PUBLIC LECTURE: The Macassans and the History of Northern Australia

The Institute of Advanced Studies and the Western Australian Maritime Museum

Invite you to a lecture by

Henry Reynolds

Professor of History, University of Tasmania

Abstract:

In his latest work, North of Capricorn, leading Australian historian Henry Reynolds reveals two Australia cultures at odds in the last half of the 19th century—the predominantly white south, and the region north of the Tropic of Capricorn, where multi-racial towns and settlements and the great tribal areas of Cape York, Arnhem Land, the Kimberley and the Sandy Desert were vibrant and flourishing. The historical view along the east–west axis of Australia reveals fascinating and culturally diverse societies—Melanesian caneworkers, Chinese entrepreneurs, Japanese deep-sea divers—but this cultural diversity was to disappear with the introduction of the White Australia policy in 1901.

Traditional bonds between coastal Aboriginal people and Macassan (Indonesian) fishermen, who had been visiting the north coast for several hundred years meant that the Macassans had been “woven into legend, kinship networks and coastal economies” but these ties were lost after trade was forbidden in 1906. Henry Reynolds recounts the political battle that reversed the multi-racial trend and saw the diverse north conforming to the racial imperative of White Australia.

Biographical note: Henry Reynolds is one of Australia's most influential and widely-read historians. Since the publication of The Other Side of the Frontier in 1981 he has profoundly changed the way in which we understand the history of relations between indigenous Australians and European settlers. His research played a major part in the political and legal milestones, the Mabo and Wik judgments. Other publications include Aborigines and Settlers, Frontier, The Law of the Land, Dispossession, With the White People, Why Weren't We Told? and An Indelible Stain?

COST: $10 at the door.

BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL, as seats are strictly limited. RSVP by Monday 11 July.

Phone Museum Education on 9431 8480 or 9431 8455 to reserve your place. Refreshments are available following the lecture.

This event is part of the 2oo5 Batavia Lecture Series presented by the West Australian Maritime Museum