Pub Date : 2022-12-15DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2023.2156085
A. Johnston, P. Magagnoli
As the Internet does today, the illustrated magazine significantly defined Australian readers’ knowledge of the nation and the world for much of the 20th century. Magazines graced domestic spaces and dentists’ surgeries; magazine stands filled busy city street corners and transport hubs; and publishers, government departments, and tourism bureaus sent magazines overseas to attract migrants, business investments and tourists. Up to 800,000 Australians read theAustralianWomen’s Weekly by 1961, with many other titles regularly achieving large circulation figures in a commercial market that in 1963 included 900 journals and magazines. The Weekly continues to provide new avenues for scholarly research, from education to art history to Cold War politics, as well as food and fashion histories. Our themed section for the Journal of Australian Studies forms part of a research project designed to diversify magazine studies in Australia, to broaden the sources and understanding of their significance in Australian cultural history, and to connect scholarship across disciplines and link it to new international developments. The best and brightest minds contributed to modern magazines (alongside newspapers and radio, and often across media platforms). Writers and travellers such as George Farwell, Ernestine Hill and Ion Idriess earnt a living that underwrote other creative projects, while anthropologists including Donald Thomson and Ursula McConnell used magazines to communicate their work with Indigenous communities to the public. First Nations communities themselves used newsletters to build connections, and magazine titles such as Identity emerged in the 1970s to forge a new Indigenous public sphere. Scientists and naturalists such as Charles Barrett, Tarlton Rayment and
{"title":"Histories of the Illustrated Magazine in Australia","authors":"A. Johnston, P. Magagnoli","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2023.2156085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2023.2156085","url":null,"abstract":"As the Internet does today, the illustrated magazine significantly defined Australian readers’ knowledge of the nation and the world for much of the 20th century. Magazines graced domestic spaces and dentists’ surgeries; magazine stands filled busy city street corners and transport hubs; and publishers, government departments, and tourism bureaus sent magazines overseas to attract migrants, business investments and tourists. Up to 800,000 Australians read theAustralianWomen’s Weekly by 1961, with many other titles regularly achieving large circulation figures in a commercial market that in 1963 included 900 journals and magazines. The Weekly continues to provide new avenues for scholarly research, from education to art history to Cold War politics, as well as food and fashion histories. Our themed section for the Journal of Australian Studies forms part of a research project designed to diversify magazine studies in Australia, to broaden the sources and understanding of their significance in Australian cultural history, and to connect scholarship across disciplines and link it to new international developments. The best and brightest minds contributed to modern magazines (alongside newspapers and radio, and often across media platforms). Writers and travellers such as George Farwell, Ernestine Hill and Ion Idriess earnt a living that underwrote other creative projects, while anthropologists including Donald Thomson and Ursula McConnell used magazines to communicate their work with Indigenous communities to the public. First Nations communities themselves used newsletters to build connections, and magazine titles such as Identity emerged in the 1970s to forge a new Indigenous public sphere. Scientists and naturalists such as Charles Barrett, Tarlton Rayment and","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"52 1","pages":"3 - 9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84234353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-09DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2149608
Linda Wells
ABSTRACT In Central Australia throughout the early 20th century, many Aboriginal women gave birth to babies who had been fathered by white men. Between 1914 and 1929, these children were removed from their families and taken to live in the burgeoning town of Alice Springs, in a collection of tin sheds referred to as “the Bungalow”. Such removal of children from their families was in line with assimilation policies being enacted across the colonised world. During my research into the Bungalow, I came across a file in the National Archives entitled “Sarah Breaden (Half Caste) Education”. Sarah was born of an Aboriginal mother and white father, on a cattle station in Central Australia, in 1907. In some ways, her story, which I went on to explore, reflects that of so many children of dual Indigenous/white heritage born in that time and place. But in other ways, Sarah's circumstances and experiences differ markedly. A key aim of my project has been to research and write a creative history of the first Bungalow in Alice Springs 1914–1929, and the context in which it was situated. This article is adapted from a chapter of that literary work.
{"title":"Sarah Breaden: “A Refined and Splendid Kind of Girl”","authors":"Linda Wells","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2149608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2149608","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In Central Australia throughout the early 20th century, many Aboriginal women gave birth to babies who had been fathered by white men. Between 1914 and 1929, these children were removed from their families and taken to live in the burgeoning town of Alice Springs, in a collection of tin sheds referred to as “the Bungalow”. Such removal of children from their families was in line with assimilation policies being enacted across the colonised world. During my research into the Bungalow, I came across a file in the National Archives entitled “Sarah Breaden (Half Caste) Education”. Sarah was born of an Aboriginal mother and white father, on a cattle station in Central Australia, in 1907. In some ways, her story, which I went on to explore, reflects that of so many children of dual Indigenous/white heritage born in that time and place. But in other ways, Sarah's circumstances and experiences differ markedly. A key aim of my project has been to research and write a creative history of the first Bungalow in Alice Springs 1914–1929, and the context in which it was situated. This article is adapted from a chapter of that literary work.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"273 - 289"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84328887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-05DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2147573
Julienne van Loon
ABSTRACT This article presents and discusses an experiment with Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu as an inaugural case study of how we might apply the International Integrated Reporting () Framework to an Australian book title. It represents a novel approach to the question of how to be attentive to the problem of value in Australian culture, building on recent research by Meyrick, Phiddian and Barnett and complementing contemporary work on Australian book industry economics by Zwar, Throsby and others at Macquarie University. The results of this experiment indicate that integrated reporting, and in particular the framework—an established, rigorous and internationally recognised form of reporting—can be effectively applied to a single local book title, drawing exclusively on publicly available data in a manner that effectively and efficiently articulates types of value that exceed the economic. While the framework has its limitations, my overarching conclusion is that this form of value reporting has strong potential to contribute to timely and effective local book industry advocacy into the future.
{"title":"Six Capitals and a Local Book: An Experiment in Articulating the Value of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu","authors":"Julienne van Loon","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2147573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2147573","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article presents and discusses an experiment with Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu as an inaugural case study of how we might apply the International Integrated Reporting () Framework to an Australian book title. It represents a novel approach to the question of how to be attentive to the problem of value in Australian culture, building on recent research by Meyrick, Phiddian and Barnett and complementing contemporary work on Australian book industry economics by Zwar, Throsby and others at Macquarie University. The results of this experiment indicate that integrated reporting, and in particular the framework—an established, rigorous and internationally recognised form of reporting—can be effectively applied to a single local book title, drawing exclusively on publicly available data in a manner that effectively and efficiently articulates types of value that exceed the economic. While the framework has its limitations, my overarching conclusion is that this form of value reporting has strong potential to contribute to timely and effective local book industry advocacy into the future.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"24 1","pages":"181 - 199"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79266721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2151031
R. Osborne
ABSTRACT During R. G. Campbell’s 30-year tenure as editor of the Australian Journal (1926–1955), he drew on the work of many freelance writers and artists. This article identifies some of the major contributors of cover art and illustrations published during Campbell’s editorship of the Australian Journal to provide an expanded view of the cultural networks that converged in the pages of the magazine. Drawing on Campbell’s advice published in The Australian Writers and Artists' Market, along with his reflections in unpublished autobiographical notes, the article reveals the magazine’s intersections with the commercial and fine art world, particularly the networks of commercial artists who honed their skills in Melbourne’s art schools and artists’ studios during the early to middle decades of the 20th century. Combined with previous research on writers of the popular short story, this article demonstrates the significant position that R. G. Campbell and his Australian Journal claimed in mid-20th-century Australian print culture, and it encourages further research into the large network of freelance writers and artists that radiated from the magazine’s Swanston Street offices.
在r.g.坎贝尔担任《澳大利亚日报》编辑的30年间(1926-1955)，他借鉴了许多自由作家和艺术家的作品。本文确定了坎贝尔在《澳大利亚日报》担任编辑期间发表的封面艺术和插图的一些主要贡献者，以提供一个扩展的文化网络视图，这些网络汇集在杂志的页面上。根据坎贝尔发表在《澳大利亚作家和艺术家市场》(The Australian Writers and Artists’Market)上的建议，以及他在未发表的自传笔记中的反思，这篇文章揭示了该杂志与商业和美术世界的交集，特别是20世纪初至中期在墨尔本艺术学校和艺术家工作室磨练技能的商业艺术家网络。结合之前对流行短篇小说作家的研究，本文证明了r.g.坎贝尔和他的《澳大利亚日报》在20世纪中叶澳大利亚印刷文化中的重要地位，并鼓励进一步研究从该杂志的斯旺斯顿街办事处辐射出来的自由作家和艺术家的庞大网络。
{"title":"“The Covers Gave Me More Trouble than Anything Else”: Illustrating R. G. Campbell’s Australian Journal, 1926–1955","authors":"R. Osborne","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2151031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2151031","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT During R. G. Campbell’s 30-year tenure as editor of the Australian Journal (1926–1955), he drew on the work of many freelance writers and artists. This article identifies some of the major contributors of cover art and illustrations published during Campbell’s editorship of the Australian Journal to provide an expanded view of the cultural networks that converged in the pages of the magazine. Drawing on Campbell’s advice published in The Australian Writers and Artists' Market, along with his reflections in unpublished autobiographical notes, the article reveals the magazine’s intersections with the commercial and fine art world, particularly the networks of commercial artists who honed their skills in Melbourne’s art schools and artists’ studios during the early to middle decades of the 20th century. Combined with previous research on writers of the popular short story, this article demonstrates the significant position that R. G. Campbell and his Australian Journal claimed in mid-20th-century Australian print culture, and it encourages further research into the large network of freelance writers and artists that radiated from the magazine’s Swanston Street offices.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"20 1","pages":"10 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79667530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-28DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2023.2150361
I. Wegman
{"title":"Visions of Nature: How Landscape Photography Shaped Settler Colonialism","authors":"I. Wegman","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2023.2150361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2023.2150361","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"79 1","pages":"224 - 225"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74810833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-16DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2144928
Amy Clarke
ABSTRACT Big Things—oversized three-dimensional representations of everyday objects, often situated on the roadside—have received minimal academic attention to date, despite being a popular phenomenon across several countries including Australia and Canada. Sometimes dismissed as “lowbrow” or commercialised art forms, they are, in fact, landmarks that can be investigated as material evidence of the identities and values of the communities—local, regional and national—who build, maintain and visit them. This article takes a comparative approach to the 1,075 Big Things in Australia and 1,250 in Canada, revealing chronological, geographical and typological trends that highlight the capacity of these structures to represent their surrounding regions. In doing so, this article also demonstrates the value to be gained through studying Big Things as networks of meaning that evolve over time, reflecting the changing nature of their host societies.
{"title":"Making a Mark: Displays of Regional and National Identity in the Big Things of Australia and Canada","authors":"Amy Clarke","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2144928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2144928","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Big Things—oversized three-dimensional representations of everyday objects, often situated on the roadside—have received minimal academic attention to date, despite being a popular phenomenon across several countries including Australia and Canada. Sometimes dismissed as “lowbrow” or commercialised art forms, they are, in fact, landmarks that can be investigated as material evidence of the identities and values of the communities—local, regional and national—who build, maintain and visit them. This article takes a comparative approach to the 1,075 Big Things in Australia and 1,250 in Canada, revealing chronological, geographical and typological trends that highlight the capacity of these structures to represent their surrounding regions. In doing so, this article also demonstrates the value to be gained through studying Big Things as networks of meaning that evolve over time, reflecting the changing nature of their host societies.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"11 1","pages":"238 - 255"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88676022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-10DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2142835
S. Farley
ABSTRACT The feral horses of the Australian Alps—“brumbies”, as they are usually called—have occupied considerable space in settler-Australian culture since the 1890 publication of “The Man from Snowy River”. From the 1980s onwards, brumbies have been culled periodically to preserve “native” alpine ecosystems, which have not evolved to support hoofed animals. Such culls, however, are often highly controversial. This article uses Sara Ahmed's concept of affective economies to explain why the culling of brumbies generates such heated debate and intense public outpourings of emotion. I relate the hyperaffective public performances of brumby supporters to a crisis in settler identity in Australia: as Indigenous activism has undermined the legitimacy of settler claims to belonging, some settlers have begun to use brumbies to assert their own kind of indigeneity.
{"title":"Mateship with Brumbies: Horses, Defiance and Indigeneity in the Australian Alps","authors":"S. Farley","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2142835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2142835","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The feral horses of the Australian Alps—“brumbies”, as they are usually called—have occupied considerable space in settler-Australian culture since the 1890 publication of “The Man from Snowy River”. From the 1980s onwards, brumbies have been culled periodically to preserve “native” alpine ecosystems, which have not evolved to support hoofed animals. Such culls, however, are often highly controversial. This article uses Sara Ahmed's concept of affective economies to explain why the culling of brumbies generates such heated debate and intense public outpourings of emotion. I relate the hyperaffective public performances of brumby supporters to a crisis in settler identity in Australia: as Indigenous activism has undermined the legitimacy of settler claims to belonging, some settlers have begun to use brumbies to assert their own kind of indigeneity.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"256 - 272"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85568604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2124303
Robert Phiddian, Stephanie Brookes, Lindsay Foyle, R. Scully
ABSTRACT Stan Cross’s “For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!” (Smith’s Weekly, 1933) is the symbol and bellwether of the Australian cartooning tradition. It is often lionised as a national treasure, but its archival history has been perilous in a way that shows a lack of care amounting almost to national negligence. The original of this most famous cartoon of the Depression era was lost for 80 years before being rediscovered in 2014, and this article notes for the first time that Trove Newspapers lacks a record of its initial publication. We use this troubled material history of one significant cartoon to raise a range of issues about the quality and purpose of collecting and presenting Australian cartoons as a resource for Australian studies in fields ranging from media and humour studies to cultural and political history.
{"title":"“For Gorsake, Stop Laughing: This is Serious!”—Australia’s Fragile Cartooning Archive","authors":"Robert Phiddian, Stephanie Brookes, Lindsay Foyle, R. Scully","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2124303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2124303","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Stan Cross’s “For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!” (Smith’s Weekly, 1933) is the symbol and bellwether of the Australian cartooning tradition. It is often lionised as a national treasure, but its archival history has been perilous in a way that shows a lack of care amounting almost to national negligence. The original of this most famous cartoon of the Depression era was lost for 80 years before being rediscovered in 2014, and this article notes for the first time that Trove Newspapers lacks a record of its initial publication. We use this troubled material history of one significant cartoon to raise a range of issues about the quality and purpose of collecting and presenting Australian cartoons as a resource for Australian studies in fields ranging from media and humour studies to cultural and political history.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"57 4 1","pages":"200 - 220"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72500268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-30DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2135573
Caryn Coatney
ABSTRACT Media images of heroic, hard-working Australian achievers have often accompanied stories about an upbeat national work ethic to boost public morale in times of massive upheavals and crisis. The concept of an Australian work ethic has not been a natural creation, but it has been actively developed in the media. This article reveals a turning point in the media portrayal of the crucial area of work that helped cultivate diverse expressions of Australia’s image. The article focuses on the era of momentous disruption in World War II that led to an unprecedented idealisation of workers and changed the traditional roles of the prime minister, journalists and the public. Wartime prime minister John Curtin became an egalitarian partner and a collaborator with media teams. Journalists created increasingly inclusive media experiences to encourage the public to identify with the fashionable new ethos of working-class thrift. Wartime citizens enthusiastically contributed to the varied media expressions of collective work ethics, overturning the traditional notion of a passive public sphere. Using the concept of the emotional public sphere, this article provides a rare perspective on the media’s role in shaping and extending popular attitudes towards Australian workers, collective service and inclusive communities.
{"title":"“Good Australians Will Respond”: Transforming the Work Ethic in Popular Media, 1941–1945","authors":"Caryn Coatney","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2135573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2135573","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Media images of heroic, hard-working Australian achievers have often accompanied stories about an upbeat national work ethic to boost public morale in times of massive upheavals and crisis. The concept of an Australian work ethic has not been a natural creation, but it has been actively developed in the media. This article reveals a turning point in the media portrayal of the crucial area of work that helped cultivate diverse expressions of Australia’s image. The article focuses on the era of momentous disruption in World War II that led to an unprecedented idealisation of workers and changed the traditional roles of the prime minister, journalists and the public. Wartime prime minister John Curtin became an egalitarian partner and a collaborator with media teams. Journalists created increasingly inclusive media experiences to encourage the public to identify with the fashionable new ethos of working-class thrift. Wartime citizens enthusiastically contributed to the varied media expressions of collective work ethics, overturning the traditional notion of a passive public sphere. Using the concept of the emotional public sphere, this article provides a rare perspective on the media’s role in shaping and extending popular attitudes towards Australian workers, collective service and inclusive communities.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"38 1","pages":"128 - 141"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86990101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-14DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2022.2131872
Jenna-Lee Lynn
ABSTRACT This article examines how Aboriginal conceptions of time and space in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster affect representations of personal, cultural and ecological trauma through privileging sites of wounding that embody Country. The four elements of air, water, earth and fire are central to understanding how each text navigates the complex relational matrices of Aboriginal traumas and respond to ongoing issues of genocide and dispossession that are part of Australia’s tragic history. Elemental energies in these novels are connected to powerful spaces that pain inhabits and moves through, providing insights into the significance of their engagement with Aboriginality and trauma, particularly when situated within the context of legislature including the Native Title Act of 1993 and the Wik decision of 1996. Elemental motifs perform a cyclical function that begins with deep connectedness to oceanic imagery in Carpentaria, then transitions to trauma inflicted on Country and culminates in a cathartic watery Armageddon. While Oyster’s consideration of elemental traumatic space is primarily attributed to land, cartography and wounded bodies, the novel’s narrative threads reach a similar apocalyptic denouement. Oyster’s cataclysmic fires of destruction are eclipsed by the regenerative potencies of water that rejuvenate Country and supplant horror with beauty.
{"title":"Trauma, Aboriginality and Revisionary Imaginings in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster","authors":"Jenna-Lee Lynn","doi":"10.1080/14443058.2022.2131872","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2022.2131872","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines how Aboriginal conceptions of time and space in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster affect representations of personal, cultural and ecological trauma through privileging sites of wounding that embody Country. The four elements of air, water, earth and fire are central to understanding how each text navigates the complex relational matrices of Aboriginal traumas and respond to ongoing issues of genocide and dispossession that are part of Australia’s tragic history. Elemental energies in these novels are connected to powerful spaces that pain inhabits and moves through, providing insights into the significance of their engagement with Aboriginality and trauma, particularly when situated within the context of legislature including the Native Title Act of 1993 and the Wik decision of 1996. Elemental motifs perform a cyclical function that begins with deep connectedness to oceanic imagery in Carpentaria, then transitions to trauma inflicted on Country and culminates in a cathartic watery Armageddon. While Oyster’s consideration of elemental traumatic space is primarily attributed to land, cartography and wounded bodies, the novel’s narrative threads reach a similar apocalyptic denouement. Oyster’s cataclysmic fires of destruction are eclipsed by the regenerative potencies of water that rejuvenate Country and supplant horror with beauty.","PeriodicalId":51817,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Australian Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"142 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83666065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：