The ins and outs of skateboarding and transgression in public space in Newcastle,Australia

This study examines skateboarding as a transgressive activity in different inner Newcastle public spaces, highlighting the way certain places are constructed, and the values and meanings attached to them. Skateboarding has been sanctioned in some places, but is considered to be inappropriate in others, resulting in the implementation of skating restrictions in specific areas. Transgressive conduct is different from the norm and appears to be ‘out of place’. However, labels of ‘in’ and ‘out’ of place are too simplistic, because transgression is more nuanced and can simultaneously operate at multiple scales. Some skateboarding activities and locations are seen as more legitimate than others, and so a skater can be both ‘in place’ and ‘out of place’ at the same time. Problems and inconsistencies in the regulation of public space are revealed, because although skateboarding may be illegal in some places, the regulations are blunted by limited enforcement, justified by distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ skateboarding.     

Geotechnical consequences of the Newcastle Coal Measures rocks

This paper attempts to relate the lithology and fabric of four main groups of Newcastle Coal Measures rock types to their geotechnical properties and engineering behaviour. The four groups comprise: massive sandstone and conglomerate; claystones and tuffs; mudstone, shale and siltstone; and the coal itself. Although their geological relevance is primarily concerned with underground coal mining, these rocks are exposed at the surface across most of Newcastle and its suburbs, and are thus significant in terms of urban environmental geology. The key mining issues include longwall support design and panel layouts, caving and subsidence mechanisms, soft floors and stiff roofs, water inflows and pillar design. The urban geotechnical issues include landslides and rock falls, shallow abandoned mine workings, reactive and erodible soils, waste disposal and potential sources for geomaterials.     

A geography of natural perils

Earthquakes, tropical cyclones and floods are the most important natural perils in terms of human deaths on a global basis. In Australia, at least 4300 deaths in the last 200 years have been produced by heatwaves; about 2000–2200 each by tropical cyclones and floods; and bushfires and lightning strikes have each killed at least 650 people. On a global basis it appears that floods, tropical storms, droughts and earthquakes are the most damaging natural perils. In Australia, in terms of median damage per event, hailstorms are the most expensive insured natural peril, while three events—the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, 1974's Cyclone Tracy, and the 1990 Sydney hailstorm—produced 36 per cent of the total insured damage in the period since 1967. The Newcastle earthquake and the Sydney hailstorm have provided opportunities for new understandings of these perils and their consequences. While much has been learnt from the devastation of Rabaul town by the 1994 eruption, a rare opportunity for a detailed study of building damage has been lost. Without detailed studies, risk rating, where Risk = Hazard (or peril) × Vulnerability, is difficult.     

Down to Earth: Local government and greenhouse policy in Australia

Global environmental politics and policy are conventionally seen as the province of nation-states and international negotiations. However, there has been increasing attention devoted to the part that local places can play in the pursuit of (global) sustainable development. In this paper, I explore the role of local government in Australian greenhouse policy. A brief outline of the role of local government in environmental management is followed by a short history of greenhouse policy in Australia. From its initial marginal position, local government has begun to occupy a more prominent role in greenhouse policy development and implementation. The paper examines the processes that have led to this change, the development of local greenhouse and energy policies in Newcastle, New South Wales, and the initiation of the 'Cities for Climate Protection' program by the federal government. In conclusion, some thoughts on the problems and prospects of a local approach to the greenhouse issue are offered.     

Discussion of “Geomechanical modeling of the nucleation process of Australia's 1989 M5.6 Newcastle earthquake” by C.D. Klose [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 256 (2007) 547–553]

On the basis of a numerical simulation, Klose [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 256: 547–553 (2007)] proposed that the M_W = 5.2–5.6 earthquake that nucleated beneath Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia) at 10.30 AM December 28, 1989 (AEST), was the result of 200yr of coal mining in the region. We argue here that Klose's [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 256: 547–553 (2007)] ultimate conclusion is not supported by his own model or by available geological and seismic data. In particular, the 1989 Newcastle earthquake was not anomalous with respect to regional seismic activity.     

Geology and mining practice in relation to shallow subsidence in the Northern Coalfield,New South Wales

The former Northern Coalfield, comprising much of the Newcastle‐Maitland‐Cessnock‐Lake Macquarie region, has now been mined for two hundred years. Most of the twenty‐odd seams in the Newcastle, Tomago and Greta Coal Measures have been worked, but the bulk of production has been drawn from just four coalbeds: the Borehole, Greta, Homeville and Great Northern Seams. Literally hundreds of mine names are on record for the coalfield, the great majority working these seams at depths of less than 30 m. This paper reviews regional subsidence problems in the context of mining history, past mining practices and coal measures geology. Subsidence over shallow bord‐and‐pillar workings may result in highly disturbed ground, open fissures, cratering, seam fires and ‘creeps’ (slow surface movements caused by gradual closure of mine cavities). This form of subsidence differs from that over modern longwall mines in being less predictable, affecting much smaller areas, and occurring sometimes decades after mine abandonment. The geological factors contributing to this subsidence hazard include the multiplicity of seams, the strong roof sandstones, stiff coal and relatively soft floors, and the presence of faults and dykes. The working of thick seams like the Borehole Coal in up to three phases, leaving high, slender pillars, also contributed to later ground instability. Contrary to expectation, the main problem areas are not over haphazardly laid‐out convict‐era pits, but rather above small hand‐worked scavenger mines (‘ratholes’) which operated as late as the 1950s. Many of these short‐lived collieries still contain large voids at shallow depth, sometimes only a few metres, which must eventually collapse or be backfilled.     

Reflections on participatory research

Participatory research approaches are increasingly popular with geographers in developed as well as developing countries, as critical qualitative methodologies which at their best work with participants to effect change. This paper adds to recent debates over the methodologies, practices, philosophical and political issues involved. Drawing on a project on young people, exclusion and crime victimization in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, we discuss the limitations of participatory diagramming and illustrate some of the social and political barriers to meaningful participation in, and action from, this type of research.