Open research questions in Australian Indigenous Culture and History
30 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 818 Australian Indigenous Culture and History papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
While this analysis has generated new discussion and debate, it has also highlighted systemic empirical biases; archaeological data for pre-European plant exploitation remains sparse, and we consistently rely on potentially unrepresentative and historically shallow ethnographic information to fill that gap.
Considering that both Burt and Hill- man had vindicated Walcott's actions as early as December 1872, Sam Burges' petitioning Kimberley on the matter only after Hillman had left the colony was scarcely a judicious course.
In 1915 reports presented to the Queens- land Parliament stated that the industry in its centre of production, south-east Queens- land was in 'a very flourishing condition and capable of indefinite expansion'/'0 Although in terms of profitability it is not possible to substantiate or to refute this view, due to a lack of data, there is little doubt that the industry was in a period of marked growth.
But this the need for knowledge about or that thing in the past has taken on a new significance with the growing awareness of the unexplored opportunities that await the historical geographer who possesses both a thorough knowledge of, and ability to handle, sources, and an appreciation of modern techniques of geographical analysis. Because of the relative recency of settlement in Australia, a settlement which has occurred largely through direct governmental action during a period of technological innovation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and because of the relative abundance of records, it should be possible to regard Australia as a context in which to intense Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 13:42 29 June 2016 412 THE AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHER refine our understanding of the significant locational processes at work patterns; and its history a laboratory for the empirical testing of some basic assumptions in geography. in forming reality of settlement at For example, few towns have evolved in Australia; most were through chance deliberately created in accordance with contemporary social and economic values by government administrations. The reasons and decisions can often be found. Similarly, the dynamics of a central place hierarchy could be investigated by assessing the theory and successive periods, what Meinig90 called the 'potential' and 'actual' towns in South Australia. Indeed, in South Australia, there are excellent examples of theoretical considerations producing a network of potential town sites at roughly a 10-mile distance from each other in the central and northern areas of the settled portion of the state and in part of the Lower South-East, while in the post- 1890 settlement over most of Eyre Peninsula and the Murray Mallee linear patterns of potential town sites at approximately 5 to 6 mile intervals followed the line of the railways. Central place studies based on the current situation do no explain adequately the evolution of either the spacing or the relative size of the towns especially if one bears in mind the simple idea of 'initial advantage'108 as a factor in the forming of those patterns. Again, railway and road routes have rarely evolved haphazardly, yet with few exceptions (Meinig91 and Smith125) little is known of these, which in later years became the basic lines of movement along which nodes have developed and networks evolved.
Despite the uncertainty of any prediction, it does not appear that the future of Australian manu- facture is insecure, still less the future of high employment in Australia. Few changes occur overnight, and population growth can soften the effect of gradual proportionate decline in I n Table 2 many categories particular sections. increases in with below-average percentage employment show substantial in increases absolute terms: food, drink and tobacco is the outstanding example. A severe setback to the fortunes of manufacturing generally would be likely to mean a severe setback to employment generally or to the balance of payments, or more probably to both. In such a situation there would be general measures t o improve employment or the balance of payments, and these would be likely to benefit manufacture also.
And, although growth has created severe problems in teaching, recruitment of staff, accommodation, provision of equipment, the maintenance of libraries and has strained to breaking point established forms of organisation and administration, it is scarcely to be doubted that on balance it has been to the advantage of the universities.
Apart from the analysis and publication of the result of last season's work, the following projects present themselves. I. A large-scale excavation at the West Point midden might give a definitive account of the protein diet, pattern of occupation and stone typology of the prehistoric peoples of the west coast of Tasmania. over a reasonable length of time. together with the hope of finding some more human remains. 2. A careful and thorough pilot excavation must be made at Rocky Cape. preferably in the southern site. This is now all the more desirable. because detailed 1,. 200 ARCHlEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN TASMANIA comparison might be made with the industry and fauna found at Sisters' Creek, a cave ecologically similar and about six miles to the east. Points which must be especially tested are Meston's claim for a 15 foot depth, and Tindale's theory of a typological sequence (see Mulvaney, 1961). Carbon dates taken under controlled archeeological conditions from the base of this site would be extremely interesting, otherwise they are useless or even misleading. 3. Further work might be done on the Bay of Fires stone arrangements, especially a detailed survey and the stripping off of the midden to see the full shape and extent of the lower feature. 4. A zoological survey in the area immediately adjacent to the Sisters' Creek site, would not only yield information as to the ecological positions of the land fauna, fish and shell fish, but would also provide very valuable comparative osteological material. The same work would have to be done in the West Point area, if a detailed excavation is carried out there. 5. The sandstone area around Nubeena is worth investigating more fully in order to get a larger comparative industry from the east coast. 6. The sandstone areas around Melton Mowbray, Oatlands and Bothwell contain numerous shelters, some with occupational deposit. A large stratified assemblage is required from an inland area. If one is to test the hypothesis put forward by Mrs.T. B. Kemp (1g63) of the dichotomy between the west coast and the midland/east coast industries, then the last two areas must be investigated thoroughly.
While the task would seem to be an arduous one, the plotting of a series of maps of the type given is an important one in the further study of vocabulary, sound changes, transmission of verbals and the general analysis of the mass of regional linguistic material collected towards the end of the nineteenth century.
PLOTTING AN ISOGLOSS—THE LOCATION AND TYPES OF ABORIGINAL NAMES FOR NATIVE DOG IN NEW SOUTH WALES · 1964 · DOITHE AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHER The significance of the border as a geographical factor in the area has been but slightly diminished since federation and it will probably retain considerable importance so long as the Australian States continue to display their present vitality. But certain factors which currently add weight to the border's.primary task of separating functioning political units may be expected to diminish in the future: Queensland type houses are being less frequently built in the Granite Belt, while the popularity of this style seems to be increasing in northern coastal New South Wales; road transport will further blur the border as a clear-cut economic divide; the new era of integrated electricity and water supply will serve to diminish the present marked State-consciousness in the area. But friendly rivalry between northerners and southerners may be expected to continue. The current vigorous revival of local efforts to carve a new northern State, New England, from the body of New South Wales may alter the situation, despite the fact that New State supporters propose to retain the present border over against Queensland. Should their efforts prove successful it seems probable that the whole structure of inter-State and State-Commonwealth relations within Australia would need to be radically overhauled. In this event the present border could be reduced to a line of purely local significance separating minor administrative divisions. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This study was made possible by the use of financial assistance provided by the University of New England.
These are situations varying in intensity, occurrence and the degree of interest they arouse, but they are symptomatic of the all-pervading influence of totemism in daily life, and they would have their place in a more detailed analysis of totemic institutions which would go beyond the scope of this paper. It belongs to a whole set of beliefs about dreams, a subject which has not been fully investigated in the north, and which cannot be without a wider knowledge of the language than we now possess.
Whether the totems are locally distributed with the sub-sections, whether the totemism is of the talu type (the Nangiomeri seem to possess no hint of this), whether THE DALY RIVER TRIBES 4°1 it is multiple, cult, or purely social totemism, must remain uncertain until this is done.
It would also suggest that the cult of the tfurU1Ja should be studied and respected, and certainly not condemned. The missionary who could really influence the secret life of one tribe could feel assured that his work would not be limited to the boundaries of that tribe; it would have repercussions far and near, and if performed in harmony with the secret sanctions and not in the way of negative prohibition, would act as an elevating leaven.
The two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, contain over half the population, whereas the bigger states in terms of land area Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory are sparsely populated.
Yet such concerns have been relegated to subordinate status in recent historiography,(4) while feminist historians have rarely addressed regional particularities.
The Market for Marriage in Colonial Queensland · 1990Mead (1949: 183-84) provides limited data on periodicity of menses and time elapsed since puberty for 25 females from Samoa.
BIOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC COMPONENTS IN ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN SOCIO‐ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION<sup>1</sup> · 1972 · DOI9 Sentence material in Sydney and Dharuk is scarce, but David CollinslO gives a number of verb forms which are conjugated on obviously different systems of construction.
Estimated discharges for some prior channels fall above this line, but the division of channel types is based on limited data and can be considered only as an approximation, for the authors record several modern meandering channels above the dividing line.
It may well have been that there was insufficient time, considering the novelty of farming to many; or perhaps the improve- ment of stock consumed most of the societies' efforts.
It is well known that the size of the anterior nasal spine varies widely between different popula- tions and that i t is diminutive and sometimes absent in Australian aborigines.
My forecast was very unpopular then, and is popularly not understood yet. The Europe of today is relatively sparsely inhabited where the first two monarchs prevail, but its population flocks to the realm of King Coal.
Legge has not explored this particular topic in detail, but he provides a survey of Australian administration into which this more specialised article can be fitted for perspective.
bicolor, staple diet in Boulia District when grass seeds are scarce; seeds soaked in water, ground and eaten raw (23, p.
They meet from time to time at such places as Phillip Creek for wet season ceremonies, and an observer needs to be present on such an occasion to gather what still remains to be learned.
Little is known concerning the fate of this pre-existent totemic personal spirit at death. While rather elaborate ritual paraphernalia may be used, especially among the north-western tribes of the area, masks or drums of the type found farther north are lacking.
one big naragu:" Moreover the appearance of so many other totems belonging to both moieties would seem to indicate a more extensive destruction of the local organization than is warranted by the facts.
Most-cited papers in Australian Indigenous Culture and History
- The loss of an indigenous constructed landscape following British invasion of Australia: An insight into the deep human imprint on the Australian landscape · AMBIO · 2020 · 93 citations
- SETTLERS, THE STATE AND COLONIAL POWER: THE COLONIZATION OF QUEEN ADELAIDE PROVINCE, 1834–37 · The Journal of African History · 1998 · 9 citations
- The Short and the Tall: Comparing Stature and Socioeconomic Status for Male Prison and Military Populations · Social Science History · 2020 · 9 citations
- Understanding ethnicity in contemporary Australia using the census · Australian Population Studies · 2021 · 7 citations
- Making a settler colonial IR: Imagining the ‘international’ in early Australian International Relations · Review of International Studies · 2020 · 6 citations
- The Pinjarra Massacre in the Age of the Statue Wars · Journal of Genocide Research · 2022 · 6 citations
- ‘Thrown into the fossil gap’: Indigenous Australian ancestral bodily remains in the hands of early Darwinian anatomists, c. 1860–1916 · Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A · 2022 · 4 citations
- The rapid growth of Australia’s advanced age population · Journal of Population Research · 2020 · 4 citations
- Australia and Africa: A New Friend from the South? · Australian Journal of Politics & History · 2020 · 3 citations
- Domestic Disclosures: Letters and the Representation of Cross-Cultural Relations in Early Colonial New South Wales · Frontiers A Journal of Women Studies · 2007 · 3 citations
Most recent work
- Boulol and Thunna Thunna: Aboriginal responses to smallpox on the western plains and river country in south-east Australia, 1830–1832 · Aboriginal History Journal · 2026
- Biography of Penelope (Penny) Ann Paton AM: an extraordinary South Australian conservationist and historian · Pacific Conservation Biology · 2026
- Stress in Australian languages: A phonetic typology · Journal of the International Phonetic Association · 2026
- In Memoriam: Tony Blackshield AO FASSA · The Sydney law review. · 2026
- <i>A grammar of Ngardi</i> · Linguistic Typology · 2026
- Australian pedogenons in the global context · CATENA · 2026
- Ancient Australia · Current Biology · 2024
- Ausi told me: why cape herstoriographies matter · Social Dynamics · 2023
- Queensland · Australian Journal of Politics & History · 2023
- Transdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding Past Australian Aboriginal Foodways · Archaeology of Food and Foodways · 2023
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