Cirrus@Austlit

"Indigenous Australians have long understood sustainable hunting and harvesting, seasonal changes in flora and fauna, predator–prey relationships and imbalances, and seasonal fire management. Yet the extent of their knowledge and expertise has been largely unknown and under-appreciated by non-Aboriginal colonists, especially in the south-east of Australia where Aboriginal culture was severely fractured.

Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge in South-eastern Australia is the first book to examine historical records from early colonists who interacted with south-eastern Australian Aboriginal communities and documented their understanding of the environment, natural resources such as water and plant and animal foods, medicine and other aspects of their material world. This book provides a compelling case for the importance of understanding Indigenous knowledge, to inform discussions around climate change, biodiversity, resource management, health and education. It will be a valuable reference for natural resource management agencies, academics in Indigenous studies and anyone interested in Aboriginal culture and knowledge."

Source: Booktopia 

'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 (The Argus 31/12/1921). Finlay’s pen names included Eileen Finlay, Mary Eileen Finlay, Mollie Eileen Moroney, Mary Eileen Fortescue, and Mrs. E.F. Boswarrick. At least 14 major works are attributed to her. Other than her most well-known novels, The Caravan Passes: a Family Saga (1941), Full Turn: a Family Saga (1942), Undefeated (1943), and The Hills of Home (1943), Finlay was known for the many articles she wrote for The Radiator, the official magazine of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, and for newspapers such as the Lilydale Express, The Argus, and the Healesville Guardian (Thompson 2005). Her first travel article was published in The Radiator in May 1937. Her death notice (The Advertiser 13/6/1950) reported that she had only begun to write her first book some eight years earlier in her early 60s.'  (Introduction)

'Natalie Robarts's Coranderrk diary was comprised of four parts. In 1975 anthropologist Aldo Massola published a history of the Coranderrk Aboriginal station in which he included a condensation of the first three parts, and Maurice Robarts, Natalie's son, provided him with a summary of the fourth part. Massola had spent two years working on the manuscript, and it was published posthumously in November 1975, four months after his death in July. The value of Natalie Robarts's diary is easily demonstrated. Rather than a cold historical narrative of the comings and goings of station managers and officials and the evolution of government policy, it allows us to humanise life on the Coranderrk station. Through her pages we are given an intimate picture of the rituals of life on the station, and we see the Aboriginal people of Coranderrk actively striving to protect their rights and assert their connection to their country. Maurice Robarts, the diarist's son and Liane's grandfather, had loaned the first three parts of the diary to Aldo Massola, presumably in 1973 or 1974. Today only the fourth part remains in the hands of the Robarts family. What happened to the first three parts is not known. It is possible that they were never returned to the Robarts family, owing to the untimely death of Aldo Massola in July 1975. Chapter One presents a genealogy of the Robarts family, which is a work in progress. Chapter Two reproduces and annotates the Massola (1975) transcript of the first three parts of Natalie Robarts's diary, spanning the years from 1909 until 1917. Chapter Three publishes the fourth book of Natalie Robarts Diary, in full, along with Maurice Robarts's summary and Massola's limited commentary. Chapter Four publishes official reports from Charles Robarts during his years as station manager; along with relevant newspaper articles from this time; and published reminiscences from those who visited the station during Robarts's tenure - such as Elinor M. Clowes (1911); Frederick Spurr (1915) and Viscount Northcliffe (1923). Chapter Five re-publishes Natalie Robarts's publications - her (1913) article 'The Victorian Aborigine as he is' noting differences between the published version and a draft copy found in her papers; and her (1934) publication of her father-in-law's reminiscences, along with three unpublished articles found in her papers. Chapter Six publishes for the first time, a family history manuscript written by Maurice Robarts, the second son of Charles and Natalie Robarts. Chapter Seven re-publishes six newspaper articles, a letter to the editor and the draft of another article on William Barak from Oswald Charles Robarts, the journalist son of Charles and Natalie Robarts. Chapter Eight re-presents a three-part history of Coranderrk published in the Healesville Guardian in 1943 by Ethel Shaw, the daughter of Joseph Shaw, who was Coranderrk station manager from 1884 until his resignation from ill-health in 1908. The final chapter presents three scrapbooks of photographs and images relevant to the history of Coranderrk.' (Publication summary)

'The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills is the first major study of Aboriginal associations with the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860–61. A main theme of the book is the contrast between the skills, perceptions and knowledge of the Indigenous people and those of the new arrivals, and the extent to which this affected the outcome of the expedition.'

'The book offers a reinterpretation of the literature surrounding Burke and Wills, using official correspondence, expedition journals and diaries, visual art, and archaeological and linguistic research – and then complements this with references to Aboriginal oral histories and social memory. It highlights the interaction of expedition members with Aboriginal people and their subsequent contribution to Aboriginal studies. The book also considers contemporary and multi-disciplinary critiques that the expedition members were, on the whole, deficient in bush craft, especially in light of the expedition’s failure to use Aboriginal guides in any systematic way.'

'Generously illustrated with historical photographs and line drawings, The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills is an important resource for Indigenous people, Burke and Wills history enthusiasts and the wider community.' (Source: Publishers website)

'This recently published book is another fine example of a ‘demonstrative’ publication often produced by museums, archive authorities and public record offices, and libraries and institutions of a similar ilk. They are ‘demonstrative’ in that one of their aims is to demonstrate the value of the archival record for detailing Indigenous social and family history, or, as stated in the foreword, ‘We hope that it will inspire and inform the search for reconnection to family, land and culture for all Aboriginal people and will encourage many to find their own family history’ (Gibbs and Heazlewood 2008:v). In choosing a particular family, that of Lucy and Percy Pepper, the authors are seeking to illustrate what Aboriginal people may find in the archival record.' (Introduction)

'The Yarra Bend Park marks one of the most important post-contact places in the Melbourne metropolitan area, and is of great significance to Victorian Aboriginal people, particularly the Wurundjeri Aboriginal community. At this site was located the Merri Creek Aboriginal School, the Merri Creek Protectorate Station, the Native Police Corps Headquarters and associated Aboriginal burials.'

'The historical landscape marks one of the most significant post-contact Aboriginal places in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The confluence continued to hold significance to Aboriginal people after the 1840s, linking pre- and post-contact histories and geographies. The place has added importance in the early twenty first century, as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian address the legacies of our contact past.' (Source: AIATSIS website)

'The Darug and Their Neighbours presents a general history of the Darug people and their immediate neighbours—the Dharawal and Gundungurra peoples of the greater Sydney region. Four families from this region are the focus of the book, in an effort to demonstrate that there are many Darug descendants still living in the Sydney area. The book has three clear parts: a general historical introduction (comprising 144 pages); descendant charts of four families (62 pages); and dictionaries of the Darug, Kuringgai and Gundungurra languages (54 pages).'  (Introduction)

'The Wizard of the Wire presents a history of Con Colleano (pronounced Ka-lee-no), one of the world's greatest circus artists. Mark St Leon, a circus historian, has produced an impressive work that is well illustrated with photographs, circus programs, sketches and handbills. The text is interspersed with reminiscences from Colleano himself, from his wife, from other family members, and from associates in the industry.' (Introduction)

'My Kind of People was published in 1993 by University of Queensland Press as part of its Black Australian Writers series. In this modest book of 154 pages, Wayn e Coolwell, the presenter of the AB C radio program 'Speaking Out', presents interviews with twelve talented Australian Aboriginal people. In his preface, Coolwell states that his aims are to show the diversity that exists in contem-porary Aboriginal society and to attempt to challenge non-Aboriginal people's stereotypes. The book is subtitled 'Achievement, Identity and Aboriginality' and these terms capture the essence of the main issues that Coolwell explores with his subjects.'  (Introduction)