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Australian Area Studies

Objectives:
By the end of this course, students should be able to:

Discuss differences between the Australian and the US political system

Outline social, political and environmental influences upon patterns of European settlement and land use in Australia

Compare Australian and US environmental management strategies and the socio-political influences upon these

Describe influences upon the formation of Australian social attitudes and the development of modern Australian society

Discuss the development of Australian literature and painting

Interpret and explain some manifestations of US/Australian cultural differences

Key to codes:

AS= Area Studies

L= Lecture number

EX= Excursion

WSP= Workshop/Discussion

CODE	SUBJECT
*Sydney*
AS-L1	Introduction to the Australian continent (geomorphology, geology, vegetation and land use)
AS-L2	Australian literature (the evolution of Australian poetry and prose, distinguishing themes and styles)
AS-L3	The evolution of non-indigenous Australian Art (colonial art, the Heidelberg School, Australian Impressionism)
AS-EX	Australian art (visit New South Wales Art Gallery)
AS-WSP	The First Fleet- birth of a nation (Review of "The Fatal Shore" and related issues with an Australian historian)
AS-L4	European settlement of Australia- post 1850 (exploration, agriculture and grazing, gold rushes, pioneer lifestyles)
AS-EX	Colonial Sydney (visit Hyde Park Barracks and 'The Rocks' historical precinct
AS-WSP	Australia at war- Vietnam (political, military and sociological issues, view and discuss documentary video)
Brisbane
AS-L5	Management of Australia's natural resources- environmental destruction (early European approaches to land management, depletion and degradation)
AS-L6	Management of Australia's natural resources- environmental rehabilitation (rehabilitation, sustainability, responsibility for management)
AS-L7	The history of environmentalism in Australia (the 'Greenies', public education and support, growth of political influence)
AS-WSP	Current environmental management strategies in Australia and the USA- a case study (outline of politics, processes and outcomes of recent Australian environmental management strategies, leading to comparison by students of environmental management strategies in the USA)
AS-L8	Origins and development of Australian social attitudes (authority, 'mateship', seism, religion, social justice, racism, nationalism)
AS-L9	Women in Australian Society (colonial women, pioneer women, evolution of women's rights- political, legal, social, employment)
AS-L10	Introduction to Australian political institutions (The Constitutional framework- federalism and the Westminster system: the "washminster" mutation; the High Court, Parliament, the Executive and the Public Service)
AS-L11	Introduction to the Australian electoral and part systems (The Australian electoral system, the Australian party system, the Australian Labor Part, the Coalition parties, the role of minor parties and independents)
AS-WSP	Australian Indigenous literature (discussion with an Indigenous Australian writer and an indigenous literature researcher)
AS-L12	Astronomy- Southern hemisphere skies
AS-EX	Astronomy (visit Brisbane planetarium)