期刊名称：Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
印刷版ISSN：1447-8986
电子版ISSN：1833-6027
出版年度：2008
卷号：SP
页码：77-93
出版社：Association for the Study of Australian Literature
摘要：To talk of the colonial present is perhaps to talk of the Reserve Bank of
Australia¡¯s website, where there is a picture of Aboriginal author, activist,
inventor and public speaker David Unaipon on the fifty dollar note. Stamped
across this picture (as it is across all images of notes on the website) is the
word, in capitals: SPECIMEN. The word resonates uncomfortably with
Australia¡¯s colonial history of collecting Aboriginal people and things for
scientific observation. But the word is perhaps even more disturbing to
those of us who study Unaipon; as he becomes an object under discussion in
academic work, his own words challenge any discourse that attempts to pin
him down as a specimen for study. Writing in the Age against segregationist
policies of the late 1930s, Unaipon urged:
There have been enough scientific investigations already, and no
new facts have come to light, and yet there is still a plea to segregate
the natives, keeping them practically in bush museums for scientific
purposes. (qtd in Markus 79)
