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“Why Can't They Put Their Names?”: Colonial Photography, Repatriation and Social Memory John Bradley, Philip Adgemis & Luka Haralampou Published Online: 09 Jul 2013

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“Why Can't They Put Their Names?”: Colonial Photography, Repatriation and Social Memory John Bradley, Philip Adgemis & Luka Haralampou Published Online: 09 Jul 2013 This article was downloaded by: [ZMO Zentrum Moderner Oriente] On: 27 March 2014, At: 04:12 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK History and Anthropology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ghan20 “Why Can't They Put Their Names?”: Colonial Photography, Repatriation and Social Memory John Bradley, Philip Adgemis & Luka Haralampou Published online: 09 Jul 2013. To cite this article: John Bradley, Philip Adgemis & Luka Haralampou (2014) “Why Can't They Put Their Names?”: Colonial Photography, Repatriation and Social Memory, History and Anthropology, 25:1, 47-71, DOI: 10.1080/02757206.2013.813851 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2013.813851 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions History and Anthropology, 2014 Vol. 25, No. 1, 47–71, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2013.813851 “Why Can’t They Put Their Names?”: Colonial Photography, Repatriation and Social Memory John Bradley, Philip Adgemis & Luka Haralampou This paper explores the relationships between a particular photographic archive, Indigenous Australians and early ethnography. Colonial ethnographers, Spencer and Gillen, travelled throughout Central and Northern Australia in 1901 and 1902. Their experiences in the town of Borroloola with the local Indigenous peoples, in particular the Yanyuwa people, are contrasted to their experiences in other regions that they travelled through. While at Bor- roloola, Spencer and Gillen photographed a number of Yanyuwa men and women. In 1981, the repatriation of those images back into the community facilitated discussion about the appropriate positioning of each individual in Yanyuwa systems of kinship, and debate around the ceremonial details recorded, informing new layers of social memory. Yanyuwa elders expressed joy at viewing, naming and positioning the long deceased kin but when the identity of the person could not be recalled, responses conveyed a deep sense of loss. This paper explores the response to one of these photographs and explores in detail the reson- ances that this one photograph holds for the Yanyuwa community. Keywords: Memory; Photography; Kinship; Indigenous Australian; Repatriation Downloaded by [ZMO Zentrum Moderner Oriente] at 04:12 27 March 2014 Introduction “He is not a very amiable looking creature…” (Gillen [1901–1902] 1968, 341): Gillen’s comment regarding Wajamara, the Yanyuwa rainmaker. In early 1981, an album of the photographs taken by Spencer and Gillen was returned to Borroloola by the Museum of Victoria. Previously, members of the Yanyuwa commu- nity viewed a number of these images as printed in Spencer and Gillen’s published works, Correspondence to: Philip Adgemis, Monash Indigenous Centre, Monash University, JAIS, Building 55 Clayton Campus, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia. Email: [email protected], [email protected] © 2013 Taylor & Francis 48 J. Bradley et al. leading to an expressed desire to have more of these photos returned to them. Bradley, who at the time of repatriation had been working with Yanyuwa families for four years, negotiated with Museum Victoria for the return of an album containing all of the photos taken by Spencer and Gillen. The album was held, and is still in the possession of a senior Yanyuwa family. The photos fascinated people, these were the li-wankala, the old people, some naked, some in possum fur pubic coverings, many of them could still be named by the old people of the early 1980s, people cried over their relatives, picked them up and held them to their heads in acknowledgement of the kinship and the country. While many of the portraits were admired, there were a number of photos in the collection that arrived at a time of intense discussion. This discussion centred on the issues associ- ated with the loss of the rainmaking tradition in the context of the Yanyuwa Law (see also Bradley 1997; Bradley and Yanyuwa Families 2010 for further information). The inten- sity of debate over the details of this tradition was heightened due to the forthcoming ceremony associated with interring the bones of the last known rainmaker, Billy Hooker Mangayi, into a hollow log coffin. Billy Hooker was the classificatory paternal grandchild of a man that Spencer and Gillen had taken photographs of and also appears in one sketch in Gillen’s ([1901–1902] 1968, 84) diary. This man, another rain- maker, was lifted from the anonymity of the photograph taken at Borroloola, as the old Yanyuwa people looked at the photograph they said to each other, “Wajamara”. Waja- mara was a rainmaker, a man who possessed narnu-nyiri, powersongs. He could create and hold the power of rain as he was a kinsman to the Rain Ancestral being. Using the medium of photography, this paper is the product of relationships between photographic archive, Indigenous Australian peoples and the anthropologist. The role of colonial photography is considered, exploring colonial attitudes towards Indigenous Australians and implications for the formation of contemporary identity, as it engages memory in an evolving connectivity between the past and present. Lydon (2010, 174) beautifully describes the power of the photographic archive as having a function for Indigenous communities to become “a form of Indigenous memory that is recuperative, intersubjective and intercultural … helping to recover family and stories lost through the dislocations of colonialism”. A point of friction that we explore is when the identity of an individual in a photo cannot be determined, and what such an instance implies for both the circumstances in which it was originally taken and a broader sense of social memory as it develops in the present. Firstly, this Downloaded by [ZMO Zentrum Moderner Oriente] at 04:12 27 March 2014 paper charts the experience of Spencer and Gillen at Borroloola, noting the differences between their work in the Southwest Gulf of Carpentaria with that of other Central and Northern parts of Australia. Secondly, it discusses Yanyuwa’s responses to both the images and ethnographic data recorded. The paper then turns to issues that surround the individual of Wajamara and how one photograph caused discussions that contin- ued into the early 2000s. Using photography as an aid to memory, drawing upon the significance of a single image, this case study is developed to demonstrate the complex- ities of collecting and repatriating anthropological information. The significance of Yanyuwa responses in recognition, or in the absence of recognition, of specific individ- uals depicted in the photos is a complex reflection of Spencer and Gillen’s own cultural disposition and experiences. The irony explored here is that as a product of conceptions History and Anthropology 49 of social evolutionism expressed in a colonial discourse, the images now have the potential to serve as a valuable cultural resource for Indigenous Australians. In this case, the power of the images in their “static” and “fixed” nature is realized as they are engaged in the social fluidity of the Yanyuwa historical practice. The evolving nature of Yanyuwa social memory embedded within a historical practice contests Western notions of history that predicate colonial attitudes. Arrival in Borroloola Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer, born in England in 1860, was an influential evolutionary biologist in his home country before moving to Australia in 1886. He took a position with the University of Melbourne, where he was as a pioneering researcher and admin- istrator (Mulvaney 1990). From parents of Irish decent, Francis James Gillen was born in South Australia in 1855. Through numerous positions in public service, Gillen became renowned for his administrative prowess and as a sympathizer of the hardships suffered by Indigenous Australians due to the colonial expansion (Mulvaney 1983). Together, Spencer and Gillen conducted ethnographic fieldwork throughout Australia between 1896 and 1912, co-authoring a number of seminal anthropological works based on this research. Their time spent with the Yanyuwa was at the end of travels beginning in Oonandatta, South Australia, in March 1901, and ending in Borroloola with their
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