AustLit

'Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), a huge salt lake in the Western Desert region of Australia, features extensively in the tjukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives of the Pintupi and Kukatja. In this article, fragments of the public versions of these stories (such as those found in the literature associated with Western Desert art) are compiled and collated to give an overview of how the lake came into being. It proves possible to cluster the individual story fragments around three major themes - snake ancestors, kangaroo hunters, and sexual jealousy. While it is clear that there is no single definitive account of the creation of Wilkinkarra, all three story groups contain references to a fierce bushfire that devastated the land and formed the lake. The article concludes with a discussion of the possible origins of the various narrative elements, and an assessment of the methodology used in the survey.'  (Publication abstract)

'The son of Carl Strehlow, who established the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg in 1896, TGH Strehlow grew up speaking Aranda. Schooled in the classics, and with an honours degree in English from the University of Adelaide, Strehlow returned to Central Australia when he was 24 to embark on a series of demanding journeys, recording Aranda songs, myths and rituals, and collecting secret-sacred objects—a mission itself, of documenting for posterity presumably doomed traditions. In Barry Hill’s meticulous and compelling narrative of Strehlow’s life, it becomes clear that Strehlow’s mistaken assumptions, typical of his epoch, would ultimately doom him too. He died, an aggrieved and broken man, in 1978, wilfully blind to the evidence of cultural continuity and political resurgence in Aranda life, and unable to slough off the colonial fantasy of being the true custodian of the culture he had appropriated.'  (Introduction)

'Ashley Mallett’s newest book, The Black Lords of Summer, his fourth for UQP, purports to be historical and is possibly his most ambitious work. Its subtitle suggests that it might provide a narrative history of the tour and examine its repercussions. It would be nice to say that it succeeds but it doesn’t. It doesn’t ask historical questions and it doesn’t reach historical conclusions. The author (a journalist by training) may feel that words like ‘story’ and ‘beyond’ give him the licence to stray off the track but good journalists, and especially good historians, maintain much better control over their material than is exhibited here.'  (Introduction)

'During the last days of March 2003 the tragic news of Dr Patricia Vinnicombe’s death circulated throughout the Australian archaeological community. Pat’s extensive networks of friends and colleagues both in Australia and overseas were immediately in touch with each other, trying to make sense of what was to many an inexplicable and untimely loss. As details of the circumstances of her death filtered through from her family it became clear that she had been involved in doing what she had passionately pursued for many decades: the study and protection of indigenous culture and rock-art in all its myriad forms. Having just completed a walking inspection of rock-engravings on the spectacular Burrup Peninsula during the last weekend of March, Pat was involved in a meeting of specialists being held at Karratha and concerned with the future management and monitoring of Aboriginal cultural heritage on the peninsula. Pat died from a heart attack during that meeting, with her son Gavin in near-attendance.'  (Introduction)