Lecture to explore the history of a desert frontier

October 19, 2007

A public lecture at the University of New England will trace the impact of European settlement on the people and landscapes of Western Central Australia through the years 1850-1980.

Dr Mike Smith studied the journals of explorers, police, and government surveyors, as well as anthropological records and genealogies, in reconstructing the Aboriginal history of this remote area during its "frontier" period.

Dr Smith (pictured here), a Senior Research Fellow in the National Museum of Australia's Centre for Historical Research, will be presenting UNE's third annual John Ferry Heritage Lecture on Thursday 25 October. The free lecture will be at 5.30 pm in Lecture Room A2 of UNE's Arts Building.

"Western Central Australia – where the long valleys of the McDonnell Ranges open out into sand hill and spinifex country – is one of those rare regions where documentary records provide a detailed picture of the dynamics of the desert frontier," Dr Smith said. "These records allow us to follow the history of individual Kukatja families, and to watch historical processes play out over a century as desert people migrated into pastoral stations and ration depots on the frontier, and the colonial authorities attempted to stem this flow of people."

Dr Smith, who is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and of the Society of Antiquaries (London), will draw on his book Peopling the Cleland Hills for the lecture. "My aim in writing this book," he said, "was to watch historical events play across the landscape, following the fortunes of Aboriginal people associated with the area on the one hand and, on the other, exploring the broader historical forces shaping and re-shaping its cultural and natural landscapes."

One of the nation's leading archaeologists, and the pioneer of research into the Aboriginal settlement of Australia's deserts, Dr Smith was the first student to graduate with a PhD in prehistoric archaeology from UNE's Department of Archaeology. In 2006 the Australian Archaeological Association awarded him its Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeology.

The John Ferry Heritage Lecture, organised by UNE's Heritage Futures Research Centre, honours the memory and work of the UNE-based historian Dr John Ferry (1949-2004). His prize-winning book Colonial Armidale, regarded by many historians as the best and most innovative local history written in Australia, is – according to Dr Smith – "a masterpiece, resonating with good humour and scholarship".

For more information on the lecture, phone Dr Pam Watson in UNE's School of Humanities on (02) 6773 2921 or e-mail: pwatson5@une.edu.au.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 19, 2007 02:35 PM