Koalas – agents for change : a case study from regional Victoria
- Authors: Schlagloth, Rolf , Golding, Barry , Kentish, Barry , McGinnis, Gabrielle , Clark, Ian , Cadman, Tim , Cahir, David (Fred) , Santamaria, Flavia
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Sustainability Education Vol. 26, no. (2022), p.
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- Description: We investigated the success of the Koala Conservation and Education Program conducted in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia from 2000-2009 by interviewing 28 individuals, from various stakeholder groups involved in the project. Transcripts were analysed using grounded theory to identify common themes, keywords and phrases. We conclude that the chosen ‘flagship’ species, the koala, was crucial for the success of the project which culminated in the adoption of the Koala Plan of Management and habitat overlays into the City of Ballarat’s planning scheme. Local people were concerned about the koala based on its conservation status nationally and globally rather than because of its local or Victorian status. We conclude that the concept of 'flagship' species in the case of the koala, is more a global than a local construct.
Aboriginal fire-management practices in colonial Victoria
- Authors: Cahir, David (Fred) , Clark, Ian , Tout, Dan , Wilkie, Benjamin , Clark, Jidah
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Aboriginal History Journal Vol. 45, no. (2021), p. 109-130
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- Description: Through a close reading of particular episodes and a focus on the minutiae of action and context, this article adds to the literature on the customary use of fire by Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia by highlighting the historically significant role Aboriginal people played in toiling alongside colonists and fighting fires during the colonial period. By scrutinising the written colonial records it is possible to reveal some of the measures that Aboriginal people used to help the colonists avoid cataclysmic fire. Lacking many direct Indigenous sources due to the devastation caused by rapid colonisation, we do this for the most part through a detailed examination of sheep and cattle graziers' journals, newspapers and government records. The article commences with an overview of colonists' observations of and attitudes regarding Aboriginal practices in relation to fire with specific reference to the region now referred to as Victoria and New South Wales. It concludes with an examination of the few recorded instances in which Aboriginal people tutored colonists in fighting fires, educating them how to use fire as a management tool, and the significant value they placed in Aboriginal knowledge relating to fire. © 2022 Astra Salvensis. All rights reserved.
Kurrburra the Boonwurrung 'wirrirrap' and bard (1797-1849)-a man of high degree
- Authors: Clark, Ian , Schlagloth, Rolf , Cahir, David (Fred) , McGinnis, Gabrielle
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Biography and History Vol. , no. 4 (2020), p. 73-91
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- Description: Kurrburra (aka Mr Ruffy) (1797-1849), Aboriginal wirrirrap (doctor, healer, bard), sage counsellor of his people, consultant with koalas, and heroic slayer of a feared orangutan-like cryptid that lived in the ranges north of Western Port, is believed to have been born in 1797, and was a member of the Yawen djirra clan, the eastern-most group of the Boonwurrung People whose Country stretched from Wirribi-yaluk (Werribee River) to Wammun (Wilsons Promontory) in Victoria. His moiety was Bunjil and in the early 1840s he had 2 wives: Kurundum (1819-?) and Bowyeup (1823-?), and 2 children, whose names are not known. Kurrburra's traditional Aboriginal name is the Boonwurrung word for the iconic marsupial Phascolarctos cinereus, more commonly known as the koala.
Parish plans as a source of evidence of Aboriginal land use in the Mallee back country
- Authors: Burch, John , Clark, Ian , Cahir, David (Fred)
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Provenance (North Melbourne, Vic.) Vol. , no. 18 (2020), p. 9-21
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- Description: The nature of Aboriginal people's use, indeed occupation, of the Victorian Mallee 'back country' warrants detailed investigation. Probably arising out of the paucity of observations of Aboriginal people on the land before it was pastorally occupied, an historical analysis from the 1870s suggesting Aboriginal people were not occupiers but mere 'seasonal visitors' to the 'back country' was unquestionably accepted for the next century. Growing understanding of the fundamentally sophisticated ways in which Aboriginal people managed their land has led to some recent historical works with a revised understanding of land use in the 'back country', but there is no agreement to move away from the orthodox historical paradigm. Parish plans from the Mallee, part of PROV's 'Parish and township plans' collection, were investigated to determine whether they contain evidence of former Aboriginal land use that could inform this question. It was found that these plans can potentially reveal the presence of pre-colonial Aboriginal water management, pathways, quarries, land management, cemeteries and placenames. Thus, parish plans were shown to be a potentially valuable resource that might have the capacity to support a reinvestigation of Aboriginal land use in the 'back country'. Approaches for a more detailed investigation of the value of these plans are suggested.
The tourism spectacle of fire making at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station, Victoria, Australia–a case study
- Authors: Clark, Ian , McMaster, Sarah , Roberts, Phillip , Cahir, David (Fred) , Wright, Wendy
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Heritage Tourism Vol. 15, no. 3 (2020), p. 249-266
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- Description: This paper explores the emergence of traditional Aboriginal fire making practices as a tourism spectacle at the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station near Healesville, Victoria, Australia, in the late nineteenth century. Coranderrk was an important site where domestic and international tourism intersected with efforts of the state to Europeanise and Christianise its Aboriginal residents. It highlights the agency of Aboriginal people in this emergence. Through a survey of the myriad uses of fire in Aboriginal society, it contrasts Aboriginal methods of making fire with European methods as a way of contextualising the tourist interest in fire making demonstrations. Fire making was the perfect foil for tourism – it easily incorporated aspects of performance – such as the build, the show, the closer, and the hat. The skill of fire making was a demonstration of ‘Aboriginality’, and its appropriation by tourism was a means by which a traditional craft was maintained and sustained. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
A forgotten brouhaha: lessons in authenticity and authority
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Language Land and Song: Studies in honour of Luise Hercus Chapter 21 p. 304-317
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- Description: 1. Introduction In July 1943, noted Victorian author and travel writer Eileen Finlay (1878- 1950) returned to the tourist resort town of Healesville to enjoy ‘a respite from her literary labours’ (Healesville Guardian 24/7/1943). Staying at Golf House, her respite did not prevent her from appearing at the Healesville Library to promote her publications and meet her fans. Eileen Finlay was born Mary Ellen Moroney in Maffra, Gippsland, in 1878, and lived for a time in Colac where her father was appointed shire engineer in 1882 (Barraclough 1995: 56). In 1889, two years after the death of her father, her family moved to Lilydale where her connection with Healesville commenced. In 1899 she married architect, Alexander Kennedy Smith Finlay, and settled in Melbourne. On 29th December 1921 her husband was one of three passengers who drowned when a launch capsized en route to Lake Tyers Aboriginal station. Many of the survivors, including Eileen Finlay and her son, owed their survival to two Aboriginal women from the Aboriginal settlement who rescued them in a rowing boat – once on shore, men and women from the settlement assisted them by lighting a fire to dry their clothes . "From introduction"
'A peep at the Blacks' : A history of tourism at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station, 1863-1924
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book
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- Description: This book is concerned with the history of tourism at the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station at Healesville, northeast of Melbourne, which functioned as a government reserve from 1863 until its closure in 1924. At Coranderrk, Aboriginal mission interests and tourism intersected and the station became a ‘showplace’ of Aboriginal culture and the government policy of assimilation. The Aboriginal residents responded to tourist interest by staging cultural performances that involved boomerang throwing and traditional ways of lighting fires and by manufacturing and selling traditional artifacts. Whenever government policy impacted adversely on the Aboriginal community, the residents of Coranderrk took advantage of the opportunities offered to them by tourism to advance their political and cultural interests. This was particularly evident in the 1910s and 1920s when government policy moved to close the station.
The convincing ground, Portland Bay, Victoria, Australia: An exploration of the controversy surrounding its onomastic history
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Names Vol. 62, no. 1 (2014), p. 3-12
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- Description: This paper presents the results of a case study into the historiography of the Convincing Ground toponym at Portland Bay, Victoria, Australia. This study shows that research by Connor (2005a) into the usage of the phrase "convincing ground" in nineteenth-century Australia is superficial, and his preference for one explanation of the origin of the Convincing Ground toponym that relates to intra-whaler conflict resolution is superficial and inadequate. This analysis supports the alternative narrative that the toponym has its origin in a dispute between whalers and Aborigines over possession of a beached whale. Furthermore, Connor failed to consider the possibility that the phrase "convincing ground" is polysemous, which means that we should not expect to find a singular homogenous explanation or application in the literature. He also failed to discuss the real possibility that the Convincing Ground may also be a onomastic palimpsest and that both the Aboriginal-whaler dispute narrative and the intra-whaler dispute narrative may be legitimate explanations relevant at particular moments in the place's history. © American Name Society 2014.
From inns to hotels : The evolution of public houses in Colonial Victoria
- Authors: O'Mahony, Barry , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 25, no. 2 (2013), p. 172-186
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- Description: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine travellers' experiences with public houses in Colonial Victoria, to determine how the hospitality industry in the colony was transformed from primitive hospitality provision to sophisticated, well managed hotels in a relatively short time. Design/methodology/approach: The article reviews public records, newspapers of the period, eye-witness accounts and key texts to chart the development of the hospitality industry in Colonial Victoria and to demonstrate how primitive inns became modern hotels within the space of three decades. Findings: This paper highlights how the discovery of gold in 1851 prompted an unprecedented influx of travellers whose expectations of hospitality provision led to the transformation of existing hostelries from crude and primitive inns to modern, sophisticated hotels. Research limitations/implications: The research is confined to Colonial Victoria and therefore, not necessarily a reflection of the colonies in general or general trends in hospitality provision at that time. Practical implications: Tracing the roots of hospitality provision and the traditions of hospitality management can provide a greater understanding of modern hospitality practice. As O'Gorman argues "[...] with historical literature contributing to informing industry practices today and tomorrow: awareness of the past always helps to guide the future". Originality/value: This paper adds to the body of knowledge in relation to the roots and evolution of commercial hospitality. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: 2003010821
Dhudhuroa and Yaithmathang languages and social groups in north-east Victoria - a reconstruction
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Aboriginal History Vol. 33, no. (2010), p. 201-229
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- Description: The determination of Aboriginal languages in north-east Victoria has been acknowledged by a number of authors as one of the most problematical areas in the reconstruction of Victorian Aboriginal languages and dialects at the time of first contact.[1] Of particular interest is the Omeo district and resolution of the labels ‘Jaithmathang’ and ‘Gundungerre’. This article will provide a systematic analysis of primary sources relative to language, dialect and social group names. It also provides an overview of lexicostatistical analyses of vocabulary from the study area and undertakes a preliminary analysis of vocabulary from the Omeo district to determine its similarity with neighbouring languages. Finally it analyses previous research into constituent social groups.
George Augustus Robinson on Charles Joseph La Trobe: personal insights into a problematical relationship
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The La Trobe Journal Vol. , no. 85 (May) (2010), p. 13-21
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Sustainable water management in tourism accommodation
- Authors: Lehmann, La Vergne , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: The 5th World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure
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Naming sites : Names as management tools in indigenous tourism sites - An Australian case study
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Tourism Management Vol. 30, no. 1 (2009), p. 109-111
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- Description: This paper considers the naming history of indigenous rock art sites in the Grampians-Gariwerd National Park in southwest Victoria, Australia. These sites are found to present management problems because many of the names are dysfunctional, and fail as information markers. Rather than contribute to the creation of positive atmosphere and sacralization, many site names have contributed to site vandalism, disfigurement of signage and negative word of mouth promotion. The function of site naming and their role in place making is reconsidered from the insights of leading theorists in attraction systems such as MacCannell, Gunn, and Leiper. Naming, it is argued, is a very important management tool in the protection and promotion of rock art tourism. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Description: 2003007359
Reconstruction of Aboriginal microtoponymy in western and central Victoria : Case studies from Tower Hill, the Hopkins River, and Lake Boga
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Aboriginal placenames naming and re-naming the Australian landscape Chapter 8 p. 207-221
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- Description: 2003007122
Reviving old Indigenous names for new purposes
- Authors: Kostanski, Laura , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Aboriginal placenames naming and re-naming the Australian landscape Chapter 7 p. 189-206
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- Description: 2003007121
The case of Peter Mungett : Born out of the allegiance of the Queen, belonging to a sovereign and independent tribe of Ballan
- Authors: Cahir, David (Fred) , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Provenance : The Journal of Public Record Office Victoria Vol. 8, no. (2009), p.15-34
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- Description: This paper is concerned with the jurisdiction of the British colonial criminal law over Indigenous Australians, particularly in the area of serious offences such as murder and rape. In particular, the paper examines the attempted use in the 1860 case of Regina v Peter of the legal demurrer that the accused Aboriginal man was not subject to the jurisdiction of the court because he was not born a British subject and had never entered into allegiance to the British Queen. The paper also discusses some of the difficulties which the legal authorities found in dealing with this issue, even as late as 1860. The issue of the amenability to British law was a significant one in the early colonial period; it then largely disappeared from serious public consideration but has resurfaced since the 1980s in the context of land rights, native title, and the status of Aboriginal customary law.
- Description: 2003007342
‘An edifying spectacle’ : A history of ‘tourist corroborees’ in Victoria, Australia, 1835–1870
- Authors: Cahir, David (Fred) , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2009
- Type: Journal article
- Relation: Tourism Management Vol.31, no.3 (2010), p. 412-420
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- Description: Parsons [Parsons, M. (2002). “Ah that I could convey a proper idea of this interesting wild play of the natives” corroborees and the rise of indigenous Australian cultural tourism. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2(1), 14–27.] has persuasively argued that nineteenth century corroborees performed for non-indigenous audiences may be considered to be Australia's pre-eminent prototypical indigenous cultural tourism product. This paper extends Parsons' [Parsons, M. (1997). The tourist corroboree in South Australia. Aboriginal History, 21(1), 46–69; Parsons, M. (2002). “Ah that I could convey a proper idea of this interesting wild play of the natives” corroborees and the rise of indigenous Australian cultural tourism. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2(1), 14–27.] analyses of ‘tourist corroborees’ in nineteenth century South Australia to corroborees staged in Victoria during the pastoral period and the gold rushes of the 1850–1870s. It argues that an Aboriginal-grown ‘business acumen’ developed rapidly in the economic climate of the Victorian goldfields. It also provides a historical context to this commodification.
Multiple Aboriginal place names in Western Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Twenty-third International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Toronto, Canada : 17th-22nd August 2008
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- Description: In a recent paper on transparency versus opacity in Australian Aboriginal place names, linguist Michael Walsh (2002: 47) noted that in ‘Aboriginal Australia it is relatively common for a given place to have multiple names’. In providing an overview of multiple naming practices Walsh (2002: 47) stated the ‘simplest case is one place having two names. Such doublets can be intralectal or crosslectal. For intralectal doublets where there are two names for the one place in the same lect, both placenames may be opaque, both transparent, or one opaque and one transparent. … The same applies to crosslectal doublets where two names for the one place come from different lects’. Walsh (2002) observed that he was unclear on how multiple naming works and what its function is. Other than some case studies (Schebeck 2002 re Flinders Ranges, Sutton 2002 re the Wik region, Cape York, and Tamisari 2002), we are yet to gain a comprehensive picture for Aboriginal Australia. This paper adds to this discussion through a consideration of multiple naming in western Victoria using the results of research conducted by Clark and Heydon (2002) into Victorian Aboriginal place names. The paper also considers the policy implications of multiple indigenous naming for place name administration in Victoria. Victoria has adopted a dual naming policy that recognises a non-indigenous and an indigenous toponym for the one place but is yet to accept multiple indigenous naming.
- Description: 2003007363
The northern Wathawurrung and Andrew Porteous, 1860-1877
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Aboriginal History Vol. 32, no. (2008), p. 97-108
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- Description: The operation of the Central Board and the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria has been studied by Marcard, Penney and Clark. There are numerous studies of particular stations and reserves that existed during the operation of the Board; for example, Lake Condah, Framlingham, Ebenezer and Coranderrk. A third tier of study relates to particular individuals and, though these studies are not expressly concerned with their responsibilities as 'Honorary Correspondents' to the Board, they nevertheless discuss relationships with Aborigines. This paper adds to these studies by concentrating on one of those correspondents, Andrew Porteous
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006899
Sleeping with strangers : Hospitality in colonial Victoria
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of hospitality and tourism management Vol. 13, no. 1 (2006), p. 1-9
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- Description: The purpose of this article is to describe and document the nascent state of hospitality in colonial Victoria from the 1830s until the gold rushes of 1850s. The primary source of such an account is the personal journal of a public servant, George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate Department, perhaps the European with the most experience of travelling throughout the Port Phillip District. Accounts from other contemporary sources are used to complement Robinson's observations.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001793