Massacres & Trophies

Should First Nations culture be preserved primarily in institutions, as too many paternal white politicians insist? Or is it best lived and nurtured in traditional lifestyles in home countries across the continent? It's been less than a century since the world's leading collectors began acknowledging First Nations art as more than mere ethnographic artefact.Since then, the most enlightened, from Hong Kong to London, New York to Paris, have understood that when you purchase a piece of First Nations art you become its custodian - not its owner. [node:read-more:link]

Around 30 First Nations men, women and children were killed and thrown from cliffs in 1828, in one the many British invaders mass murdering sprees. This is known as the Cape Grim massacre. The remains of one of the victims was a young girl named Naungarrika, who finally arrived back to her home state of Tasmania after 200 years of humiliation as a scientific and curiosity trophy.

The First Nations community will decide how to belatedly farewell Nungarrika, but it is likely to be in her own country. [node:read-more:link]

A researcher, who presented alarming numbers of the deaths in Queenslands Frontier Wars between 1788 and 1930 to the Australian Historical Association, said the estimated figure of 65,180 was "conservative" and could be as high as 115,000. A co-author of the report, historian Professor Raymond Evans, said the calculations were based on official records, witnesses' reports and the number of patrols undertaken by the colonial Queensland government's Native Police. - Pictured: Historian Professor Raymond Evans [node:read-more:link]

Two days of looking at the subject of war and who fought in those wars, and including the why. Very importantly several sessions will be dedicated to the frontier wars in the 'unsettling' of the invasion of the traditional nations of this country, Australia. - Thursday 28th and Friday 29th August 2014, Level 3, Mary Ann House,
645 Harris Street, University Technology Sydney
Image: A still from the documentary 'Coniston' [node:read-more:link]

Some researchers have said that there was 10 First Nations people death for each European killed in the process of the British Invasion. However research is now telling us that is was probably 40 to 1.

There are stories of massacres everywhere in the archives of the major cultural institutions of Australia and Great Britain. They are in the diaries, letters, journals and memoirs of colonial and postcolonial officials, troops, police, farmers, frontiersmen and women. [node:read-more:link]