Ingham indexed and calendared five hundred documents of the Chief Secretary's collection covering the administration of Port Phillip from September 1836 to October 1838. This preliminary work made it clear that overseas precedents could not fully govern our work, and that outline lists of large numbers of documents were more important at this stage than the slower work of detailed indexing and calendaring.
This latter would require either large staffs or many years of labour, even for documents in the Public Library alone. Consequently, it was decided to prepare the following lists :-
1. A list of documents in the Archives and Private Collections of the Public Library of Victoria ;
2. A list of newspapers in the Public Library of Victoria ;
3. A list of historical theses in the Library of the University of Melbourne ;
4. A note on the official documents contained in the Public Library of Victoria.
These lists are now being cyclostyled, and copies will be sent to University and other Libraries, as well as to the Commonwealth Office of Education.
It is intended to extend this work of listing historical documents to the country areas ; and, by way of experience in this problem, Miss Stretton has been also working on a local history of the Kinglake district.
She is now writing a report on the documentary problems of such a local history. We wish to acknowledge in this respect the ready co- operation that has been given in this project by Mr. C. A. MacCallum, the Chief Librarian of the Public Library of Victoria, and his staff.
(2) Selected Documents in Australian History
Workers : Mr. C. M. H. Clark, assisted by Mr. L. J. Pryor.
The first volume of this work, 1778-1850, is now being printed, and work on the second volume has continued during the year. Apart from the selections to be published, this project has made it possible to give more detailed bibliographical guidance to research students in History.
(3) Aboriginal Pre-History
Workers : Dr. L. Adam and Professor R. M. Crawford.
Dr. Adam has continued his studies of Australian aboriginal stone industries. The ethnological collection has been considerably enlarged by additions of aboriginal artefacts, etc. from the Northern Territory and the Kimberleys of Western Australia. Professor Crawford during a visit to the Kimberleys collected a variety of aboriginal implements used now and in the past by the Worora people. Mr. J. L. O'Brien is at present taking part in archaeological diggings in England, and it is expected that his experience will enable him on his return to train students here in archaeological work.
cal research. These included Dr. Eris O'Brien (author of The Foundation of Australia), Mr. Percival Serle, and members of the staff of the Public Library of Victoria. Every student working for a higher degree was assigned to a supervisor, and was required to submit terminal reports which generally took the form of a preliminary draft of the work up to that stage. There were twenty-two regular members of the seminar, one symptom of the rapid growth of the research or post-graduate side of the Department's work. A problem as yet unsolved is the increasing proportion of graduates who desire to work in Australian History, and whose supervision is an increasing burden falling on the few specialists in this field.
C. INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
(4) A Study of the Camden Harbour Settlement of 1864-5 Workers : Professor R. M. Crawford and Miss M. Kiddie.
This study of the abortive settlement of a number of Victorians in the Camden Harbour district of the Kimberleys, Wesêtn Australia, was continued in three ways during this year: (a) By tracking down private letters and journals and by interviewing descendants of settlers; (b) By discussion with scientists and pastoralists of the scientific problems involved in the heavy mortality of the settlers' sheep; (c) By a visit made in August, 1948, by Professor Crawford to the site of the settle- ment. With the aid of native guides, Professor Crawford was able to visit all the points of settlement, observe relics of the expedition, collect native legends concerning it, and study the physical environment of the settlement.
(5) George Arnold Wood, a Non-conformist Liberal Worker : Professor R. M. Crawford.
This book was two-thirds completed during a term's leave of absence
in
1948.(6) History of Working-Class Conditions in Australia, 1788-1851 Worker : Mr. F. Crowley.
During the year, Mr. F. Crowley completed this study which was undertaken for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in this University.
As a by-product of this study, he read a paper on The Relations of Masters and Servants, 1788-1851 at the A.N.Z.A.A.S. Conference in Hobart, January, 1949.
(7) The Victorian Political Crisis, 1877-1881 Worker : Mrs.
J.
Parnaby.This work is being undertaken by Mrs. Parnaby for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in this University, and follows her earlier study of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy in Victoria which is now in process of publication.
(8) History of the Royal Melbourne Hospital
Workers : Professor R. M. Crawford and Miss M. Kiddie.
This history is to be written by Professor Crawford. Miss Kiddie has continued the preliminary survey of materials and has interviewed
a
number of people connected with the hospital now or in the past.A subsidy from the hospital Committee of Management has made it possible to use two graduates in the work of taking notes of annual reports and other documents.
(9) Sir John Franklin in Van Dieman's Land, 1837-43 Worker : Associate Professor K. Fitzpatrick.
This work is now being printed. Associate Professor Fitzpatrick also prepared during this year the Presidential Address to Section E of the A.N.Z.A.A.S. Conference in Hobart, January, 1949, on The Role of the Imagination in History.
(10) Roman Britain
Worker: Mr. J. L. O'Brien.
Work has continued on the collection and translation of documents bearing on the study of Roman Britain, and, during the period of report, Mr. O'Brien went to England as Rockefeller Fellow to continue this work.
(11) Select Documents in Australian History
(a) In addition to his work on the Select Documents, Mr. C. M. H.
Clark is preparing a series of Studies in Australian History 1788-1850.
(b) Mr. A. G. L. Shaw has been working on a series of biographical Essays in Australian History. He also prepared a paper for the A.N.Z.A.A.S. Conference on Social Classes in the English Civil War.
(c) Mr. O. Parnaby has been working on the History of the Riverina 1860-1880, and he read a paper on this subject at the A.N.Z.A.A.S.
Conference in Hobart, January, 1949.
(12) History of the Australian Workers' Union
Mrs. J. Philipp has continued her study of this subject, giving special attention to developments in the eighties and nineties.
(13) Social History of the Western District of Victoria
Miss M. Kiddie began a study of this subject during the year, after completing her book on Caroline Chisholm which is now being published.
(14) The Mannerist Portrait in Venice and the Terra Firma Mr. F. Philipp continued his work on this subject.
LA W
Head of Department : Professor G. Paton.
General research is proceeding along the following lines :- (1) A study of the law of bailment.
(2) Investigation of Administrative Tribunals in the Commonwealth.
(3) The law of libel and slander.
(4) Studies for a volume to be entitled The Development of the Law in Australia which it is hoped to publish next year in an Empire series.
(5) The constitutional history of federation.
(6) The mental element in homicide.
(7) Legal History.
MATHEMATICS
Head of Department : Professor T. M. Cherry.
(1) Theory of Groups
Workers: Dr. H. Schwerdtfeger and Mr. A. C. Hurley.
Dr. Schwerdtfeger has continued his research in the projective theory of null systems and the corresponding symplectic groups. He has also completed the manuscript of a book on linear algebra and matrices.
Mr. Hurley has worked on the problem of enumerating the irreducable crystal classes in four dimensions, using the method of Frobenius's character theory. This method furnishes, besides true solutions, `solutions' which are spurious because they do not correspond to groups. The work of finding all possible solutions has been completed and the discrimination between true and spurious solutions has been completed in all but three of the sixty-nine cases.
(2) Motion of Compressible Fluids
Workers : Professor T. M. Cherry and Mr. H. C. Levey.
The line of research outlined in last year's report has been continued in two main directions. Firstly, it has been necessary to devise efficient methods of calculating the hypergeometric functions of high order, which occur in the infinite series whereby flow patterns are specified ; the hypergeometric series is here relatively useless because many significant figures are lost through cancellation. Asymptotic formulae have been discovered, of a new and powerful type ; tables of the coefficients involved have been prepared, and extensive checks made of exact values against those found from the asymptotic formulae. This work is in course of publication.
Secondly, solutions have been developed for the case where the fluid flows past a cusped aerofoil.
(3) Elasticity
Worker : Dr. E. R. Love.
Dr. Love has solved the problem of the deformations caused in a rapidly rotating mirror by the stresses which arise from centrifugal action. The practical importance of this question is that if the mirror is to be strictly plane when rotating it must be figured so as to be slightly discrepant from a plane when at rest. He used Muschelisvili's method for solving plane elastic problems with the help of conformal transformation. The extensive calculations needed to make the solution of practical utility have been completed.
(4) Theory of Numbers Worker : Dr. F. A. Behrend.
Dr. Behrend has continued his work in this field, and has published two papers.
41
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Head of Department : Acting Professor E. J. C. Rennie.
A. RESEARCH ON BROWN COAL UTILIZATION
Direction : Mr. J. R. Bainbridge (till November, 1948) ; From November—Dr. R. S. Andrews and Acting Professor Rennie.
(1) Brown Coal Gasification by the Lurgi Process Worker : Mr. F. J. Bromilow.
The work done during the last year may be divided into two parts—
plant reconstruction, and experimental. Reconstruction of the Lurgi plant was carried out following difficulties experienced in 1947, and involved re-design of the cleaning system together with a tightening of safety precautions. The alterations were completed in November, 1948, and in December the first experimental run on the modified plant was carried out gasifying Leigh Creek Coal at 6.2 atmospheres pressure.
Samples of gas showed a calorific value of 356 B.Th.U. per c.ft., when reduced to 3% CO2. In February, 1949, two more runs were made, one on Yallourn briquettes under conditions similar to those for the run on Leigh Creek coal yielding a gas of 396 B.Th.U. per c.ft. corrected to 3% CO2 and the other on Yallourn briquettes at high pressure (25 atmospheres). The latter run gave a gas of 436 B.Th.U. per c.ft. corrected to 3% CO2. During these runs difficulty was experienced in obtaining reasonably steady conditions, and attention is being given to this point.
The South Australian Gas Company contributed towards the cost of this project.
(2) Fleissner Drying and Coal Breakage Worker : Mr. I. Belyea.
Three Victorian brown coals, from Yallourn North, Yallourn Open Cut, and Bacchus Marsh, were dried by the Fleissner Process. An investigation was made of the strength of the dried coals and the effect of the process variables on this strength. The process variables were steam pressure, heating and cooling rate, and lump size ; shatter testing was used to measure the strength of the product.
It was found that the effect of steam pressure on the strength of the product was dependent on the particular coal, confirming results obtained by Satchwell and Eisenklam in 1945 and 1947. Fast heating and cooling rates give a weaker product than slow rates, while small lumps give a stronger product than large lumps. Small lumps heated by the fast heating and cooling rate give a product of about 20% moisture content for Yallourn North coal and of a strength to make it suitable for use with a spreader stoker.
(3) The Sampling of Brown Coal for Moisture Content Worker : Mr. P. G. Scanlan.
Information on the variables affecting the accuracy of a sample of raw brown coal was obtained by taking a total of 216 samples in different ways from three different coal types in common industrial use in Mel- bourne. The samples were analysed for moisture content partly in the Engineering School and partly in the Mines Department, through the courtesy of the Director.
42
In the Engineering School a new and improved distillation apparatus for moisture determination was designed and tested, and it was shown that the conventional oven drying method for the determination of moisture in brown coal gives results which are on the average of 1%
lower than those obtained by the distillation technique.
The results of the sampling showed that under normal conditions of brown coal usage, the moisture content changes by only a few per cent from mine to furnace. Further, the variation of moisture content of samples of coal from the same source was surprisingly low. It was also found that the size of samples to be taken from a batch of brown coal for a specified sampling accuracy increases as the storage period of the coal increases.
(4) The Oxidation of Brown Coal Worker : Mr. J. M. Crennan.
The programme of investigation was arranged to provide information on the rates of oxidation of three different Victorian brown coals under various conditions. The coals used were from Yallourn North, Yallourn Open Cut and Bacchus Marsh. Samples were tested both in the raw state and also after Fleissner drying, the drying having been done under different conditions of steam temperature and rates of heating and cooling.
The coals were allowed to oxidize at atmospheric pressure in an atmosphere of air, the oxidation taking place at two different tempera- tures, namely 20°C and 37°C. Two sizes of coal were used, the larger passing a â" sieve and being retained on a $" sieve, and the smaller about one eighth this size.
Seventy-two tests in all were carried out, the results being still in process of examination.