I'm your half-brother and I'm here to stay. This is my home.' With these words Wilmot Abraham sought refuge with his white relations. Wilmot was the best-known Aboriginal in the Warrnambool district of Victoria, a man who maintained the old way of life long after his people were dispossessed. Local farmers spoke of him as 'the last of his tribe'. Few were aware that his father had been a white lad working as a boundary rider on the Western District frontier; and only the Aboriginal community knew that Wilmot had barely escaped with his life from the violent seizure of his mother's people's country. In Untold Stories, Jan Critchett presents a series of moving Aboriginal biographies from the Western District of Victoria, drawing both on the oral tradition of local Koori Elders and on official records. Wilmot's is one of the many untold stories that appear here for the first time. Untold Stories opens our eyes to a number of remarkable individuals who managed to make a life for themselves in the interstices of the society that had dispossessed them. Their long-running battle to maintain their culture and their connection to country, in the face of a regime that seemed bent on denying their humanity, is both humbling and inspiring.
A history of the Aborigines of the former Framlingham Aboriginal Station, and their successful campaign for land rights in the area. Author has previously published a book on relationships between early European settlers and Aborigines, 'A Distant Field of Murder: Western District frontiers 1834-1848'. One of the Australian Felix series.
I'm your half-brother and I'm here to stay. This is my home.' With these words Wilmot Abraham sought refuge with his white relations. Wilmot was the best-known Aboriginal in the Warrnambool district of Victoria, a man who maintained the old way of life long after his people were dispossessed. Local farmers spoke of him as 'the last of his tribe'. Few were aware that his father had been a white lad working as a boundary rider on the Western District frontier; and only the Aboriginal community knew that Wilmot had barely escaped with his life from the violent seizure of his mother's people's country. In Untold Stories, Jan Critchett presents a series of moving Aboriginal biographies from the Western District of Victoria, drawing both on the oral tradition of local Koori Elders and on official records. Wilmot's is one of the many untold stories that appear here for the first time. Untold Stories opens our eyes to a number of remarkable individuals who managed to make a life for themselves in the interstices of the society that had dispossessed them. Their long-running battle to maintain their culture and their connection to country, in the face of a regime that seemed bent on denying their humanity, is both humbling and inspiring.
Memorials to Australian participation in wars abound in our landscape. From Melbourne's huge Shrine of Remembrance to the modest marble soldier, obelisk or memorial hall in suburb and country town, they mourn and honour Australians who have served and died for their country. Surprisingly, they have largely escaped scrutiny. Ken Inglis argues that the imagery, rituals and rhetoric generated around memorials constitute a civil religion, a cult of ANZAC. Sacred Places traces three elements which converged to create the cult: the special place of war in the European mind when nationalism was at its zenith; the colonial condition; and the death of so many young men in distant battle, which impelled the bereaved to make substitutes for the graves of which history had deprived them. The 'war memorial movement' attracted conflict as well as commitment. Inglis looks at uneasy acceptance, even rejection, of the cult by socialists, pacifists, feminists and some Christians, and at its virtual exclusion of Aborigines. He suggests that between 1918 and 1939 the making, dedication and use of memorials enhanced the power of the right in Australian public life. Finally, he examines a paradox. Why, as Australia's wars recede in public and private memory, and as a once British Australia becomes multicultural, have the memorials and what they stand for become more cherished than ever? Sacred Places spans war, religion, politics, language and the visual arts. Ken Inglis has distilled new cultural understandings from a familiar landscape.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.