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Historical Records

No Independence Day to celebrate! Australia hasn't decolonised from Britain - yet

No Independence Day to celebrate when Australia decolonised from Britain - yet!

Unlike most other Nations around the world there is no day when Australia can identify it was given its independent status free of the sovereignty of the British Crown with a new constitution. There has been no day when Australia decolonised so that there is no longer a constitutional obligation for the British Crown (that is the Queen and/or her agents, the Governor-General and Governors) to place their signatures on legislations passed by the parliaments and thereby assent and make them legal. The Governor-General is still Commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force. [node:read-more:link]

True Light and Shade: An Aboriginal Perspective of Joseph Lycett's Art

Book - True Light and Shade

Book Review: 'True Light and Shade' by Worimi man, Professor John Maynard, is filled with beautiful images by convict artist Joseph Lycett that powerfully capture in intimate detail Aboriginal life, a rare record of Aboriginal people within the vicinity of Newcastle and how they adapted to European settlement before cultural destruction impacted on these groups. John Maynard writes an engaging short biography of Lycett and his life in Australia and follows this with a detailed commentary on each of the 20 images in the album. [node:read-more:link]

Thousands of Arnhem Land rock paintings are under threat from buffalo, fire and feral animals

The Northern Territory's Arnhem Land plateau has thousands of paintings amongst its myriad of rock shelters but a full survey of the exact numbers has not never been carried out.
Experts warn that it is now under threat from wild buffalo, fire and feral animals. The last First Nations clans moved down from the plateau in the 1960s, lured away from their traditional lifestyle by Western missionaries with tobacco, sugar and floor. Now there is no-one left to protect this vast library. [node:read-more:link]

19th century tintype portrait of a young Aboriginal woman from Tasmania found

A rare and haunting image of a young, unidentified Indigenous woman has been donated to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) after being discovered by a family living in the United Kingdom.

The tiny tintype photograph, measuring about 2 centimetres by 3cm, is the only one of its kind to be held by AIATSIS and is believed to be the oldest in its 650,000-strong photographic collection. [node:read-more:link]

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