So was it a failure of the launch vehicle or the test vehicle?

Sounds like a launch vehicle failure.
Pity, Aussie Universities are strapped for cash at the best of times.

Sounds like a launch vehicle failure given it didn't reach the required height and they are waiting for an explanation from the launch facility.
Bummer. A 2 hr flight Sydney to London would mean Hawaii was only 45 mins away :-)

Oh well. Every kick in the bum is a step forward.
I believe in this technology, as do investors. It is the defining solution for how we economically expand LEO consumer/cargo transport.
So there will be another test, and then another. Until we get it right.

I am willing to bet that the KIWI's are feeling a bit sheepish about this failure. They shouldn't feel too bad, a lot of early US rockets blew up or failed too, just the cost of R&D.

That's a shame. Bad luck guys, but as others have said, this technology will work, so onward and upward!

Did someone forget to top off the fuel tank in the launch vehicle? :)

Well this just stinks they didn't get to test their design , I hope they have the funds for another test flight . It would be great to see the Aussies steal a march on the super powers " and wannabes ". They're in the perfect place for a space port .
grtbluyonder : Kiwis are the folks from New Zealand .

This was a test, a test that failed. Someone's math on thrust to weight ratio or rocket engine efficiency or something was off.
Or as the Kerbals say "Moar boosters!" ;-)
Launching a cheap dummy payload of the same mass to actually see if the rocket can lift it to the desired height would've been a good idea, but would also cost more - yet would've revealed the flaws.
Then they could've gone back to a CAD software to alter the designs for rocket number two.

Gregg Eshelman, The scramjet experiment seems completely separate from the rocket system and the problem with the rocket system clearly had nothing to do with thrust to weight ratios - the statement from Andoya rocket range (http://www.rocketrange.no/?page_id=325) reads: "Apparently the cause was a fault in the first stage thruster that occurred in ignition during the first phase of the flight. This rocket configuration has been much used in sounding rockets, as by Sweden (at the Esrange at Kiruna), Norway, Germany and Brazil. In recent years there have been many launches of rockets with the configuration from Andøya. There have been no previous accidents or problems with the configuration."
and they go on to say: "The range can confirm that the SCRAMSPACE payload functioned as it should, and was in no way connected with the failure of the rocket."