Australian Megafauna

Sites on Australian Megafauna (definition Large Animals)

Mega - very large and Fauna - animals, together mean very large animals. Megafauna did not mean just animals with fur. It also included birds, reptiles and amphibians - animals with backbones or vertebrates.
Megafauna is really a comparative term, meaning put beside other or similar animals or compared to what went before or came afterwards, these animals were very big. For instance, in Australia, the echidna that exists today in Australia and New Guinea is smaller than the echidna which existed at times in the past. The same could be said of the current suite of kangaroos, wombats and koalas. Text from The Age Of Megafauna ABC site listed below.

The Age of Megafauna ABC Science site
Museum of Victoria Megafauna article
Museum of WA Nullabor Megafauna
Museum of Australia & extinction theory & human involvement in megafauna extinction
Wikipedia article
Death of Megafauna ABC science

using the Drug Info website for HSC students

This website is a great resource for HSC students. There is information on alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs; drug and alcohol effects; mental, health and drug & alcohol use; how to talk to others about drug use and where to go for help.
http://www.druginfo.sl.nsw.gov.au/ is a gateway to both factsheets and detailed information. There is a specific section for Students and Teachers which is particularly useful for PDHPE and Society and Culture students.

Louise (from a SLNSW information sheet)

New HOT topics, great for Legal Studies students

Hot Topics
There are two great new recently released Hot Topics: Human rights and Domestic violence.
Human rights provides an overview of human rights law from its origins and sources, through to the development of modern human rights law. It examines how human rights law operates in Australia, with reference to current issues, and includes the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and further information resources. It is a great resource for HSC Legal Studies students studying the Human Rights topic.
Domestic violence defines domestic violence, gives a detailed explanation of the law on apprehended violence orders, and discusses other legal remedies. It is a very useful resource for those Legal Studies students studying the Crime or Family topic.
Louise (from the LIAC E-News November 2008)

ABS statistics - Statistically Speaking

Statistically Speaking is a blog for librarians and other like-minded information professionals featuring the latest information, news, tips and stories relating to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://abs4libraries.blogspot.com/
Louise

visual dictionary

Hello all,

There’s a good visual dictionary I hadn’t seen before at http://visual.merriam-webster.com/ (or Google: Visual Dictionary Online). Worth a look.

John

New NSW legislation site

The website for NSW legislation has just changed to http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/ The URLs and core functionality are unchanged but there are additional features, in particular the official authorisation of legislation published online, and a more streamlined interface. The new features will be listed in full in a link from the home page.
The NSW legislation website is the official NSW Government site for the online publication of legislation. The website contains the following features:
The In Force database—NSW legislation in force, both Acts and statutory instruments (regulations etc and environmental planning instruments) that is constantly consolidated and kept up-to-date Historical versions of current legislation, repealed legislation and historical versions
The As Made database—An archival collection of NSW legislation as made since 1990
Advanced searching and browsing facilities.
Louise

Politics and Young People

A research project of the Whitlam Institute called “Young People Imagining a New Democracy” is investigating how young people engage with the democratic process in Australia. This review shows young Australians are anything but apathetic. They are strongly engaged with political issues and social causes such as the environment, poverty, health and an
Australian republic. However, they feel alienated and marginalised by old, formal, institutionalised politics. The review finds that for young people, there’s been a generational shift in Australian politics. The research shows it’s no longer about political loyalties, it’s about political choice.
Young Australians are distrustful of politicians and they are not content to accept the hierarchies in traditional institutions of democracy. They prefer to engage in grassroots campaigns and
cause-based activities, where they feel like they can make a difference.
The main observations from the review include:
• Young people will vote because they have to, but they do not see the efficacy of voting.
• High numbers of young people state they would not enrol or vote all the time, if it were not
compulsory.
• Issues such as lack of permanent housing impact on young peoples’ electoral enrolment and
participation.
• Few young people are mobilised to join unions and ever fewer are members of political parties.
• Young people are interested in political issues and are engaged in a wide range of new participatory activities, particularly when they can see tangible outcomes for their efforts.
• Gender, class and ethnicity have an impact on young people’s participation.
[from a Media release 27/8/08]
To download a copy of the literature review, visit: www.whitlam.org
Louise