Aboriginal History Journal: Volume 23
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Aboriginal History Volume twenty-three 1999 Aboriginal History Incorporated The Committee of Management and the Editorial Board Peter Read (Chair), Geoff Gray (Secretary), Peter Grimshaw (Treasurer/Public Officer), Neil Andrews, Richard Baker, Gordon Briscoe, Ann Curthoys, Brian Egloff, Geoff Gray, Niel Gunson, Luise Hercus, Bill Humes, David Johnston, Ian Keen, Harold Koch, Isabel McBryde, Rob Paton, Neville Perkins, Deborah Bird Rose, Ian Howie-Willis, Elspeth Young. Correspondents Jeremy Beckett, Valerie Chapman, Ian Clark, Eve Fesl, Fay Gale, Ronald Lampert, Campbell Macknight, Ewan Morris, John Mulvaney, Andrew Markus, Bob Reece, Henry Reynolds, Shirley Roser, Lyndall Ryan, Bruce Shaw, Tom Stannage, Robert Tonkinson, James Urry. Aboriginal History aims to present articles and information in the field of Australian ethnohistory, particularly in the post-contact history of the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Historical studies based on anthropological, archaeological, linguistic and sociological research, including comparative studies of other ethnic groups such as Pacific Islanders in Australia, will be welcomed. Issues include recorded oral traditions and biographies, narratives in local languages with translations, previously unpublished manuscript accounts, resumes of current events, archival and bibliographic articles, and book reviews. Aboriginal History is administered by an Editorial Board which is responsible for all unsigned material in the journal. Views and opinions expressed by the authors of signed articles and reviews are not necessarily shared by Board members. The editors invite authors to submit contributions to either the journal or monograph series for consideration; reviews will be commissioned by the reviews editor. Editors 1999 Managing Editor, Ian Howie-Willis; Editors, Luise Hercus and Grace Koch; Reviews Editor, Luise Hercus. Aboriginal History Monograph Series Published occasionally, the monographs present longer discussions or a series of articles on single subjects of contemporary interests. Previous monograph titles are: D. Barwick, M. Mace and T. Stannage (eds), Handbook of Aboriginal and Islander History; Diane Bell and Pam Ditton, Lazo: The old and the new; Peter Sutton, Country: Aboriginal boundaries and land ownership in Australia; Link-Up (NSW) and Tikka Wilson, In the Best Interest of the Child? Stolen Children: Aboriginal pain/zuhite shazne; Jane Simpson and Luise Hercus, History in Portraits: Biographies of nineteenth-century South Australian Aboriginal people; Diane Barwick, Rebellion at Coranderrk. Contacting Aboriginal History All correspondence should be addressed to Aboriginal History, Box 2837 GPO Canberra, 2601, Australia. Sales, orders and subscriptions: Dr Anne Pender, 17 Kalaroo Road, Pialligo ACT 2609, Phone: 02 6247 8177, Fax: 02 6247 0998, email: [email protected]. Acknowledgement Aboriginal History Inc. gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of History, The Faculties, The Australian National University. © Aboriginal History Inc., Canberra, Australia. Apart for any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. Typesetting: Tikka Wilson Printed in Australia by Southwood Press, Marickville ISSN 0314-8769 Aboriginal History Volume 23 1999 Ian Howie-Willis Introduction V Maggie Brady Preface vi Isabel M cB ryde A tribute to Isobel Mary White ix Maggie Brady The politics of space and mobility: Controlling the 1 Ooldea/Yalata Aborigines, 1952-1982 Barry J. Blake and Pallangamiddang: A language of the Upper Murray 15 Julie Read Peal D uncan British justice 32 D.C.F. Rentz Travels with Sally 37 Lynette Oates The Summer Institute of Linguistics and Aboriginal- 43 Islander research Kingsley Palmer Favourite foods and the fight for country: Witchetty 51 grubs and the Southern Pitjantjatjara Margaret Kartomi Play songs by children and their educational 61 implications Luise Hercus & ‘Wire Yard’: A song from near Lake Eyre 72 Grace Koch Betty Meehan, Rhys Gulu-kula: Dogs in Anbarra society, Arnhem Land 83 Jones & Anne Vincent O bituary Isabel McBryde Shirley Andrew 107 Notes and Documents Anne Curthoys Speech in launching Aboriginal History V olum e 21 108 Ian Howie-Willis The White-Barwick Award 110 Niel Gunson An interview with David Unaipon 111 Ian W arden Canberra Times interview with Peter Read 117 ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1999 VOL 23 Reviews Fighting Words, Writing about Race by Raymond Evans 120 Massacre Myth by Rod Moran 124 Djabugay Country: An Aboriginal History o f Tropical 128 North Queensland by Timothy Bottoms Aboriginal Women by Degrees: Their Stories o f the Journey 130 Towards Academic Achievement edited by Mary Ann Bin- Salik Geebungs and Snake Whistles: Koori People and Plants o f 131 Wreck Bay by the Wreck Bay Community and Cath Renwick Continent o f Hunter Gatherers: New Perspectives in 132 Australian Prehistory by Harry Lourandos ‘That's My Country Belonging to Me: Aboriginal Land 135 Tenure and Dispossession in Nineteenth Century Western Victoria by Ian D. Clark Is That You, Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty 137 Hard Yards by Melissa Lucashenko 137 Science and Exploration in the Pacific: European Voyages to 139 the Southern Oceans in the Eighteenth Century edited by Margarette Lincoln Yumba Days by Herb Wharton 140 Encounter at Nagalarramba by Roslyn Poignant with 143 Axel Poignant The Civilised Surveyor: Thomas Mitchell and the 145 Australian Aborigines by DWA Baker Aboriginal Labour and the Cattle Industry by Dawn May 148 Introduction As the front cover indicates, this volume of Aboriginal History celebrates the life and work of Isobel Mary White, popularly known as 'Sally'. Maggie Brady's preface explains why the journal's editorial board chose to produce a commemorative edition in Sally's honour. This introduction supplements the preface by thanking those who have played a key role in compiling this 'Sally White' edition. On behalf of the editorial board I therefore thank the joint volume editors, Luise Hercus and Grace Koch, for their fine work in drawing together a varied set of articles reflecting on Sally White's life, career in anthropology and her special interests in Abo riginal studies. Maggie Brady deserves special mention for her excellent preface in addition to her article, and also help with identifying people in photographs. Luise Her cus has once again collected an informative set of book reviews in her capacity as reviews editor. Dick Barwick has again done a superb job with our front cover as has Tikka Wilson with the typesetting and production management. The task of copy edit ing was greatly eased by Bernadette Hince, who took on this duty at short notice and worked expeditiously to complete it. 1 am personally grateful to Peter Read, who chairs the editorial board, for giving the production team much appreciated leadership and together we thank his fellow board members for their continuing support and advice. Finally, all the authors of articles, book reviews and notes deserve much of the credit for making this volume a worthy tribute to Sally White. Each of them has helped ensure that this volume not only commemorates her life and work but will be an important resource for everyone interested in Aboriginal studies. In conclusion, a sad omission from this volume is the article Isabel McBryde is preparing on Sally White's work in South Australia. Because of various unforeseen cir cumstances the article was not ready for this volume at the time of going to press. We are therefore holding it over for a later volume. Ian Howie-Willis Managing Editor Preface This edition of Aboriginal History is dedicated to Isobei White (whom we all knew as Sally White), who died in August 1998 after a long and interesting life. We shall miss her humour and kindness as well as her steady contributions to Aboriginal studies over many years. Sally was born in 1912 in Harrow, now a suburb of London. Like many members of her family she went to King Edward's High School, and between 1930 and 1933 she studied economics at Girton College, Cambridge. In her second year there, she was invited to attend Maynard Keynes' lectures, along with a select group. Her family were Labour party voters, and Sally herself was a member of the Communist Party in the 1930s. She had a scholarship to study for a master's degree in Toronto; this was in 1934 at the height of the depression in Canada. In fact, as she confessed later, she spent most of her time there engaged in political activity, and editing the Young Worker, a commu nist newspaper. She left to return to the UK when her father was taken ill. Back in the UK she worked as a factory inspector for the Home Office. She met Michael White and they were married at Hampstead registry office in 1938. After the prolonged difficulties of the war years in the UK, Sally and Michael emigrated to the United States in 1947 with their two sons Nicholas and Jonathan. Their third child, Charlotte, was born in Austen, Texas, where the family spent five of the six years to 1953. Unfortunately because of pre-war left wing political involvements, it proved necessary for the family to leave the US abruptly in 1953. Michael obtained a job at CSIRO in Canberra with the assistance of Dr (later Sir) Otto Frankel. As the McCarthy era abated, the family returned to the US, to Missouri, but the attractions of Australia held sway, and Mel bourne became their home from 1958 to 1977. The brief residence in Missouri was important in that, after a decade of commit ment to her family, Sally returned to academic pursuits. Relinquishing the economic field, she took some undergraduate courses in anthropology ('My heart wasn't in eco nomics,' she said). It was here that Sally first read the work of Mrs Daisy Bates — it was the only Australian book in the library. This was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with Daisy Bates.