The production of high aspect ratio cellulose nanofibres without resorting to very harsh mechanical and/or chemical processing steps remains a challenge that hinders progress in the fast-moving nanocellulose field.
Triodia pungens is one of the 69 species of an Australian native arid grass which covers approximately 27 % of the Australian landmass. In this study, we report that very long and thin cellulose nanofibrils can readily be isolated from Triodia pungens biomass using unrivalled mild chemical pulping, followed by several mechanical fibrillation methods. After a typical pulping process which includes washing, delignification and bleaching steps, mechanical fibrillation was performed via high pressure homogenization, ultrasonication and high energy ball milling using relatively minimal energy in all approaches. Cellulose nanofibrils with an average diameter of below 10 nm and a length of several microns were obtained. It also has been shown that the nanofibrils obtained from Triodia pungens have a crystallinity index of about 69 %, and a thermal stability of up to 320°C. The sheets produced from high aspect ratio nanofibrils prepared by high pressure homogenization, also demonstrated a very high work at fracture. By evaluating the deconstruction strategies and the performance of nanofibril sheets, we report that the highperformance cellulose nanofibrils can be processed from arid grass bleached pulp with unusually low energy input.
This paper applies a cross-cultural theory of 'place' to Australian Indigenous groups, both in terms of their classical and post-colonial places and cultural landscapes. It then explores how the ability of Indigenous people to access, protect, maintain and manage their places and landscapes, has been compromised by Cultural Heritage, Native Title and Planning legislations.
KeywordsIndigenous Australians, Place, Cultural Landscape, Cultural Heritage, Native Title.
Author DetailsAssociate Professor Paul Memmott is an anthropologist and architect and the Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, School of Geography, Planning and Architecture, University of Queensland. Stephen Long is completing his PhD in the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, and is also a research consultant in Aboriginal projects.
IntroductionThis paper examines issues in the maintenance of Indigenous places in contemporary Aboriginal Australia. It begins by briefly outlining a set of cross-cultural theoretical findings and models on the nature of place as a phenomenon, drawing on the authors' previous research 2 . The authors believe that any scientific, political or professional analysis of the cultural heritage values of places or sites should be firmly founded in such a theory of place. Within this model, culturally distinct aspects of Indigenous places will be described. These aspects have been selected to introduce and to some extent explain the existence of a range of issues and conflicts over Indigenous place values in contemporary Australia.
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