Becoming the State in Northern Australia: Urbanisation,Intra‐Indigenous Relatedness,and the State Effect

In Australia's Northern Territory, the Larrakia have been involved in a decades‐long effort to gain recognition as traditional owners through Land Rights and Native Title legislation. From one perspective, their claims have failed to achieve the entitlement and recognition grounded in these governmental regimes (Scambary 2007; Povinelli 2002). However, over the past decade the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation (LNAC) and the Larrakia Development Corporation (LDC) have emerged as locally powerful corporate bodies that pursue programs and exercise forms of power on behalf of the Larrakia that can be understood in terms of state and governmental practice. Through suburban development, a night patrol, educational and vocational training, a radio station, and through forms of policy research and statistical enumeration, the Larrakia nation have emerged in the eyes of many as a de facto Aboriginal ‘state’ in the Darwin region. This paper explores the intra‐Indigenous relations through which these practices have emerged, and analyses the extent to which the LNAC might be understood as a kind of ‘state’ within a state, responsible for world‐shaping activities of knowledge production, housing and health outreach, vocational training and education, and policing. Focussing on the forms of ‘stateness’ that accrue to the Larrakia Nation in Darwin through its policing, knowledge production, and outreach programs for Aboriginal campers, the article explores the differential articulation of Aboriginal groups with the state. It concludes by asking how such differences matter in contexts of planned urbanisation in the Northern Territory.     

Conflicting Traditions,Concurrent Treatment: Medical Pluralism in Remote Aboriginal Australia

ABSTRACT In remote Aboriginal communities in Australia, researchers cast health beliefs and treatments as belonging to either an Aboriginal or biomedical system, which are considered to be irreconcilable and in conflict. Warlpiri people also speak of two distinct traditions that, they claim, are able to heal only specific classes of illness. Nevertheless, both Aboriginal and biomedical systems can be used simultaneously. An examination of two illness episodes will illustrate the complexity of how both Aboriginal and biomedical diagnoses and treatments are employed in a similar manner. I argue that while diagnosis is often stressed in statements regarding illness, it is only one of many factors that influence the treatment choices of individuals.     

Carrying the Cross,Caring for Kin: The Everyday Life of Charismatic Christianity in Remote Aboriginal Australia

ABSTRACT In this paper, I address the important yet under‐examined role of charismatic Protestant Christianity in the reconfiguring of personhood and social relations in the remote Yolngu settlement of Galiwin'ku. I focus in particular on the ways in which this form of Christianity, locally articulated, brings together indigenous concepts of personhood with those introduced by the market, the state, and evangelism to produce what I refer to as Christian individuality and Christian relatedness. These dialectical tendencies in postcolonial settlement life call attention to the ways Yolngu converts use their Christian practices both to continue kin‐based moralities in the present and to engage (if selectively) modern individualism. This paper addresses post‐colonial conditions where demands of state institutions and modern governance interact with changing ideas of personhood and sociality. It contributes to the growing anthropological literature on Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.     

Betwixt and Between: Trauma,Survival and the Aboriginal Troopers of the Queensland Native Mounted Police

ABSTRACT

Much has been written about the history of the Queensland Native Mounted Police, mostly focussing on its development, its white officers, how much the Colonial Government genuinely knew about the actions of the Force, and how many people were killed during the frontier wars. Far less attention has been given to the Aboriginal men of the force, the nature of their recruitment, and the long-term traumatic impacts on Aboriginal peoples’ and communities’ psyches rather than broadscale changes to Aboriginal culture per se. This article examines the historical and ongoing psychological impacts of dispossession and frontier violence on Aboriginal people. Specifically, we argue that massacres, frontier violence, displacement, and the ultimate dispossession of land and destruction of traditional cultural practices resulted in both individual and collective inter-generational trauma for Aboriginal peoples. We posit that, despite the Australian frontier wars taking place over a century ago, their impacts continue to reverberate today in a range of different ways, many of which are as yet only partially understood.     

An Independent Confirmation of the 4 ka Antiquity of a Beeswax Figure in Western Arnhem Land,Northern Australia

Critical to any chronology is reliability in the determination of age for a distinctive artefact that is related to other components in a series. Therefore, the independent testing and verification of the antiquity of an apparent anomalous measurement for an old beeswax figure in northern Australia is of fundamental interest in rock art studies. Replication of the radiocarbon dating process has confirmed that one exceptional figure in early X‐ray style at the Gunbilngmurrung site in western Arnhem Land is indeed c. 4–4.5 ka. The result also confirms the great antiquity of paintings over which the beeswax was applied.     

Aboriginal Performance on Standardized Tests: Evidence and Analysis from Provincial Schools in British Columbia

Many indigenous populations are experiencing rural-to-urban migration. In making this transition, indigenous peoples are entering industrial societies where most income derives from wages or salaries, and formal educational achievement is crucial in determining economic prospects. This research analyzes the gap in test score results between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in public schools in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It finds a strong effect of school quality, as measured by non-Aboriginal achievement, on Aboriginal achievement. It also finds a nonlinear negative relationship between Aboriginal achievement and the number of Aboriginal students in a school over the empirically observed range. It thus suggests a possible trade-off and dilemma between, on the one hand, policies that enable Aboriginal students to concentrate in a few schools able to provide a culturally sensitive curriculum and, on the other, policies to maximize Aboriginal academic achievement.     

The ‘Society’ at Bora Ceremonies: A Manifestation of a Body of Traditional Law and Custom in Aboriginal Australia relevant to Native Title Case Law

Anthropologists working on native title cases in Australia are commonly asked to identify the Aboriginal ‘society’ that holds the body of laws and customs that confer land ownership rights on certain groups of people. In this paper I investigate how the early documentation of bora initiation ceremonies is relevant to understanding contemporary Aboriginal societies and the normative laws and customs that give rise to rights and interests in land. The vast ethnographic oeuvre of R.H. Mathews (1841–1918) includes detailed documentation of bora gatherings, which allows the reconstruction of the wider social reaches of people's networks in the lower Darling Downs of eastern Australia, and can in turn be understood as the ‘society’ so often sought in current native title case law.     

Kaparlgoo Blue: On the Adoption of Laundry Blue Pigment into the Visual Culture of Western Arnhem Land,Australia

International Journal of Historical Archaeology - It has been argued that laundry blue (whitener) was introduced into western Arnhem Land in the second half of the 1920s by missionaries, where it...     

Kincentric Ecology,Species Maintenance and the Relational Power of Place in Northern Australia

This paper considers themes of species maintenance and place engagement in Yanyuwa country, northern Australia. It traces the complexity of interpretations and relational contexts involved in places that are commonly – and we argue – misleadingly, referred to as increase and magic sites. Examining one specific place, at which people carry out maintenance rituals, we explore the complex bonds that unite Yanyuwa with the geography that is the Ancestral Hill Kangaroo. Not content with the classificatory habit of declaring actions either increase oriented or hunting magic, this research more fully explicates the relational substance of places that play a key role in ecological health. This is achieved by asking how might the profundity of a place of relational importance, such as a maintenance site, be better understood and written of in ways that convey an Indigenous ontology and epistemology?     

Going for Wombat — Transformations in Wirangu and the Scotdesco Community on the Far West Coast of South Australia

ABSTRACT Becoming an object of touristic interest is only one of a series of ways that Aboriginality is being transformed in contemporary Australia, as the space opens up for individuals and groups to reposition themselves as Aborigines within the nation, with a distinctive culture in various forms. The nation's appetite for Aboriginal ‘culture’, within desirable limits (Povinelli 2002) and energised by a sentimental politics (Cowlishaw 2010), continues to grow. There is, however, a destructive flip side to the politics of difference being played out within Aboriginal societies. This is evidenced by the many battles for access to or control of ‘cultural’ resources for their commercial benefits or collective survival value. In many places communities or groups are faced with the terrible choice of distinction or extinction (Comaroff & Comaroff 2009). That is, they must find, and make alienable, something distinctive about themselves or face collective extinction. How one Aboriginal community is responding to these threats and challenges is the subject of this paper. This paper also adds to the growing literature on ethno‐commercialisation by focusing on the central role of language in these processes.     

First fossil pollen record of the Northern Hemisphere species Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 in Australia

Sánchez Botero, C.A., Oboh-Ikuenobe, F.E. & Macphail, M.K., 2013. First fossil pollen record of the Northern Hemisphere species Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 in Australia. Alcheringa 37, 1–5. ISSN 0311-5518.

Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 is a fossil pollen species associated with upper Eocene to lower Oligocene freshwater deposits in Europe and North America. Specimens preserved in upper Eocene lignites near Norseman, Western Australia, are the first record of this Northern Hemisphere species both in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. This new report widens the biogeographic distribution originally considered for this species. The stratigraphical and environmental characteristics of A. cyclops also make it an excellent stratigraphic indicator of upper Eocene freshwater deposits in Western Australia.

Carlos A. Sánchez Botero [casmwc@mail.mst.edu], Francisca E. Oboh-Ikuenobe [ikuenobe@mst.edu] Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 129 McNutt Hall, Rolla, MO 65409, USA; Mike Macphail [mike.macphail@anu.edu.au] Department of Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Received 12.10.2012; revised 6.3.2013; accepted 7.3.2013.     

Fauna and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) Tempe Formation (Pertaoorrta Group), Amadeus Basin,Northern Territory

A new faunal assemblage is reported from the Tempe Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) retrieved from the Hermannsburg 41 drillcore, Amadeus Basin, central Australia. Two trilobite taxa, including one new species Gunnia fava sp. nov., four brachiopod taxa, including the age-diagnostic Karathele napuru (Kruse), Kostjubella djagoran (Kruse) and Micromitra nerranubawu Kruse, together with a bradoriid, helcionellids, hyoliths, echinoderms, chancelloriids, sponges and problematic tubes are described. The fauna has close links to those of the neighbouring Daly, Georgina and Wiso basins and suggests that the Tempe Formation correlates with the Australian Ordian stage (either the Redlichia forresti or Xystridura negrina assemblage zones). The Giles Creek Dolostone in the eastern Amadeus Basin, previously regarded as coeval with the Tempe Formation, has recently been reported to be of early Templetonian age in its type section. The described taxa from the Tempe Formation confirm that these two sedimentary units are not contemporaneous and that regional stratigraphic schemes should be amended.     

A new dragonfly,Austroprotolindenia jurassica (Odonata: Anisoptera), from the Upper Jurassic of Australia

Beattie, R.G. & Nel, A., June 2012. A new dragonfly, Austroprotolindenia jurassica (Odonata: Anisoptera), from the Upper Jurassic of Australia. Alcheringa, 189–193. ISSN 0311-5518.

Austroprotolindenia jurassica gen. et sp. nov., a new Mesozoic Australian dragonfly, is described from the Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed (Upper Jurassic) of eastern Australia. It shows some similarities with the Eurasian Mesozoic petalurid family Protolindeniidae, but its incomplete state of preservation prevents us assigning it to a particular anisopteran clade.

Robert G. Beattie [rgbeattie@bigpond.com] PO Box 320, Berry 2535, NSW, Australia. André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr] CNRS UMR 7205, CP 50, Entomologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France. Received 6.4.2011; revised 8.6.2011; accepted 15.6.2011.     

The first palaeontinid from the Late Jurassic of Australia (Hemiptera,Cicadomorpha, Palaeontinidae)

Chen, J., Beattie, R., Wang, B., Jiang, H., Zheng, Y. & Zhang, H., 12 April 2019. The first palaeontinid from the Late Jurassic of Australia (Hemiptera, Cicadomorpha, Palaeontinidae). Alcheringa 43, 449–454. ISSN 0311-5518.

Palaeontinidae, an extinct group of large arboreal insects, has the most diverse record among the Mesozoic Hemiptera, but only a few taxa have been reported from the Southern Hemisphere. Herein, Talbragarocossus jurassicus Chen, Beattie & Wang gen. et sp. nov., one of the earliest representatives of ‘late’ Palaeontinidae, is described and illustrated from the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed in New South Wales, Australia. This new taxon constitutes the first representative of Palaeontinidae in Australia and the first Jurassic example in Gondwanaland, providing significant distributional and stratigraphic extensions to the family.

Jun Chen*? [rubiscada@sina.com] and Yan Zheng? [zhengyan536@163.com], Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Shuangling Road, Linyi 276000, China. Bo Wang? [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn], Hui Jiang [huijiang@nigpas.ac.cn] and Haichun Zhang [hczhang@nigpas.ac.cn] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China. Robert Beattie [rgbeattie@bigpond.com], Australian Museum, 1 William St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia. ?Also affiliated with: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China. ?Also affiliated with: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Depositional Mineralization & Sedimentary Minerals, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong 266590, China.     

Microfossils from Neoproterozoic Supersequence 1 of the Officer Basin,Western Australia

The discovery of a rich assemblage of microfossils from the Neoproterozoic western Officer Basin (Centralian Superbasin) provides a more complete understanding of the biostratigraphy of this Basin. The microfossils are found in Supersequence 1 (～800 Ma) in Western Australia. The assemblages are comprised of acritarchs and cyanobacteria isolated by acid maceration from siliciclastics of the Browne (Madley), Hussar, Kanpa and Steptoe Formations. The distinctive acritarchs Cerebrosphaera buickii, Satka colonialica, Stictosphaeridium sinapticuliferum and Pterospermopsimorpha insolita are of particular interest in the Neoproterozoic. These taxa are found in similar depositional environments in Spitsbergen, Arizona, Canada and Siberia. This evidence, together with lithostratographic correlations, isotope chemostratigraphy, and sequence analysis contributes to the continuing development of Neoproterozoic stratigraphy.     

Developing a Landscape History as Part of a Survey Strategy: A Critique of Current Settlement System Approaches based on Case Studies from Western New South Wales,Australia

In Australia, geomorphological change since the late nineteenth century ensures surface artifact visibility but the contribution of full coverage regional survey to an understanding of past landscape use is limited by the lack of easily datable artifacts. Here, we describe a multi-stage survey strategy based around intensive archaeological, geomorphological and chronological studies as an alternative to traditional site-based approaches. We view the formation of the archaeological record as a sedimentary process and use a geomorphological approach to understand the history of landscape use from surface artifact scatters. We pay particular attention to recording datasets with reference to the timescales over which they have accumulated, and we discuss the types of behavioral inferences that can be drawn from the results of intensive survey, illustrated using the results from our western New South Wales research.     

A forewing of the Jurassic dragonfly Austroprotolindenia jurassica Beattie & Nel (Odonata: Anisoptera) from the Talbragar Fish Bed,New South Wales,Australia

Nel, A., Frese, M., McLean, G. & Beattie R., May 2017. A forewing of the Jurassic dragonfly Austroprotolindenia jurassica from the Talbragar Fish Bed, New South Wales, Australia. Alcheringa 41, 532–535. ISSN 0311-5518.

The discovery of a well-preserved dragonfly forewing in the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fish Bed near Gulgong and attributed to Austroprotolindenia jurassica Beattie & Nel allows this taxon to be placed in Protolindeniidae. It extends the palaeogeographical distribution of this family, previously known only from the Jurassic of Europe, to Australia.

André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], CNRS UMR 7205, CP 50, Entomologie, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005, Paris, France; Michael Frese [michael.frese@canberra.edu.au], University of Canberra, Institute for Applied Ecology and Faculty of Education, Science, Technology and Mathematics, Bruce, ACT 2601, Australia; Graham McLean [mcleangg@bigpond.com], The Australian Museum, 1 William St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; Robert Beattie [rgbeattie@bigpond.com], The Australian Museum, 1 William St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.     

New specimens of the logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri (Passeriformes: Orthonychidae) from the Oligo-Miocene of Australia

Nguyen, J.M.T., Boles, W.E., Worthy, T.H., Hand, S.J. & Archer, M., 2014. New specimens of the logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri (Passeriformes: Orthonychidae) from the Oligo-Miocene of Australia. Alcheringa 38, 000–000. ISSN 0311–5518.

Logrunners (Orthonychidae) are a family of ground-dwelling passerines that are endemic to the Australo-Papuan region. These peculiar birds are part of an ancient Australo-Papuan radiation that diverged basally in the oscine tree. Here we describe eight fossil tarsometatarsi of the logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri, and a distal tibiotarsus tentatively assigned to this species from sites in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia. The new fossil material ranges in age from late Oligocene to early late Miocene, and extends the temporal range of the Orthonychidae into the late Oligocene; this is the geologically oldest record of the family. These specimens also include the oldest Cenozoic passerine fossils from Australia that can be confidently referred to an extant family. The distinctive features of the tarsometatarsus and tibiotarsus of extant logrunners, which are probably related to their unusual method of foraging, are also present in O. kaldowinyeri. Assuming that O. kaldowinyeri had vegetation requirements similar to those of extant logrunners, its presence in various Riversleigh sites provides clues about the palaeoenvironment of these sites.

Jacqueline M.T. Nguyen [jacqueline.nguyen@unsw.edu.au] (author for correspondence), Suzanne J. Hand [s.hand@unsw.edu.au], Michael Archer [m.archer@unsw.edu.au], School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; Walter E. Boles [walter.boles@austmus.gov.au], Ornithology Section, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; Trevor H. Worthy [trevor.worthy@flinders.edu.au], School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. Received 19.9.2013; revised 11.10.2013; accepted 25.10.2013

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F4F6219A-22A3-4F6B-8AEE-2957A227C0E0