Core Object Assignment One

By Stephen Butler

30 March 2018

HIST2015
Assigned Object 1 Sketch
Object One Questions

1. Has the Aboriginal world been turned upside down?

2. Were the Aboriginals stripped from the land above and thrust into the ‘mixed black
and white world below?
3. Does this piece represent the ‘White Australia Policy’?
4. Do the decreasing numbers on the blackboard represent the dilution of the aboriginal
bloodlines?
5. Is this piece one of a collection ‘3/100’?
6. Does the black worker in the white space represent aboriginal labour in a white
world?
7. Do the clouds high and low signify that these two worlds are under the same sky?
8. Does the Tasmanian Tiger represent the extinction of a race or culture?
9. Is the long blank wall a representation of two worlds far apart, yet right on top of one
another?
10. Does this piece represent a school room of indoctrination into a colonial society?
11. Does the separation of black and white tiles on the floor represent the thinning of
Aboriginal blood correlating to the ‘White Australia Policy’?
12. Does the river running through the land signify the aboriginals are one with the land?
Object 2 Sketch

Object 2 Questions

1. Does this piece stem from the mistreatment of Aboriginals all the way back to
colonial times?
2. Why are there only men in the picture?
3. What are they protesting?
4. Why are they protesting?
5. Why are only Aboriginals portrayed in this piece?
6. Why does it look like a labour march?
7. Why have they used Hyphens in their sign?
8. Why are the scene and clothes so colourful, but the sign only in black and white?
9. Is this piece specifically about Aboriginal Rights, or just the rights of Aboriginal
Men?
10. Is this a painting of an actual picture or event?
11. When could this have taken place?
 In a world of chaos and indoctrination, through the eyes of the artists, we have a
glimpse at the world of today and yesterday. Artists depict the trials and tribulations of the
daily life of Australia’s indigenous population in unique ways by creating objects to
showcase their difficulty. These objects act as windows into the past to catch a glimpse of the
world as seen by these indigenous artists. Throughout the course of this essay I will examine
two of these objects. I will give my interpretation of these artefacts, compare them to each
other, and demonstrate how they are connected to one another. I will attempt to draw a line
from the past to the present to showcase the tensions between the indigenous and
nonindigenous settlers of Australia. A tension that continues today.

The core object I was assigned to in the Flinders University Museum is very
compelling. I believe it to signify the changes and struggles in the lives of the indigenous
population of Australia with the introduction of colonialism by European settlers. The
following is my interpretation of this piece.

The land and water in the sky signify the virgin land and the tiled floor below portrays
the post-contact colonial world. The alternating tiles of black and white, could themselves,
express the divided world in the eyes of the indigenous labourer1. The windows and clouds
could signify the two worlds under the same sky. The small ‘black’ figure in the white tile
could represent a young black labourer removed from her world and is cleaning a ‘white’
floor. This same labourer’s world has been turned upside-down by the shift in cultural tides2.
This labourer can see her home above but is trapped in the foreign world below. The room
appears as a schoolroom complete with blackboard which could signify the indoctrination of
white values and the removal of her culture3. On this blackboard is a series of descending
numbers that show that the lesser numbers are greater than the larger. It is my interpretation
that these descending numbers along with the Tasmanian Tiger represent the thinning of
aboriginal blood to the point of extinction4.

1
Indigenous representation and the Archive. Lecture, HIST2018 from Flinders University
2
Ryan, Lyndall. "The Struggle for Recognition: Part-Aborigines in Bass Strait in the Nineteenth Century." Aboriginal History (1977): 27-
51.
3
Russell, Lynette. "" Dirty domestics and worse cooks": Aboriginal women's agency and domestic frontiers, southern Australia, 1800-
1850." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies28, no. 1 (2007): 18-46.
4
Ryan, Lyndall. "The Struggle for Recognition: Part-Aborigines in Bass Strait in the Nineteenth Century." Aboriginal History (1977): 27-
51.
 During my travel to the Art Gallery of South Australia, I found my second core object
for comparison5. My interpretation of this piece is as follows, it is a political piece about a
protest march by an all-male group of Indigenous Australians who have united for a common
goal. They are painted in a world with vibrant colours. These indigenous men are
complementing this colourful world with just as vibrant coloured clothing. I interpret this as
to represent that they are men of colour in a world of colour. They are also carrying a large
white sign with black print stating, “ASK-US WHAT-WE Want”6. This painting could have
been painted 50 years ago, or today, with the same applicability. I believe that this is a call to
action by the indigenous people of Australia, to the politicians and lawmakers to stop acting
as though they know best for the indigenous populations. I believe that these depicted men
are asking for the voice that they have been denied since first-contact. I also assign meaning
in the black and white sign that could be interpreted as a continued tension between blacks
and whites in ‘their’ colourful world.

It is my interpretation that the second core object is related to the first core object as a
continuation of the story of enduring struggle by indigenous people in Australia that has
spanned centuries. The first core object was based around the changes in the indigenous
world after first-contact and throughout the colonisation of Australia. It signified a great
change for Australia’s indigenous population. A world turned upside down. Generations of
indigenous people, whose culture was stripped from them and replaced with colonial ideals
and were used as cheap labour by the colonists. The blood and culture would be all but wiped
out, causing many indigenous tribes to become extinct, while others were left on the brink of
extinction. A clear example of this were the ‘half-castes’ that moved from island to island
trying to find a place in this new world, to eventually settle on the Cape Barron Island
Reserve7. All of this done with the perception from the colonists that they were helping the
indigenous people, while simultaneously helping themselves. The second piece carries
forward from the first as a political protestation. It that claims that Aboriginals have never
had any choices since the arrival of white settlers, and that all decisions had been made for
them. This includes being pushed from their lands, forced into a life of servitude, and treated
as an inferior race. I have personally seen some of these protests in recent years covered by
the media.

5
Bell, Richard. 2017. The sign says it. Synthetic Polymer paint on linen. Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia.
6
Bell, Richard. 2017. The sign says it. Synthetic Polymer paint on linen. Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia.
7
Ryan, Lyndall. "The Struggle for Recognition: Part-Aborigines in Bass Strait in the Nineteenth Century." Aboriginal History (1977): 27-
51.
 These two core objects, along with the current political outrage, would suggest that
the problems still exist today and have their origin at the time of colonisation. Even though
times have changed considerably from the political climate that indigenous Australians
experienced during colonial times, this is still a very active issue. The combination of these
two objects depict centuries of a peoples’ cultural insignificance, the fight to regain a culture,
an identity, and a way of life. These pieces claim injustice and invoke a call to action, a call
for change. I would like to end this essay with a quote form Albert Einstein that I feel is
relevant to my combined interpretation of these objects that says, “We cannot solve our
problems with the same thinking that we used to create them.”
Bibliography

Bell, Richard. 2017. The sign says it. Synthetic Polymer paint on linen. Adelaide: Art Gallery
of South Australia.

Brainy Quote, viewed 28 March 2018,

<https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_einstein_121993>

Indigenous representation and the Archive. Lecture, HIST2018 from Flinders University

Russell, Lynette. "" Dirty domestics and worse cooks": Aboriginal women's agency and
domestic frontiers, southern Australia, 1800-1850." Frontiers: A Journal of Women
Studies28, no. 1 (2007): 18-46.

Ryan, Lyndall. "The Struggle for Recognition: Part-Aborigines in Bass Strait in the
Nineteenth Century." Aboriginal History (1977): 27-51.