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Thesis Embargoed Access, Embargo ends: 10-Sep-2025
Dissertation
High-performance sport in regional Queensland, 1970 – 2019: a prosopographical analysis of drivers
Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25907/00872
Abstract
As Colin Howell and Daryl Leeworthy explain, “like sport itself, sports history is routinely placed in service of the nation and the metropolis.”1 In the documented history of Australia, the metropole has been central to the narrative of the nation’s sporting past. The 1970s heralded a new federal and state government interest in sport in Australia. Across the next five decades, support shifted from an approach characterised as non-involvement to one that overtly utilised high-performance sport as a tool for international diplomacy. A metropolitan base of decision-making for sport is evident in policies and reports, capital cities hosting international Games and world championships, and the location of national and state institutes and academies of sport. With such a focus, sport in regional areas of the nation was and is often overlooked, imagined, or viewed only as a place for grassroots development.
This research focuses on the history of high-performance sport in regional Queensland between 1970 and 2019. The Queensland government established its first ministry with a remit for sport in the capital city of Brisbane in 1972, followed almost two decades later by the launch of the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS). At the federal level, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was formed in 1981, but is based in Canberra. This thesis examines the impact of related policies and actions on regional high-performance sport and details the history of such sporting activity across fifty years. Utilising a mixed-methods approach of prosopography combined with other approaches, the thesis identifies the experiences of high-performance super-elite athletes, coaches and referees in six regional and rural areas of Queensland: Charters Towers, Gladstone, Mount Isa, Rockhampton, Roma, and Townsville.
Noting a history of support for high-performance sport written by and for the nation's metropolitan areas, this research reflects on how historical high-performance sport policies have not suitably accounted for regional and rural drivers of success. Instead, the research observes how a narrative of regional and rural sporting experiences is often adopted as a singular ‘other’. This research deliberately centres regional and rural Queensland sporting activity and experiences and maps identified drivers for high-performance sporting success to De Bosscher et al. Sports Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS) model across macro-, meso-, and micro-level levels. In addition, the research observes tangible legacy markers of regional and rural high-performance success and demonstrates how prosopography is an ideal choice for researching histories previously regarded as subaltern in priority.
Details
- Title
- High-performance sport in regional Queensland, 1970 – 2019: a prosopographical analysis of drivers
- Authors
- Kate Kirby - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
- Contributors
- Amy Clarke (Principal Supervisor) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research CentreJoanne Scott (Co-Supervisor) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Engagement)Brendan Burkett (Co-Supervisor) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Sports & Exercise SciencePeter English (Co-Supervisor) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
- Awarding institution
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Degree awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy
- DOI
- 10.25907/00872
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991058098702621
- Output Type
- Dissertation
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