Cirrus@Austlit

'The story of New Norcias Aboriginal cricket team 1879-1906. How was it that New Norcia,this tiny and isolated outpost of Catholic Europe set in the heart of the Western Australian bush , could have given rise to such an extraordinary sporting phenomenon?' (Source: New Norcia Benedictine Community website)

'This compilation, useful as it is, would have been of more value if the authors had given more thought to the scope of their coverage. As it is, the book attempts to embrace traditional Aboriginal anthropology and material culture, as well as the history of black–white interaction from 1606 to the present social and political scene. In other words, it is a miniature Aboriginal encyclopaedia. Perhaps, however, this was due to the requirements of the US-based publisher’s series, Historical dictionaries of peoples and cultures, of which it is part.' (Introduction)

'We have to thank Chris Healy for reminding us so dramatically of the considerable gap between evidence-based historians and cultural historians. While the former are likely to find his new book provoking (in the sense of irritating or frustrating), the latter will probably greet it as a provocative triumph.'  (Introduction)

'Geoffrey Gray’s (2008:114–15) remarks on Daisy Bates’ scientific achievements call for a biographer’s response — on her behalf and on behalf of the late Isobel White. My assertion that Bates ‘pioneered anthropological fieldwork’ (Reece 2007:9) was based on White’s chapter in Marcus’ collected essays on women anthropologists (White 1993:58–61). White’s editing of Bates’ manuscript, ‘The Native Tribes of Western Australia’, had given her an intimate knowledge of her modus operandi: a self-taught researcher who picked the brains of the experts to inform her ethnographic work. In her introduction to the edited version, White remarked that ‘while C Strehlow, Howitt, R H Mathews, John Mathew, Spencer and Gillen describe marriage rules, ceremonies, mythology and beliefs, Mrs Bates writes of everyday behaviour…she gives us a much more vivid picture of Aboriginal life than previous workers’ (Bates 1985:20–1). White did not claim, however, that Bates’ work ‘became the template for modern anthropological fieldwork’ (Gray’s words), which he attributes to Spencer and Haddon. Gray has set up a straw woman by misrepresenting White’s evaluation.' (Introduction)

‘The Grand Experiment’ was the Spanish Benedictine monk Rosendo Salvado’s decision to take two Aboriginal boys, eleven-year-old Joannes Maria Dirimera and seven-year-old Francis Xavier Conaci, from Western Australia to Rome in January 1849. His intention was for them to train for the priesthood so that they could evangelise their own people. As an early attempt to ‘Aboriginalise’ an arm of the Catholic Church in Australia, it might be regarded as being a bold and far-sighted idea at the time. In reality, it was a complete disaster. Both boys contracted undiagnosed but fatal diseases, Conaci dying in Rome in October 1853 and Dirimera a few months after his return to Western Australia in August 1855. Three more boys who were subsequently despatched to Europe also died, as did all the young Aboriginal girls sent to the Mercy Convent in Perth. Another boy from New Norcia, Upumera, had died in early 1848 on the voyage to Europe with Salvado’s Catalan colleague, José Serra.'  (Introduction)

'An interview with the late Australian academic anthropologist AP Elkin about Daisy Bates' anthropological work on the Aboriginal society is presented. According to Elkin, Bates felt that the governments of Western Australia and South Australia did not realized her value. He comments on Bates' belief in cannibalism amongst the Aborigines. He expresses his views on the great affection that Bates had for the Aborigines.' (Publication abstract)

'The idea of The Australian Journal of Irish Studies suggested itself during the 11th Irish-Australian Conference at Murdoch University and University of Notre Dame Australia in April 2000. The organising committee felt that the number of papers generated by the biennial conference in Ireland and Australia and the wide public as well as academic interest in the subject area warranted a dedicated journal. By establishing the AJIS, we hope that it will become the principal vehicle for Irish Studies in Australia' (from the publisher's website: URL no longer active).

'The sudden and tragic death of anthropologist Diane McEachern Barwick on 4 April brought to an end a vigorous academic and public career devoted to securing justice for Australia's Indigenous peoples, the Australian Aborigines. Dr Barwick possessed that combination—so rare in Australia today—of absolutely scrupulous scholarship and passionate conviction, and her reputation and influence have reached far beyond her actual published work.' (Introduction)