These photographs document the University, youth culture in Burwood, VIC, from the perspective of an American student studying abroad here:

"In America, if a University is located in your suburb or a suburb nearby there is no escaping the students. American students often take over the off-campus housing in the suburb where the University is located and people often refer to these areas as 'college towns'. Here in Australia, I found a completely different culture. As I walked the streets of Burwood, a suburb outside of Melbourne where Deakin University is located, I found that this notion of a 'college town' did not exist. The only evidence that a University was nearby was the occasional young girl or boy who quietly walked past me with a backpack, seemingly headed to class. I was perplexed by this, as I knew students must by living off-campus in or around this area. As I documented these students, I began to come to a few conclusions as to why this 'college town' culture does not exist here. Perhaps it is because the drinking age in Australia is 18, meaning that the University students can go out to clubs and bars, rather than throw disruptive house parties, which often discourages American adults from living near University campus'. It could also be that students in America tend to travel further from home for school, where as a lot of Australians remain closer to home and often commute to University from their childhood home. Regardless of the reason, students in Burwood seem to go on unnoticed and to me, that was very interesting."