Australian Engineers: A whole new outlook

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!

The Unionized Engineer

Draft Abstract: The Unionized Engineer
This article explores labor unions’ effect on engineers in Australia. With wages, centralized control and political sway within a union, engineering in Australia has become a hot-topic within the industries. The structure of a unionized profession ranges from “an organizing model” which we see often in the United States historically, to the “service model” that unions have historically been known for. This “service model” has been more often associated with the traditional role of a union, in that it is “based upon a transactional relationship where union officials deliver services and, in exchange, union members pay dues” (Carter). Engineering and technical unions in Australia have been changing and merging for many years, and have been every since the British started a branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1852 (Sheridan). There have been a number of changes within structures and associations of these unions with other countries, but Australia established their own for the first time after breaking away from the British union for the first time in 1968 and establishing the Amalgamated Metal Workers’ Union in 1972 (Sheridan). The force and the structure of a union can only be as strong as the supporters of it within the unionized profession, and this paper will go into the support and opposition for unions of engineers and how the unionization of engineering has caused a decline in the value of engineering in Australia.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPY

Sheridan, Tom. “Mindful Militants: the Amalgamated Engineering Union in Australia, 1920-1972”. Publisher: The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, © 1975.

This book focuses on the time frame of 1920-1972 and Australia’s growth through labor unions for engineers. This book focuses on the history of what unions were in place when, and their influence politically and in industry. It comments on the hardships of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and how they overcame the obstacles presented by WWII, the Communist scare, and the aftermath of having been associated with a communist style leadership.

Matthew James. “Australia 2020: Foresight for our Future”. Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group. 6 February 2001.

This article describes foresight and the three steps needed for an effective foresight analysis to take place. The article is an analysis of what Australia is focusing and what they should be focusing on in the author’s eyes. The author calls for the need to see beyond the next couple years to plan what will happen in a few decades and be able to incite change through environmental, political, social, and industry values. This article is not on engineering specifically, but focuses on the state of Australia in the early 200s.

Radio Australia News, “Australian parliament to debate flood levy”. 8 Feb 2011.

This article discusses the need for a levee in Australia, but the value of other restoration projects is also needed. This article is a great example of the immediate versus long term goals that the Australian government focuses on. This provides a current reaction to the need of an engineering project reported through direct media.

“Post-graduate courses in railway engineering: The needs of Australian engineers and rail organizations”
May 2000, Author: Athol Yates, Researcher: Dmitry Lobanov, The Institution of Engineers, Australia. RTSA.

This article expresses and surveys the need for railway engineers. This article contributes to the focus on the need for engineering, and that there is an expressed and surveyed need for them in Australia. The IEA shows statistics on the need for railroad engineering classes and units in their schools for higher education. The institute calls for the classes in railroad design and engineering for the graduated students to have as part of their Diploma requirements.

Bob Carter and Rae Cooper. “The Organizing Model and the Management of Change
A Comparative Study of Unions in Australia and Britain”. Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations. Publisher: Département des relations industrielles de l'Université Laval. Volume 57, Number 4. Fall 2002, p. 712-742.

This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of having jobs unionized, and how this politically is effective and ineffective. The article goes into depth on the information and surveys performed on the debate of unionization, and unionization reform solutions. The article portrays the different sides of having unions and certain structures of unions very well.

Additional Articles Planning to Use:

Buchanan, John.“Teams and Control on the Job: Insights from the Australian Metal and Engineering Best Practice Case Studies”. Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT), The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006.

Briggs, Chris. “Australian Exceptionalism: The Role of Trade Unions in the Emergence of Enterprise Bargaining” published online: 19 DEC 2002. DOI: 10.1111/1472-9296.00003. The Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 43, Issue 1, pages 27–43, March 2001.