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First Section
All things queer and opposite

How have scientists perceived Australia? Culture shapes our ways of seeing and understanding, thus science in Australia was long bound by Eurocentric expectations. But interaction with this new environment helped reshape these expectations, science itself grew and changed. What has been achieved by this process, and what remains undone?

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Second Section
Isolation and independence

How has a scientific community been established? The development of Australian science is often portrayed as a march to independence - a triumphant victory over colonial mentalities, isolation and distance. But what did isolation mean to scientists? Why was it felt, and how was it overcome?

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Third Section
The handmaiden of empire

How have political and economic objectives shaped scientific research? In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were strong links between science and imperial expansion. In the twentieth century, war and economic development have made their demands. How has science responded? Where are the benefits, and the tensions?

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Prepared by Tim Sherratt (Tim.Sherratt@asap.unimelb.edu.au)
for publication on ASAPWeb. Last modified 9 March 1997.