Indigenous leaders: lawful relations from encounter to treaty. This project aims to draw together history, law and the creative arts to recover, make visible and make accessible the continuous traditions of Indigenous people’s leadership in conducting lawful relations in Victoria. The project aims to develop methods of translating these encounters and their insights. The intended outcomes should shape critical deliberations on the future of non-Indigenous Australia’s legal and social relationshi ....Indigenous leaders: lawful relations from encounter to treaty. This project aims to draw together history, law and the creative arts to recover, make visible and make accessible the continuous traditions of Indigenous people’s leadership in conducting lawful relations in Victoria. The project aims to develop methods of translating these encounters and their insights. The intended outcomes should shape critical deliberations on the future of non-Indigenous Australia’s legal and social relationships with its First Peoples, particularly regarding treaty-making.Read moreRead less
Globalisation, photography, and race: the circulation and return of Aboriginal photographs in Europe. In the digital age, it has become an urgent matter to understand and balance the role of photographs of Aboriginal people within Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. This project explores their important global historical role, current meanings for descendants, and returns this significant Indigenous heritage from European collections.
The Burden of Freedom? Aboriginal Exemption Policies in Australia. This project aims to be the first major study of the clauses in Aboriginal Protection Acts that allowed Aborigines to be released from control by the government; these are also known as exemption policies. By examining rich and underutilised government archives, it aims to provide a nuanced account of how Aboriginal people negotiated the pressures and possibilities of assimilation from 1897 to 1967. At the same time, it aims to r ....The Burden of Freedom? Aboriginal Exemption Policies in Australia. This project aims to be the first major study of the clauses in Aboriginal Protection Acts that allowed Aborigines to be released from control by the government; these are also known as exemption policies. By examining rich and underutilised government archives, it aims to provide a nuanced account of how Aboriginal people negotiated the pressures and possibilities of assimilation from 1897 to 1967. At the same time, it aims to reveal how non-Aboriginal Australians imagined Aborigines becoming equal citizens. More generally, this study is expected to advance scholarly knowledge of the intricate workings and development of assimilation policy and enable a new reckoning of the legacy and practice of assimilation.Read moreRead less
Using genetics to recover Australia's lost history. This project aims to use historic hair samples collected by anthropological expeditions in the early 20th Century to generate the first genetic map of Aboriginal Australia – in order to reconstruct Australia’s pre-European genetic and cultural past. The map and the detailed contextual and genealogical information from museum archives will assist Aboriginal communities and individuals to reconstruct their personal and family history and trace an ....Using genetics to recover Australia's lost history. This project aims to use historic hair samples collected by anthropological expeditions in the early 20th Century to generate the first genetic map of Aboriginal Australia – in order to reconstruct Australia’s pre-European genetic and cultural past. The map and the detailed contextual and genealogical information from museum archives will assist Aboriginal communities and individuals to reconstruct their personal and family history and trace ancestry and augment oral or written records. The combination of cutting-edge science, detailed archival research, and a comprehensive family outreach and reporting program will be a step change in assisting Australia’s reconciliation process, the Stolen Generation, and repatriation of Indigenous remains.Read moreRead less
Changing landscapes, changing people: Australia's southern mallee lands, 1830-2012. This project reveals how Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, from the 1830s to the present, have created and responded to changes in nature in the mallee regions of southern Australia. Findings will provide knowledge for both rural Australia and policy makers to understand and respond to environmental change.
Indigenous mobilities to and through Australia: agency and sovereignties. Indigenous peoples have always undertaken extensive travel and movement, but colonisation brought new reasons for travel and new Indigenous peoples from New Zealand and the Pacific to Australia. Historians have not yet fully grappled with these histories. These migrations and journeys always traversed Indigenous geographies. Bringing Indigenous perspectives and ethical methodologies to an analysis of mobilities, we aim to ....Indigenous mobilities to and through Australia: agency and sovereignties. Indigenous peoples have always undertaken extensive travel and movement, but colonisation brought new reasons for travel and new Indigenous peoples from New Zealand and the Pacific to Australia. Historians have not yet fully grappled with these histories. These migrations and journeys always traversed Indigenous geographies. Bringing Indigenous perspectives and ethical methodologies to an analysis of mobilities, we aim to explore hidden histories of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Maori and Pacific Islander travel to and across Australia, and engage with Indigenous communities to understand meanings associated with travel and current implications for sovereignties and identities. Read moreRead less
Land and life: Aborigines, convicts and immigrants in Victoria, 1835-1985: an interdisciplinary history. This project is an interdisciplinary investigation of dispossession and colonization of southeast Australia. It uses longitudinal cohort studies to produce new findings on the impact of stress, dislocation and economic change on individuals and families across five generations.
Western Australia from its collections. Western Australia from its collections. This project aims to understand how collecting and display practices created knowledge about Western Australia that shaped its social relations, mediated its relationship to the environment and produced its identity in Australia and overseas from pre-colonial times to the present. This research will contribute to the largest museum development in the country. This research is expected to lead to collecting and displa ....Western Australia from its collections. Western Australia from its collections. This project aims to understand how collecting and display practices created knowledge about Western Australia that shaped its social relations, mediated its relationship to the environment and produced its identity in Australia and overseas from pre-colonial times to the present. This research will contribute to the largest museum development in the country. This research is expected to lead to collecting and display practices that enable a new vision of Western Australia's place in the world to emerge, one better suited to the demands of the future.Read moreRead less
Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, an ....Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, and develop the 'kaardtijin model' for participatory cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations. Workshops on country will produce content for a digital reassembling of the collection to be used by museum partners, ensuring wide cross-sector and community engagement with project outcomes.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200227
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$277,000.00
Summary
Indigenous Engineering: interpreting engineering foundations of Budj Bim. The Budj Bim World Heritage Cultural Landscape is internationally recognised for preserving the world’s oldest aquaculture system, which provided an economic and social base for the Gunditjmara people of South-western Victoria for more than six millennia. This project aims to elucidate the engineering processes that enabled the Gunditjmara to site, plan, construct, operate and maintain this aquaculture complex, to show how ....Indigenous Engineering: interpreting engineering foundations of Budj Bim. The Budj Bim World Heritage Cultural Landscape is internationally recognised for preserving the world’s oldest aquaculture system, which provided an economic and social base for the Gunditjmara people of South-western Victoria for more than six millennia. This project aims to elucidate the engineering processes that enabled the Gunditjmara to site, plan, construct, operate and maintain this aquaculture complex, to show how it may have evolved over time, and how it responded to changing social and environmental circumstances. This project will develop geospatial methods to uncover and document the technological foundations of the aquaculture complex, and contribute to the understanding of the Gunditjmara technological knowledge and history. Read moreRead less