Pride, resilience and identity: reimagining Aboriginal sport history. This project aims to investigate the largely invisible history of sport for Aboriginal people who were institutionalised during the 19th and 20th centuries. Sport is central to Indigenous communities, identities and cultures. This project aims to engage Australian Aboriginal communities in the history-making process by combining the passion for sport with culturally appropriate digital technologies. The project will expand our ....Pride, resilience and identity: reimagining Aboriginal sport history. This project aims to investigate the largely invisible history of sport for Aboriginal people who were institutionalised during the 19th and 20th centuries. Sport is central to Indigenous communities, identities and cultures. This project aims to engage Australian Aboriginal communities in the history-making process by combining the passion for sport with culturally appropriate digital technologies. The project will expand our understanding of the complexity of Aboriginal existence during their institutionalisation under the State Protection Acts. Using innovative digital technologies, this project will generate a comprehensive body of scholarship and an archive of artefacts about Aboriginal sport, developing capacities in Aboriginal communities to reclaim their history and enhance their cultural identities through digital storytelling.Read moreRead less
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will ....Picturing change: 21st Century perspectives on recent Australian rock art, especially that from the European contact period. Australia, long known for its prehistoric rock art of world heritage value, will now also be known for its unique and diverse body of contact rock art. This project will benefit tourism in remote regions, many of which are or are near World Heritage Areas (eg. Kakadu, Uluru, Blue Mountains). Contemporary indigenous knowledge about important cross-cultural landscapes will be synthesised along with other new knowledge to assist with the protection of sites, the development of new management plans and applications to place particular groups of sites on a new UNESCO World Heritage rock art list. Aboriginal participants will receive research skills training and both individuals and communities will reconnect to significant remote places.Read moreRead less
Confronting Representations: Performing Indigenous Protests. By using performance studies approaches to analyse public political events this work will provide the practical benefit of increasing our understanding of how different cultures interpret and misinterpret each other in public encounters. Examining the dynamics that have and continue to operate between people and social discourses increases our understanding of ourselves as Australians and our ability to interpret ourselves. A further b ....Confronting Representations: Performing Indigenous Protests. By using performance studies approaches to analyse public political events this work will provide the practical benefit of increasing our understanding of how different cultures interpret and misinterpret each other in public encounters. Examining the dynamics that have and continue to operate between people and social discourses increases our understanding of ourselves as Australians and our ability to interpret ourselves. A further benefit is that the project develops an innovative methodology for interdisciplinary research drawing from the fields of performance studies, media studies and cultural studies.Read moreRead less
Prerequisite conditions for Indigenous nation self-government. This project aims to produce new knowledge about Indigenous nation building (INB) processes. Based on research that self-governance increases Indigenous socioeconomic and community capacity, this project will collaborate with two Aboriginal communities to investigate factors that impact the transition from 'identifying' to 'organising' as political collectives to enable self-governance. Such knowledge has the potential to directly co ....Prerequisite conditions for Indigenous nation self-government. This project aims to produce new knowledge about Indigenous nation building (INB) processes. Based on research that self-governance increases Indigenous socioeconomic and community capacity, this project will collaborate with two Aboriginal communities to investigate factors that impact the transition from 'identifying' to 'organising' as political collectives to enable self-governance. Such knowledge has the potential to directly contribute to increased wellbeing for Indigenous communities as they define it. It aims to contribute to Australian and international Indigenous governance, political science and Indigenous methodologies literatures. The project could significantly benefit Indigenous peoples, the broader Australian community, Australian governments, and Australian and international INB researchers.Read moreRead less
Australia and Anti-Slavery: Humanitarianism and Popular Culture from 1890 to the present. This project explains how ’anti-slavery’ discourse shaped humanitarian campaigns in Australia, including Aboriginal rights, indenture, forced labour, trafficking and sexual slavery, by investigating the transmission of ideas and campaigns through international humanitarian networks in Britain, Europe and Australia. The significance of this project lies in its focus on popular culture and the visual represen ....Australia and Anti-Slavery: Humanitarianism and Popular Culture from 1890 to the present. This project explains how ’anti-slavery’ discourse shaped humanitarian campaigns in Australia, including Aboriginal rights, indenture, forced labour, trafficking and sexual slavery, by investigating the transmission of ideas and campaigns through international humanitarian networks in Britain, Europe and Australia. The significance of this project lies in its focus on popular culture and the visual representation of slavery, their influence upon public opinion and debate nationally and internationally throughout the long 20th century into our present. This project explores the role of anti-slavery history in shaping contemporary attitudes towards slavery and forced labour.Read moreRead less
Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include officia ....Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include official publications and works from the media, the arts and popular culture. Expected outcomes include a monograph, two articles, and a museum exhibition brief.Read moreRead less
Quandamooka Aboriginal women on the colonial frontier in the nineteenth century. This project aims to produce new insights about gender and race on the colonial frontier in Australia through revealing Aboriginal women's agency beyond the usual themes of labour and sexual exploitation. The historical record has too often represented Aboriginal women as victims, which has affected self-esteem and caused poor health and social alienation. This project will research how Aboriginal women resisted and ....Quandamooka Aboriginal women on the colonial frontier in the nineteenth century. This project aims to produce new insights about gender and race on the colonial frontier in Australia through revealing Aboriginal women's agency beyond the usual themes of labour and sexual exploitation. The historical record has too often represented Aboriginal women as victims, which has affected self-esteem and caused poor health and social alienation. This project will research how Aboriginal women resisted and negotiated with colonisation by examining the everyday and public performances of Quandamooka women on their own lands, Moreton Bay, Queensland, in the nineteenth century. The project aims to benefit the health and well-being of Aboriginal women.Read moreRead less
A cultural atlas of Australia: mediated spaces in theatre, film, and literature. A cultural atlas of Australia: mediated spaces in theatre, film, and literature is an interdisciplinary research project that investigates the cultural and historical significance of location and landscape in Australian cinema, plays and novels. Outcomes include a co-authored research monograph and an interactive online map.
Defending Australia, defending Indigenous rights: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military service and Australian identity, 1946-2003. This project will examine the experiences of Australian Indigenous service personnel between 1946 and 2003, both during their times of service and in civilian life. The project will analyse the links between military service, the advancement of Indigenous rights, Australian identity, and the development of contemporary Indigenous communities.