Editorial.
Harris, Natasha
In choosing Banjo Paterson's celebrated phrase as the theme
for Traffic number five, previous editor Heather Benbow challenged young
researchers to declare the visions motivating their work, and to share
them with our readers. As this collection proves, Melbourne University
postgraduates are by no means short of inspiration, and in the
far-ranging articles published here they have tackled topics as diverse
as substance-use intervention, virtual reconstructions of historical
sites, Australian migration policy and the stories our roads tell us.
Vision is what starts the researcher on the track towards
discovery, and Traffic was founded with the idea that the exciting,
original and sometimes surprising ideas of our researchers are
all-too-rarely communicated outside the bounds of a student's
discipline or the requirements of the higher degree. This collection
gives students a chance to articulate their ideas for those outside
their area of expertise--to 'sell' their vision. The result is
interesting reading which, hopefully, will inspire others with the
excitement of intellectual endeavour.
To open this issue we have a bold and ambitious piece from Kiera
Lindsey, who wonders what our most prominent national road--the Hume
Highway--can tell us about our national identity and the story we relate
of our beginnings. Drawing on standard exploration histories as well as
contemporary theories of narrative, she overturns official history and
challenges the elision of native voices by pulling the
'footnotes' into the 'text' of her examination of
Australia's road history. Gary Presland makes a case for including
the natural history of Melbourne in our current evaluations of the city,
arguing that to do so not only enhances our engagement with Melbourne
but can avert the ecological and natural disaster that result when our
imposed constructions ignore the rhythms of the ancient landscapes
beneath.
SP Koehne's timely investigation of Australian migration
policy probes the underlying ideologies that informed the treatment of
the German religious group known as the Templers following World War II.
Investigating Government rhetoric such as 'White Australia'
and 'good migrant' for their covert as well as overt
implications, he suggests that contemporary debates have not necessarily
travelled far from these ideas.
Helen Addison-Smith's article explores visions of nation and
issues of the 'other' from a different perspective. Analysing
American science fiction of the twentieth century, she argues that these
novels may have prefigured in the 1950s and 1960s some of the debates
that were to occupy post-colonial theorists in the late twentieth
century. In another investigation of the virtual, Erik Champion writes
of his exciting research into digital reconstructions of historic
sites--virtual heritage environments--that aim to teach the user about
the cultures of long ago. His own reconstruction of the ancient Incan
city of Palenque in Mexico draws on interactivity and design features of
computer games in an effort to emulate their obvious appeal.
Several authors in this volume show that vision is often the
product of unlikely collisions of thought that produce a new way of
seeing a problem or situation. D Bruno Starrs offers a reading of
Dracula that argues for greater attention to the novel's submerged
religious themes. Louise Fairfax investigates the possible interplay between the evolution of quantum mechanics theory and the literature of
German writer Johann Goethe. Susan Hudson tackles a difficult problem
with new verve by applying theories of empowerment to the intervention
strategies used with illicit substances users in correctional
facilities. This is a controversial and courageous approach that
attempts to remind us of what we share as humans, rather than what
divides us.
This year Traffic has changed hands, and as the new editor I aim to
continue the excellent work of my predecessor Heather Benbow. Traffic
has travelled far since its inception in 2001 due to the hard work of
both Monica Dux and Heather Benbow; it is now an established
interdisciplinary journal and I am delighted to be at the helm for the
next instalment of Traffic's history.
I hope you enjoy Traffic's fifth issue and find inspiration
here among the thought-provoking and encouraging ambitions that Traffic
authors offer as their 'visions splendid'. Happy reading!
