1. The
transformersMeet Peter Brew-Bevan
and other graduates who shape our world
Winter 2010
Racism
why Australia is a contradiction
The Peter Pan generation
adults who don’t grow up
Backyard science
fostering our new scientists

2. 8
TO GET AHEAD
OF THE REST,
DO AN MBA THAT’S
AHEAD OF THE REST.
unisa.edu.au/igsb | ph 08 8302 0041 | unisamba@unisa.edu.au
For the 2nd successive year, we have been
rated as a 5-Star MBA in Australia, as
determined by the Graduate Management
Association of Australia, and published in
the Good Universities Guide.
We have been ranked in the world’s Top 100
for our focus on social, environmental and
sustainability issues in our MBA. The “Beyond
Grey Pinstripes” ranking is done every 2 years
by the Aspen Institute.
Ranked 6th in the recent 2009 survey, this
is the 2nd successive survey in which the
University of South Australia is a “Top 10”
MBA in Australia as ranked by the Australian
Financial Review’s BOSS Magazine.
CRICOSPROVIDERNO00121B
Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 3
UniversityofSouthAustralia
The Transformers
The power of design in our lives might not always
be obvious but it’s at the heart of the work of
three creative UniSA alumni who turn ordinary
things into the unforgettable.
Advance a fair Australia
Australia was built by migrants yet
politicians continue to push policies to
keep people out. Dr Peter Gale explores the
nation’s conflicting race and migrant issues.
Research: Q&A
As head of UniSA’s ErgoLab, Dr Gunther Paul is working
to make products better fit the people who use them.
12Stimulating
student science
Schools look to new programs to give students
hands-on science learning
In Focus: Q&A
Students love getting a call from Jo Sharp – she
manages UniSA’s 100 scholarships and has
the rewarding job of letting them know they’ve
won a scholarship.
22New Leaf
Featuring five new books from the UniSA community.
11
14
20
The Peter Pan generation
More Australians are delaying adulthood,
instead opting for the comforts of home
with Mum and Dad. UniSA experts talk about
this new generation.
6
UniSA Magazine
Showcasing how UniSA’s
research and teaching is making
a difference in the world.
Produced by the News and
Media Team of the Marketing
and Development Unit at the
University of South Australia:
Michèle Nardelli
Katrina Kalleske
Kelly Stone
Heather Leggett
Lindsey Bodenham
Front cover: Self portrait by
international celebrity photographer
and UniSA graduate Peter Brew-Bevan.
Reader feedback is welcome.
Contact: unisa.news@unisa.edu.au
Website: www.unisa.edu.au/news/
unisamagazine/
CRICOS Provider no 00121B
ISSN 1837-9915
Printed on FSC certified paper

3. UniSA Magazine Winter 2010 Looking for an expert? Go to www.unisa.edu.au/mdu/media/expert.asp4 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 5www.youtube.com/user/UniSouthAustralia
Knowledge
works
UniSA’s public lectures.
Bringing research to life.
KNOWLEDGE WORKS is a free public lecture series presented by
some of UniSA’s best thinkers on contemporary subjects that will bring
research to life.
UniSA invites you to join us once a month for an exciting and topical
lecture with opportunities to network and enjoy some refreshments.
Leading researchers from the University will highlight their latest
intelligence on our environmental and sustainable future, society and
culture, health and wellbeing, marketing and business, and technology.
Visit unisa.edu.au/knowledgeworks for more information and to
register online to receive emails about each lecture.
CRICOSPROVIDERNO00121B
You are out for dinner at a fashionable local
restaurant. The food is fabulous, the conversation
is flowing along with the wine – so it is highly
unlikely that you will have thought about your
food beyond its immediate taste.
You have probably not imagined where it is grown, thought
about the men and women who have worked to bring the product
to table, the histories of their communities and the cultural
significance of food as it is woven through our daily lives.
But according to Professor Elspeth Probyn, it all matters.
As Director of UniSA’s Hawke Institute, Prof Probyn has set a new
research agenda squarely focused on our regional communities
and the complex elements that will keep them surviving and
thriving in a globalised economy.
A key part of that research is examining the links in the food
production chain — not simply the physical and technical processes
involved in turning grapes into a fine Shiraz or tuna into sushi —
but also the cultures that sustain these industries.
“I hope to build a wealth of research at the Institute that will help
us develop a consciousness of our regional communities that goes
much deeper than an economic analysis of their contribution to
the State,” Prof Probyn says.
“I want to do that in part by understanding more clearly the
relationships between taste and place especially around key SA
foods and regions.”
Prof Probyn argues that it is often the emotional and cultural
aspects of an industry that play a vital role in its sustainability.
“Family traditions of being on the land or sea that stretch back
generations are potent and often transcend continents, as is the
case with some of the leading fishing families in Port Lincoln,”
she says. “Some of the most successful tuna industry families trace
their roots back to a Croatian fishing village — Kali — where today
these second generation Australian-Croatians are establishing
the innovative fish-farming technologies they developed here in
Australia.
“These socio-cultural relationships with food production can’t be
overlooked.”
Prof Probyn is undertaking an ethnographic study of the tuna
industry in Port Lincoln, and has previously done some research
into Cowell’s oyster farming operations. In close consultation with
regional communities, which she says have been incredibly open
and interested in the work, her research will ultimately include an
examination of wine production in SA as well.
“What is quite clear is that regional communities do not
necessarily have a key relationship with the capital of Adelaide. In
Cowell for example, where the local school owns two of its own
oyster farm licences and uses oyster farming as a key learning
and teaching opportunity for its students, the relationship with
international buyers is direct.
“Similarly, regions like the Barossa are building direct relationships
with consumers in China where the taste for wines is becoming
increasingly more sophisticated and intense as China’s growing
middle class develops its palate.”
In consultation with key local identities in the Barossa, including
Maggie Beer and Yalumba’s Cecil Camilleri, Prof Probyn has just
held workshops in the region to explore a range of issues around
culture, agricultural production and community.
She says under pressure and scrutiny, humans’ relationship with
the planet — issues around food security, global economics and
politics and climate change — will also continue to impact food
industries and the communities that support production.
“The impact of last year’s ruling to reduce fishing quotas for the
Southern Bluefin tuna is just one example of the kind of global
factors that can impact a community like Port Lincoln,” she says.
“In response, Pret a Manger, the huge fresh, “clean” international
fast food chain has taken all tuna off its menus – menus that
inevitably would have included Australian tuna.
“These moves have an impact not only on the supply chain but the
values chain embedded in the industry as a whole – they flow on
into the lives of the Port Lincoln community but also into the social
politics of the food we buy and consume.
“It is in understanding these complex interactions and
relationships that we hope to build more informed approaches to
regional development that are sustainable in the fullest sense.”
Michèle Nardelli
UniversityofSouthAustralia
View Point
Prof Peter Høj
Vice Chancellor & President
Among many there would be an outdated view that universities
are cushioned institutions that sit back to see how many students
and how much funding they receive. This perception could not
be further from the reality of contemporary universities, which
are highly complex businesses totally exposed to market forces.
This is one reason why universities are frequent sponsors of events
and highly engaged with their communities. UniSA has sponsored
the Tour Down Under for 10 years, and is now sponsoring
other events such as the Pedal Prix, the Adelaide Festival, and the
South Australian Debating Association’s Schools Competition.
These have become even more important now that the Federal
Government has implemented the Bradley Review which links
funding much more closely to student demand. In 2009, 65 per
cent ($308m) of the University’s consolidated revenue was derived
from teaching Australian and international students. A further 16
per cent ($76m) came from competitive research and consultancy.
Essentially, all university income is now contestable.
Something like one-third of the one million students in Australian
higher education are citizens of other countries. They contribute
approximately 20 per cent of universities’ total income.
The economic contribution they make to the broader
community is even larger. It has been estimated that a 5 per
cent drop in international student numbers in Australia would
equate to about 6000 jobs lost. International students also
build global cultural and business links from which Australia
derives great benefits – there are many senior business people
and government officials in Asia who studied in Australia.
International education is one of Australia’s highest performing
service industries, and this is why particular care needs to be
taken to protect Australia’s market share.
The international student market has been hard won, but
Australia’s success is being emulated around the world in
countries like Canada and New Zealand, and in Europe and
Asia. To give just two examples, Japanese universities are
opening English language programs and the Canadian
government has indicated that attracting international students
is a high priority.
Export enterprises can be adversely affected by conditions
outside their control. Recently Australian universities have been
hit by the ‘perfect storm’:
• Allegations of racist attacks on Indian students
• The dollar’s increased value
• The US re-entering international student education because
of a collapse of university finances in the US
• Uncertainties about skilled migration lists, and
• Changed visa practices by the Federal Department of
Immigration and Citizenship
In this environment we could well see the income from
international student education severely dented. This would not
only affect the operations and the size of universities, but have
flow-on effects to the wider economy.
While universities undoubtedly will be able to adjust to
these new conditions, it would be preferable if we learned
how to anticipate the controllable factors that may not only
diminish the fortunes of universities as service exporters,
but also deprive Australian society of the economic, cultural
and intellectual richness that international students bring to
the community.
The University of 2010 is exposed to competitive elements
Food for thought
Fishing is an important industry on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
Photo courtesy of the South Australian Tourism Commission.

4. UniSA Magazine Winter 2010 A web version of this magazine is available at www.unisa.edu.au/news/unisamagazine/6 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 7www.facebook.com/UniSA
Remember the names of UniSA graduates Paul Hecker, Peter
Brew-Bevan and Steven Blaess. Their works are transforming the
way we live, eat, work, think – and so much more.
Take Hecker, who graduated with a degree in Interior Design
in the mid-1980s and is now co-director of his own interior and
furniture design firm, Melbourne-based, Hecker, Phelan Guthrie.
Hecker, the man, is as fascinating as his decadent interiors. He
confesses that his life is focused on aesthetics – in homes, shops,
bars, clubs, and the place you have your cappuccino. Even his own
appearance does not escape a once over.
Of all his works, Hecker’s first major project – designing the
interiors for Melbourne’s Crown Casino, is what he regards as the
most influential in his career.
“I had total creative freedom,” he says. “And it was the first
project I had worked on where the interiors were perceived as
being as, if not more important, than the exteriors.”
When Hecker creates a space, he asks clients not how they want
it to look, but how they want it to feel. It’s this approach that
made him the designer of choice for the other-worldly interiors
of Sydney hotspots The Establishment and Ivy. Everyone who’s
anyone among Sydney’s cool crowd has been to these venues.
The Establishment, with its sophisticated, old-meets-new vibe,
attracts a nightly clientele of suave ‘suits’ and girls-about-town.
The owner of The Establishment, Sydney icon Justin Hemmes, was
so impressed by Hecker’s talents that he asked him to join him in
creating a new club in Sydney’s CBD – the likes of which had never
been seen before.
The result, Ivy, commands a snaking line-up down George Street
Thursdays to Sundays. If you’re lucky enough to get inside, you’ll
be met with five storeys of opulent interiors, not to mention a
pool on the roof. Co-designed with architecture and design firm
Woods Bagot, it’s super-luxe, not unlike how you would imagine
one of Hemmes’ own homes to be. But this is no surprise, Hecker
designed it this way.
“Justin told me that he wanted to create this great club that felt
like a big private house party,” he says. “From the very beginning
we were on the same page.”
Ivy aside, there’s no doubt Hecker’s spaces have had a profound
effect on those who have entered them, though he thinks that
many may not be aware just how significant.
“There are so many things that go into creating a space, use of
light, for example, that people may not understand,” he says.
“A room can be completely transformational – it can calm you,
lift you, and energise you.”
Through his camera lens, Peter Brew-Bevan has seen some
incredible transformations. The international celebrity
photographer, who graduated from UniSA’s School of Art in the
early nineties, has photographed some of the world’s most famous
faces, among them Sam Worthington, Ashton Kutcher, Robert De
Niro, Rachel Griffiths, Debbie Harry and Sam Neill.
He says that everyone can look good in a photograph, but if you
believe his former lecturer, UniSA’s Mark Kimber, this has more to
do with Brew-Bevan’s natural eye than the physical attributes of
the subject.
“From day one I could tell he was going to do something big,”
Kimber says.
“Once, he came back to the University and spent a day with my
students. One by one he took them away to be photographed
with nothing but a camera and one light. They came out looking
like rock stars.”
But life hasn’t always been rock and roll for Brew-Bevan. He
graduated into the recession of the early nineties and worked in
an unglamorous photo processing lab.
Later, his time as an in-house photographer at Australian
Consolidated Press (ACP) — the publishing house behind
Cosmopolitan and Cleo — gave him an insight into the harsh
commercial world of fashion editorial.
“There were times when I wanted to give up,” he says. “But then
something will happen, you’ll get a great project offer or your
work will be recognised. It reminds you why you’re doing it in the
first place.”
For Brew-Bevan, that something was a portrait of fashion designer
Peter Weiss. That photograph led him to take on more and more
freelance work. Eventually he and ACP parted ways.
“The next big turning point for me was when I photographed
Naomi Watts. It’s where my international career began,” he says.
Of all his works, it is a portrait of family friend Barry Otto that
is particularly special. “Dichotomia” shows a double image of
Otto, covered in Kabuki paint. It captures two sides of a gloriously
complicated man.
“Barry is so split down the middle,” says Brew-Bevan. “On the one
side he is an actor who is critical of his own abilities and on the
other side he is a truly accomplished painter.”
Otto’s portrait, like the others Brew-Bevan has taken, is captivating
and insightful. But the photographer says many people overlook
how powerful a picture can be.
“We don’t always have time to read, but we have time to flick.
And what we are most exposed to on a day-to-day basis are
images – on a billboard, a magazine cover. They are a reflection of
our culture, this moment, right now,” he says.
Steven Blaess’ own powerful message has come in many different
forms. The 1994 graduate has created products for major brands
coveted by millions worldwide, including a number of items
currently in production with Italian design house Alessi.
His Design in Human Environments degree, he says, gave him an
understanding not just of how to build things, but of how and
why things should be created in a certain way.
“Each product I create has its own connection to the environment
and to the people who will use it,” he says.
Using this process, Blaess has turned what could be a rather banal
bottle opener into a timeless collectable, a fruit bowl into a work
of art.
With former business partner Kendra Pinkus he formed
PINKUSBLAESS in 1996, and designed, produced and manufactured
his own products for Johnson Johnson – a functional yet chic
tampon case and an ergonomic travel case for nursing pads.
“It has not been an easy road,” he says. “But I’ve gained a
massive amount of experience which is now starting to manifest
in significant work.”
Pushing the boundaries is standard form for the London-based
designer. He designed interiors and furniture for a planned
commercial space station, and is currently working on a project to
build a recycled building panelling system using landfill.
The new building system is a project by Nexis Holdings Limited,
where Blaess sits on the executive management team. It will
provide new low and medium cost housing for people in
underprivileged regions of the world.
It’s this ability to turn something very ordinary into something out
of this world that Blaess says gives designers, architects and artists
a place in society.
“We soften the edges,” he says. “If everything was purely
engineered, then objects and forms in our environment would be
a little harsh.”
Hecker, Brew-Bevan and Blaess all reference the creative community
in which they studied as a major influence on their careers.
Many of their teachers remain at UniSA’s Louis Laybourne Smith
School of Art, Architecture and Design, though it has undergone a
transformation of its own since their graduation. Its history dates
back more than 150 years, but it officially amalgamated the three
different creative streams last year.
Head of School, Professor Mads Gaardboe, says that the aim was
to establish a creative community, with similarities to the early
20th century Bauhaus School in Germany.
“Artists, architects and designers can all learn from each other,”
he says.
“Many courses are structured so that students participate in
integrated classes, where for example, an architecture student can
work alongside an industrial design student. It expands the ways
of thinking about design.”
It’s these new ways of thinking that are shaping our world.
Consider what your life might look like without artists, architects
and designers.
And next time you flick through a magazine, pick up your coffee
cup, or enter a room, think not about what it looks like, but how it
makes you feel. That’s the power of design.
Heather Leggett
The transformersIF YOU’VE ever marvelled at the hypnotic folds of the Sydney Opera House,
fallen in love with a photograph, or bought a vase so beautiful it’s too good to
use, then you’ve been touched by design. And though you might not know it,
there is an entire creative community that takes these seemingly ordinary things
and makes them unforgettable.
It’s this ability to turn
something very ordinary
into something out of this
world that Blaess says gives
designers, architects and
artists a place in society.
1 2 3 4
1. Self portrait by Peter Brew-Bevan
2. ‘Marli’ bottle opener by Steven
Blaess for Alessi
3. ‘Dichotomia’, portrait of Barry
Otto by Peter Brew-Bevan
4. Interior of ‘Penthouse’ apartments
at Ivy, George St, Sydney
5. ‘Jalk’ key ring by Steven Bless
for Alessi
5

5. UniSA Magazine Winter 20108 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 9www.twitter.com/UniSAnewsroomLooking for an expert? Go to www.unisa.edu.au/mdu/media/expert.asp
Dr Gale says in the first half of the 20th century it is clear that the
definition of a suitable entrant to Australia was limited in colour –
both of one’s skin and one’s politics.
Fast forward to 2006 and migrants to Australia were facing a new
test. The return to “Australian values” championed by former
Prime Minister John Howard had refugees and migrants from all
corners of the globe quizzed about the history of Australia before
they could be welcomed as citizens. The Citizenship Test asked
them for the name of Australia’s finest cricketer and other tidbits –
interestingly there were no questions about our Indigenous history.
The test has since been modified by the current Labor Government
— but like most Australian Governments before them — the issues
around migration, refugees and asylum seekers remain politically
fraught.
With refugee arrivals by boat on the increase in 2010 and a solid
year of bad press in the Indian media over the safety of Indian
students after several attacks in Australia in 2009 – race has again
been in the headlines.
The irony, says Dr Gale, is that racism continues to be evident
in contemporary Australia when more than 60 per cent of all
Australians were either born overseas, or had one or both parents
or grandparents born overseas.
“Australia is a contradiction,” he says.
“In many ways our nation was built by migrants of all varieties.
We can justifiably point to a pretty good record in accepting
refugees and playing a strong role in supporting important
changes such as the end of Apartheid in South Africa.
“At the same time we have an appalling record of racism
against our own Indigenous people and the violence and racial
hatred evident at the Cronulla riots in 2005 and towards Muslim
refugees after the September 11 attack on the World Trade
Centre is very real.”
Dr Gale says political leadership and policy have a significant
impact on racial tensions.
“It is interesting to contrast the political leadership shown in
the 1970s during the arrival by boat of refugees from Vietnam and
Cambodia with the approach taken in the first 10 years of
this century.
“Back then the support given to new arrivals from Vietnam was
politically bipartisan and the whole mindset was to find ways
to help a group of people who were clearly understood to be
escapees from a war-torn environment – a war in which Australia
was a participant.
continued next page...
With a Federal election
around the corner and issues
about racism in sport, abuse against
international students and the continuing debate
over how we handle refugees and asylum seekers all in
the headlines, what does our history tell us about racism in Australia?
The truth is, it’s a mixed bag.
RACE MATTERS 1600 – 2010
First European
contact – Indigenous
population about
750,000.
1600–1700
By the mid to late
1800’s Indigenous
populations were
being forcibly
relocated to missions
and reserves.
1800
370,000 immigrants
arrive in Australia
– the largest racial
group to come to the
goldfields (40,000)
are Chinese. Most
return to China
by the turn of the
century.
1852
First forcible removal
of Indigenous
children from their
families.
1869
Strong anti-German
feeling in Australia.
German place names
were changed.
Australian residents
of German ancestors
were interned and
trade with Germany
stopped.
1914–1920s
The Great Depression
forces the cessation
of immigration to
Australia.
1929–1935
About 7000
Australian residents
from German,
Italian and Japanese
backgrounds are
interned as enemy
aliens.
1939–1945
Referendum passes
ensuring Aboriginal
people are counted
in the national census
and allowing federal
laws to support
Indigenous people.
1967
Fall of Saigon – first
waves of Vietnamese
refugees to Australia.
Second large influx
in the early 1980s.
Australia accepts and
supports more than
137,000 refugees
from Vietnam and
Cambodia.
1975
Under a Labour
government,
mandatory detention
laws for people
entering the country
without a valid visa
are introduced in
Australia.
1992
Pauline Hanson founds
the One Nation Party.
By 1999 the rocketing
popularity of the party
declines. Hanson claims
she is less popular
because the Howard
Government has
adopted her polices.
1997
Cronulla Riots – on
December 11 young
Australians of Cronulla,
NSW, protest against
incidents of aggression
against a young
woman at the beach.
The crowd turns
violent, attacking
people of middle
eastern appearance
shouting racist slogans.
2005
Attacks on Indian
students in Australia
cause media frenzy
in India and impact
diplomatic relations.
2009
Colonisation –
Britain claims
Australia under the
legal doctrine of
terra nullius.
1788
Gold discovered
in NSW.
1851
Australian colonies
pass restrictive
legislation to inhibit
migration of Chinese.
1860s
The new
Australian Federal
Parliament passes
the Immigration
Restriction Act 1901.
1901
An Australia-
led delegation
successfully defeats a
Japanese-sponsored
racial equality
amendment to the
League of Nations
Covenant at the Paris
Peace Conference.
1919
Australia welcomes
5000 Jewish refugees
from Nazi Germany.
1938
The Whitlam
Government adopts
a Canadian model
to celebrate the
cultural backgrounds
of Australia’s citizens.
Multiculturalism
is woven into all
aspects of learning,
government systems
and policies over the
next 23 years.1973–1996
From Opposition, John
Howard elaborates
his dislike of
multiculturalism “to
me, multiculturalism
suggests that we can’t
make up our minds
who we are or what
we believe in.” He
also warns that levels
of Asian migration
may be too high.
1988
The election of the
Liberal Howard
Government. Pauline
Hanson elected as a
dis-endorsed Liberal
candidate running on
an anti-immigration
anti-Indigenous
welfare platform.
1996
September 11
terrorist attack in the
USA. Australia also
passes The Migration
Amendment (Excision
from Migration
Zone) (Consequential
Provisions) Act
2001 reinforcing
mandatory detention
of asylum seekers.
2001
ABS statistics show
that about 60 per
cent of Australians
were either born
overseas or had one
or both parents, or
grandparents born
overseas.
2006
Post WWII migration
explodes. Thousands
of Europeans and
more than one million
British “under 45 and
of sound health” are
welcomed but under
the White Australia
Policy people of mixed
race or colour still find
it tough to get in.
1946
1600 2010
UST over 100 years ago Australia’s
population was a mere 3.7 million.
About three quarters of those Australians
were born here. The rest were from the
UK and, in relatively tiny proportions,
Europe and Asia. Sadly history shows no
one bothered to count the numbers of
Indigenous Australians. Most of them had
already been restricted to missions and
reserves – tucked away out of sight.
With no strain on resources, no modern
fear of the economic burden of an ageing
population and an incumbent skills
shortage, it’s interesting that one of the
first acts of the freshly formed Federal
Parliament was to keep people out.
This first dip into a national policy that
would restrict migration on the basis of
race was the Immigration Restriction Act
1901 – the foundation legislation for
what was to become known as the White
Australia Policy.
Modelled on an Act already in place
in South Africa, it prohibited entry for
the usual suspects — the mentally ill,
the prostitutes, people with infectious
diseases and criminal records — but it also
introduced a controversial dictation test,
a 50 word comprehension exercise which
could be given in any European language.
Senior lecturer in Australian Studies at
UniSA, Dr Peter Gale says the test was a
device designed to keep out people of
certain racial backgrounds while seeking to
avoid the explicit use of race and colour as
exclusion factors.
So a Maltese migrant may have been given
the test in German or Dutch, a Chinese
visitor might expect it in Italian or Flemish.
But the exercise met its own test when in
1938, the multilingual, Czechoslovakian
Jew, Ergon Kisch, a communist intellectual
visiting Australia, passed with flying colours
in several languages. Finally to ensure
his exclusion he was set the test in Scottish
Gaelic. The decision was successfully
challenged in the High Court and found to
be “not within the fair meaning of the Act”.
Australia is a
contradiction... In many
ways our nation was
built by migrants of all
varieties.

6. UniSA Magazine Winter 2010 A web version of this magazine is available at www.unisa.edu.au/news/unisamagazine/10 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 11www.flickr.com/photos/unisouthaustralia
The view from
outside in
When Harpinder Chipra arrived in Adelaide
two years ago from Siliguri near Darjeeling, to
undertake a MBA at UniSA, he confesses he
hadn’t done his homework.
“I had limited background information on
Australia and I had not read much about the
place,” he smiles.
“I had made my choice about study based on
the reputation of the program and the fact
that I had an aunt in Adelaide.”
Now with the degree under his belt and
some lived experience of working and studying
here he believes Australia is definitely not a
racist country.
The rider is that much like everywhere else,
he knows there are racist people here.
“Culturally I was raised a Sikh so I wear the
turban although I am an atheist, but it means
I am identifiably different. I actually never
thought about being careful because I thought
- this is Australia - it’s a safe place.
“I have had some little kids yell something
about the Taliban at me and one night a few
drunks had a bit of a go at me when I was in
the city coming home late from classes, but
I managed that ultimately by walking away.
Drunk Australians are much like drunk Indians
– I was just a bit surprised by the big drinking
culture here.”
Harpinder says a lot of Indians assume that
Australia, the UK, Canada, and the US are
more or less the same.
“It is not until you get to a country that you
notice the cultural differences. In India the
friction factors revolve around religion and
to some extent caste and wealth. Here it seems
that if friction arises, race or culture is the
flash point.
“It seems to me the same things can
happen in India or Australia – just in different
proportions.”
Qualified in commerce, and now a MBA,
with experience in his family’s business and
some big multinational companies in India
such as Dell, Harpinder has taken on some very
different part-time work.
“Because I have language skills – English,
Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and a little Urdu - I’m
working for the Department of Education and
Children’s Services as a bilingual school services
officer for the various primary schools and I am
really enjoying it,” he says.
“My goal is to work in the finance sector as a
market analyst but this work with children to
help them fit into their new schools in an often
very different environment, is really enjoyable.
Many of them are refugees so the service is
important.”
Ultimately, Harpinder hopes to stay.
“We took political
and practical responsibility
for the human outcomes of the
Vietnam war – there was assistance given to settle,
including government-sponsored housing and education support.
“There was a recognition that the path for refugees would
ultimately be citizenship.
“Contrast the treatment of Iraqi and Afghan refugees again
fleeing from countries at war – wars where Australia sent troops,
and the story is not positive. They were treated with suspicion
and often held in detention for many years before eventually
being released and then billed by the government for their
incarceration expenses.”
Dr Gale says governments that can create a sense of an external
enemy, can bank on electoral stability.
He says in recent years Australia has fallen a long way behind in
taking a fair share of refugee asylum seekers and playing its part
as a good global citizen.
“The myth is that we are punching above our weight in the
numbers we accept but in 2009 there were 2726 irregular arrivals
to Australia. According to the statistics from the Refugee Council
of Australia, that same year Greece was dealing with more than
10,000 and the impoverished country of Yemen had 77,310
refugee arrivals by sea,” he says.
“Whenever politicians use the refugee issue as a trump card in
the politics of fear we see real damage done, not only to our
international reputation, but also to the psyche of the nation.
“We cannot continue to be the country of the ‘fair go’ if our
leadership fails to be fair. Issues of race are always complicated
– they are bound up in economics and international political
alliances.
“However, history shows a lot can be done to mitigate the sense
of otherness that inspires racial hatred. If we trace our record we
can see there have been times of great harmony, acceptance and
international leadership towards peace and justice and there have
been periods of violence, injustice and genuine racial tension.
“Where Indigenous Australians are considered there have been
few periods of great hope. We should remember that at every
stage, our leaders have a choice in how they drive policy and social
attitudes – to harness our fears or our fairness.”
Michèle Nardelli
Born in Germany, Dr Paul moved to
Australia in 2009 to join UniSA’s Mawson
Institute. Now he is Director of UniSA’s
ErgoLab, a research facility dedicated
to enhancing the field of ergonomics –
where products are designed to better
fit the people that use them. Dr Paul
plays a major role in ergonomic studies
from automotive design, to assistive
technologies for the elderly and disabled.
He currently supervises several PhD
students and regularly consults to industry.
What are you researching?
Ergonomic product design, or to put it in
other words, how we interact with machinery,
vehicles, tools, instruments – virtually any
product we use.
What attracted you to this research field?
When studying engineering, I was surprised
to see that everything I learned was focused
on designing the technical properties of
objects. There was very little space for a human
perspective, and it seemed to me that a part of
the picture was missing – until my ergonomics
professor introduced me to the laws of labour
science. Ever since I have been fascinated by
the potential benefits of ergonomic product
design, and filled with the wish to improve
our quality of life by helping designers and
engineers better understand workforce and
user requirements in general.
How do you hope to make a difference?
Human centred workplace and product
design makes a difference in many ways – it
reduces strain and helps avoid pain, minimises
hazards, makes products more enjoyable
and comfortable, improves the economy
of working processes and is ecologic by
preventing the manufacture of products which
become waste after one use. I personally
hope to make a difference at various levels.
At ErgoLab we collaborate with small and
medium biomedical companies to support
their product design, and we develop
ergonomic design rules for broader application
jointly with automotive industrial partners.
And, as a member of Standards Australia
and ISO, I contribute to the development of
ergonomic standards for the wider public.
Realistically, our most significant contribution
might be the development of computer tools,
like human models to support ergonomic
product development, as those will integrate
into existing engineering systems and help
designers and developers to do a better job.
What’s most fascinating about the work?
It’s all around us. Ergonomics can improve
so many aspects of life, not only the workplace.
I’ve learned to critically reflect on the design
of door handles, light switches, scissors or
lids of jars — all the way to chairs, working
desks, telephones, vehicles — ergonomics is
everywhere – and amazingly, it never takes long
to find a product that needs improvement.
What is the most rewarding aspect of the
work and the most frustrating?
I love to work in applied science, especially in
an international environment, where the results
of my work are tangible for a wide audience.
When I drove the freshly released Ford Focus
CMAX for the first time, which featured an
all-new centre stack gear-shifter position which
I had designed, the feeling was overwhelming.
It’s great to see how ergonomically enhanced
products improve people’s quality of life.
The downside after more than 50 years of
research in ergonomics is that ergonomically
designed products are still mostly a fortunate
coincidence rather than a normal expectation
for users and customers.
What has been a career highlight?
The exceptional professional opportunity
provided by the Mawson Institute, AutoCRC
and the Department of Trade and Economic
Development, to build a unique ergonomics
lab (ErgoLab) and develop a research team
of future ergonomists at UniSA according to
my wishes. Although I very much enjoyed
collaborating with enthusiastic researchers
and students at universities across Europe
and working with highly skilled world-
class engineers at Ford and Daimler, the
freedom I enjoy in my current work to drive
developments is definitely my career highlight.
What are your goals for the next year?
Suffer less from the weekly team soccer
event, have more time to travel with my
family to enjoy the splendid countryside,
consolidate last year’s work, successfully deliver
our first projects with industry and business
partners and most of all – see my staff and
higher degree by research students make
their next steps towards wonderful careers
as future ergonomists.
Any advice for new researchers?
Talk to people, ask the right questions, read
and fully understand all aspects of a problem.
Solve the problem next. Then deduct the laws
and know-how that will drive innovation.
Be yourself — never copy others! Always
work in an ergonomic work environment —
don’t forget to eat regularly and take a break
every Sunday.
Dr Gunther Paul is a Senior Research
Fellow at UniSA’s Mawson Institute
and is Director of the ErgoLab
Our People In Focus: Dr Gunther Paul
MBA graduate Harpinder Chipra
Dr Paul presents at ErgoLab’s launch in February.

7. UniSA Magazine Winter 201012 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 13www.youtube.com/user/UniSouthAustraliaWant to know more about Operation Spider? Visit: www.unisa.edu.au/barbarahardy/research/spider.asp
“I want them to be doing real science. This project is
a chance for students to be part of ground-breaking
research.”
The plant research has now been incorporated into
subjects at Stuart High School and close to 40 students
are involved.
“Horticulture students are looking at how easy it is to
propagate plants from cuttings, and then what response
the plants have to different soil types and different
watering regimes,” Prof Griesser said.
“The findings will help to form the basis for a horticultural
industry. It could end up being a new rural industry for
the Whyalla area.
“In the science class, students look at leaf pieces –
exposing them to bacteria to see how active they are.
“The plant leaves form a waxy or sticky covering that
protects them against losing too much water. It’s that
sticky covering that actually contains the anti-bacterial
properties, so giving the plant lots of water might actually
change its anti-bacterial properties.
“Very little is known about the plants so this project is all
about finding out how to get the best from them.”
UniSA Research Fellow Susan Semple is working on the
microbiology involved with the Eremophila project. She
hopes that the research will lead to the development
of a viable new coating for biomedical devices that are
implanted into patients.
She explains that the anti-bacterial properties of the
Eremophila plants could provide a permanent coating
on such products, reducing the likelihood of infection,
compared to current products which are not permanent
and rely on common anti-bacterials to which people may
have built up a resistance.
Prof Griesser is now working to establish similar
partnerships with other schools to help find out more
about the other three Eremophila plants.
“Anything we can do to get students involved is good –
it’s great for them to become so excited by science,”
Prof Griesser said.
Katrina Kalleske
Digging for worms in the
backyard, catching grasshoppers
with bare hands, cultivating
an ant farm, trying to grow an
apple tree from the fruit’s core
– kids are certainly no strangers
to hands-on interaction with
nature. Or at least, that’s how
it used to be.
But with the increasing popularity of digital
toys and gadgets, educators are looking for
new ways to involve kids in their backyard
environment.
For the past three years, school teachers have
been taking part in UniSA’s citizen science
project, run by the Barbara Hardy Centre
for Sustainable Urban Environments, as an
interactive science project that gives students
an opportunity to submit data that contributes
to a scientific project. In this case, they are
contributing to what we know about the urban
ecology of Adelaide.
Each year, the project focuses on one animal
which the community is encouraged to
observe in their local area and report back their
findings. Last year it was Operation Magpie,
this year it will be Operation Spider, starting
on September 1. However, school teachers can
access materials online now to begin projects.
Kathy Paige, a senior lecturer with UniSA’s
School of Education who focuses on science
and maths education in years three to nine,
has been involved with the school education
aspects of the citizen science project, along
with other colleagues. She says feedback about
the project from teachers is overwhelmingly
positive.
“They are really excited by it,” she said. “They
get to see their students becoming involved in
their local communities, spending time outside,
sitting, hearing and seeing. The students say
they feel like real scientists.”
While some might say that projects like this are
important to develop the next generation of
scientists, Dr Paige believes it’s bigger than that.
“It’s about re-connecting kids with the world
that they live in and with nature. If everything
in their lives is digital, they aren’t in touch with
what’s around them, but if they feel connected
to their environment, they will look after it.
“It’s about children understanding how our
world works and understanding their place in
it and their impact on it.
“I think it’s a positive way to get them excited.
It’s very important for children to have a sense
of belonging to their ‘place’ and for them to be
able to make sense of their world.
“It is also just physically good for them to
spend time outside, get their hands dirty and
discover worlds beyond the laptop.”
Another UniSA project has enlisted the help
of teenagers from Whyalla on the Eyre
Peninsula to grow and study a plant that has
strong anti-bacterial properties but a small
body of knowledge about it. This will provide
benefits for the project, the students and
potentially the wider community.
UniSA’s Dr Susan Semple from the Sansom
Institute and Professor Hans Griesser from
the Ian Wark Research Institute, have been
researching the potential of plants for medicinal
use for many years. In their latest project,
they’re investigating four plants with proven
anti-bacterial properties from the genus
Eremophila. The goal is to extract chemicals
from the plants for use in preventing infection
from biomedical implants. One of those four
plants, Eremophila serrulata is being studied by
the Whyalla school students.
“Eremophila serrulata is rarely grown in
gardens but it does grow naturally in the
wild around Whyalla and Port Augusta,”
Prof Griesser said.
Steve Walker, Deputy Principal of Stuart
High School, had a chance meeting with
Prof Griesser in the bush and hearing about
his work, Walker knew it could be a great
opportunity to involve horticulture students.
Already students from the high school are
involved with an aquaculture program, and
they have a Special Interest Environmental
Group which has been actively involved in
cuttlefish protection on the Eyre Peninsula.
Walker says they cater for a wide range of
alternative programs to accommodate different
interests.
“My perspective of education is that we need
to put a lot more real context into teaching,”
he said.
“Lessons that are hands-on, real-life and
relevant with potential benefits to the local
community have the power to engage students
a lot more than any textbook.
How are we going to source our future water supply?
In the past five to ten years there has been an explosion of
interest in our water supply, largely because drought severely
decreased our resources. Water restrictions have been introduced
along with water-saving devices for household appliances. But
this is not enough to secure our future water supply. Associate
Professor Linda Zou, Deputy Director of the SA Water Centre
for Water Management and Reuse at UniSA, says new technology
will help to provide us with water in the future.
There is no doubt that we need a
diversified approach to secure our long-
term water security in South Australia,
as well as the rest of Australia.
The fact is, conventional water sources
that are rain-dependent, like dams and
rivers, are not reliable enough to secure
our water supply. We need to find
and implement new water technology
because we cannot continue to depend
on the weather for our water. It would
be dangerous for our future if new
technologies were not available and
ready when we need them.
Can you imagine if Adelaide’s dams
and rivers were empty and we weren’t
prepared for it?
It is likely that there will continue to
be a shortage of fresh drinking water
in SA and across Australia. We source
our drinking water from the small
percentage of fresh water supplies on
the planet. Globally, 98 per cent of
water that is available is seawater which
is not drinkable without going through
a desalination process.
Desalination plants are an important
part of our future water security.
They will provide a large portion
of drinking and household water
for metropolitan coastal areas like
Adelaide. Every state in Australia
has at least one desalination plant in
operation or being constructed. They
are a vital part of our water future.
In regional areas, a smaller scale
process will be used – low energy,
alternative, brackish water desalination
technology. This will see water from
hundreds of metres below the ground
being treated. Currently water at that
depth is not drinkable. Desalination
technologies are needed so that the
water meets drinking standards.
We also need to embrace water
recycling. While Australians may
be wary about this technology, it is
certainly not a new practice. Other
parts of the world have been using
recycled water for a long time. It is
much more sustainable to make full
use of our resources.
It is also important for our future
water supply that people continue
to use water efficiently – install
the water-efficient showerhead,
don’t over-water their gardens, use
appliances that are water-friendly.
At UniSA we’re working on solutions
to our water problems. We are finding
ways to improve brackish water
desalination technology, and also
looking at issues such as how to make
effective use of waste brine from
desalination processes. UniSA is an
active research partner of the National
Centre of Excellence in Desalination
and Water Quality Research Australia,
supporting national competitive
leading edge research in desalination
and water recycling.
Just like computers were once bulky,
expensive machines that became more
user-friendly as interest and demand
grew, so too will water technology
develop extensively into the future.
Australia is one of the driest
continents in the world and SA is the
driest state in Australia. We can’t
afford to overlook any options that
could secure our future water supply.
Associate Professor
Linda Zou,
Deputy Director
SA Water Centre.
Stimulating student science
Year 10 students from Stuart High School in Whyalla, Jonothan House and Jemma Brooks,
are involved in a UniSA research project investigating the plant Eremophila serrulata.
Rare native plants may provide antibacterials.

8. UniSA Magazine Winter 201014 15Looking for an expert? Go to www.unisa.edu.au/mdu/media/expert.asp
In 1904 when JM Barrie conceived Peter Pan,
a boy locked in the wild delights of childhood
– devil-may-care, cocky, spending his days
chasing adventure and with a resolute desire to
remain childlike – the joy of the story lay in its
contrast to reality.
But it seems for many Australians growing up
today, the flight to Neverland, in a bid to delay
adulthood, may be entirely unnecessary, as
people in their 20s and 30s become increasingly
known as the “stay-at-home” generation.
Not only are they delaying marriage and
children, they are living with their parents for
much longer, even going on holidays with them
(at their parents’ expense), and trading what
was the traditional determination to strike out
on their own, for the more dependent comforts
of living with Mum and Dad.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
showed that in 2006, 23 per cent of 20–34
year-olds were living at home with their
parents. Between 1986 and 2006, the number
of young women living at home increased by
36 per cent, while the increase for young men
was 16 per cent.
Some social commentators have labelled
them the Peter Pan generation because of
their apparent preference for delaying the
responsibilities of adulthood. UniSA experts
believe a number of factors are shaping this
social phenomenon.
Popular culture expert, Dr Jackie Cook
from UniSA’s School of Communication,
International Studies and Languages, says the
concept of “lost” boys and girls hanging out
at the edge of adulthood is partly the result of
increasingly tough economic conditions and
out-of-reach house prices.
Dr Cook says there has been an extension
of the time spent in schooling, training and
higher education through to the mid-20s
and beyond, as well as a move away from
permanent full-time work to a casualisation of
the workforce.
“If you’re not a permanent employee
by the time you’re 25 and you count on
having enough deposit for a home loan —
remembering that these days your deposit will
be 10 to 15 per cent of $500,000-plus — then
that’s a big ask,” she says.
“At the same time you’re supposed to be
paying health insurance, your education fees
and generating superannuation for yourself.
That just can’t happen if you’re not in a
permanent position, so there’s an economic
problem here.
“Part of the Peter Pan phenomenon is about
families finding their own solutions to these
problems.”
Dr Cook says the increase in house prices has
also pushed up rental prices, so the capacity
people had in the 1970s and 80s to rent a
house or share the rent with friends is now
comparatively much more difficult.
“So these economic pressures mean young
people, even if they are working, are
increasingly living at home,” she says.
“And young people are happier living at home
because parents often allow them a social life,
including a sex life, in the family home.
“Try doing that in the 1960s and you’d have
been out on your ear! Sexual attitudes have
changed, and that really means one of the
great motivators for moving out of home has
disappeared.
“But it’s also to do with the family home itself,
which often has been renovated to include an
ensuite bathroom and an entertainment area –
and all in a location which is reasonably urban
and central.
“I think it’s true that many young people today
don’t want to buy their first property in the
outer suburbs and ‘upgrade’ their way back in
— no-one wants to do that anymore because
they lose the café society, the music gigs, the
lifestyle — and they know it.
“Effectively what we’re looking at is something
that’s happened without much planning and
without much discussion or commentary.
Families are making a perfectly rational set
of decisions to find solutions to the problems
young people face – but these solutions
have produced this new cohort that is taking
on life’s milestones in a different and delayed
timeframe.”
And in Western societies there has been
growing acceptance of the idea of delaying
independent adulthood to the late 30s. In fact,
the European Social Survey’s research project,
Attitudes to Age in the UK and Europe found
that respondents believe youth continues
through to age 36.
UniSA sociologist Dr Harry Savelsberg says
Australia’s ageing population is also reshaping
attitudes towards growing old.
“The fact that we have a growing elderly
population means that what we see as old will
change, and therefore what people might see
as youth or middle age will change in relation
to that,” he says.
“It’s projected that by the middle of this
century, a quarter of the Australian population
will be over the age of 65. The median age in
South Australia now is 39 (ABS data 2008),
but compare that to many African countries
where the median age is the high teens or low
20s. In Africa, 30 might not seem young, but it
certainly does in Australia.
“What you consider old is going to be relative
to the particular population with which you
compare. The concept of youth is attitudinal
and demography certainly matters when
you have a big population cohort like the
Baby Boomers, who are the demographic
benchmark for our society and who largely
determine some of our attitudes to what
constitutes young, old and in between.”
Dr Savelsberg agrees that the transition from
economic dependence to independence is
far more protracted for young people today.
And he believes staying at home does not
necessarily mean young people have less
emotional or social maturity.
“Rather than spending every cent on renting
and undergoing financial hardship, many
young people are living comfortably at home
instead,” he says.
“Smaller family size makes this tenable as
young people are only ‘sharing’ the home with
parents, and at most one or two other siblings.
Back in the 1960s–70s average family size was
three or four children, rather than the one or
two children today.
Rather than spending every
cent on renting and undergoing
financial hardship, many young
people are living comfortably at
home instead.
continued next page...

9. UniSA Magazine Winter 2010 Looking for an expert? Go to www.unisa.edu.au/mdu/media/expert.asp16 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 17www.twitter.com/UniSAnewsroom
“A lot of young people now wouldn’t aspire to
buy a home any time in their immediate future.
Some, who are in better jobs who do buy
property, set it up as an investment property
and many parents are encouraging this to help
their children get a good start in life.
“With the size of the family home now,
perhaps this is just common sense. Being out
on your own might have meant independence
and your own space in the 70s and 80s, but
now it really means nothing different other
than you have to pay your own way.”
Economic problems, however, do not seem
to act as a barrier for many young people
who spend large amounts of money on
entertainment, designer clothing and travel.
UniSA marketing management Professor David
Corkindale from the International Graduate
School of Business says those who work will
have discretionary money to spend or save,
and will be able to share the infrastructure of
their parents home, like heating, cooling, TV
and probably internet connection at little or
no cost to them.
“Young adults living at home will be able
to buy more capital goods than those who
choose to leave,” Prof Corkindale says.
“They will be in the market for more expensive
cars and electronic equipment like game
consoles and high spec phones.”
However, Prof Corkindale says having the
security of living at home may give Generation
Y a false sense of security and fiscal
irresponsibility. He points to surveys by banks
and credit companies which show many of the
people failing to pay their bills or defaulting on
credit payments are Gen Y.
Jackie Cook believes that with no money going
into mortgages or supporting children, Gen Y’s
disposable income for social life, sport, eating
out, music and fashion has led to a stronger
emphasis on youth culture.
“In effect, what we’ve done, particularly
with families producing their own solutions,
is invent a new category of young adult,
beyond the teenager — just as we did when
the teenagers emerged in the 1950s — but it
has no name. And it’s built on consuming, not
producing,” she says.
“What is interesting is what’s going to happen
next. We’ve got a very large cohort of the
workforce, the Baby Boomers, about to enter
their retirement decade and that group has
traditionally downsized, moving from a big
family home to a smaller family home.
“But some families are starting to invest in
restructuring the family home yet again. They’ll
reverse the young adult living in say the smaller
bedroom with a small living space of their
own, to the young cohort moving into the
main part of the house and the parents moving
into the studio or granny flat. So there will
continue to be two generations but they will
swap spots in the home.”
If you are tired of the usual tax
time stress and hassle, there was
potentially good news in the recent
Federal Budget. From July 1, 2012
the Government will allow individual
taxpayers to claim an optional
standard deduction for work related
expenses and the cost of managing
tax affairs. This standard deduction
will be $500 from July 1, 2012 and
$1000 from July 1, 2013.
If you tend not to have many work
related expenses and the cost of
managing your tax affairs is low,
then this standard claim may be
for you. With the Government’s
announcement, these types of
expenses are now incorporated into
one single claim of $500 or $1000
without the need for any proof.
However it appears that for non-
work related expenses, such as tax
deductible donations, you still need to
claim these at the appropriate place
in your income tax return in addition
to the standard claim and keep
appropriate proof of your claim.
While this standard deduction option
from the Government looks appealing,
it may not be for everyone. You should
consider your own situation to ensure
that you are getting the full amount
of tax deductions to which you are
entitled. Not only does your taxable
income determine the income tax
you pay, but it also determines the
Medicare Levy you pay and it may also
determine whether you are eligible for
any tax rebates and if so, how much of
a rebate you receive.
With many costs of employment
such as memberships of professional
associations being quite expensive and
rising with inflation, the standard claim
will leave many people worse off.
Furthermore, while the standard claim
may appear to be generous now, it
is unlikely that the amount will be
indexed with inflation, thus with rising
costs most peoples’ actual expenditure
will likely exceed the standard claim in
the not too distant future.
If you wish to continue claiming
expenses as you have done previously
then there are a couple of key points
that you should bear in mind. The first
is that whatever deductions you want
to claim you must always only claim
costs that are spent while performing
your income earning activities and
also be aware that some items,
such as equipment, may need to be
depreciated.
Be prepared to show how the expense
was relevant to the production of your
employment income. Also, since most
tax disputes arise due to disagreement
about the facts, it is vital that you
keep all receipts and other necessary
documents to prove your claim.
With a clear and reasonable
explanation as to why the expense
was relevant to your income
producing activities coupled with
a receipt as proof, you should have
no fear of the taxman.
Further information concerning
what items can be claimed as work
related expenses and the cost of
managing tax affairs can be found at
the Australian Taxation Office website
www.ato.gov.au.
Please note that this article is only
general in nature and should not be
taken as specific advice.
A taxing issue
Does tax time confuse you? If the answer is ‘yes’, you’re not
alone. With the introduction of a standard deduction in this year’s
federal budget, many people are more confused than ever before.
Tax expert Rob Whait, a lecturer for the School of Commerce at
UniSA, offers some simple advice to make tax time a little easier.
In the original version of Peter Pan, the lost boys return home to their
mothers and the call of adulthood cannot be postponed forever.
But in today’s society, entry into adulthood has become more ambiguous,
gradual and complex, according to Dr Janet Bryan from UniSA’s School of
Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy.
Dr Bryan researches executive functioning across the lifespan and says
there is neuropsychological evidence for the term “emerging adulthood”.
Coined by US academic Jeffrey Arnett, emerging adulthood is
characterised as a developmental stage between 18 and 25 years of age.
“It’s a time when people are focused on themselves and their own
identity and a time of possibility and shifting choices,” Dr Bryan says.
“In 2007 one of my Honours students (Jemma Gates) completed a study
to discover how young Australians perceived adulthood. We asked them
whether they felt they were adults yet.
“Their response was they felt they were in the process of becoming
adults rather than being there already.
“They characterised being an adult as someone who had finished their
tertiary education, had a job, was responsible for other people such as
partners and children, and was emotionally and psychologically mature.
And they said you can’t define an adult by age, it depends on the person.”
Dr Bryan says research shows the brain continues to develop up until
the late 20s, and even into the early 30s, with an ongoing maturation of
neural functions.
She says the last brain area to mature is the prefrontal cortex, which is
responsible for executive functions such as planning and goal directed
behaviour, decision making and inhibition control.
“In addition, the prefrontal cortex has extensive connections to the
limbic system of the brain which is responsible for emotional responses.
Therefore the protracted development of the prefrontal cortex may
be closely related to the ability to control and regulate behaviour and
emotions,” she says.
“The significance of these developmental changes in the brain is that as
individuals progress through emerging adulthood, their ability to control
inappropriate emotional responses increases, which in turn may serve
to decrease such behaviours as impulsivity, risk taking and inappropriate
displays of negative emotions such as anger and aggression.
“The developmental trajectory of these behaviours may in turn explain
the reduction in risky social behaviour, such as substance abuse and
criminal activity that occurs during the late 20s.”
Dr Bryan says other UniSA Honours students had conducted studies
which showed executive functioning increased during emerging
adulthood among young Australians.
“So it certainly does seem that there is this period of emerging
adulthood that is grounded in on-going brain development,” she says.
“But a point to consider is whether individuals need to have developed
neuropsychologically before maturity can develop, or whether
experiences like gaining full-time employment, leaving home,
getting married and having children fosters brain development.
“It’s another interesting research question – we don’t know
the answer yet but it deserves exploration.”
Kelly Stone
Grown up… are we there yet?
ACHIEVEMENTS
Rewards of sleep
Dr Siobhan Banks has been recognised internationally
for her sleep research. In June she was presented with
the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s 2010 Young
Investigator Award.
The award was for her abstract that examined the effect
of sleep loss and different amounts of recovery sleep, on
people’s sleep quality.
“The study was designed to focus on all aspects of
recovery from chronic sleep restriction,” Dr Banks said.
“The results were new compared to
what had been found previously and
will impact theoretical perspectives
on the recovery from sleep loss.”
Dr Banks wrote the abstract on data
that she collected while she was at
the University of Pennsylvania from
2004-2009.
$2.4m for next
generation auto
mirrors
UniSA is helping an Australian
company produce innovative,
lightweight automotive mirrors that
are expected to corner around eight
per cent of the global market.
SMR Automotive Australia has
won a $2.4 million Green Car
Innovation Fund grant from the
Federal Government to set up a pilot plant in Adelaide to
adapt leading-edge technology to manufacture rear-view
mirrors.
The company is using technology developed by UniSA’s
‘Plastic Mirror Project’, a joint project between the
Mawson Institute and the Ian Wark Research Institute.
Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr congratulated SMR
Automotive Australia on the grant and said the company
would be working with UniSA to develop the mirrors.
“The company estimates that if the pilot project leads
to full production, its mirrors would lead to more fuel
efficient vehicles, saving about 400,000 tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions over five years,” Senator Carr said.
Rob Whait,
Tax expert.
Senator Carr

10. Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 19www.flickr.com/photos/unisouthaustralia
We are all aware of different types of
food – junk, fast, healthy, good, bad,
sometimes and comfort food. These
are often the categories used when we
talk to children about food and teach
them about healthy eating habits.
They make sense to us and they seem
to make sense to children.
But to what extent is children’s
knowledge about food instinctive?
Can they judge food that hasn’t
already been introduced to them?
Beyond our myriad of categories for
food there lie two fundamental faces
of food – the raw ingredient and the
mixed meal.
Ingredients are most easy to classify –
sugar is bad, vegetables are good.
Ingredients are the kinds of things you
are most likely to find on the food
pyramids plastered on school walls.
If you can spot the ingredient on the
poster, it is probably good for you –
grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat
and beans. Chocolate might be the
crowning glory on some depictions of
the pyramid, together with sweets,
fats and oils as the ‘sometimes’ foods.
It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Or does it? Think about the food in
your children’s lunchboxes and the
school canteen or on supermarket
shelves and advertised on television.
How many of those can be
immediately identified in the food
pyramid? Not many, yet these are
the kinds of foods that children are
faced with on a daily basis. They
are comprised of combinations and
transformations of ingredients on the
food pyramid with ingredients that
are not even on it. In those instances,
children are faced with an early test of
critical thought. They have to imagine
the ingredients comprising a meal,
evaluate those ingredients, and then
weigh up the likely co-presence of
good and bad.
Dr Sarah Blunden (also from the
Centre for Sleep Research) and I
conducted focus groups with 27
children aged five to nine years in
South Australian primary schools last
year. We asked them at a group level
to sort pictures of food into piles of
‘good or bad for you’. If the group
could not agree, the picture was
attributed to an ‘I don’t know’ pile.
This pile grew tall with some of the
same usual suspects that we introduce
to children as ‘bad’ or ‘sometimes’
food. Why? Because children were
unable to weigh the co-presence of
good and bad food ingredients in
meals or mixed foods.
Take the meat pie or the hamburger.
Meat is good, tomatoes are good, but
tomato sauce is bad. Drinks are no
easier. How do you evaluate orange
juice which comprises good fruit with
bad sugar? It seems that confusion
arises where children have not been
equipped with the ability to compare
and to apply their knowledge to new
experiences.
In teaching children (and adults)
about healthy food habits, we need
to be aware of the two faces of food –
ingredient and meal.
The food pyramid is perhaps more
precisely a food ingredient pyramid.
The meal pyramid is too infinite to
depict visually, but it can be mapped
cognitively if we give children the
critical evaluation skills they need to
make healthy choices. Doing so might
not only reduce rising childhood
obesity rates among Australian
children, it may impact non-culinary
areas of children’s lives where the
good has to be considered alongside
the bad.
Two faces of food: Is one pyramid enough?
Good nutrition helps kids grow up healthy. But is it enough
to teach children about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food? Cultural
anthropologist Dr Kirrilly Thompson from the Human Factors
Group within the Centre for Sleep Research, looks at children’s
food choices and why it’s not always as simple as good and bad.
Since 2005, UniSA’s Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship
has provided significant financial support to aspiring
Indigenous Australians, enabling them to change their lives
through higher education.
At UniSA we know that improving someone’s educational
outcomes is a fundamental stepping stone to improving their
chances of rewarding and stable employment, of ensuring
they have a good income, and of enjoying better health and
a longer life.
18% of non-Indigenous people will get a University degree
while only 3% of Indigenous Australians will.
Your support of the Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship
will provide significant financial support to an Indigenous
Australian who is undertaking a university degree, benefiting
themselves and their community.
For more information about the scholarship see the UniSA
website: www.unisa.edu.au/giving
Help us achieve success
off the field
YES, I WANT TO HELP ACHIEVE SUCCESS OFF THE FIELD!
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Address:
State: Postcode:
Phone: Email:
PLEASE ACCEPT MY TAX DEDUCTIBLE GIFT OF:
$50 $100 $200 OR $ (my choice)
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I have included the University of South Australia in my Will
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Donations can be sent to:
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Reply Paid 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001
Telephone (08) 8302 0605 Facsimile (08) 8302 0970
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Your gift is tax deductible. Be assured your details remain confidential
as we do not supply our information to any other organisation. Should
you wish to be removed from our mailing list or would like to donate
by credit card, please contact us on 8302 0605 during office hours.
Mr Nigel Relph will join UniSA in September
as the Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President:
International and Development. He comes
to UniSA from the Queen Mary, University
of London where he has been the Director:
Corporate Affairs. He will be responsible for
the University’s international and marketing
strategies, external relations and the
University’s branding.
A professor who is recognised internationally
for his architecture and sustainable urban
design work has joined UniSA’s School of
Art, Architecture and Design. Dr Steffen
Lehmann will take up the position of
Professor of Sustainable Design and Behaviour,
as well as being the Director of the new Zero
Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable
Design and Behaviour. He joins UniSA from the
University of Newcastle where he has been the
Chair and Professor of Architectural Design.
There will be two new senior staff starting
with UniSA’s Australian Centre for Child
Protection in August. Professor Marianne
Berry has been appointed as the Director
of the Centre, coming from the University
of Kansas where she is the Professor of
the School of Social Welfare. She is highly
regarded in her field internationally, continuing
to be a very active researcher and publisher.
She has been Principal Investigator on a
number of international studies in child welfare
and has taken a leadership role with several
global groups.
Associate Professor Leah Bromfield has
been appointed as the Deputy Director of the
Australian Centre for Child Protection. She
is currently the Senior Research Fellow and
Manager of the Protecting Australia’s Children
Research Group. She has a national reputation
as one of the leading authorities on child
protection in Australia.
UniSA has appointed a Chair of Defence
Systems, to promote Defence Systems
research and develop the University’s capacity
to support the newly created Defence
Systems Innovation Centre. Professor D
(Nanda) Nandagopal has taken up the
position on a two-year secondment from
the Commonwealth Government’s Defence
Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).
Prof Nandagopal said defence will continue to
play a key role in SA in stimulating innovation,
employment and economic growth.
“Adelaide is the centre stage for ship and
submarine building and defence electronics,”
he said. “We are the world leaders in over-
the-horizon radar technology, and contribute
to defence substantially through ship building,
manufacturing, design, development and high-
end systems capabilities.
“Like mining, defence is a key contributor
to our State’s economy. SA has a rare mix of
professional skill sets being available, as well as
an industry base, infrastructure developments,
research and development, and education and
training environments.”
APPOINTMENTS
Anne Gordon
Samstag Museum of Art
University of South Australia
30 July – 8 October 2010
Abstract Nature
Guest curator Margot Osborne
55 North Terrace, Adelaide
unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum
Open Tuesday to Friday 11– 5pm
Saturday and Sunday 2 – 5pmImage: Catherine TrUMAN, Ongoing Being (detail), 2010, mixed media, 80 x 204 x 83 cm, courtesy the artist
SMA UniSA News July 10.indd 1 18/6/10 4:34:45 PM
UniSA staff, alumni and supporters were
once again recognised in this year’s Queen’s
Birthday Honours, announced in mid-June.
Professor Barbara Pocock, the Director
of UniSA’s Centre for Work + Life, was
awarded a Member of the Order of
Australia for her “service to industrial
relations as an academic and researcher,
particularly in the areas of employment,
gender relations and vocational education
and as an advocate for social justice”.
Also receiving the honour was Emeritus
Professor Kym Adey, former Pro
Vice Chancellor: Access and Learning
Support, for his “service to university
administration, teacher education and a
range of professional associations within
the field of education”.
The late Jean Lois Pearce, a generous
donor and long-time supporter of the
University, was awarded a Medal of the
Order of Australia for her “service to
the community through philanthropic
contributions to a range of educational,
aged care and medical organisations”.
Former staff member Barbara Rix was
honoured with a Medal of the Order of
Australia for “service to people with a
disability, particularly through the Amelia
Rix Foundation and Awards”.
Students and alumni receiving honours
included Angela Valamanesh (AM), John
Dnistriansky (OAM), Vivien Hope (OAM),
Richard Dennis (PSM) and Associate
Professor John Svigos (AM).
Queen’s Birthday Honours

11. UniSA Magazine Winter 201020 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 21Looking for an expert? Go to www.unisa.edu.au/mdu/media/expert.asp
Studies have shown that a relatively
small number of variables can predict
the average life expectancy. These
variables or ‘risk factors’ and the
impact of each of the major factors on
life expectancy have been quantified.
Some risk factors can be modified –
giving up smoking, eating healthy
foods and reducing alcohol intake.
Others, such as a family history of
specific diseases, are risk factors you
are stuck with.
In the table below you can see the
impact of smoking on years lost is
greater the longer you smoke – on
average a long-term smoker will lose
about 10 years off their life.
If you stop smoking, some (but not all)
of the deleterious effects are reversed
in about two years. Slightly less than
20 per cent of Australian adults smoke
today – a great improvement from
more than 40 per cent in the 1960s.
Being physically active over a lifetime
can extend the average life-span by
between two to five years. Some
people argue this is the time spent
exercising! And while surveys show that
more than 90 per cent of all Australians
recognise the benefits of exercise, only
about half of all adults get active.
High blood pressure, cholesterol or
blood glucose levels are all associated
with chronic illness and may reduce
life expectancy, particularly years spent
without disability.
More than half of all adults have high
cholesterol levels, about 15 per cent
have hypertension and more than 20
per cent have excess blood glucose.
Using medications to treat these
problems is on a rapid rise, as are the
costs within the health budget.
We also know that people are more
likely to try to reduce risk factors if there
is a pharmacological solution and less
likely if there is a behavioural solution.
Obesity has been accelerating in
Australia and worryingly, the group
showing the most rapid rise has been
the 20-40 year olds. Some good news
however is the knowledge that being
overweight but fit, through regular
exercise, can help prevent many of the
negative aspects of being fat. Many
people who start an exercise program
to lose weight get frustrated with
slow progress. Knowing that fitness
is protective against many problems,
despite being overweight, might help
people stick to it.
Use the table below to see how you
tally up. The average life expectancy
today in Australia is about 79 years for
men and 82 years for women – among
the top five countries in the world.
Live longer – eliminate the risk factors
Growing old is one of the certainties of living. Each of us has our
own internal body clock ticking away and our efforts to slow that
clock using regular exercise, for example, can be fruitful. Other
behaviours such as smoking or having a poor diet can speed it
up. UniSA’s Professor of Exercise Science, Kevin Norton, explains
some of the factors that may predict how long we might live.
Jo Sharp, Development Officer (Corporate
and Named Scholarships) with UniSA’s
Marketing and Development Unit,
manages 100 corporate and privately
funded scholarships, grants and prizes on
behalf of the UniSA Foundation Committee
and the Development Office. The goal
of her work is reached in May each year
at the annual scholarships and grants
ceremony. This year, 119 recipients received
scholarships and grants worth almost
$490,000.
How long have you worked here and
what keeps you in the job?
In 2004 I joined UniSA as the Development
Officer (Bequests and Fundraising) and was
later employed as a Scholarships Project Officer
to coordinate the planning, development
and implementation of the university-wide
Scholarships Management System. With the
expansion of the Development Office and the
team securing more scholarships, the Project
Officer role has evolved into my current position.
I really enjoy my role because it’s diverse,
challenging and rewarding. Every day is
different. Having worked at UniSA for many
years, I really enjoy the corporate culture,
seeing students achieve their dreams through
scholarships, the professional development
opportunities and most importantly, working
with a great team of people.
What do you like most about your job?
My role is essentially about providing
opportunities for students and easing the
financial burden of study. It’s wonderful to be
able to pick up the phone and tell a student
that they’ve just been awarded a scholarship.
Some scream with delight and others are just
in shock. A highlight is witnessing first hand at
the scholarships and grants ceremony what a
difference the generosity of our donors makes
to the lives of the students who receive the
scholarships. It’s lovely to see the donors and
the recipients come together at the event. You
can’t wipe the smiles off their faces. The donors
are proud and the students are truly grateful
for their support. We have some very generous
donors who enjoy supporting disadvantaged
or high achieving students and following their
journey at university.
What or who inspires you?
People who have overcome adversity to achieve
their dreams are inspiring. In my job, I have
met some amazing scholarship recipients who
have come from financially or educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds. Some never
thought they’d have the opportunity to go
to university but have the determination to
succeed and achieve their academic goals. They
inspire me. One scholar in particular came to
Australia as a refugee with a young family. On
the basis of financial disadvantage, he received
a scholarship to support his social work and
international studies and he is doing very well.
Beyond work, what are your interests?
Travel is my number one passion and I love
exploring new places and cultures and meeting
new people. I’ve been lucky enough to travel
to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the United
Kingdom and Europe and I hope to visit the
United States and Canada next year. I’ve also
travelled around Australia and spent a year
living on the Gold Coast in Queensland enjoying
the beautiful weather and the relaxed lifestyle.
Where did you grow up?
I was born and bred in Port Augusta (300km
north of Adelaide). At 21, I decided that
I wanted to explore the world so I moved
to Adelaide for a couple of years before
embarking on an overseas working holiday.
I still have family and friends living in Port
Augusta and I enjoy going home to visit.
Favourite place that you have lived?
After spending a few months backpacking
through Europe, I lived and worked in London
which was a fantastic experience and I met
some great people who remain friends. The
city is vibrant and culturally diverse and there
is always something to do and see although,
I didn’t love the weather, especially in winter.
What are you looking forward to in the
next year?
After six years of working and studying part-
time on the weekends, I recently completed
my communications and media management
degree so I am looking forward to having
more time this year to spend with friends and
family, travelling interstate and overseas and
renovating my home. I plan to do postgraduate
study in the future but for now, I’m just
enjoying having lots of free time.
What are you reading right now?
I was given Richard Branson’s autobiography as
a gift so I’ve just started reading it.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever
received?
My mother’s favourite aphorism is “treat others
as you would like to be treated”.
Jo Sharp is Development
Officer (Corporate and Named
Scholarships) in the Marketing
and Development Unit
Jo SharpOur People In Focus:
www.youtube.com/user/UniSouthAustralia
ACHIEVEMENTS
Virtual worlds award
A project that aims to improve
disabled access to 3D virtual
learning environments, has earned
UniSA’s Dr Denise Wood the
inaugural Telstra-TJA Christopher
Newell Prize for Telecommunications
and Disability.
Dr Wood, Senior Lecturer in the
School of Communication, International Studies and
Languages, is undertaking the project as part of an
Australian Learning and Teaching Council project.
Dr Wood said her project had identified the benefits of
Web 2.0 and 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life, for
people with disabilities.
“For these benefits to be realised, there is an urgent
need for developers to address the identified accessibility
challenges posed by such dynamic and media rich
environments,” Dr Wood said.
The $20,000 prize is awarded for the best original paper
offered for publication by the Telecommunications Journal
of Australia that demonstrates the benefits an innovative
use of telecommunications technology can deliver in
assisting individuals with disabilities.
Learning and
teaching prestige
UniSA Associate Professor Betty Leask is one of three
people to receive a coveted 2010 Australian Learning and
Teaching Council National Teaching Fellowship.
The $340,000 award will fund an ongoing program of
research and activities into the internationalism
of curriculum.
“It is easy to talk about internationalisation, but when you
look below the surface of the rhetoric, it’s clear that we
need to know much more about what internationalisation
means to academic staff in different disciplines so that
we can effectively measure our success in this area,”
Associate Prof Leask said.
She said the activities would
be supported by national and
international networks to strengthen
and broaden case studies and
ensure that the framework was
widely and critically evaluated prior
to its release.
RISK FACTOR CHANGE IN LIFE EXPECTANCY (YRS)
Smoking -10 for lifetime smokers
Physical inactivity vs
moderate activity +2 for lifetime activity
vigorous activity +5 for lifetime activity
High blood pressure -2.5 for each 20 mmHg units above 140 mmHg for SBP
-2.5 for each 10 mmHg units above 90 mmHg for DBP
Family history / genetics -4 if there is a first degree relative* who has died or
[for cardiovascular disease] suffered a heart attack or stroke before aged 55 years
[if male] or 65 years [if female]
Excessive alcohol -0.5 to -4
Obesity -1 for each 1 BMI unit above 28 BMI
High cholesterol -0.5 for each 1 mmol unit above 5.2 mmol
High fasting glucose -0.5 for each 1 mmol unit above 6.1 mmol
Poor strength [general] 10% increase in risk of falls in old age
* First degree relative is either a father, brother, son or mother, sister, daughter

12. UniSA Magazine Winter 2010 A web version of this magazine is available at www.unisa.edu.au/news/unisamagazine/22 Winter 2010 UniSA Magazine 23www.facebook.com/UniSA
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8
9
10 11 12
13
14 15 16
17
18 19
ACROSS
1. Blew up railhead over the hill (5)
4. Cleaning agent is dropping pretence, otherwise ordered! (7)
8. Perform operation to determine unknown hybrid breed (5-8)
9. Union has piebalds taken wrongfully from native Americans (6,7)
10. Interfering with one vote, overturning another (5)
11. Compère reserved the genuine article (5)
14. Gold medallist – one then gets over bronze medal (8,5)
Time to Listen – How it feels to be
young and dying
Written by Amber Turk and edited by Margaret Brown
RRP: $22.95. Published by Wakefield Press, 2010
Amber Turk lived with an inoperable brain tumour for 12 months
before dying in November 2003 at the age of 27. During her final
year she wrote a journal documenting her emotional journey.
The journal was originally intended to give medical staff an insight
into the emotions that patients are going through. Time to Listen
– how it feels to be young and dying, is an edited version of her
journal, and an interview Amber did with Dr Michael Ashby, just a
few months before her death plus interviews with her mum.
UniSA Research Fellow with the Hawke Research Institute,
Margaret Brown, has edited the material into this 99-page book
that gives readers a unique window into the private world of a
dying person.
“This book is thought provoking and essential reading for anyone
who cares for others who are dying,” Brown said. “Amber was an
ordinary person who was able to articulate the ultimate human
suffering, facing her death
as a young woman.
“Meeting Amber’s mother
and getting to know Amber
through her writing was a
wonderful experience. It was
often hard to persist as my
tears continued over the many
years I worked on the book.
“Altogether it was one of
the most deeply moving and
rewarding experiences of my
life as a social scientist. It has
been a privilege to work on this book.
“I still find Amber’s words inspirational. She has presented us
with a gift, an insight into death, and our challenge is to hear
her words.”
New Leaf
How Brands Grow… what
marketers don’t know
By Byron Sharp
RRP: $39.95. Published by Oxford University
Press, 2009
Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for
Marketing Science at UniSA, Professor Byron
Sharp, shares years of research about brands and marketing in his
new book.
Hailed as a myth-busting book, How Brands Grow…what
marketers don’t know, is based on extensive data that has
uncovered scientific laws about buying and brand performance.
The Nielsen Company and TNS were among those who provided
access to vast amounts of data that covers hundreds of product
categories and a number of countries.
Prof Sharp said marketing, advertising, sales and market research
professionals will benefit from reading the book.
“The main message in the book is that there are scientific laws
(empirical regularities) of buying behavior that reveal how
marketing works,” Prof Sharp said.
Wheels on the Bus
Illustrated by Mandy Foot
RRP: $24.99. Published by Lothian
Children’s Books, 2009
Animal lover and UniSA graduate from
a Bachelor of Design specialising in
Illustration (1992), Mandy Foot, has released her fourth children’s
picture book. The Wheels on the Bus explores a cheeky wombat
bus driver that drives his animal passengers around Australia,
including a snorkelling emu and surf-lifesaving koala.
Foot says the most enjoyable part of illustrating children’s books is
the initial brainstorming process.
“Coming up with the ideas for each spread and developing the
characters and expressions is quite exciting,” she says. “There are
quite often characters that don’t make it to the final cut but we
think would make an excellent book by themselves – the brain
never stops during this process.
“And as much as I curse myself when I come to painting the final
pieces, I love adding those extra details like a bug or some other
character that the kids can look for on each page – they love
trying to find these things!”
Behind that Shiny Resume
– Jottings of a Troubled
College Student
By Jasmine Yow
RRP: US$9. Published by Armour Publishing, 2009
As a Singapore high school student, Jasmine
Yow excelled at her studies but hit a big hurdle when she was
diagnosed with bipolar depression in 2007.
Seventeen-years-old at the time, she says she stopped functioning
at school and released a lot of her pent up frustration on paper.
After dealing with the illness, she looked back at the material and
wanted to share her story.
“I decided it was a story I needed to tell in a society that still views
mental health as a taboo subject,” Yow said.
“Many people need to know that it’s okay to have depression or
mental illness and that it’s perfectly okay to seek professional help.
“Most of all, I wanted to reach struggling students and tell them
there is hope for change.”
Behind that Shiny Resume shows Yow’s honest struggles, and
follows her battle to reconcile her fiery passion to be outstanding
in life, with her desire for peer acceptance.
Yow moved to Adelaide earlier this year to pursue her passion for
writing by undertaking a UniSA journalism degree.
Working with Vulnerable
Families: A Partnership
Approach
Edited by Fiona Arney and Dorothy Scott
RRP: $65. Published by Cambridge
University Press, 2010
This book encapsulates the idea that for societies to flourish we
need to enhance opportunities for all children to reach their
physical, intellectual, emotional and social potential. According to
the editors of the book, such ideals can seem daunting for families
facing issues of marginalisation, poverty, domestic violence, drug
and alcohol dependence or mental illness.
Edited by Dr Fiona Arney and Professor Dorothy Scott from the
Australian Centre for Child Protection at UniSA, Working with
Vulnerable Families draws together research and successful real-
world examples to explicate the values and skills required when
working with families with multiple and complex needs.
With contributions from 21 leading experts, the book features
chapters on a range of practice-related topics.
“We have tried to blend both research evidence and inspiring
exemplars of innovative practice, ” Professor Scott said.
“We hope this will assist a wide range of service providers in health,
education and social services to work with vulnerable families.”
COLGAN’S CRYPTIC
ACROSS
1 Blew up railhead over the hill (5)
4 Cleaning agent is dropping pretence, otherwise ordered! (7)
8 Perform operation to determine unknown hybrid breed (5-8)
9 Union has piebalds taken wrongfully from native Americans (6,7)
10 Interfering with one vote, overturning another (5)
11 Compère reserved the genuine article (5)
14 Gold medallist – one then gets over bronze medal (8,5)
17 Most harsh, dismissing a person knocking stable-hand (5-8)
18 Relative hurries without it (7)
19 Cart reversed small distances (5)
DOWN
1 Summarise runner-up (5)
2 Stares at fire-flies (7)
3 Embracing actors’ performance, finds they can appear on screens (7,6)
4 Erects, with brief identification only. Not sensible! (6)
5 Shenanigan loomed over demonstration, suggestive of minority rule (4-9)
6 University in father-land to the north (5)
7 Parody’s abandoned its standard, reversing approval for a long trip (7)
10 Vehicle’s returned by a large group, timeless rivals of 9 (7)
12 Heavy fall from shearing machine (7)
13 Chewed portion, before subordinate of Jack (6)
15 One involved in medical breakthrough? Forerunner, for sure!
16 Involved in raising the best rose species (5)
Len Colgan was a Senior Lecturer of Mathematics, working at UniSA for
37 years. His love of solving problems continues with Colgan’s Cryptic.
Answers will be published online at www.unisa.edu.au/news/unisamagazine/ on August 13 2010.
For your chance to win a $40 book voucher, send
your completed crossword to Len Colgan by August 9 to
len.colgan@unisa.edu.au or fax (08) 8302 5785.

13. A night of mystery and decadence.
UniSA’s annual winter masked ball,
open to the general public.
THE
MASKED
BALL
2010
UniLife presents
| ADELAIDE |
| TOWN | HALL |
| FRIDAY | 6TH |
| AUGUST | 8-12PM |
One night. A million
possibilities.
Buy tickets at UniLife counters
or visit www.unilife.edu.au