This document provides information on Aboriginal history in Australia, including:
- Life for Aboriginal people before European contact, including eel farming communities and trading between tribes.
- Early European explorers who arrived in Australia, such as the Dutch in the 1600s and Englishman William Dampier in 1699.
- Prominent Aboriginal figures like Bennelong, Albert Namatjira, Sir Douglas Nicholls, and singer Jimmy Little who helped shape Aboriginal rights.
- The field of historiography and debates about how history is constructed and interpreted in Australia.
Spring gala 2024 photo slideshow - Celebrating School-Community Partnerships
Aboriginal History - ACU Presentation
1.
2. • Aboriginal life before Europeans
• Dutch explorers came…
• William Dampier
• Aboriginal people
• Historiography – History’s history
What I’m going to talk about
3. Aboriginal life before
Europeans
• Eels live in fresh water but spawn in sea
• Amazing migrations eg Centennial Park longfin
eels travel to New Caledonia
• How do baby eels ‘know’ the return journey ??
• Possible eel farming communities in Western
Victoria (at odds withTerra Nullius assumptiion)
• Trading eels with other tribes
4. Dutch explorers came …
• Wilhelm Janszoon ‘discovers’ Australia
(near Weipa, QLD), 1606
• Here Aborigines killed ten or so crew
• Dirk Hartog lands at island in Shark Bay
(WA), 1616
• Bloodthirsty Dutch mutiny, Batavia,
Abrolhos Islands, off Geraldton, 1629
• Van Diemens Land named by Abel
Tasman in 1642 after Governor of East
Indies Company
• Island re-named to Tasmania, 1856
5. William Dampier
(Englishman)
• Ship: Roebuck
• Landed at Shark Bay, 1699
• Went northward
• Carried out scientific record of flora and
fauna
• Published Voyage to New Holland, 1703
6. Aboriginal people –
Bennelong (1764-1813)
• ‘Met’ Governor at age 25, 1789
• Ambassador between Eora and British
• Good friends with James Squire
• Escaped, reunited (but Governor speared !!)
• Hut built for he and wife Barangaroo, 1791
• Travelled to England, 1792
• Met King George III
• Son, aged 19, adopted by Methodist minister
• Beware, seagulls !!
The taking of Colbee and Benalon,
25 Novr 1789.
(State Library of NSW)
7. Aboriginal people –
Albert Namatjira (1902-59)
• Born Hermannsburg (now Ntaria) – Lutheran mission
• Was ‘camel boy’, married wrong ‘skin’
• Pokerwork art, later learnt watercolour (a European
artform)
• Exhibitions - Melbourne (1938), Adelaide, Sydney
• Presented to the Queen (Canberra, 1954)
• First Aboriginal citizen of Australia (1957)
• Ongoing ‘Humbugging’ (forced sharing) problems
• Supplying alcohol to kin – sentence: 6 months hard labour
• Inspiration for Papunya and other Aboriginal art
• Assimilation era – friend of Paul Hasluck
The Finke River Gorge at
entrance to Glen Helen
c.1945-53
(Queensland Art Gallery)
8. Aboriginal people –
Albert Namatjira (1902-59)
Albert Namatjira, Boomerang
(1936 pokerwork art)
stamp, 1968
Centenary stamp
set, 2002
9. Aboriginal people –
Sir Douglas Nicholls (1906-88)
• Born Cummeragunja
• Footballer (3rd in Brownlow, 1934)
• Footballer (Victorian StateTeam, 1935)
• Social Worker, Pastor (Fitzroy C of C)
• Led Australia’s first Aboriginal ‘Church’
(Fitzroy)
• Knighted (OBE), 1972
• Met Queen (1970), Pope (1973)
• Governor, South Australia (1976-77)
10. Aboriginal people –
Jimmy LittleAO (1937-2012)
• Born Cumeragunja
• First single (1956)
• Films include Shadow of the Boomerang (1960),
Until the World Ends (1991)
• Hits incl Danny Boy (1959), Royal Telephone (1963 – GOLD),
Baby Blue (1974)
• Named Australian Pop Star ofYear (1964)
• Household name
• ARIA Hall of Fame (1999)
• Golden Gospel Award (2002)
• Released 34th Album (2004)
• Set up Foundation for Indigenous health – www.jlf.org.au
11. Baby Blue
She wrote me today
That she won't be back to stay
That she only come to pick up her clothes
She wrote I must not cry
And her love for me has died
But she found somebody else I suppose
Baby blue, baby blue
Do you know that I still in love with you
Now I know that you won't be here no more
Oh, how I need you, how I want you, baby blue
RoyalTelephone
Telephone to glory, oh, what joy divine!
I can feel the current moving on the line.
Made by God the Father for His very own,
You may talk to Jesus on this royal telephone.
Central’s never busy, always on the line,
You can hear from heaven almost any time.
’Tis a royal service, built for one and all,
When you get in trouble, give this royal line a call.
Aboriginal people –
Jimmy Little (1937-2012)
12. Aboriginal people –
Jimmy LittleAO (1937-2012)
• Born Cumeragunja
• First single (1956)
• Films include Shadow of the Boomerang (1960),
Until the World Ends (1991)
• Hits incl Danny Boy (1959), Royal Telephone (1963 – GOLD),
Baby Blue (1974)
• Named Australian Pop Star ofYear (1964)
• Household name
• ARIA Hall of Fame (1999)
• Golden Gospel Award (2002)
• Released 34th Album (2004)
• Set up Foundation for Indigenous health – www.jlf.org.au
13. What is history ?? Who creates history ??
Analysing biases, vested interests of writers
Which authors are ‘sexy’ ??
Universities and Museums are important
culture-shapers.
Historiography – history’s history
14. Does History Matter Anymore ??
‘OLD’ History – conservative, objective, driven by evidence and written documents
– targets intellect
‘NEW’ History – postmodern, revisionist, Marxist outlook (eg gender/class) struggles
– targets emotions
‘HistoryWars’ applied to –
Historiography – history’s history
Settlement Stolen
Generation
Smith St
Alcohol
Ban, 2009
Missions Other
Australan
History
Frontier
Wars
Hindmarsh
Island saga
(SWB)
Intervention Alcohol Tamworth,
Country
hotspots
15. Professor Marcia Langton
In some critical respects, the outcome is what many have
recommended for decades: interventions to prevent the abuse,
rape and assault of Aboriginal women and children and [take]
decisive action against the perpetrators.
- Sydney Morning Herald, November 30 2007
Noel Pearson
…in order to give effect to that hope [no child suffers abuse],
we've got to stop the grog, we've got to get the police in there
and we've got to have an absolutely vigilant attitude towards
the behaviour of adults around children, particularly if they're
drinking and particularly if the circumstances of children are
such that they're vulnerable to abuse.
- ABC Lateline, June 26 2007
Thoughts on 2007 NTER
Intervention
Historiography – history’s history
16. Does History Matter Anymore ??
‘OLD’ History – conservative, objective, driven by evidence and written documents
– targets intellect
‘NEW’ History – postmodern, revisionist, Marxist outlook (eg gender/class) struggles
– targets emotions
‘HistoryWars’ applied to –
Historiography – history’s history
Settlement Stolen
Generation
Smith St
Alcohol
Ban, 2009
Missions Other
Australan
History
Frontier
Wars
Hindmarsh
Island saga
(SWB)
Intervention Alcohol Tamworth,
Country
hotspots
17. • Aboriginal life before Europeans
• Dutch explorers came…
• William Dampier
• Aboriginal people
• Historiography – History’s history
Hello, were you awake ??