Trans-Tasman migration: New Zealanders' explanations for their move

Abstract:  This study investigates why New Zealanders move to Australia. A survey of New Zealanders living in Australia found 'pull' factors, notably greater opportunities and better climate, were the most common reasons. While desire for change or sense of adventure was important, dissatisfaction with life in New Zealand was also a factor. Results indicated a form of transnationalism as migrants felt at home in both countries. They maintained links with New Zealand evident in support for New Zealand sporting teams, expressions of New Zealand nationality, emotional connection and regular contact with New Zealand.     

The Impact of Exotic Dune Grass Species on Foredune Development in Australia and New Zealand: a case study of Ammophila arenaria and Thinopyrum junceiforme

Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) and sea-wheat grass (Thinopyrum junceiforme) have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. This study examines the morphology of incipient foredunes and established foredunes associated with these species at two sites, Mason Bay in southern New Zealand, and the Younghusband Peninsula in South Australia. Both species invaded the existing foredunes very rapidly. In both cases the antecedent topography comprised relatively sparsely vegetated, irregular foredunes. Invasion resulted in continuous, regular, evenly vegetated foredunes. At Mason Bay a massive foredune has formed since 1958, in conjunction with Ammophila. Thinopyrum has formed an incipient foredune, with a ramp or terrace morphology, along the Younghusband Peninsula, South Australia. In both cases gaps in the former foredune have been closed and the indigenous foredune vegetation has been displaced. Both species may decrease the frequency and severity of blowout development. They are likely to be resilient to aeolian processes of sedimentation compared with dunes formed by indigenous species. Ammophila survives burial, is tolerant of drought and is resistant to erosion associated with storm surge and high waves. Thinopyrum is very tolerant of salinity. These species may adversely affect the long-term development of coastal barriers by inhibiting transgressive dune development.     

Can New Zealand's Covenanting Agencies Meet the Challenge of the Biodiversity Strategy?

In February 2000 the New Zealand Government released its national Biodiversity Strategy with significant emphasis on the role of central and local government, communities and private landowners in achieving biodiversity conservation on public and private land. New Zealand has had provisions in legislation for the protection of biodiversity on private land for more than 70 years. There are now a wide range of of purposes and management flexibility within the nine types of covenants administered by the Department of Conservation (DoC) and the Queen Elizabeth National Trust's (QE II National Trust) Open Space covenants. In addition a small number of territorial local authorities (TLAs) manage private covenanting schemes, the most notable being the Auckland Region by Rodney and Franklin District Councils. Funding appears to be the critical issue for covenanting agencies being able to meet the objectives of the NZ Biodiversity Strategy affecting the ability of agencies to fund survey, administration, fencing, pest management and landowner advice. Unless funding is addressed landowners will be left shouldering most of the burden of conservation management, planning and funding for these areas and the tide may not have turned for biodiversity protection and enhancement on private land.     

Regional characteristics of dust events in China

The regional characteristics of dust events in China has been mainly studied by using the data of dust storm, wind-blown sand and floating dust from 338 observation stations through China from 1954 to 2000. The results of this study are as follows: (1) In China, there are two high frequent areas of dust events, one is located in the area of Minfeng and Hotan in the South Xinjiang Basin, the other is situated in the area of Minqin and Jilantai in the Hexi Region. Furthermore, the spatial distributions of the various types of dust events are different. The dust storms mainly occur in the arid and semiarid areas covering the deserts and the areas undergoing desertification in northern China. Wind-blown sand and floating-dust not only occur in the areas where dust storms occur, but also extend to the neighboring areas. The range of wind-blown sand extends northeastward and southeastward, but floating-dust mainly extends southeastward to the low-latitude region such as the East China Plain and the area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Compared with wind-blown sand, the floating-dust seldom occurs in the high latitude areas such as North Xinjiang and Northeast China. (2) The affected areas of dust storms can be divided into seven sub-regions, that is, North Xinjiang Region, South Xinjiang Region, Hexi Region, Qaidam Basin Region, Hetao Region, Northeastern China Region and Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Region. The area of the most frequent occurrence of dust storms and floating-dust is in South Xinjiang Region, and of wind-blown sand in the Hexi Region. In general, the frequency of dust events in all the seven regions shows a decreasing tendency from 1954 to 2000, but there are certain differences between various dust events in different regions. The maximum interannual change and variance of dust events during this time happened in South Xinjiang Region and Hexi Region. The dust events generally occur most frequently in April in most parts of China. The spring occurred days of dust events occupied 60-70% of the whole year in Hetao Region and Northeastern China Region. However, in South Xinjiang Region and North Xinjiang Region, which was less affected by monsoon climate, dust events may occur at any time of the year, less than 50% of the events in this region occur during spring. In the remaining three regions 50-60% of the dust events occur in spring of a year.     

Perspectives in Australian Global Education and Geography/Mätauranga Matawhenua

Abstract:  In teaching and learning geography and global education in Australia, understanding a range of perspectives is important because content and practice are inextricably linked. Currently both geography and global education promote a 'perspectives' curricula approach requiring effective implementation of a range of perspectives theories such as positivism, multiculturalism, deep environmentalism, feminism and globalism. This paper outlines the philosophical basis of perspectivism, discusses some of the major perspectives theories and their backgrounds, and describes how they are applied in teaching geography and global education with particular reference to the Australian (principally New South Wales) and New Zealand curricula. It concludes with some comments on the current classroom reality of the 'perspectives' curricula approach.     

中国沙尘事件的区域特征

AsevereduststormoccurredoverEastAsiainthemiddletendaysofApril1998.Afteroneweek,itsdustplumeaffectedthecontinentofNorthAmerica.Thisattractedtheattentionofmanyscientistsintherelatedcountriestoduststorms.InrecentyearsthenumberofduststormshasbeenincreasinginChina.Itisnotonlyanimportantsymptomofdesertificationfromslowerchangetofasterchange,butalsoareflectionofthesynthesisofenvironmentalstates,includingclimate,ecosystemandsoil,whicharealldeterioratingtosomedegrees.AccordingtothedefinitionofMeteo…     

A Travel Cost Study of Duck Hunting in the Upper South East of South Australia

Wetlands in the Upper South East (USE) of South Australia yield a range of values to their owners and to the wider community. One such value is that generated by duck hunting in the region. Wetland owners receive private benefits from hunting fees, while hunters gain a non-monetary consumers' surplus. These non-monetary benefits received by duck hunters through their enjoyment of hunting in wetlands are the primary focus of this paper. In order to estimate these values, a 'travel cost' survey of duck hunters participating in an organised shoot held by Wetlands and Wildlife in February 2000 was undertaken. The extent of the private recreation benefits so estimated is assessed in terms of their potential to stimulate the provision of wetlands for both private and social benefits.     

Trajectories of protection: Protectorates of Aborigines in early 19th century Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract: This article tracks the passage of Aboriginal protection, as a contested imperial institution, from the Caribbean to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand via the Cape Colony and Britain. In doing so, it reconfigures the historical geographies of colonial philanthropy, and of those individuals who sought to implement and resist it, as a set of specific, intersecting trajectories. These trajectories, of people, ideas and texts, both connected and remade multiple colonial places. The article also advocates positioning the contemporary politics of the colonial past in Britain, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, within a wider, trans‐imperial, set of connections.     

Managed Temporary Labour Migration of Pacific Islanders to Australia and New Zealand in the Early Twenty-first Century

ABSTRACT

Circular migration was one of several enduring themes in Graeme Hugo’s highly productive research career. Although his specialist field was Asian population movement, during the 2000s he became increasingly interested in labour migration in the Pacific Islands. This paper reviews the development of two managed circular migration schemes targeting Pacific labour that emerged following the UN High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in 2006. New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) have attracted international attention as the kind of ‘best practice’ temporary labour migration schemes that Hugo had in mind when he emphasised the positive contributions that circular forms of mobility could make to development in both source and destination countries. The two schemes have transformed mobility between the participating countries and have played a major role in the negotiations over a free-trade agreement between Pacific Forum countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Although the schemes have been in operation for almost 10 years, this paper argues that they are not becoming ‘business as usual’; they embody complex systems of relationships between multiple stakeholders that require ongoing management to ensure that they do not become traps for low-skilled, low-paid ‘permanent’ temporary workers.     

中国沙尘天气的区域特征

利用筛选的1954~2000年中国338个站沙尘天气资料及相关气候资料,从沙尘天气区划方面着重分析研究了我国沙尘天气的区域特征。结果表明： 1) 我国沙尘天气多发区分别位于以民丰至和田为中心的南疆盆地和以民勤至吉兰泰为中心的河西地区。不同类型沙尘天气的空间分布范围不尽相同,其中沙尘暴主要发生在与北方沙漠及沙漠化土地相联系的极干旱、干旱和半干旱区内。扬沙和浮尘天气除了在沙尘暴发生区的绝大部分地区出现外,还向其它邻近地区扩展,如扬沙可向东北地区和东南的黄淮海平原及以南地区扩展;而浮尘天气则主要向东南方向扩展,可涉及整个黄淮海平原和长江中下游地区。相比之下,上风方向的中高纬地区,如北疆和东北北部地区,浮尘天气发生甚少。2) 全国沙尘暴天气易发区可划分为北疆、南疆、河西、柴达木盆地、河套、东北和青藏等7个亚区。沙尘暴和浮尘在南疆区发生日数最多,而扬沙在河西区发生日数最多。     

Interpretation of Rock Varnish in Australia: case studies from the arid zone

Rock varnish has a long history of study in Australia. Although Australian varnishes have biological, chemical and morphological similarities to varnishes in other continents, rock varnishes in arid Australia tend to be less stable than in other drylands. Still, with careful sampling, radiocarbon and cation‐ratio dating of rock varnish has been used to constrain the age of Henbury Meteor Craters, Northern Territory, and rock engravings in South Australia and New South Wales, as well as to assess the geomorphic surface stability of Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, and the slopes of Pepuarta Bluff in the Olary Province of South Australia.     

Revitalising Local Economic Development-New Zealand Policy and Practice

In common with many other advanced capitalist nations, the rolling back of the state in New Zealand has seen a decline in direct state intervention in heal and regional economies. Yet since 2000 the current Labour Coalition Government has sought to promote a renaissance in economic development at local and regional scales. A survey of New Zealand territorial local authorities indicates involvement in heal economic development (LED) is a recent phenomenon involving facilitation of outside agencies which is orientated toward tourist, advisory and promotional activities. The implications of these findings for future research in an environment of ‘revitalised’ policy and practice in the New Zealand context is explored.     

国际地理联合会2006年区域会议在布里斯班举行

The IGU-2006 Brisbane Conference was convened on 3-7 July 2006 in Queenland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Approximately 1000 geographers from nearly 50 countries and regions participated in the IGU-2006 Brisbane Conference, which was spon…     

The ecology of Lerista labialis (Scincidae) in the Simpson Desert: reproduction and diet

This study investigated the diet and reproductive cycle of the southern sandslider skink Lerista labialis, in the dunefields of the Simpson Desert, central Australia. We dissected preserved specimens to obtain gut contents and measure gonad volume, and also live-captured animals from 1999 to 2000 to assess the impact of rainfall on population structure and body condition. This skink breeds during the austral summer. Males start spermatogenesis in July and testes volume is largest in December. Females have enlarged ovarian follicles in November and produce oviducal eggs from November to February. One or more clutches of two eggs are produced per breeding season. L. labialis specializes on termites, which represent 78% of the diet by percentage occurrence. The remaining 22% of this skink's diet comprises Hemiptera, Neuroptera and unknown prey items. Body condition, and probably increased reproduction and juvenile survival, were higher in 2000 (wet year) than 1999 (relatively dry year); proportion of juveniles also increased in the population in autumn, winter and summer 2000 compared to the previous year. Late rainfall in autumn 2000 may have triggered these demographic changes by increasing prey accessibility. Long-term research is required into growth rates, longevity and inter-annual population dynamics of L. labialis to fully evaluate its life history strategy.     

Source parameters of large historical (1918–1962) earthquakes, South Island, New Zealand

We present the results of body waveform modelling studies for 17 earthquakes of M _w ≥5.7 occurring in the South Island, New Zealand region between 1918 and 1962, including the 1929 M _s = 7.8 Buller earthquake, the largest earthquake to have occurred in the South Island this century. These studies confirm the concept of slip partitioning in the northern South Island between strike-slip faulting in southwestern Marlborough and reverse and strike-slip faulting in the Buller region, but indicate that the zone of reverse faulting is quite localized. In the central South Island, all historical earthquakes appear to be associated with strike-slip faulting, although recent (post-1991) reverse faulting events suggest that slip partitioning also occurs within this region. The difference between historical and recent seismicity in the central South Island may also reflect stress readjustment occurring in response to the 1717 ad rupture along the Alpine fault. Within the Fiordland region (southwestern South Island) none of the historical earthquakes appears to have occurred along the Australian/Pacific plate interface, but rather they are associated with complex deformation of the subducting plate as well as with deformation of the upper (Pacific) plate. Two earthquakes in the Puysegur Bank region south of the South Island suggest that strike-slip deformation east of the Puysegur Trench is playing a major role in the tectonics of the region.     

Salinity in Colonial Irrigation: British India and south-eastern Australia

Salinity is an environmental phenomenon that affects the world's arid and semi-arid regions, where it causes soil degradation and problems for agriculture. Salinity began to attract serious attention in the irrigated districts of the Murray Valley in south-eastern Australia in the 1960s. However, observations that the south-eastern Australian landscape was affected by naturally occurring salts predates this period of awareness by more than half a century. Drawing on documentary history, the present paper reveals what soil chemists in New South Wales in the 1890s already understood of the potential dangers of salinity. These scientists were aware of the experience of their colonial colleagues in British India, where the seriousness of the problem had been recognised by the 1870s. Using evidence from India and south-eastern Australia in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the paper outlines the opposing worldviews of scientists and engineers in New South Wales about the potential dangers of intensive irrigation. It offers an explanation as to why that understanding was insufficient to prevent the growth of the problem.     

Characteristics of Australian droughts under enhanced greenhouse conditions: Results from 14 global climate models

This paper presents characteristics of droughts simulated by global climate models (GCMs) under enhanced greenhouse gases conditions. We used a drought index called the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) which takes both rainfall and potential evapotranspiration into account to investigate variations of droughts among 12 regions in Australia. The RDI was applied to simulated climate variables from 14 GCMs performed for the IPCC 4th Assessment Report.The results show a general increase in drought areal extent and/or frequency for most regions. However, the increases are not significant over the North West, North Queensland, Queensland East Coast and Central Queensland. For most regions, the change beyond 2030 is larger than that prior to 2030, but the uncertainty in the projections also increases with time. By 2030, there is a likely (>66% probability) risk of twice or more drought affected area and/or twice as often drought frequency over South West Western Australia. By 2050, this will include the Murray-Darling Basin, South Australia and Victoria, and by 2070 this will extend to New South Wales and Tasmania. For North Queensland such a risk is unlikely (<33% probability) for the next 100 years. This information can be considered indicative in long-term planning focussing on sustainability.     

Flood Fatalities in Australia, 1788-1996

Information on fatalities from flooding in Australia has been compiled from newspapers, historical accounts, and government and scientific reports. Records covering 1788 to 1996 indicate that at least 2213 persons have been killed in floods in Australia. The overall decadal death rate has decreased from 23.98 per 100 000 population in the 1800s to 0.04 per 100 000 in the 1990s. The greatest number of fatalities has occurred in New South Wales but, taking population into account, Queensland has been the most vulnerable state historically as, more recently, has been the Northern Territory. Most fatalities have occurred during February, and amongst males (80.6 per cent). The overall male:female death and death-rate ratios are both 4:1. Whereas the male:female death-rate ratio has fluctuated over time from 10:1 to 1:1, it does not approach equality. Most fatalities (38.5 per cent) have occurred through attempts to cross creeks, bridges or roads in times of flood. Another 31.5 per cent of victims were in houses-the majority awaiting rescue, or simply unaware of the flood. Of the total known deaths, work-related fatalities have accounted for 12.4 per cent, and recreational pursuits for 5.7 per cent.     

In Pursuit of Moving Targets: New Zealand Population Geography in the South Pacific

New Zealand population geographers in the South Pacific islands early focused on resource issues, especially in Fiji and the smaller island states politically linked to New Zealand. This later extended into analysis of the structure of village level economic and social development, notably in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Fiji. These analyses contributed to a clearer understanding of the substance of development at a key turning point in the region's history - the transition to independence. Migration, or mobility, and urbanisation attracted enormous interest throughout the region, with lengthy debates ranging over migration models, urban permanence, the ideology of return and metaphors of mobility, establishing the most distinctive thrust of New Zealand research in the region. Practical research, involving censuses and consultancies, has directly contributed to development. Despite the valuable historical legacy the extent and significance of New Zealand work on the population geography of the Island Pacific has now dwindled.     

Tasting cheesescapes in Canterbury (New Zealand)

Food tourism is a means to connect agriculture produce and tourism activity. Food tourism allows destinations to convey the authenticity that comes from their food heritage, which is closely linked to natural and cultural landscapes. Food and landscapes in New Zealand are strongly related to dairy production, cheese production being one of the main features. This study showcases cheesescapes in Canterbury, the largest region in the South Island of New Zealand in terms of milk production. On one hand, thanks to food tourism, the producers can explore ways to diversify their production. On the other hand, visitors are able to identify with the inhabitants of a country and ‘taste’ a portion of its landscape through gastronomy.