Editorial.
Gray, Geoffrey
This issue of the journal maintains the diversity of articles
published in Australian Aboriginal Studies: and concomitantly reveals
the depth and breadth of Indigenous Studies in Australia. We have an
article by Mitchell Rolls which discusses the literary work of James
Cowan, critically examining his construction of Aborigines and the
claims he makes about the Aboriginal metaphysical realm in light of a
literary genre that is emerging in which Aborigines are cast as saviours
of the supposedly alienated Western self.
Cora Thomas, a historian, argues that there is a general inadequacy
of published research on the historical specificity of Australia's
culturalist or assimilation policies and, in particular, on the ideas of
Paul (later Sir Paul) Hasluck. As Federal Minister for Territories in
the 1950s and early 1960s, the high point of assimilationism in
Australia, Hasluck was the main architect of these policies as they
directly affected Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and was in
a coordinating and influential role over the state authorities at that
time. This article is especially pertinent in light of the continuing
debate about child removal and stolen generations.
Jack Brook reviews the evidence of Bennelong's travelling
companion, Yem-mer-ra-wannie, who was the youth who `voluntarily and
cheerfully' left his native shores with Bennelong aboard the
Atlantic on 11 December 1792 on their voyage of adventure. Both `were
very much attached' to Governor Arthur Phillip and in all
likelihood it was he who persuaded them to accompany him on his return
to England. At the National Library of Australia is the story of another
traveller taken to London by James Cook, Omai, a Tahitian man who not
only aroused curiosity and was feted like Bennelong and Yemmerrawannie
but who was likewise taken on cultural tours of London.
The archaeologist Peter Hiscock contends that a review of Holocene
artefact assemblages in Australia demonstrates that assemblage
composition is often dependent on the size of the sample. Rare types of
objects are less likely to be present in small samples than in large
ones. This has implications for archaeological patterns established
through the presence or absence of rare classes of objects and for the
first appearance of objects.
As most of our readership will know, we moved into our new building
in late January this year; this has led to improved working conditions.
We have a small exhibition space in the entrance and for our initial
exhibition we have focused on one of the founding members of the
Institute, WEH Stanner, and on an Institute-sponsored research project,
Wreck Bay. In addition, we have opened a bookshop. For researchers, both
the library and the archives--sound and photographic--are easily
accessible and in congenial surrounds.
