Australia Telescope National Facility

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, John Storey for his continual support and advice throughout this work. John's wisdom, sense of humour and kindness never ceased to impress and educate me. Without him this project could not have been completed.
I would also like to thank John Whiteoak, my co-supervisor from the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF). John's enthusiasm inspired me to undertake further studies in astronomy. He has accompanied me on numerous observing sessions and has been an excellent teacher of the many aspects of radio astronomy. I also am grateful to John for giving me the opportunity to work at the SEST for nine months as a support astronomer.
I am extremely grateful to Michael Burton for all his guidance and advice throughout the Keyhole project. I have also appreciated the immense help that Nicola Schneider has given me to arrive at the results presented in Chapter 5. Furthermore, I would like to thank Pierre Cox for providing some very useful comments, and for also making all of his Carina data available to me.
For other scientific discussions and advice I would like to thank Jim Caswell, Guido Garay, Lars-Ake Nyman, Christian Henkel, Yi-nan (Ironman) Chin, John Dickey, Miller Goss, Antonella Vallena, Albert Nummelin and John Black.
For crucial help with {\sc gildas}, I would like to thank Nicola Schneider, Achim Tieftrunk, Diego Mardones, Felipe Mac-Auliffe and Tyler Bourke. For extensive help with {\sc karma} and {\sc miriad}, I would like to thank Neil Killeen, Bryan Gaensler, Bob Sault, Richard Gooch and Snezana Stanimirovic. I am eternally grateful to Neil Killeen for educating me in every aspect of radio interferometry and just about everything else. I have appreciated all the help from Melinda Taylor, Michel Anciaux, Andrew Walsh and Sally Houghton, in solving my never-ending computer dramas.
I am grateful to Jill Rathborne for producing the PAH images used in Chapter 4 and to Lori Allen for helping me with the UNSWIRF observations. I would also like to thank David Malin for making his beautiful Carina images available to me.
The extensive set of Mopra data could not have been obtained without the unfailing support of Mike Kesteven, Robina Otrupcek and the ATNF receiver group. I would especially like to thank Graeme Carrad, whose crazy humour and good cooking, lifted my spirits above the technical hiccups and rain clouds.
I would like to thank the staff at the Compact Array in Narrabri for all their help (both on and off the volleyball court) during my many visits there. I am particular grateful to Robin Wark for all that she has done to create such a pleasant environment for observers to work in.
I am grateful to all the ESO staff in La Silla and Santiago for making my time spent in Chile so enjoyable. Thanks especially to the SEST boys for their friendship and great conversations over many a midnight snack (be warned, I will return to avenge my Princess death in the Battle of Midlands).
I would like to acknowledge the excellent ATNF student program, of which I have been a part of since my undergraduate studies. I would also like to thank all of the staff who make the ATNF such a welcoming and stimulating place for students.
I would like to extend my appreciation to all of the staff and students at the UNSW Department of Astrophysics and Optics for welcoming me into their group and giving me friendship and encouragement throughout the course of this work.
It is a pleasure for me to thank my good friends for their encouragement, humour and home-cooked dinners or emails during a time when I really needed it most. Thanks especially to the Coogee Gang for many magic moments and to the ever-faithful Churnie the Churnster. To Bryan, thanks for those many evenings of Indian food with a bit of soul-searching on the side. To Eileen, thanks for being such an entertaining office mate and a great friend. Muchas gracias a todos mis amigos en Chile, especialmente las ``chicas ricas'' Fran, Sole and Charlotte y tambien, mi buen ``pololo'' Juan Carlos.
I would like to give a big thank you to my closest friend, Joe Liske, for all that he has taught me in love, written English, physics and computing.
Finally I would like express my love and appreciation to my family for supporting all my endevours. To my brother Martin, I promise from now on to own a car that is younger than me and which you don't need to repair each weekend.