| Description |
xvi, 471 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
1. Expedition as time capsule: introducing the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land / Martin Thomas -- Pt I. Engagements with Aboriginal cultures: 2. Inside Mountford's tent: paint, politics and paperwork / Philip Jones -- 3. Nation building or Cold War: political settings for the Arnhem Land Expedition / Kim Beazley -- 4. A Robinson Crusoe in Arnhem Land: Howell Walker, National Geographic and the Arnhem Land Expedition of 1948.73 / Mark Collins Jenkins -- 5.Birds on the wire: wild sound, informal speech and the emergence of the radio documentary / Tony MacGregor -- 6. From Kunnanj, Fish Creek, to Mumeka, Mann River: hunter-gatherer tradition and transformation in Western Arnhem Land, 1948-2009 / Jon Altman -- 7.Making a sea change: rock art, archaeology and the enduring legacy of Frederick McCarthy's research on Groote Eylandt / Anne Clarke and Ursula Frederick -- 8. Ecology and the Arnhem Land Expedition: Raymond Specht, a botanist in the field / Lynne McCarthy -- 9. Piecing the history together: an overview of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition / Sally K. May -- Pt II. Collectors and collections: 10. The string figures of Yirrkala: examination of a legacy / Robyn McKenzie -- 11.The forgotten collection: baskets reveal histories / Louise Hamby -- 12. Hidden for sixty years: the motion pictures of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land / Joshua Harris -- 13. The responsibilities of leadership: the records of Charles P.Mountford / Denise Chapman and Suzy Russell -- 14. Beneath the billabongs: the scientific legacy of Robert Rush Miller / Gifford Hubbs Miller and Robert Charles Cashner -- 15. An insider's perspective: Raymond Louis Specht's oral history / edited and introduced by Margo Daly -- Pt III. Aboriginal engagements with the expedition: 16. The American clever man (Marrkijbu Burdan Merika) / Bruce Birch -- 17. Missing the revolution! negotiating disclosure on the pre-Macassans (Bayini) in North-East Arnhem Land / Ian S. McIntoshvii -- 18. Aural snapshots of musical life: the 1948 recordings / Linda Barwick and Allan Marett -- 19. Unpacking the testimony of Gerald Blitner: cross- cultural brokerage and the Arnhem Land Expedition / Martin Thomas -- 20. The forbidden gaze: the 1948 Wubarr ceremony performed for the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land / Murray Garde -- Epilogue: Sifting the silence / Margo Neale |
| Summary |
"In 1948 a collection of scientists, anthropologists and photographers journeyed to northern Australia for a seven-month tour of research and discovery - now regarded as "the last of the big expeditions". The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land was front-page news at the time, but 60 years later it is virtually unknown. This lapse into obscurity was due partly to the fraught politics of Australian anthropology and animus towards its leader, the Adelaide-based writer-photographer Charles Mountford. Promoted as a "friendly mission" that would foster good relations between Australia and its most powerful wartime ally, the Expedition was sponsored by 'National Geographic', the Smithsonian Institution and the Australian Government. An unlikely cocktail of science, diplomacy and popular geography, the Arnhem Land Expedition put the Aboriginal cultures of the vast Arnhem Land reserve on an international stage. In this book, the intriguing story of the Expedition and its long-term impacts within and beyond Aboriginal society are examined from multiple perspectives. The travails, triumphs and rivalries of the researchers, the famed and at times controversial collections they assembled, their pioneering study of human society and ecology, the responses of their Aboriginal hosts and teachers, and the attitudes of contemporary communities to the Expedition's work and legacy are among the subjects explored. Reflecting the many fields of knowledge that were brought together in 1948, ecologists, archivists, anthropologists, broadcasters, musicologists, historians, curators and linguists are among the contributors to this groundbreaking volume. 'Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition' had its genesis in 'Barks, birds & billabongs', an international symposium hosted by the National Museum of Australia in 2009." -- book cover |
| Analysis |
Australian |
| Notes |
A book developed from the National Museum of Australia's 2009 symposium Barks, Birds & Billabongs: Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land--Title page |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Also available in electronic version via the Internet |
| Subject |
Phoenix (Motor Barge)
|
| SUBJECT |
American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (1948)
|
| Subject |
Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- Arnhem Land (N.T.)
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Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- Northern Territory -- Arnhem Land
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|
Ethnological expeditions -- Australia -- Arnhem Land (N.T.)
|
| SUBJECT |
Arnhem Land (N.T.) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85007377 -- Discovery and exploration.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99002238
|
| Author |
Neale, Margo, editor
|
|
Thomas, Martin (Martin Edward), 1964- editor
|
|
National Museum of Australia.
|
|
Barks, Birds & Billabongs: Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (2009 : National Museum of Australia)
|
| ISBN |
1921666447 |
|
9781921666445 |
|
