International Symposium to be held by the National Museum of Australia, Canberra from 16 - 20 November 2009.
Six decades have passed since the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. So it is a fitting moment for celebration, re-evaluation and renewed collaboration between the individuals, institutions and countries touched by this formative research venture.
In 2009 the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia will be hosting Barks Birds & Billabongs, a symposium that will investigate the expedition’s significant and often controversial legacy.
For more information go to the National Museum of Australia website. |
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This symposium will be organised around three core themes: Histories, Legacies and Continuing Traditions. Particular emphasis will be placed on Indigenous perspectives.
Led by photographer and self-taught ethnologist Charles P Mountford, the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition is one of the most significant scientific expeditions ever mounted in Australia - and also one of the least understood. A team of 17 researchers and support staff undertook the seven-month odyssey, working from three principal bases in Arnhem Land. From various disciplinary perspectives, they investigated the people and the environment of the region. In addition to ethnologists, archaeologists, photographers and film-makers, the expedition included a botanist, a mammalogist, an ichthyologist, an ornithologist and a team of nutritional scientists and Indigenous guides. Their first base was Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria. They later moved to Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula and then to Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli) in west Arnhem Land.
There were also secondary research trips to places such as Delissaville (now
Belyuen), Milingimbi Island, Port Bradshaw, Roper River and the islands off Groote Eylandt. The journey involved the collaboration of vastly different sponsors and partners (among them the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution and various agencies of the Commonwealth Government of Australia).
The team included established and emerging scientists from Australia and the United States of America. In the wake of the expedition came volumes of scientific publications, kilometres of film, thousands of photographs, tens of thousands of scientific specimens and a vast array of Aboriginal artefacts and paintings from across Arnhem Land. The legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition is vast, complex and at times contentious.
The symposium will reflect the interdisciplinary makeup of the expedition itself. The National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution will be represented. A diverse range of stimulating and innovative speakers will give presentations appealing to both specialised scholars as well as to the general public. A public lecture delivered by a high profile speaker will launch the symposium.
Edited versions of peer-reviewed papers will be published on the National Museum website. Audio streaming facilities will allow recordings of presentations to be made available online. We are also planning a substantial book arising from the symposium. We expect representation from the Aboriginal communities of Arnhem Land, who take considerable interest in how their forebears interacted with the visiting researchers.
The final day of the symposium (Friday 20 November 2009) will be devoted to workshops or master classes, targeted at special interest groups, Indigenous researchers or postgraduates specialising in crosscultural research. We would welcome suggestions regarding these workshops and will endeavour to tailor the program to meet the needs of participants. We would also welcome responses from people wishing to be added to a mailing list for information about the symposium. Please feel free to distribute this information widely. Further information is available from the symposium website, which is updated regularly.
CONTACT:
Margo Neale +61 2 6208 5370
Margo Neale
Rowena Dickins Morrison +61 2 6208 5483
Rowena Dickens Morrison
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Barks, Birds & Billabongs
The expedition at Gunbalanya, 1948
Charles P Mountford & Groote Eylandt artists, 1948
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