The point of pearling: Colonial pearl fisheries and the historical translocation of Aboriginal and Asian workers in Australia’s Northwest

Paterson, Alistair; Veth, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101143

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Research under the Barrow Island Archaeological Project (BIAP) has explored how, as part of a larger program throughout Britain antipodean colonies (see Furphy and Nettlebeck 2019), legislation purportedly introduced for the protection of Indigenous and non-European people served simultaneously to exploit them (Byrne et al 2020;Paterson 2017Paterson , 2018bPaterson and Veth 2020).…”

Section: {Fig 1 Near Here}mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, the pastoral and pearling industries came to rely heavily on Aboriginal men, women, and children, who were paid only in rations and suffered abuse. Aboriginal people were reportedly coerced and even kidnapped (a process termed 'blackbirding') by pearlers and their intermediaries to join the pearling fleet; Asian indentured laborers from island southeast Asia were also present on the boats as pearl shell divers (Paterson and Veth 2020). In 1869, the Herald newspaper captured the economic benefit to the white pearl 'masters': "There comes the most important part of your business really, picking up niggers [sic], for pearling after all, is only a fair outlay for capital, and would never pay white labor for actual collecting" (Anonymous 1869).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Power in Food on the Maritime Frontier: A Zooarchaeology of Enslaved Pearl Divers on Barrow Island, Western Australia

Dooley

Manne

Paterson

2020

Int J Histor Archaeol

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Use of Indigenous divers on nineteenth-century northwest Australian pearling luggers gave rise to a transregional apparatus of coercion, physical mistreatment, and arguably, slavery. Where accounts of conditions experienced by divers are limited to the documents of contemporary colonial men, our contribution explores a rare archaeological perspective. Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Bandicoot Bay campsite, Barrow Island, evokes an exploitative labor relationship inherited from a wider colonial process yet actively re-negotiated by its participants through subsistence practices. The operation's pearlers selected a camp that advantaged concerns for labor organization and resource management while their divers seized opportunities for self-directed subsistence.

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Section: {Fig 1 Near Here}mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power in Food on the Maritime Frontier: A Zooarchaeology of Enslaved Pearl Divers on Barrow Island, Western Australia

Dooley

Manne

Paterson

2020

Int J Histor Archaeol

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“…Nonetheless, it appears that the officers' rubbish dumps at NMP camps may have functioned as quarries in the manner Gibbs and Harrison (2008: 66) suggested. The difference in this instance is, however, that the NMP camps were not abandoned at the time they were 'mined' Rather, their use as quarries was contemporaneous with their occupation by the Aboriginal occupants of the camps -a proposition that Gibbs and Harrison (2008) rejected for Aboriginal workers at the Geraldine Mine site, but which is more in line with behaviors of the Aboriginal occupants at both the Wybalenna settlement on Flinders Island, Tasmania (Birmingham 1992: 104) and the Illamurta Springs police camp in the Northern Territory (Bolton 1999: 88) (see also Paterson and Veth 2020;Stingemore 2010).…”

Section: Reduction Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Australia as elsewhere, Indigenous historical archaeologies have challenged the notion that Indigenous peoples were passive participants in such spacesmerely the recipients and users of new raw materials such as glass, metals and ceramics -instead viewing them as active agents in remaking their worlds (see, for example, Birmingham and Wilson 2010;Lydon and Burns 2010;Morrison et al 2010Morrison et al , 2019Paterson and Veth 2020). In this paper we explore the use of glass by a particular group of Aboriginal people -the male troopers of the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP), along with probably their wives and children.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flaked Glass Artifacts from Nineteenth–Century Native Mounted Police Camps in Queensland, Australia

Perston

Wallis

Burke

et al. 2021

Int J Histor Archaeol

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The invasion of the Australian continent by Europeans caused massive disruptions to Indigenous cultures and ways of life. The adoption of new raw materials, often for the production of "traditional" artifact forms, is one archaeological indicator of the changes wrought by "colonization." Two camp sites associated with the Queensland Native Mounted Police (NMP), a punitive paramilitary government force that operated through the latter half of the nineteenth century in the northeastern part of the continent, contain abundant flaked glass artifacts. These were undoubtedly manufactured by the Aboriginal men who were employed as troopers in the NMP, and/or their wives and children. Produced using traditional stone working techniques applied to a novel raw material, these artifacts are a tangible demonstration of the messy entanglements experienced by people living and working in this particularand in some ways unique -cross-cultural context. For the Aboriginal troopers stationed in alien landscapes, the easy accessibility of glass afforded a means by which they could maintain cultural practices and exert independence from their employers, unencumbered by traditional normative behaviors.

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“…Many widely discussed issues include human migration routes, human traditions, technology, and many others. These various issues considered still not fully explored, but it is estimated that only a tiny part has been revealed (Arifin, 1992;Brumm et al, 2017;Fauzi, Intan, & Wibowo, 2019;Gunn, 2005;Hakim, O'Connor, & Bulbeck, 2018;Handoko, Peseletehaha, Huwae, & Rumaf, 2018;Lape, O'Connor, & Burningham, 2007;May, Johnston, Taçon, Domingo Sanz, & Goldhahn, 2018;O'Connor, Aplin, Pierre, & Feng, 2010;Oktaviana, Lape, & Ririmasse, 2018;Oktaviana & Setiawan, 2014;Pasaribu & Permana, 2017;Paterson & Veth, 2020;Reepmeyer, O'Connor, Mahirta, Kealy, & Maloney, 2019;Sugiyanto, 2010;Wattimena, 2014). So far, there are still several debates among world experts regarding the issue of rock art.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rock Art at Kel Lein Site, Kaimear Islands, Maluku

Wattimena

Salhuteru

Peseletehaha

2021

kapata

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Situs Kel Lein di Pulau Kaimear, Kepulauan Kei, adalah salah satu situs gambar cadas yang baru ditemukan. Situs ini dilaporkan pada 2018 dan dilanjutkan dengan perekaman data intensif pada tahun berikutnya. Berbagai motif seni cadas yang tersebar di sepanjang teras, dinding, dan atap ceruk gua dibagi menjadi tujuh panel. Pendekatan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan deskriptif kualitatif. Data yang dikumpulkan dari survei lapangan pada tahun 2018, ditambah data terbaru yang diperoleh pada tahun 2019. Analisis gambar cadas dibagi menjadi beberapa panel di dalam ceruk, terdiri dari tujuh panel. Penelitian ini mencatat 488 motif, yang dikelompokkan menjadi motif figur manusia atau antropomorfik, perahu, alat batu, cap tangan (negatif), jejak kaki, geometris, lingkaran, garis vertikal dan horizontal, wajah atau topeng manusia, ayam atau hewan, tempayan (tembikar), jaring ikan, matahari, bulan, dan panah. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa banyak motif gambar cadas di Situs Kel Lein mengandung berbagai makna. Salah satunya adalah aktivitas manusia yang digambarkan dalam bentuk figuratif. Keragaman motif di Situs Kel Lein menempatkan situs ini pada posisi penting dalam kajian jalur migrasi manusia. Diperkirakan situs ini adalah salah satu lokasi yang cukup ramai disinggahi pada masa lalu. The Kel Lein Site in Kaimear Island, Kei Islands, is a recently discovered rock art site. This site was reported in 2018 and continued with intensive data recording the following year. Various rock art motifs scattered along the terrace, walls, and roof of the niche are divided into seven panels. The approach in this research uses descriptive qualitative. The data collected from a field survey in 2018, plus the latest data obtained in 2019. The rock art analysis is divided into several panels inside the niche, comprising seven panels. This research recorded 488 motifs, grouped into human or anthropomorphic figure, boats, stone tools, hand stencils (negative), footprints, geometric, circles, vertical and horizontal lines, human faces or masks, chickens, jars (pottery), fishing nets, sun, moon, and arrowheads. This research shows that many rock art motifs on the Kel Lein Site show various purposes. One of which is human activity depicted in a figurative form. The diversity of motifs at the Kel Lein Site places this site in a vital position in studying human migration pathways. It is estimated that this site is one of the most visited posts in the past.

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The point of pearling: Colonial pearl fisheries and the historical translocation of Aboriginal and Asian workers in Australia’s Northwest

Cited by 12 publications

References 17 publications

Power in Food on the Maritime Frontier: A Zooarchaeology of Enslaved Pearl Divers on Barrow Island, Western Australia

Power in Food on the Maritime Frontier: A Zooarchaeology of Enslaved Pearl Divers on Barrow Island, Western Australia

Flaked Glass Artifacts from Nineteenth–Century Native Mounted Police Camps in Queensland, Australia

Rock Art at Kel Lein Site, Kaimear Islands, Maluku

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