Cirrus@Austlit

'Everywhen is a groundbreaking collection about diverse ways of conceiving, knowing, and narrating time and deep history.

'Looking beyond the linear, Everywhen asks how knowledge systems of Aboriginal people can broaden understandings of the past and of our history. Indigenous embodied practices for knowing, narrating, and re-enacting the past in the present blur the distinctions of linear time, making all history now. Questions of time and language are questions of Indigenous sovereignty — and recognising First Nations’ time concepts embedded in languages and practices is a route to recognising diverse forms of Indigenous sovereignty.

'Edited by Ann McGrath, Laura Rademaker and Jakelin Troy, this collection draws attention to every when, arguing that First Nations’ ways of thinking of time are vital to understanding history and offers a new framework for how it is practiced in the Western tradition. Everywhen shows us that history is not as straightforward as some might think.'(Publication summary)

'The Sydney Language was written to revive interest the Aboriginal language of the Sydney district. It makes readily available the small amount of surviving information from historical records.

'Author, Professor Jakelin Troy refers to the language as the ‘Sydney Language’ because there was no name given for the language in these historical records until late in the nineteenth century when it was referred to as Dharug.

'The language is now called by its many clan names, including Gadigal in the Sydney city area and Dharug in Western Sydney. The word for Aboriginal person in this language is ‘yura’, this word been used to help identify the language, with the most common spellings being Iyora and Eora.

'The Sydney Language is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about the language and culture of the Aboriginal owners of what is now called Sydney.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Is there a correlation between the resilience of a minority language and the size of its speaker community when that community is colonized by people who speak a different language? In addressing this question in our report, we explore shared experiences of the “colonization” of our languages as Indigenous people from Pakistan and Australia. Adnan Bhatti is Saraiki from the Multan area, Punjab, Pakistan, and Jakelin Troy is Ngarigu from the New South Wales side of the Snowy Mountains region in southeastern Australia. Both pre-1947 India, from which Pakistan was partitioned, and Australia were invaded by the British and subsequently colonized. Troy's language succumbed to English in the nineteenth century, and Bhatti's language faces being overwhelmed by Urdu and, to a lesser degree, by English as well. Population migrations and government policies have adversely affected the capacity of Indigenous peoples to thrive in the use of our languages. This report draws on our larger research project to compare the experiences of minority language speakers in Australia and Pakistan. In reflecting on our own experiences, we consider government policies and a range of community, education, business, health, and media initiatives that variously support or hinder efforts to maintain or revive the use of our languages.'

Source: Abstract.

'ab-Original: Journal of Indigenous Studies and First Nations and First Peoples' Cultures is a journal devoted to issues of indigeneity in the new millennium. It is a multi-disciplinary journal embracing themes such as art, history, literature, politics, linguistics, health sciences and law. It is a portal for new knowledge and contemporary debate whose audience is not only that of academics and students but professionals involved in shaping policies with regard to concern relating to indigenous peoples.' (Publication summary)

Established in 2007 by Aboriginal writers and scholars, BlackWords is a digital humanities online literature resource devoted to the creative writing and oral storytelling of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. In 2013, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) began a major new project in BlackWords: 'An academically rigorous vehicle for the researching and teaching of Aboriginal literature and orature, the value of BlackWords lies in the great cultural and political importance of the literature emergent since the 1960s, and in the central role storytelling has for millennia played in traditionally oral Aboriginal cultures...'

(Source: Abstract)

'King Plates describes and illustrates a large collection of Aboriginal gorgets, also called king or brass plates. These were presented to perceived 'chiefs', faithful servants and to the specially courageous by governors and land holders. In other words, they were given to anyone who helped in some way to ease the white settlers' progress in the new colonies...' (Source: Publisher's website)