showed on the one hand participation in and on the other familiarity with the controversy in Great Britain at that time on the origin of erratics and drift currents. Reports by Clarke (1852), Daintree in 1859, Selwyn (1860), and Gould (1860) of the effects of land ice on Mount Koscuisko (New South Wales), Bacchus Marsh (Victoria), Inman Valley (South Australia), and the Central Highlands (Tasmania), respectively, reflect the increasing recognition in Great Britain of the erosional and depositional effects of glaciers. Daintree, Selwyn, and Gould were all closely connected with A.C. Ramsay, the main British protagonist of the glacial theory at the time, whereas David Ramsay and Milligan were probably influenced by Robert Jameson of Edinburgh.


1987 ◽  
Vol 33 (114) ◽  
pp. 231-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell R. Banks ◽  
Eric A. Colhoun ◽  
David Hannan

Abstract The effects of past glaciation in what is now Australian territory were first recognized on Macquarie Island, probably by David Ramsay, in 1821. The recognition by Darwin in 1836, and reporting by Milligan in 1848 of ice-transported pebbles and boulders in late Palaeozoic marine rocks in Tasmania, showed on the one hand participation in and on the other familiarity with the controversy in Great Britain at that time on the origin of erratics and drift currents. Reports by Clarke (1852), Daintree in 1859, Selwyn (1860), and Gould (1860) of the effects of land ice on Mount Koscuisko (New South Wales), Bacchus Marsh (Victoria), Inman Valley (South Australia), and the Central Highlands (Tasmania), respectively, reflect the increasing recognition in Great Britain of the erosional and depositional effects of glaciers. Daintree, Selwyn, and Gould were all closely connected with A.C. Ramsay, the main British protagonist of the glacial theory at the time, whereas David Ramsay and Milligan were probably influenced by Robert Jameson of Edinburgh.


2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Keith L. McDougall ◽  
Penelope J. Gullan ◽  
Phil Craven ◽  
Genevieve T. Wright ◽  
Lyn G. Cook

The association of an armoured scale insect (a diaspidid) with dieback of a population of a native cycad (Macrozamia communis L.A.S.Johnson) was investigated on the south coast of New South Wales. The diaspidid was found to be undescribed but morphologically similar to oleander scale – here we call it Aspidiotus cf. nerii. It is probably native to Australasia and its current known distribution is within Murramarang National Park (MNP). Aspidiotus cf. nerii has been abundant on symptomatic M. communis at MNP over at least the past decade and has spread to new parts of the park. In population studies of infested and uninfested areas we found that, although both areas had populations with reverse J curves showing dominance of seedlings, mortality of seedlings and caulescent plants was significantly higher in infested sites. Infested areas had been burnt less frequently than uninfested areas. Fire does not appear to eradicate the diaspidid but may reduce its effects enough for plants to recover. We recommend further research into the use of fire as a management tool. Although other factors may be contributing to the severity of the dieback, we suggest there is sufficient evidence for the diaspidid to be regarded as the primary cause of dieback in M. communis in MNP, regardless of its origin. Given the occurrence of similar diaspidids on cultivated plants in botanic gardens, translocation of threatened Macrozamia species using plants grown in nurseries should be undertaken with extreme caution.


2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Tomsen

Anti-homosexual harassment and violence are often described as ‘hate’ crimes perpetrated by homophobic people who act on an extreme and irrational contempt for the sexual identity of victims, and killings are regarded as the most typical form of these incidents. But there is little detailed international research evidence about the victims, perpetrators and the social aspects of such fatal violent incidents. The author's ongoing study in New South Wales, Australia, has filled some of these gaps. It has drawn evidence from 74 homicides with male victims that occurred in New South Wales between 1980–2000. Information sources were press records, police interviews with suspects, Coroner's court files and documents from the criminal trials of accused perpetrators. Analysis of the social characteristics of victims and perpetrators and the fatal scenarios reflect the significance of situational factors (such as alcohol, illicit drugs and anonymous sexual cruising) as well as the ‘hate’ motive in this fatal violence. Some perpetrators have serious drug use or psychological problems, whereas most killers are young men and boys from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The major scenarios of killing indicate that these crimes are linked to commonplace issues of male honour and masculine identity that are sharpened in the perpetrators’ situations by their marginal social status.


1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (40) ◽  
pp. 541 ◽  
Author(s):  
PW Grogan ◽  
DS Teakle

Seven out of eight maize inbred lines developed at Lawes in Queensland from open-pollinated varieties were resistant to maize dwarf mosaic disease when exposed to natural infection in the field. Five of the seven resistant inbred lines failed to become systemically infected when inoculated with infectious sap in the glasshouse. By contrast, only three out of twenty lines introduced from the U.S.A., and two out of eight lines developed at the Grafton and Glen Innes Breeding Stations in New South Wales, were resistant in the field. All three resistant lines from the U.S.A. were systemically infected when inoculated in the glasshouse, but the two resistant lines from Grafton in New South Wales were not. The resistant Lawes and Grafton maize inbred lines would appear to be better sources of genes conferring resistance to maize dwarf mosaic disease than the other lines tested.


1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (24) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
P McInnes ◽  
TJ Grainger ◽  
MD Smith

Data are presented on the recovery and reproductive performance of 2 1/2-year-old maiden Merino ewes after a prolonged period of undernutrition. The 217 sheep had been hand-fed on a submaintenance ration in pen feeding trials at Glenfield, New South Wales. During the seven months of the trials they had lost 6 kg (28 to 22 kg) body weight. They were transported to Condobolin in south-western New South Wales, divided into two treatment groups and run on good quality pastures. One group was joined immediately (May 1959) and again ten months later, and the other group was mated after six months at Condobolin (in October 1959) and again 12 months later. The ewes recovered rapidly. The mean weight of both groups had reached 30 kg within six weeks and 40 kg within six months. In the first year 73 of the 100 May-mated ewes bore lambs, but only 38 of these lambs were weaned. Ewes bearing lambs had a higher body weight at the start of joining and gained more during joining than the barren ewes. At the other three joinings (October 1959, May 1960, October 1960) lambing percentage was from 86-89 and weaning percentage from 62-69-both normal for the district. The proportion of twin lambs (3-6 per cent) was low. Wool weight in 1959 was not affected by time of mating or by pregnancy.


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