Australian Engineering has developed to a very different perspective when compared to British and United States engineering. The investigation started out with the idea of ‘what it means to be Australian’. The development of the Australian identity has contributed to the ideals of the common Australian, as well as given non-nationals a way of associating stereotypical characteristics to generalize people originating from Australia. After little investigation, one can find that the Australian citizens globally identify in the world community as people able to make something of nothing, being able to survive in a tougher than tough environment—and thrive; As Sarah Cousins states in her article, National Identity, “The myth of the ‘Australian Type’ is shaped by society’s contemporary dominant ideologies. Over time, political and social ideology has shaped views on morality, character, race, values and religion, and has led in many cases to active discrimination and a subversive ‘writing out’ of certain sections of society from our national history.” To further her claim of the “’writing out’ of certain sections of society” she comments on the political acknowledgement of aboriginal people: “It took until 1967 before Aboriginal people were accorded basic citizenship rights and were counted in the national census of the Australian people” (Cousins, 2005). She further explains that the aboriginal people in Australia were not even acknowledged by law until 1992. She states it best with:
Prior to this, the country’s original inhabitants were not even counted as citizens. It was not until the High Court’s Mabo v Qld decision in 1992, that the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ was not recognised by the common law. Australia’s legal system finally acknowledged that Australia was not an empty continent. Prior to this, Aboriginal people simply did not exist within the eyes of the law as a sovereign people.
The idea that a person is not counted as a person in the current times gives an antebellum tone to the current Australian culture. The indifference to pleasure and pain, the idea of everyone being equals politically, economically, and socially, is something that nearly every community outwardly strives toward. However, it is interesting to see that even through the ideals of a nation people can so obviously be ignored. What makes a society develop a mindset that values equality, yet ignores its people? How does it affect the culture and influence the workplace? And most specifically, how has that perspective shaped how the engineering profession has developed in Australia so differently from the United States and the United Kingdom? This research attempts to answer those questions as best as possible.
Australia, with 22.6 million people today, only has 11 engineering colleges (Australian Education Network). This raises the question, why are there so few engineering universities in Australia? There are 319 private and public engineering schools and programs in the United States (UnivSource) and the United Kingdom has 37 engineering colleges and programs (iMahal). How does the low number of schools affect the prestige of the career in Australia? How will this affect the people and their ideas of engineering and its importance? Does having so few engineering colleges and programs affect how the profession is treated, or even second guessing if it qualifies as a profession?
The Young Ambassadors for Science was established by the Chief Scientist of Australia, who plans to resign 4 Mar 2011. This program provides a connection between “top high school science students from the National Youth Science Forum with their communities, each other and the YAS alumni, and the Chief Scientist. The program encourages students to be involved in science through a variety of community events, contributions to key debates in the scientific arena and fosters a life-long appreciation for science”(Milestones article by Chief Scientist Prof Sackett). This could be a source of growth in the Engineering and Science fields within Australia.
I think I have found a number of narrowing topics within the Australian view of engineering, and look forward to investigating more into the prestige and stigmas with the engineering profession in Australia. If you have any suggestions, please comment on what may be interesting, or what you think would be most interesting to focus in on within what I have mentioned above!
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