Mephisto

This article explores the resonances of objects that travelled between continents and the entangled imaginaries tied to them – here a 30-tonne German military tank captured by Australian soldiers during the First World War in France and shipped to Brisbane to be exhibited at the Queensland Museum. The author ‘reads’ the tank, intriguingly named ‘Mephisto’, as the apotheosis of nature/culture divide entrenched in nineteenth-century colonialism, which exported the taxonomies of the Enlightenment to the antipodes and in return repatriated objects of flora and fauna all over Europe. Mephisto thus also marks the manifestation of a German–Australian modernity: developed from the agricultural tractor, the tank remains a brutal and clumsy device designed purely to subdue and conquer territory.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Garum and Liquamen,</Emphasis> What’s in a Name?

There is a dilemma at the heart of the study of the Roman fish sauce trade. The meaning of the Greek and Latin words used to name the fish sauces is still contested: currently there is much confusion and contradiction between modern scholars and ancient commentators about the use of the terms garum and liquamen. It is also not readily recognised that the ancients themselves were less than clear as to the exact meaning of the terms that they used, and this confusion has informed and exacerbated our own. In this paper some of the key texts that have been used to define fish sauce are re-evaluated in light of the need to distinguish and separate them out into the distinct types and sub-types.     

Reviews

“MUST WE LOSE AFRICA?” by Colin Legum. (Allen, London) pp. 264: 16/ stg.

ANCIENT FOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMICS IN INDIA, by K. T. Shah, Bombay, 1954. Pp. 175.

THE PROSPECTS FOR COMMUNIST CHINA, by W. W. Rostov, in collaboration with Richard W. Hatch, Frank A. Kierman, jun., and Alexander Eckstein. Technology Press and John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1955. Pp. xx plus 379. $5.00.     

Book reviews

DIPLOMACY IN A WHIRLPOOL — Hungary between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. By Dr. S. D. Kertesz, University Of Notre Dame Press. Notre Dame, Indiana, 1953.

DOCUMENTS AND SPEECHES ON BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS, 1931–52, Vols. I and II. By Nicholas Mansergh, R.I.I.A. Oxford University Press, 1953. Pp. xii, 1308 Price 131/‐

THE PROMISE THAT IS NEW CHINA. By K. T. Shah, Vora & Co. Bombay, 1953. 342pp.

APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: A Symposium introductory to Problems and Methods of Village Welfare in undeveloped Areas. Edited by Phillips Ruopp. W. Van Hoeve Ltd., The Hague, 1953: pp. xvi‐352.

HOW RUSSIA IS RULED. By Merle Fainsod. Published by Harvard University Press, 1953. pp. 574. Price 78s. 9d. (Aust.).

SOVIET POLICY IN THE FAR EAST; 1944–1951. By Max Beloff. Oxford University Press. 278 pp. 34/9.

THE STRUGGLE FOR KASHMIR. By Michael Brecher. Issued under the auspices of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1953. 211 and xii pp.

THE WORLD AND THE WEST. By Arnold Toynbee, pp vi and 99. The B.B.C. Reith Lectures 1952 (Oxford University Press 1953).

THE DEPRIVED AND THE PRIVILEGED. By B. M. Spinley (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953, pp. viii and 208, 18s.).

RUSSIA, PAST AND PRESENT. By Anatole G. Mazour, Professor of History, Stanford University, U.S.A. Third Printing. Macmillan & Co Ltd., London. Printed in U.S.A. Preface. Selected Readings for Chapters. Chronological Table. Index. Maps. Pp. vi and 785. Price 40/: Copy from publishers.     

The Untold Heritage Value and Significance of Replicas

This article focuses on the fraught questions surrounding replicas and their use in heritage contexts, drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of a historic replica, the 1970 concrete St John’s Cross, Iona. We examine how replicas ‘work’ and unravel the part that social relations, place, and materiality play in the production and negotiation of their authenticity. The research shows that replicas are important objects in their own right, acquiring value, authenticity, and aura. The ‘life’ of a replica generates networks of relationships between people, places, and things, including the original historic object. While the underlying human stories of creativity, skill, and craftsmanship are rendered invisible when replicas are treated as mere surrogates, we argue that these ‘life-stories’ should be incorporated into future conservation, management and interpretation. The article spells out practical advice and guidance for heritage professionals who find themselves dealing with replicas.