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Radio astronomy, in particular the measurement of polarised radio emission, allows us to investigate a vitally important yet understudied aspect of astrophysics: magnetic fields. Magnetic fields in an astrophysical context influence star formation and the evolution and dynamics of galaxies, acting on a range of size scales from the size of stars to interacting galaxy systems. Soon, the next generation of telescopes like the Australian Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Pathfinder (ASKAP) will be fully functional for radio polarimetry observations and as such require test fields before they undertake all-sky surveys. This thesis acts as a bridge between early radio polarisation studies and the next steps in the study of astrophysical magnetic fields, heading towards the epoch of ASKAP and the SKA. We document the most complete study of the Magellanic Clouds and a classification of Faraday complexity, which can be utilised in future studies of low-mass galaxies and complex magnetic fields. |
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