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The defence of West Australia Hill was a day-long encounter between 30 West Australians and 300-400 Boers during the South African War (1899-1902). An archaeological survey to test the applicability of Battlefield Patterning Analysis (PBA: as used on the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Montana, USA) was conducted to determine how the West Australians maintained tactical superiority throughout the encounter. The locations of fired cartridges, artillery artefacts and archival evidence showed that the successful all-day defence was due to good tactical positioning on West Australia Hill and fire discipline, aided by accurate British artillery. Dynamic Patterning, a component of PBA, was developed further by the use of two innovative methods of recording spent ammunition characteristics: off-centredness of firing pin indentations, and marks within firing pin indentations of the fired cartridges. The ammunition finds for both Australian and Boers soldiers demonstrated the application of BPA on 20th century battlefields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phoslock™ is a specially modified clay designed to permanently bind phosphorus in those situations where phosphorus (P) release from sediments is a main driver of algal bloom formation. Extensive laboratory and mesocosm trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of Phoslock™ in binding sediment released P using less than a millimetre thickness of clay. Two full-scale applications were undertaken in the summer of 2001/2002 in the impounded riverine section of two estuaries along the coastal plain of south west Western Australia. Both rivers are subject to blue-green algal blooms in the summer months. Phoslock™ applied in a slurry from a small boat reduced dissolved P in the water column to below detection limit in the few hours it took for the clay to settle and substantially reduced P efflux from the sediments during the course of the trial. The effect of P reduction on phytoplankton growth was clearly evident in the phytoplankton dominated Vasse River but was less clear in the alternating phytoplankton to aquatic plant dominated Canning River which is also subject to surface nutrient inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]