Description:
In June 1835 John Batman, popularly acknowledged as the founder of Melbourne, recorded one of the first times that possum skin cloaks were traded by the Aboriginal people of Victoria with the European arrivals. Before he held the formal treaty meeting with the Woiwurrung clan heads near present-day Melbourne to purchase a tract of their country, Batman had distributed gifts including blankets, beads and knives. After the meeting he wrote in his journal: 'the chiefs, to manifest their friendly feeling towards me, insisted upon my receiving from them two native cloaks and several baskets made by the women, and also some of the implements of defence'.2 For the remainder of the nineteenth century these indigenous cloaks or rugs were clearly sought after by the white settlers.
Description:
In June 1835 John Batman, popularly acknowledged as the founder of Melbourne, recorded one of the first times that possum skin cloaks were traded by the Aboriginal people of Victoria with the European arrivals. Before he held the formal treaty meeting with the Woiwurrung clan heads near present-day Melbourne to purchase a tract of their country, Batman had distributed gifts including blankets, beads and knives. After the meeting he wrote in his journal: 'the chiefs, to manifest their friendly feeling towards me, insisted upon my receiving from them two native cloaks and several baskets made by the women, and also some of the implements of defence'.2 For the remainder of the nineteenth century these indigenous cloaks or rugs were clearly sought after by the white settlers.
Description:
Since the time of European exploration of Australia, the topography of the continent has been mapped from a colonial cartographic perspective. Colonial government guidelines have ‘controlled’ the knowledge base of understanding of the landscape for non-indigenous Australians. This perspective has lead to a colonial-tainted sense of place for non-Indigenous (and some Indigenous) Australians. Such euro-centric focused governance and management of the development of our understanding of the landscape was strongly exemplified during a recent six-month review of State forest names in Victoria. By the beginning of 2004 over 90 percent of State forests in Victoria did not have officially registered names in the Australian Gazetteer. Thus, the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment employed the researchers to undertake a pilot study program, investigating different methods for officially naming the State forests in the Midlands Region of Victoria. This pilot study program focussed on producing a best practice model for naming State forest areas, which would then be utilised for all State forests across Victoria. It was understood by the researchers that placenames were markers of national, regional, local and personal identity, and as such, part of the State forest review concentrated on recognising all the various historical and contemporary identities apparent in the Midlands region. This attempt to recognise historical and contemporary associations with the State forest areas proved to be a challenge to the researchers. Difficulties arose in multiple areas of the review process. In the first instance, there was difficulty in applying the vague government guidelines on dual-naming, to a practical and tangible situation. In addition, an interesting challenge faced the researchers in trying to recognise Indigenous heritage, within a colonial geographical framework. Indigenous landscape boundaries did not align with the State forest areas designated on official government maps, and in some instances State forest areas contained three Indigenous language borders. Similarly, there were difficulties in engaging the Indigenous communities into the review process. Fluency in some local Indigenous languages had been lost. Some Indigenous groups were involved in inter-factional disagreements. One Indigenous group did not want to have their heritage ‘controlled’ by government naming guidelines. In addition, the local non-indigenous community also proved difficult on occasion, especially in relation to the proposal of dual-naming State forest areas. The notion of native-title claims, and a deficiency of general community understanding in relation to indigenous sense of place was all pervasive, and caused a great deal of resistance to be built against the recognition of Indigenous heritage in the State forest areas. The paper will explore the issues that arise in conducting research that requires an incorporation of more than one dominant cultural ideology. Moreover, strategies utilised in working through these issues, to ensure inclusivity of all identified parties, will be discussed.
Description:
This paper discusses the value of clan name research as a means of uncovering Aboriginal place names. It argues that clan names are able to provide a layer of place names that in some instances is the only source of information available to researchers of indigenous toponymy. They are an important data set that is useful in the mapping of Aboriginal spatial organization.
Description:
This paper discusses the value of clan name research as a means of uncovering Aboriginal place names. It argues that clan names are able to provide a layer of place names that in some instances is the only source of information available to researchers of indigenous toponymy. They are an important data set that is useful in the mapping of Aboriginal spatial organization.
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:
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:
In a remote Aboriginal Australian (Kunibidji) community, three touch-screen computers containing 96 Ndjebbana-language talking books were made available to children in informal settings. The computers' popularity is explained by the touch screens' form and the talking books' intertextual and hybrid nature. The Kunibidji are transforming their culture by including new digital technologies that represent their social practice.
Description:
In a remote Aboriginal Australian (Kunibidji) community, three touch-screen computers containing 96 Ndjebbana-language talking books were made available to children in informal settings. The computers' popularity is explained by the touch screens' form and the talking books' intertextual and hybrid nature. The Kunibidji are transforming their culture by including new digital technologies that represent their social practice.
Description:
This paper is concerned with the Coranderrk Aboriginal artist Timothy Korkanoon. Research has uncovered more about his life before he settled at the Coranderrk station in 1863. Evidence is provided that five sketches acquired by George Augustus Robinson, the former Chief Protector of Aborigines, in November 1851 in Melbourne, and found in his papers in the State Library of New South Wales, may also be attributed to the work of the young Korkanoon when he was a student at the Merri Creek Baptist Aboriginal School from 1846 to 1847.
Description:
This article focuses on Aboriginal language area reconstruction in north-east Victoria, particularly Mogullumbidj, one of the most problematical areas in Victoria. It shows that a careful analysis of primary sources is still capable of generating fresh insights and removing some of the confusion that surrounds language area reconstruction. The re-analysis of primary references shows that none of the earlier delineations, such as Tindale, Barwick, Clark and Wesson, has integrity. The resolution of the significance of the label 'Mogullumbidj" was found by examining the reaction of southwest Victorian aboriginal peoples to the Tasmanian Aboriginal man who accompanied Robinson on his 1841 journey through their lands. This revealed that the word was descriptive and not a linguistic lab
'What's in a name?' : place and toponymic attachment, identity and dependence : a case study of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park name restoration process
Description:
The ultimate intention of this thesis is to propose the meta-theory of toponymic attachment, which is comprised of toponymic identity and dependence, and to explore ways in which it is related to , but distinct from, existing widely-published theories on place attachment.
Description:
The ultimate intention of this thesis is to propose the meta-theory of toponymic attachment, which is comprised of toponymic identity and dependence, and to explore ways in which it is related to , but distinct from, existing widely-published theories on place attachment.
Description:
Abstract: Historian Greg Dening writes of history as performance. In his book Performances, he considers the limits of knowledge, claiming: we cannot describe the past independently of our knowing it, any more than we can describe the present independently of our knowing it. And, knowing it, we create it, we textualise it. That is the circle, hermeneutic if you like, of our human being. In the light of Dening's statement, I would like to reconsider my own exploration of the Australian colonial archive in writing for performance. My point of departure is a performative lecture, The More I Study Nature: Georgiana Molloy and the Code of Modernity, that I wrote as part of a larger creative work - a play, as yet unproduced, called Orchids and Insects. In the performative lecture, I follow the life story of Georgiana Molloy (1805-43), an early settler of Western Australia, and ask my reader - or audience - to consider the codes of knowledge and behaviour that we in the twenty-first century might have inherited from our colonial predecessors. My research journey led me to reflect upon the kind of stories we draw from the past, so that we might know ourselves in the present, and the role performance might play in this. I consider the choices we make about the stories that we as a culture celebrate and also, as I was to discover, the stories that we repress.
Description:
This detailed examination of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria provides striking evidence which demonstrates that Aboriginal people participated in gold mining and interacted with non-Aboriginal people in a range of hitherto neglected ways.
Description:
"The central station of the Goulburn River Aboriginal Protectorate District at what is now Murchison, which operated from 1840 until 1853, is a significant post-contact Aboriginal site on the Goulburn River. It was the focus of interaction between Aboriginal communities, particularly the Daungwurrung, Ngurai-illam wurrung, and Yorta Yorta peoples, government officials and settlers during the early years of contact in the Port Phillip District. The site continued to hold significance to Aboriginal people after the 1850s, linking pre- and post-contact histories and geographies. Through a meticulous analysis of official correspondence and other protectorate records, private journals, and reminiscences, this study reveals that the Murchison locality is one of the most important historic Aboriginal places in regional Victoria. " --cover.
Description:
The Tiwi are the indigenous people of the Tiwi Islands, located off the Northern Territory mainland. In 1919, as a unique and distinct people they appeared to be in a position to maintain their identity, to resist absorption into western culture and to avoid some of the serious social problems that came to affect some other Indigenous communities. While aspects of the Tiwi culture and lifestyle were gradually modified or abandoned through contact with outside societies between 1919 and 2000, other traits remained strong or were strengthened. These included their relationship with the land, the local language, dancing and singing, and adoption customs. Forms of visual art, some introduced, brought fame to the Tiwi. Government policies on Indigenous matters changed dramatically over the twentieth century. The earlier ones, including assimilation programmes were discriminatory and restrictive. Later approaches to Aboriginal and Islander welfare, including land rights, had significant consequences for the Islanders, some beneficial, others detrimental in nature. From the 1970s, the departure of resident missionaries and government officers from the islands led to an influx of private European employees. The exposure to these people added to that which the Tiwi experienced as they travelled far beyond their islands. After 1972, the policies of self-determination and, then, self-management placed enormous strains on the Tiwi as they strove to meet the requirements of government, private enterprise and the wider society. New forms of land and local government controls replaced the law of the elders. A younger, western-educated generation now spoke on behalf of the people. Ultimately, under the influence of outside pressures, degrees of socio-cultural absorption occurred in the islands even though the official policy of assimilation had been abandoned. Fortunately, the strong identity of the Tiwi ensured a level of social cohesion capable of combating full assimilation into a wholly western lifestyle.
Description:
The Tiwi are the indigenous people of the Tiwi Islands, located off the Northern Territory mainland. In 1919, as a unique and distinct people they appeared to be in a position to maintain their identity, to resist absorption into western culture and to avoid some of the serious social problems that came to affect some other Indigenous communities. While aspects of the Tiwi culture and lifestyle were gradually modified or abandoned through contact with outside societies between 1919 and 2000, other traits remained strong or were strengthened. These included their relationship with the land, the local language, dancing and singing, and adoption customs. Forms of visual art, some introduced, brought fame to the Tiwi. Government policies on Indigenous matters changed dramatically over the twentieth century. The earlier ones, including assimilation programmes were discriminatory and restrictive. Later approaches to Aboriginal and Islander welfare, including land rights, had significant consequences for the Islanders, some beneficial, others detrimental in nature. From the 1970s, the departure of resident missionaries and government officers from the islands led to an influx of private European employees. The exposure to these people added to that which the Tiwi experienced as they travelled far beyond their islands. After 1972, the policies of self-determination and, then, self-management placed enormous strains on the Tiwi as they strove to meet the requirements of government, private enterprise and the wider society. New forms of land and local government controls replaced the law of the elders. A younger, western-educated generation now spoke on behalf of the people. Ultimately, under the influence of outside pressures, degrees of socio-cultural absorption occurred in the islands even though the official policy of assimilation had been abandoned. Fortunately, the strong identity of the Tiwi ensured a level of social cohesion capable of combating full assimilation into a wholly western lifestyle.
Description:
This paper concerns the question of why there are so few named groups in the Woiwurrung language area compared with other language groups to its west and north-west. It does this by analysing the 1863 Governors levee in which representatives from three Aboriginal groups-the Boonwurrung, Woiwurrung and Tara-Waragal-presented gifts to royalty. In seeking to understand who this third group-the Tara-Waragal-was, Stephens (2003) has suggested that they were a Woiwurrung patriline. Wesson (2001) has suggested that the name was a pejorative label applied to a Gippsland group by the Kulin. This study finds that both interpretations are wrong. First, it finds that the name applies to a Brataualung clan, the Yowung, whose country centred on the Tarra and Warrigal creeks-hence the name. Second, it finds that the attempt by Stephens to identify the Tara-Waragal with a possible Woiwurrung patriline identified in a series of sketches by William Thomas found in the RB Smyth Papers was also a failure. Nevertheless, the implication that the sketch maps may reveal up to 53 patrilines is a possibility worth exploring, as it may address the issue of the apparent under-representation of Woiwurrung named groups with which I began. Analysis reveals the possibility of an additional 27 Woiwurrung patrilines. Although the exact number of additional patrilines will never be known, at least we have addressed the issue that within the ethno-historical record it is possible to find additional named groups in Woiwurrung. Thus there was in all likelihood greater internal division in the Woiwurrung than has been reconstructed by Barwick (1984) and Clark (1990).