6 Big Ideas: A Close Look at the Australian Curriculum: History from a Primary Teacher’s Perspective Maree Whiteley | Agora vol. 47, no. 1, 2012 Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 6: General

11 A Guide to Inquiry-Based Learning YouthLearn Initiative | Agora vol. 44, no. 1, 2009 Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 6: General

19 The Melbourne Story: Posing Essential Questions for Inquiry Liz Suda | Agora vol. 44, no. 1, 2009 Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 6: General

24 Anzac Day for Schools Heather Lewis | Agora vol. 47, no. 2, 2012 Australian Curriculum Year 3: Days and weeks celebrated or commemorated in Australia (including Australia Day, ANZAC Day, Harmony Week, National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC week and National Sorry Day) and the importance of symbols and emblems. (ACHHK063)

30 Community Treasures in the Primary Classroom Maggie Catterall | Agora vol. 45, no. 4, 2010 Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 6: General

33 The Importance of Oral History Ingrid Rowe | Agora vol. 47, no. 2, 2012 Australian Curriculum Year 6: Stories of groups of people who migrated to Australia (including from ONE Asian country) and the reasons they migrated, such as World War II and Australian migration programs since the war. (ACHHK115)

37 Putting the Story into History: Developing Identity and Intercultural Understanding Marilyn Snider | Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 6: General

43 Exploring Colonial Life in Primary History: The McCrae Homestead Martin Green | Agora vol. 48, no. 1, 2013 Australian Curriculum Year 2: The history of a significant person, building, site or part of the environment in the local community and what it reveals about the past (ACHHK044) Australian Curriculum Year 3–6: General

46 Bligh’s Exploration of Australia’s East Coast Dr Jennifer Gall, with the NationalSAMPLE Library of Australia | Agora vol. 46, no. 2, 2011 Australian Curriculum Year 4: The journey(s) of AT LEAST ONE world navigator, explorer or trader up to the late eighteenth century, including their contacts with other societies and any impacts. (ACHHK078)

53 ergo: Primary Sources Online from the State Library of Victoria Linda Angeloni | Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 Australian Curriculum Year 5: The impact of a significant development or event on a colony; for example, frontier conflict, the gold rushes , the Eureka Stockade, internal exploration, the advent of rail, the expansion of farming, drought. (ACHHK095); The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development, aspects of the daily life of inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and how the environment changed. (ACHHK094) CONTENTS Expanding Contacts: Aboriginal Nations of Australia 58 Diana Millar | Agora vol. 47, no. 1, 2012 Australian Curriculum Year 4: The nature of contact between Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders and others, for example, the Macassans and the Europeans, and the effects of these interactions on, for example families and the environment (ACHHK080)

An Aboriginal History of Yarra 66 Yarra City Council, with Wurundjeri Tribe Land & Compensation Cultural Heritage Council | Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Australian Curriculum Year 4: The diversity and longevity of Australia’s first peoples and the ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are connected to Country and Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the implications for their daily lives. (ACHHK077) Australian Curriculum Year 5: The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development, aspects of the daily life of inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and how the environment changed. (ACHHK094)

The Chinese in Australia 1818–1918 74 Diana Millar | Agora vol. 44, no. 3, 2009 Australian Curriculum Year 5: The reasons people migrated to Australia from Europe and Asia, and the experiences and contributions of a particular migrant group within a colony (ACHHK096) Australian Curriculum Year 6: Stories of groups of people who migrated to Australia (including from ONE Asian country) and the reasons they migrated, such as World War II and Australian migration programs since the war. (ACHHK115)

An Artist on the Goldfields: The Extraordinary Legacy of S. T. Gill 79 Marion Littlejohn | Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 Australian Curriculum Year 5: The impact of a significant development or event on a colony; for example, frontier conflict, the gold rushes , the Eureka Stockade, internal exploration, the advent of rail, the expansion of farming, drought. (ACHHK095)

Remnants of a Life’s Work: Caroline Chisholm 84 Dr Moya McFadzean | Agora vol. 48, no. 1, 2013 Australian Curriculum Year 5: The role that a significant individual or group played in shaping a colony; for example, explorers, farmers, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, religious and political leaders, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. (ACHHK097)

Artworks and Australian History 87 Grace Di Muzio | Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 Australian Curriculum Year 5: The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development, aspects of the daily life of inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and how the environment changed. (ACHHK094) Australian Curriculum Year SAMPLE6 : Experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders, migrants, women, and children. (ACHHK114)

The Ins and Outs of Federation 92 Diana Millar | Agora vol. 44, no. 04, 2009 Australian Curriculum Year 6: Key figures and events that led to Australia’s Federation, including British and American influence on Australia’s system of law and government. (ACHHK113) Australian Curriculum Year 6: Experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders, migrants, women, and children. (ACHHK114) CONTENTS CONTENTS Praktikos

ergo: Primary Sources online from the State Library of Victoria

How teachers can contextualise documents and images from Victoria’s past.

Linda Angeloni, State Library of Victoria

ergo is a website from the State Library of Victoria articles, realia and much more from the SLV’s designed to support teachers and students in the collections. With the introduction of the national exploration of Victorian history and research skills. curriculum, some aspects of Australian history moved ergo provides over 750 digitised primary sources from into upper primary. ergo is an excellent resource to SLV’s collections, grouped thematically according to engage younger students in the study of history by key themes in Australian Curriculum: History. using primary sources like original letters, objects, This article will look at some ofSAMPLE the key themes artwork and photographs as a starting point. and resources explored in ergo. In particular, I will discuss how the site supports students by providing Explore History contextual information, which helps them to identify bias and evaluate a range of texts. Additional support The Explore History section groups resources around in the form of writing guides and templates help key strengths in the collection and links to the students apply their research. There will also be a Australian Curriculum. Sources include everything discussion of teaching resources available in the For from protest badges and cartoons to original Teachers section of the website. nineteenth-century pamphlets and manuscripts. ergo also highlights a number of recent digitising projects The ergo website consists of three sections: Explore that have made thousands of primary sources relevant History, Learn Skills and For Teachers. The For to the Australian Curriculum freely available online. Teachers section contains a range of primary source ‘kits,’ supporting activities and a range of writing, Each Explore History page groups together resources document and image-study templates. Learn Skills that collectively illustrate and raise questions about provides clear and easy-to-follow guides to research, key issues, events and people from Victoria’s past. while Explore History looks at hundreds of carefully The aim of each page is to provide enough contextual selected images, manuscripts, maps, newspaper information to develop student awareness of how

From Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 53 Praktikos

historians understand the people, were home to convicts. This sometimes- PREVIOUS PAGE: Canvas period or events in question. Drop- overlooked group is explored in this Town, between Princess Bridge and South Melbourne. Tents down ‘annotations’ discuss bias and section. Issues discussed include used as makeshift houses in historical context in selected primary the embarrassing failure of the 1826 the 1850s. De Gruchy and source quotations and provide expedition to Western Port, prison Leigh, artists, 1850-1860. bibliographic details of sources used. ‘exiles,’ the ‘Pentonvillains’ and the Colour lithograph. SLV ergo aims to make students aware of the horrific conditions experienced by Pictures Collection H25127. forces that shape both the production convicts on board convict ships and BELOW: Poster announcing of primary sources and the way they are hulks. Port Phillip’s separation, interpreted. The focus is on developing One of the narratives explored in the distributed in the Melbourne Morning Herald, 11 November critical thinking skills essential to good Convicts section is the story of William research. 1850. Letterpress printed on Buckley, an escaped convict from the buff paper. SLV H38464. Every collection page also includes ill-fated 1803 penal settlement. Buckley links to relevant digitised material in escaped from the settlement and lived All images published with kind permission of the State the State library of Victoria’s online with the Wathaurong people of the Library of Victoria. collection as well as reliable resources Bellarine Peninsula for over thirty outside the library including cultural years before being ‘discovered’ by John institutions, government, universities Batman’s party in 1835. Sources include and reputable public organisations. In three different accounts of Buckley’s this way, ergo acts as a pathfinder for life: the first was written by George students, directing them to relevant, Langhorne, who recorded Buckley’s reliable online sources and modelling story at a local mission just months after the thinking process that underpins he left the Wathaurong; the second was good research. Critical thinking and written by John Morgan, Tasmanian information literacy skills are further journalist, near the end of Buckley’s life explored in the Learn Skills section. when both were in need of funds; and The themes currently available in the third is an account by John Bonwick, Explore History and most relevant to which is based almost entirely on AC: History 4–6 are: primary sources from the time (he never spoke to Buckley in person). • Colonial Melbourne Another remarkable source document is • Fight for Rights Third Lieutenant Nicholas Patershall’s • Golden Victoria personal account of the doomed journey • Land & Exploration

Colonial Melbourne As Victoria’s premier research institution, the SLV holds important documents from Victoria’s early years and the Port Phillip settlement. Many primary sources from this period have recently been digitised and are available online. These documents, SAMPLE images and pamphlets form the core of the section on Colonial Melbourne, which explores Port Phillip prior to the gold rush. Colonial Melbourne provides primary source material to support AC: History Year 4 (First Contacts) and Year 5 (The Australian Colonies).

i) Convicts Although known as a ‘free’ settlement, Port Phillip and Victorian regional centres

54 From Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 Praktikos

RIGHT: Collins Street - Town of Melbourne, Port Phillip, Elisha Noyce and William Knight, August 1840. Chalk lithograph on buff paper. View along Collins Street, Melbourne, looking west towards Russell Street. From the State Library of Victoria’s Pictures Collection H18111.

of the Calcutta to Sullivan Bay in 1803, Phillip was a thriving and fast-expanding led by Lieutenant David Collins and settlement. Everyday life explores the carrying the convict William Buckley day-to-day existence of people on the and a young John Pascoe Fawkner. The street as well as the social groups and SLV holds one of only two remaining key events that shaped the town. Issues barrels from the settlement. discussed include Separation, land sales, housing, women’s experience ii) Pioneers of settlement and Garryowen’s role in recording Port Phillip’s social history The State Library holds various sources in the form of his Chronicles of Early relating to John Batman and John Melbourne. Pascoe Fawkner, two men laying claim to the title of Melbourne’s founder. Sources include the front page of the The Pioneers section explores the Melbourne Morning Herald exclaiming influence and colourful history of both Port Phillip’s independence, Robert men. Through portraits, the accounts Hoddle’s surveyors’ chain and an early of contemporaries and documents map of Melbourne’s controversial city they wrote themselves, this section grid. Also included are various images explores both men’s natures and the of Melbourne’s changing streetscapes controversy surrounding the title and early cartoons relating to alcohol ‘founder.’ A selection of digitised and the Temperance Movement. This manuscripts includes Port Phillip’s first section illustrates how the SLV’s newspaper, The Melbourne Advertiser digitised Picture Collection can be used (which Fawkner handwrote himself), to explore everyday life, which is rarely SAMPLEdescribed in written sources from the and Fawkner’s idealistic constitution, which spoke of equal political rights for time. all men and strict laws against alcohol; he left the name of the settlement blank. Fight for Rights The Pioneers section concludes with a An unexpected strength of the SLV’s children’s history of Port Phillip from collection is political ephemera, held the 1930s, depicting John Batman as predominantly in the Riley Collection. young, vigorous and noble, and voicing Protest badges, documents and prejudice against Indigenous people. pamphlets from this collection are the These early student history primers focus of the Fight for Rights section provide a startling insight into how of ergo, along with newspaper articles, classroom education and perceptions of Indigenous art and contemporary indigenous history have changed. images. The Indigenous rights section provides iii) Everyday life sources that support AC: History Year Outside the foundation debate, Port 6 (Australia as a Nation) in which

From Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 55 Praktikos

students explore how indigenous groups Golden Victoria fought for the right to add their voice Every level of society was affected by to the democracy during the twentieth the discovery of gold in Victoria in the century. 1850s. Without thought to Indigenous Indigenous rights peoples, the environment, family or friends, it was every man and woman for With the ‘signing’ of John Batman’s themselves in the search for gold. Much treaty, arguably the fight for Indigenous of the State Library of Victoria’s heritage rights in Victoria began. This section collection was funded by the gold rush. explores the struggle for political, social Melbourne as a city grew exponentially and cultural rights for Aboriginal people and everything from migration to public after European settlement in Port transport, cultural institutions and Phillip. Issues include the Yorta Yorta politics changed in a matter of decades. native title claim, the controversial The sources in this section relate to 1997 Reconciliation Convention, social AC: History Year 5 (The Australian commentary by artists Tommy Mcrae Colonies), particularly with reference and William Barak as well as Kevin to the experience of people on the Rudd’s historic Apology. goldfields and the social, political and A number of narratives included in economical repercussions of the gold Indigenous rights explore how written rush. documents from early settlement misrepresented Aboriginal people and i) Finding gold culture and often neglected Indigenous Which methods were used by diggers oral traditions. One example of how on the goldfields? Finding Gold looks written sources were given precedence at mining techniques from the time over oral histories is explored in pieces including original instructional images. relating to the Yorta Yorta native title Richest Discoveries looks at some of the claim. more famous (or infamous) finds that Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, transformed people’s lives. written by nineteenth-century squatter Edward Curr, was used in evidence ii) Life on the goldfields against the Yorta Yorta claim, since The experiences of indigenous people, it documented customs no longer women, Chinese migrants, children practised in the local Aboriginal and a number of key public figures community. Justice Howard Olney gave and artists are explored in Life on the preference to evidence from texts like Goldfields. Each group is explored Curr’s over Indigenous testimony. This through primary sources that depict not only skewed the balance in favour their day-to-day life and the challenges of European versions of colonisation, they faced. it also arguably failed to take into account Edward Curr’s own cultural iii) Impact on society bias. While he was writing Recollections The gold rush transformed Victoria, he was in fact a member of the Board its cities, towns and population. for the Protection of Aborigines, which Nothing would ever be the same. This was responsible for closing missionsSAMPLE section looks at the impact of gold on like Coranderrk, and had an often- architecture, migration, transport and difficult relationship with Aboriginal government. There is also a discussion communities. Tommy Mcrae’s artwork of key events and issues like the Eureka also explores non-written histories Stockade, taxation and social change in the form of unique drawings and its impact on the role of the landed caricaturing squatters, settlers and gentry - many of whom had begun their even migrants, as well as documenting time in Victoria as squatters. Indigenous traditions. This section includes links to Rudd’s Land and Exploration complete Apology and John Howard’s As European settlement transformed speech at the 1997 Reconciliation Victoria, exploration not only reached Convention, in which he infamously into the wilds of the bush but into described the treatment of Indigenous the unforgiving Antarctic. Land and people as a ‘blemish’ on our history. Exploration looks at early settlers’

56 From Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 Praktikos

RIGHT: An encampment of Explorers Aboriginal Australians on the banks of the Yarra. John ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/activity-burke- Cotton, c. 1845. Painting: and-wills-decision-making watercolour with graphite pencil and glazing medium. ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/activity-burke- SLV H252. and-wills-timeline-untangle

Gold ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/source- analysis-gold-fever ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/source- analysis-danger-goldfields struggles with the Victorian landscape and the environmental consequences of Pioneers settlement. ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/source- Sources relate to AC: History Year 4 analysis-john-batmans-treaty (First Contacts). Source analysis i) Environment ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/student- Deforestation, erosion and drought templates-source-analysis form part of the legacy left by European farming and industrial practices. ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/activity- This section looks at how Europeans comparing-sources introduced new varieties of plants and ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/teachers/activity-how- animals, often with catastrophic effects analyse-images on native species. Mining and water management are also discussed. Other resources ii) Exploration The Learn Skills area of the ergo website offers easy-to-follow guides on the Exploration looks at the journeys of research process and essay writing, men like Douglas Mawson and Alfred which help students evaluate and apply Howitt as well as discussing the role the wealth of primary sources available of Indigenous guides in Burke and on the site. In resource kits in the For Wills’ tragic expedition. John King Teachers section, links are given to Davis’ papers are held by the SLV, and items exploring bias in written material rare photographs and maps from the and images. five trips he made to Antarctica with Mawson, Shackleton and others are ergo is supported by onsite programs highlights of this section. and exhibitions at the State Library of Victoria. The Education Programs unit provides exhibition tours and related Resource kits for teachers workshops for students. For more The For Teachers section of ergo information about ergo, email ergo@slv. includes the following support vic. gov.au or visit the website ergo.slv.vic. materials:SAMPLEgov.au.

From Agora vol. 43, no. 4, 2008 57 Thema

An Aboriginal History of Yarra

A history of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the land currently known as the City of Yarra.

Yarra City Council in partnership with Wurundjeri Tribe Land & Compensation Cultural Heritage Council

The Wurundjeri-willam people of the Kulin nation are other Aboriginal people in the area varied, but the the traditional owners of the land that is now known settlement and development of Melbourne impacted as the City of Yarra. Their relationship with the land heavily on the Wurundjeri. Dispossession of land, extends back tens of thousands of years to when their dislocation, frontier clashes and introduced diseases creator spirit ‘Bunjil’ formed their people, the land led to a dramatic decline in the population. and all living things. Despite the effects of colonisation, Aboriginal people The Wurundjeri’s connection to land is underpinned and culture survived, and the strong bonds between by cultural and spiritual values vastly different to families and clans could not be broken. those of the Europeans. The WurundjeriSAMPLE did not The Aboriginal History of Yarra website explores ‘own’ the land in the European sense of the word, but the relationships between the traditional owners belonged to, or were ‘owned by’ the land. They did not and settlers through the early years of Melbourne’s live in permanent settlements but, rather, camped for establishment. The following is a selection of excerpts periods within defined clan boundaries where food from this new resource. It is not an easy history, but was plentiful, and moved on when the land needed one that is essential in understanding where we have to rejuvenate. The land provided all the Wurundjeri come from and where we are going – and for all its needed – food, water, medicine, shelter – and they local detail, it speaks to a national history. treated it with the respect due to such a provider. The moment Europeans arrived in the area, they Pre-contact Wurundjeri began changing the land to suit the European way of Australia’s state and territory borders have existed life. For the majority of settlers, the driving force was for a relatively short period. For thousands of years land ownership. For at least some of these settlers, before European settlement, the country now known underlying this drive was an imperial belief in British as Australia consisted of 500–700 Aboriginal nations, superiority combined with a desire to ‘civilise.’ each with their own systems of government, cultural Settler relationships with the Wurundjeri and practices, religions and languages. Part of the area

66 From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Thema

OPPOSITE: Aboriginal now known as the City of Melbourne Dispossession people fishing and camping and all of the City of Yarra (as well on Merri Creek. Tinted as land extending north into central Wurundjeri dispossession of land took lithograph by Charles place not just through displacement, but Troedel, 1864. Victoria) are the traditional lands of the Kulin nation. The City of Yarra area also through disconnection. Land was was looked after by the Wurundjeri- sold, bush was cleared for the creation willam family group. They belong to of roads and buildings, and wetlands the Wurundjeri-balluk clan, which is were drained. Over time, even the part of the larger Wurundjeri tribe. The course of the Yarra River was changed. Wurundjeri-willam mainly spoke Woi The disruption of sacred sites might be wurrung language, but also spoke other termed desecration. For the Wurundjeri, languages of their nation. Each clan was who had a spiritual connection to the governed by a ngurungaeta (pronounced land, these changes had a devastating na-run-getta) or head-man. impact on all aspects of their health and wellbeing. All clan members knew their land in great detail, including the best times Prior to Melbourne’s settlement, to visit each area according to weather European sealers and whalers had and availability of food. In winter, the lived and worked along the Victorian Wurundjeri-willam regularly camped coastline for decades, and the British in the higher areas, as the land near the had made attempts to establish river flooded. In spring and summer settlements further out on Port Phillip they travelled more frequently, moving Bay and Westernport Bay. The arrival of between nine and sixteen kilometres settlers during the 1830s was considered a day, hunting and gathering food, illegal under British law, but settlers and visiting sacred sites. According to came anyway, unable to resist the lure historian Penelope Edmonds, ‘Spring of prime pastoral land. The settlement and early summer were times of grew through the early thirties movement and change, for it was then and by the end of 1836, the British that crops such as yam (mirr-n’yong) government conceded it couldn’t stop were ready for harvesting, birds’ eggs it. The settlement was officially named plentiful and wildfowl and game more Melbourne by Governor Sir Richard accessible. As summer wore on the Bourke in March 1837.3 During the 1 M.F. Christie, Aborigines Aborigines visited fishing and eeling ceremony Bourke used William Buckley, in Colonial Victoria sites and camped for longer periods.’1 an escaped convict who had lived with (Sydney: Sydney Watha wurrung people for thirty-two Land boundaries for each clan were University Press, 1979), 9. years, to tell the Aboriginal people clearly defined, with strict protocols 2 Gary Presland, First present that he would be a friend as long People: The Eastern Kulin governing access to the land of other as they were peaceable and obeyed the of Melbourne, Port Phillip clans. While each clan or family law.4 and Central Victoria group travelled on its own, they still (Melbourne: Museum maintained relationships with others As the settler population increased Victoria, 2010), 15. 3 A.G.L. Shaw, ‘Foundation within their language group. Marriage and the built environment developed, and Early History,’ in played an important role in this, as the European hold on the land was Andrew Brown-May and people would not marry within their strengthened. The first land sales took Shurlee Swain, eds., The own clan. Instead, partners were chosen place in Melbourne on 1 June 1837. The Encyclopedia of Melbourne, from different clans within the Kulin following year, forty-one allotments of online edition, www. SAMPLE2 twenty-five acres each were sold in the nation. Visiting the land of other emelbourne.net.au. areas that would become Collingwood 4 Penelope Edmonds, clans was therefore an important and Urbanizing Frontiers: necessary right. and Fitzroy. It was intended that they would be paddocks.5 In the building Indigenous Peoples and Ties were also cemented through boom of 1850, the allotments were Settlers in 19th Century gatherings and corroborees, where Pacific Rim Cities subdivided and forest was cleared for clans within the Kulin nation would (Vancouver: University of firewood. The European population meet, with sometimes hundreds of British Columbia Press, during this time rose from 600 people in people together. Corroboree dances 2010), 82. 1841, to nearly 3000 people in 1850, and 5 Bernard Barrett, The Inner and storytelling performances were a 3449 people in 1851.6 Suburbs: The Evolution focus of these gatherings, with different of an Industrial Area clans often competing to outdo each Aboriginal people were pushed (Melbourne: Melbourne other. These gatherings were also an further and further out, and freedom University Press, 1971), 14. 6 Barrett, The Inner opportunity for a council of ngurungaeta of movement across the land became Suburbs, 20; Shaw, to be formed to settle disputes or decide increasingly difficult. The settlers ‘Foundation and Early on punishment for those responsible for created new land boundaries with fences History.’ serious crimes against Aboriginal law. and often had guns to back them up.

From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 67 Thema

For the Wurundjeri, finding food within The exact location of the meeting ABOVE LEFT: The Signing traditional clan boundaries became between Batman and the Kulin of Batman’s Treaty at increasingly challenging. The settlers ngurungaeta, with whom he made the Merri Creek, 1835, by John 10 Wesley Burtt. SLV Pictures hunted wildlife on an unprecedented treaty, is unknown. According to Collection, H92.196. Image level, for sport as well as for food, historian Meyer Eidelson, it is generally courtesy State Library of reducing the amount that was available.7 believed to have occurred on the Merri Victoria. Creek near modern-day Rushall Station.11 Introduced animals such as sheep and ABOVE RIGHT: William cattle trampled and killed vegetation Opinions around why Kulin ngurungaeta Thomas, 1860. that had been a staple of the Aboriginal signed the treaty (if in fact they did) are diet.8 This sometimes forced Aboriginal open to speculation. One opinion is that people onto the land of other clans – a ‘the clan-heads may have made a very breach of protocol that sometimes led informed decision’ to ‘limit the number to inter-clan violence. Devastation from of settlers in Port Phillip’ in an attempt introduced diseases also influenced ‘to at least curtail the destruction’ they 12 the willingness of Aboriginal people to had heard about happening elsewhere. return to former campsites, as happened In attempting to understand Batman’s at the confluence of the Yarra River and intentions, it’s worth noting that the Merri Creek after the influenza epidemic Port Phillip Association’s principal aim of 1847.9 ‘was to depasture stock as profitably as 13 The Wurundjeri-willam and other possible.’ The aim of the Association as given to the British authorities, however, Aboriginal people of the Yarra and was to establish a nucleus ‘for a free and Melbourne area did not concede their useful colony, founded on the principle land easily, but as the settlement of conciliation, of philanthropy, grew and space to hunt and gather 7 Christie, Aborigines in morality and temperance … calculated Colonial Victoria, 42. diminished, many of the dispossessed to ensure the comfort and well being 8 Richard Broome, were eventually drawn to the of the natives.’14 It is unlikely that these ‘Aboriginal Melbourne,’ settlement, where food and alcohol was two aims could peacefully coexist. in Brown-May and Swain, available. As Melbourne developed into eds., The Encyclopedia of a town and then a city, there continued Batman’s treaty was deemed invalid. Melbourne. to be a strong Aboriginal presence in It was also noted that ‘if it was 9 Ian D. Clark and Laura M. and around the settlement. acknowledged that the Aborigines had Kostanski, ‘An Indigenous the right to dispose of their land as they History of Stonnington saw fit, then the Crown’s claim to all – A Report to the City Treaty 15 of Stonnington’ (2006), Australian lands would be in doubt.’ 83–4. On 6 June 1835, just under two years Ultimately, Batman’s treaty had no 10 Isabel Ellender and Peter before Melbourne was officiallySAMPLE legal significance in the European Christiansen, People recognised as a settlement, John settlement of Melbourne and the taking of the Merri Merri: The Wurundjeri in Colonial Batman, the leader of the Port Phillip of Aboriginal land. However, it was an Association presented Wurundjeri Days (Melbourne: Merri important first step in this process, and Creek Management Elders with a land use agreement. also holds significant symbolism. It is Committee, 2001), 19. This document, now referred to as the symbolic of European relations with the 11 Meyer Eidelson, The Batman treaty, was later given to the Kulin, in that self-interest and deceit Melbourne Dreaming: A British government to claim that local were central to colonisation. To this Guide to the Aboriginal day, Batman’s treaty is the only land use Places of Melbourne Aboriginal people had given Batman (Canberra: Aboriginal access to their land in exchange for agreement that has sought to recognise Studies Press, 1997), 32. goods and rations. Today, the meaning European occupation of Australia, and 12 Eidelson, The Melbourne and interpretation of this treaty is pre-existing Aboriginal land rights. Dreaming, 65. contested. Some argue it was pretence 13 Christie, Aborigines in for taking Aboriginal land in exchange The Protectorate Colonial Victoria, 25–26. 14 Christie, Aborigines in for trinkets, while others argue it was At an official level, an important Colonial Victoria, 26. significant in that it sought to recognise influence on policy makers and political 15 Christie, Aborigines in Aboriginal land rights. leaders was Enlightenment thought Colonial Victoria, 26.

68 From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Thema

and what was known as the ‘Exeter Hall the Aboriginal people from the area movement’ in Britain.16 and ensure they did not return. There This humanitarian influence, well- were also some who saw the injustice of intentioned but imperialistic, is evident dispossession (although this was only in such things as the establishment of because the Europeans had taken the the Aboriginal Protectorate. ‘Protection’ land without allocating an area for the 18 was a key idea of the early settlement Aboriginal people to go). years, and had a strong influence on The protectorate system was seen government policy. In many ways as a failure and, unsupported by the William Thomas was the epitome government or the public, it was of this idea of protection, and the dismantled in December 1849. Thomas contradictions it contained. was named Guardian of the Aborigines In his role as Assistant Protector, on 1 January 1850. His instructions Thomas had good intentions. He were nearly identical to when he was made efforts to learn the ways of the appointed Assistant Protector, except Wurundjeri, learning both Woi wurrung Superintendent Charles La Trobe now and Boon wurrung language. But he was emphasised that Thomas was ‘to keep an Englishman and fervent Christian, the blacks out of Melbourne.’19 With and his ultimate goal was to ‘civilise’ Thomas the sole authority looking after the local Aboriginal people by settling the welfare of the Aboriginal people, them in villages and converting them to as Penelope Edmonds has noted, ‘the Christianity. 1850s have been described as a period of almost complete government neglect of In 1837, prior to the protectorate’s 20 establishment, a mission and school Aboriginal peoples.’ 16 James Boyce, 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & had been set up on the south side of In 1858, a ‘Select Committee of the The Conquest of Melbourne the Yarra River at a meeting place and Legislative Council on the Aborigines’ (Collingwood: Black Inc., corroboree site that is now occupied by was formed by the Victorian 2011), 37–38. Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.17 Government, to enquire into the 17 Edmonds, Urbanizing The mission and school failed, however, state of the Aboriginal population at Frontiers, 87; Shaun this time. The committee published a Canning and Frances because the people of the Kulin nations Thiele, Indigenous Cultural refused to give up cultural practices of report in 1859 that recommended the Heritage and History within travelling and hunting at certain times establishment of government reserves the Metropolitan Melbourne of the year. for Aboriginal people. The result of this Investigation Area: A was the creation of the Central Board Report to the Victorian The Aboriginal Protectorate was for the Protection of Aborigines in 1860 Environmental Assessment established to replace the mission. to establish a series of reserves, onto Council (Melbourne: Under orders from the Chief Protector Australian Cultural which the Aboriginal people would be George Robinson, William Thomas ‘more vigorously compelled’ to move. Heritage Management, established a station at Narre Warren 2010), 12. These reserves included Ebenezer, Lake in 1840 and based himself there from 18 Report of the Select Tyers, Framlingham, Lake Condah, 1841. However, he was not successful in Committee of the Legislative Ramahyuck, Coranderrk and Yelta. convincing the Woi wurrung and Boon Council on The Aborigines; Many of the Wurundjeri moved to Together with the wurrung to move so far from Melbourne Coranderrk, which was created by a Proceedings of Committee, and, by 1843, Thomas had moved to the Minutes of Evidence, and group of Kulin in 1863, and retroactively popular camp site at the confluence of 21 Appendices (Melbourne: SAMPLEapproved by the government. the Yarra River and the Merri Creek. At John Ferres, Government this time, the Merri Creek School was Printer 1859), iv. Disease 19 Report of the Select established for Aboriginal children, with Committee of the Legislative some success. One of the biggest impacts on the Council on the Aborigines, 1. As the settlement grew, the Wurundjeri Aboriginal population in the City of 20 Edmonds, Urbanizing found themselves faced with a variety Yarra area was the introduction of Frontiers, 153. diseases previously unknown to the 21 Canning and Thiele, of requests and demands from the Indigenous Cultural European settlers. The protectors Wurundjeri. It has been estimated Heritage and History within wanted to keep Aboriginal people that disease accounted for up to sixty the Metropolitan Melbourne out of the town, to ‘civilise’ them and per cent of the Aboriginal deaths Investigation Area, 14. eventually enable them to be part across the Port Phillip area.22 Even 22 Presland, First People, 90. of society. The merchants wanted before Europeans began arriving in the 23 Don Garden, Victoria: Melbourne area, up to a third of the A History (Melbourne: Aboriginal people to continue coming to Thomas Nelson Australia, the town so they could profit from them. population of the eastern Australian 1984), 5; Edmonds, The general public and colonial officers tribes had been killed by an epidemic of Urbanizing Frontiers, 27. simply wanted the protectors to remove smallpox that spread from Sydney.23

From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 69 Thema

‘While the European population had a strong resistance to diseases, and even the common cold, exposure was often fatal to Aboriginal populations.’

While the European population had Geoffrey Blainey argues they ‘had no a strong resistance to diseases such tradition of washing clothes,’ ‘they as bronchitis, measles, scarlet fever, often had no access to soap and to clean chicken pox and even the common running water,’ and ‘they did not realise cold, exposure to these diseases was the danger of sleeping in a wet dress or often fatal to Aboriginal populations. damp blanket. In putting on clothes they Added to this were other diseases such were often putting on burial garments.’29 as smallpox, tuberculosis and venereal The other big lifestyle-based cause of ill disease (such as syphilis) that were health and disease that came with the deadly for European and Aboriginal European population was alcohol. populations alike.24 As stated by Megan Goulding and Mary Changes to diet also became a source Menis, ‘by the 1850s alcoholism was of ill health and disease. Some changes endemic across the Victorian Aboriginal were caused by restricted access to population and contributed greatly traditional food – from land being to population decline.’30 Issues with fenced off, native animals being shot for alcohol were made worse by the fact sport and the introduction of hoofed that spirits were the primary form of animals such as sheep (which trampled drink in this period. William Thomas and destroyed native plants that had reported: ‘At the Merri Creek, one served as staple foodstuffs). For some, morning at daybreak, there were four these changes led to starvation, for or five lying bedded in the mud, drunk, others this led to the adoption of a not dead; cold comes on, and as soon as European style diet including refined 24 Christie, Aborigines in disease touches a black man’s chest you sugar, flour and offal, replacing what had Colonial Victoria, 42. cannot save him.’31 25 Christie, Aborigines in been a high-protein diet.25 The impact Colonial Victoria, 43. of a diet based on these introduced In June 1847, an epidemic of influenza 26 Clark and Kostanski, ‘An foodstuffs was made worse by the hit the large encampment at the Indigenous History of provision of rations that consisted of the confluence of the Yarra River and Merri Stonnington,’ 68–69. worst quality and cheapest grains and Creek particularly hard. Those who 27 Geoffrey Blainey, A meats available. survived the initial impact of disease Land Half Won (South Melbourne: Macmillan Movement away from a nomadic had to live with the grief and devastation within their community. In the wake Company), 91–92. life also had a massive impact on 28 Blainey, A Land Half the Wurundjeri’s health. Constant of this, what had once been a popular Won, 91–92; Clark and availability of European food led to and significant camping spot for the Kostanski, ‘An Indigenous Wurundjeri was no longer used to any History of Stonnington,’ gatherings of more Aboriginal people, 32 which in turn facilitated spread of great extent. This then acted as yet 68–69. 29 Blainey, A Land Half Won, disease.26 One of the reasons forSAMPLE another force to drive the Wurundjeri from their land. 91–92. travelling in small bands was to ensure 30 Megan Goulding and there was adequate food available Declining birthrates was another issue. Mary Menis, Moreland and to enable an area to regenerate The diseases mentioned above impacted Post-Contact Aboriginal once it had been exhausted. Moving the young more than the elderly, causing Heritage Study, Prepared camp after they had exhausted supply a decline in the number of people of for Moreland City Council (North Carlton: Goulding also prevented issues with natural childbearing age. Depression also may Heritage Consulting), 62. waste – ‘mobility gave them a sewerage have had a role to play. Both Billibellary, 31 Goulding and Menis, 27 system.’ By making permanent camps, Elder of the Wurundjeri, and Derrimut, Moreland Post-Contact the Aboriginal people had a greater Elder of the Yalukit-willam, are Aboriginal Heritage Study, exposure to germs, leading to a number repeatedly quoted as stating that there 62. of outbreaks of dysentery.28 Even the was no point having children as the 32 Clark and Kostanski, ‘An adoption of European dress caused the Europeans had taken all the land.33 On Indigenous History of Stonnington,’ 3–4, 179. Aboriginal people harm, preventing top of this, the European introduction 33 Broome, ‘Aboriginal their skin from absorbing the sunlight of syphilis caused sterility. Similarly, a Melbourne.’ that had previously aided in the decline in health from dietary and other 34 Blainey, A Land Half Won, destruction of bacteria. Furthermore, changes also affected fertility.34 91–92.

70 From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Thema

Ultimately, the introduction of Aboriginal people, referring them to the European diseases and lifestyle-related protectorate as their responsibility. health problems had a devastating Official violence also came in the form and ongoing impact on the Aboriginal of criminal executions, with the first people of Victoria. executions in the district being two Aboriginal men, Tunnerminnerwait Violence and Maulboyheenner. These men were Violence was a common issue in frontier among the group of Aboriginal men and history across Australia, and Victoria women who were brought over from was no exception. While many British Van Diemen’s Land by Robinson, but colonists and officials ‘were benign if broke away and engaged in a campaign sanctimonious … a large proportion of resistance against the Europeans. of colonists moved from a sense of Sexual violence against Aboriginal superiority to a feeling of contempt … women was common throughout the Contempt, combined with greed for Victorian frontier. One of the first acts the land, fear and insecurity, led to of the Port Phillip Association, following 35 violence.’ the creation of Batman’s treaty, was In the Yarra area of Melbourne, assisting with the return of Aboriginal reports of Wurundjeri-willam violence women abducted from Victorian against Europeans are limited, despite coastline areas by sealers and whalers. intense provocation and a number William Thomas also recorded a number of confrontations.36 In part, this was of instances of rape in his reports. because the rapid increase of the Such instances would often occur at European population in and around the Aboriginal camps on the borders of Melbourne limited the ability of the the growing town of Melbourne. These local Aboriginal population to form a were seen by the European population resistance. It would be wrong, however, as a place of curiosity; ‘a place of to state that there was no violence in the entertainment, drunkenness, gunfire, Melbourne region. Relations between violence, and interracial sex.’39 the Wurundjeri and Europeans were influenced by the guerrilla warfare that Not all violence was interracial. There was occurring in outlying areas. Word were ongoing feuds between different of this conflict accentuated fears in the clans within the Kulin, and established city area, and influenced the attitudes of enmity between members of the Kulin many colonialists. and those outside, such as the Gunai/ Kurnai from the Gippsland area. While the official British policy towards the Aboriginal population was one of These conflicts were exacerbated by protection, instances of institutional the sprawl of European settlement violence still occurred, particularly as pushing Aboriginal groups outside their a result of police inaction. There were traditional boundaries. The introduction many who did not like the Aboriginal of alcohol into Aboriginal society also camps being close to the town, and in fuelled domestic violence. When asked April 1840, when there was a gathering about murder among the Aboriginal of six or seven hundred Kulin, their people by the Select Committee of the miaSAMPLE mias (bark huts) were burnt and Legislative Council on the Aborigines the camp dismantled.37 Other acts of in 1859, William Thomas stated that the violence, harassment and indignities only murder that occurred within the 35 Garden, Victoria, 53–4. frequently occurred on the streets of Wurundjeri while he was with them was 36 Ellender and Melbourne. Such acts included beatings brought about by intoxication. Christiansen, People of the and horse whippings, often in response Merri Merri, 22–3. Between 1836 and 1844, an estimated 37 Ellender and to acts that the European population 40 European and 113 Aboriginal people 38 Christiansen, People of the ‘perceived as begging.’ Such acts of were officially recorded as killed in Merri Merri, 129. violence were perpetrated by Europeans conflicts in the Port Phillip area. It is 38 Ellender and of all classes. Violence against the worth noting, however, that ‘officials Christiansen, People of the Aboriginal people served only to routinely tried to obscure the high rate Merri Merri, 127; Christie, increase the number of infractions of Aboriginal deaths.’40 Aborigines in Colonial against British law committed by them. Victoria, 50–1. While the police were quick to enforce 39 Edmonds, Urbanizing Pollution Frontiers, 142. laws against Aboriginal people in the 40 Edmonds, Urbanizing town, they often refused to take action One of the more pervasive aspects Frontiers, 123. in response to crimes committed against of European settlement was the

From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 71 Thema

pollution of the air and water. While the a cesspit, frequently not water tight, Wurundjeri lifestyle had a low impact on so waste would filter through the the environment, the European lifestyle ground, and overflow would go out took a heavy toll. A particular problem in the gutter. Waste from those living for the Wurundjeri was pollution around on the Fitzroy hill would travel down the confluence of the Merri Creek and to the Collingwood flat, meaning the the Yarra River – an important meeting cesspits there also gathered this waste. place for the Wurundjeri and visiting Barrett notes that ‘Often the contents, Aboriginal people, and also the base for augmented by rainwater, overflowed the Merri Creek School, Native Police around, and even under, buildings.’44 By and Protectorate Station. Noxious the late 1850s, nightmen were employed trades established along the river, to collect sewage, but many simply particularly in Collingwood, Abbotsford dumped it, with most ending in the and Richmond, were some of the worst Yarra. offenders. Historian Bernard Barrett The Wurundjeri’s experience of this states that settlers were attracted to pollution has not been recorded, but it these areas ‘because of the free water cannot be doubted that this would have supply for washing skins and wool and had an extremely negative impact. Their as a sewer and garbage dump.’41 This drinking water was fouled, noxious dumping ground was the drinking smells polluted the air and the land was water supply for both Europeans and littered with the by-products of life in Aboriginal people. the settlement. The process for fellmongery and woolwashing involved soaking animal Establishment of municipal hides in the river for days, then in hot government and the impact on water, soap and soda that was later dumped back into the river (along with the Wurundjeri pelts, heads and legs of the animals). In 1836, Governor Bourke received Tanneries also soaked the animal hides authorisation from the Colonial in the river, then in lime water, then Secretary in London to allow private river water again. Sometimes they also settlement in the Melbourne area, soaked the hides in a mix of water and stating it was for the protection of the 41 Barrett, The Inner fowl or pigeon dung, which, along with Aboriginal people and the establishment Suburbs, 88. the hair that was scraped off, was later of law. William Lonsdale was appointed 42 Barrett, The Inner dumped into the river. Soap and candle- police magistrate of the Port Phillip Suburbs, 89–90. making from boiled down animal fat District in September that year. The 43 Barrett, The Inner Suburbs, 88. also contributed to the air pollution, first move towards establishment of a 44 Barrett, The Inner 42 which could be smelt for miles around. local government, however, occurred at Suburbs, 76. The result of an 1851 enquiry by the a public meeting three months earlier. 45 ‘Public meeting agrees Melbourne City Council was to prohibit One of the decisions reached at this on temporary method of government,’ minutes of any new fellmongers or tanners. meeting was: ‘that all subscribing parties pledge themselves to afford protection residents’ meeting, June However, a second enquiry in 1854 1836, cited in Pauline showed that the number had increased, for the Aborigines to the utmost of their Jones, ed., Beginnings of and that combined they were handling power and further that they will not Permanent Government: 5000 sheepskins and 200 cattle hides teach them the use of firearms or allow Historical Records of 43 SAMPLEtheir servants to do, nor on any occasion Victoria (Melbourne: per week. allow the Aborigines to be in possession Victorian Government The everyday lifestyle of settlers of any firearms.’45 Printing Office, 1981), living in suburbs such as Fitzroy and 36–8. Collingwood also had impacts on While there are few references to the 46 Edmonds, ‘The Intimate, the landscape. There was no general Aboriginal people in official notices Urbanising Frontier: garbage collection service, so household of motion, by-laws were created that Native Camps and Settler directly affected Aboriginal people. The Colonialism’s Violent waste was simply thrown into yards Array of Spaces around and trampled underfoot. Anything not Dog Act of 1844, for example, ‘ensured Early Melbourne’ in eaten by household animals such as that the “hoards” of diseased dogs, if Tracey Banivanua Mar dogs, chickens, goats, cows and pigs, unregistered, were routinely killed in and Penelope Edmonds, was then dumped in the laneways, the streets.’ Assistant Protector William eds., Making Settler streets, swamps or drains. Rubbish Thomas stated that the women in camps Colonial Space: Perspectives dumped in drains would flow downhill ‘cried for their dogs.’46 A week later, this on Race, Place and Identity (New York: Palgrave to the flat, and eventually to the Yarra. Aboriginal group that included these Macmillan, 2010), 136. The other issue associated with drains women left the settlement ‘on account 47 Edmonds, ‘The Intimate, 47 was sewerage. Most households used of their dogs being killed.’ Urbanising Frontier,’ 136.

72 From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 Thema

The bulk of items for consideration Wurundjeri today by newly formed councils during this Despite the impacts of colonisation, time are concerned with public works the strong bonds between Wurundjeri – the development of streets, drainage, families and clans could not be broken. buildings, and locations for bathing Today, the Wurundjeri are active in houses, manure deposits and so forth. the community – practising culture, This in itself is telling regarding the performing ceremonies and passing on post-contact story of the Aboriginal knowledge to the younger generation. people, as it is the story of the land being taken over and reshaped, pushing out Please visit www. Aboriginal people. While the European aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au for a population was reshaping the landscape longer version of this article, an interactive and overlaying their ideas of order onto map of significant sites and a selection of it, the Aboriginal people continued to videos. occupy the land, inscribing their own ideas onto it. It was a simultaneous occupation of the land underpinned by disparate understandings of what it meant to occupy the land.

SAMPLE

From Agora vol. 48, no. 4, 2013 73 Praktikos

An Artist on the Goldfields: The Extraordinary Legacy of S.T. Gill

Engaging visual tasks based on the artwork of the Victorian goldfields.

Marion Littlejohn, The Sovereign Hill Museums Association

Today the work of colonial artist Samuel Thomas • What do you think is happening in this picture and Gill (1818–1880) is highly sought after. Disregarded why? in artistic circles for many years, Gill has left us an • When was it produced? amazing record of life in South Australia during the • Why might S.T. Gill have painted the picture? 1840s and Victoria, in particular the goldfields, in the 1850s. His vibrant sketches and watercolours of people • Who seems to be in the most powerful position in engaged in everyday activities constitute an incredibly the scene? rich resource for students andSAMPLE historians. The • What is suggested about the relationship between Sovereign Hill Museums Association in Ballarat has Aboriginal people and Europeans? used Gill’s work as a reference point for staff costumes • What evidence is there that this sort of event took and when recreating the old post office, diggings area, place in Victoria? John Alloo’s restaurant and butcher’s shambles. • Which emotions might Gill be trying to evoke in the Born in Devon, England, Gill arrived in South viewer? Australia in 1839 at the age of twenty-one. For the • What kind of reaction might this picture have next thirteen years he earned his living producing prompted in 1864? portraits and in 1846 he accompanied the explorer J. • Is this a primary or a secondary source? (be careful, A. Horrocks on his expedition to Spencer Gulf. Many note date of creation) watercolours of bush scenes survive from this time and Gill later called on his memories and sketches to • To what extent is the picture a reliable piece of produce a picture he called Attack on Store Dray, which historical evidence? was published in Melbourne in 1864. • What does it suggest about European fears and This representation (pictured above) can stimulate beliefs? deep discussion in your class if you explore inquiry • How might such a representation have been used to questions like: political ends?

From Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 79 Praktikos

• What does this painting make you • Why might the men be wearing knee- ABOVE LEFT: The New think about? high boots? Rush, by S.T. Gill. A color plate from The Australian In 1852 Gill, along with thousands of • Why might someone have taken a dog Sketchbook Melbourne, others, was lured to Victoria by the along? published by Hamel & news of the alluvial gold discoveries • Would you describe this scene as a Ferguson (Melbourne, 1865) around Ballarat and Bendigo. Possibly held in the collection of the rush? Explain. Gold Museum Ballarat. because of his preference for too much A more sophisticated class might alcohol, he was unsuccessful as a digger consider the impact on the environment ABOVE CENTRE: Diggers of and frequently short of money. To High Degree, sketched on the and the Indigenous inhabitants and how spot, by S.T. Gill. earn a living he reverted to selling his this experience will change the lives of sketches, many of which were turned those involved. ABOVE RIGHT: Diggers of into hand-coloured lithographs. The Low Degree, sketched on the numerous lively images produced at this The New Rush can also be used as a spot, by S.T. Gill. time have left us an invaluable insight stimulus for a creative exercise such into everyday life on the goldfields in the as: put yourself in the shoes of one of the PREVIOUS PAGE: Attack characters you see and write a letter home on Store Dray, by S.T. Gill. time before colour photography. In 1853 A colour plate from The twenty-four such works were published to your family telling of your hopes and Australian Sketchbook, in the book Victoria Gold Diggings and adventures. published by Hamel & Diggers As They Are. At the time they Another way to use Gill’s work is Ferguson (Melbourne, 1864) were pored over by an excited public in held in the collection of the to ask students to select four to six Gold Museum Ballarat. Melbourne and London. contemporary images of the goldfields, In 1869 the Melbourne Public Library beginning with The New Rush, and make All images courtesy of the Gold Museum, Ballarat. (later to become the State Library a storyboard for each. The images could of Victoria) commissioned Gill to be presented as a photo-story with produce forty drawings of the Victorian relevant quotes added in a soundtrack. goldfields as they were in 1852–53. In the process students will be viewing, These watercolours can be used to good selecting, researching and analysing effect in the classroom, particularly in primary sources. exercises assessing whether artworks Podcasts of suitable quotes are available created from on-the-spot sketches done from the Sovereign Hill Education sixteen years earlier should be classified website audio library. These include as primary or secondary sources, and extracts from writers who visited the whether or not this compromises their goldfields plus a selection of readings value as evidence. from a Ballarat miner’s diary, now Presenting students with the image The owned by the State Library of Victoria, New Rush (pictured above) wouldSAMPLE be an which records in meticulous detail the excellent way to introduce the topic of daily life of a Scottish miner living in gold to your class. You might ask your Ballarat in 1855.1 students: It is with some justification that Gill is • Where might these people be going? best remembered for his documentation • What are they carrying and why? of daily life on the diggings. He was a • When and where do you think this prolific artist who left behind a wealth scene is occurring? of accessible images, many containing perceptive social observations. Gill • What might the people be hoping and often liked to comment on the society dreaming? he saw around him through his art. • Are there any women and children? A favourite ploy was to produce two • Which modes of transport can you images depicting opposing views. For see? example, if we were to mistakenly study 1 These podcasts can be found at www.education. • Are they using temporary or only the Diggers of Low Degree sketch sovereignhill.com.au/ permanent shelters? Why? (pictured above) we might conclude teachers/podcasts/.

80 From Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 Praktikos

ABOVE LEFT: Butcher’s that the goldfields were lawless places In Butcher’s Shamble (pictured above) Shamble, Forest Creek, by S.T. inhabited by pugilistic, drunken, Gill has again drawn a rough worker Gill. uneducated classes. However, Gill is reading a newspaper. You could ask ABOVE RIGHT: Diggers Hut careful to counterbalance this view students: Canvas & Bark 1852, by S.T. by presenting us with the opposing • Was there a high level of literacy on Gill. image Diggers of High Degree (pictured the goldfields? opposite), in which we see well- educated gentlemen working a claim. • What implications might this have had (Note the deliberate inclusion of a for the development of democratic book lying next to the shovel, a kettle government in the young colony? for making tea and hints of a tailored • How did news spread at Forest Creek? waistcoat and silk handkerchief.) Gill • Would a newspaper editor have been is pointing out that all classes of people an influential person? took off for the goldfields where, for possibly the first time in history, all • How are these men earning a living? people (well, all males of Anglo origin!) • Where would the meat the butcher is were equal and where Australian selling have come from? democracy began to flourish. • Who else earned a living supplying Similar instances of contrast are given in services and entertainment to the the pairs Provident Diggers in Melbourne/ diggers? Improvident Digger in Melbourne and • Did you have to find gold to become Lucky Digger that Returned/Unlucky rich on the goldfields? Digger that Never Returned. In these Not everyone was successful on the pairs Gill is asking us to think about the goldfields and Gill makes this point complexity of life on the diggings and very strongly in The Invalid Digger the wide diversity of human reactions (pictured over). Here we see a rather and experiences. Students could tragic figure down on his luck, suffering compare and contrast the pictures, toothache and blisters, with only his dog research the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of the for company. Is he completely without goldfields, or compose poems from the hope? He has a leg of lamb waiting to be different points of view. cooked for dinner, the sun is shining and In Diggers Hut (pictured above), obvious beside the bark shelter are his mining deductions can be made regarding tools – his pick and shovel. Today might building styles, mining tools, cooking be grim but on the goldfields tomorrow methods, diet and health. But the image always offered hope. of two young men dressed in rough working-classSAMPLE attire sitting in front of a This sketch Invalid Digger is useful as primitive dwelling while avidly reading an example of the problems presented a newspaper creates a strange paradox. by sketches in terms of their historical These men are literate. You might ask accuracy and usefulness as evidence. students: A simple google images search for ‘Gill Invalid Digger’ will quickly reveal that • Where have they come from? Gill created several versions of this • Where did they learn to read? sketch. In one he shows a leg of lamb • Why are they prepared to live in such hanging on the tent ridge pole waiting appalling conditions? to be cooked for dinner. But in another • What might their hopes and version there is no meat and the digger’s aspirations be? prospects are, therefore, gloomier. How • What kind of society would men like does this discrepancy effect the value of these hope to create? these sketches as evidence of life on the goldfields? • Are these men typical of the thousands of people on the diggings? Although sketches of men predominate, How do you know? Gill does not totally neglect women.

From Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 81 Praktikos

FAR LEFT: Zealous Gold Digger Bendigo, by S.T. Gill.

LEFT: The Invalid Digger, by S.T. Gill.

The famous scene Zealous Gold Diggers work are found in the National Library (pictured above) can be used at face (Canberra), the Mitchell Library value as evidence of the presence of (Sydney), the National Gallery of women on the goldfields (though Victoria, the Art Galleries of New South they were vastly outnumbered by Wales and South Australia, and the men) and the appalling conditions Gold Museum in Ballarat. For me he is they endured. If you are planning a more than an artist – he is an invaluable visit to the Children’s Cemetery at eyewitness to history. Gill’s works Pennyweight Flat near Castlemaine this deserve to be scrutinised as historical image provides a sobering illustration evidence lest his extraordinary insights of why infant mortality was so high on be forgotten. 2 the goldfields. However, all may not All images included in this article are be as it seems in this Gill work. This is from the collection of the Gold Museum a sketch, as opposed to a photograph, in Ballarat. A significant collection of so immediately it raises questions of Gill’s work is on permanent display in accuracy. You might ask students: the Ballarat: Inspired by Gold exhibition • Do artists always draw exactly what is at the Gold Museum.3 in front of them? All images can be easily found doing a • Can we be certain Gill was watching a simple google images search. Just type family group cradling for gold? Gill’s name followed by the title of the • What is the woman rocking? image into the search bar. • What is she holding? See worksheet opposite. • Could this picture be a cartoon involving a pun on the word cradle? 2 Pennyweight Flat • Do you think Gill witnessed this Children’s Cemetery scene, or, given the scarcity of women, is approximately two might he have been indulging in Bibliography kilometres from the wistful longing? Can we ever know? centre of Castlemaine. Books It contains almost 200 Students studying these images will burials, most in unmarked therefore be exposed to one ofSAMPLE the key Dutton, G. S.T. Gill’s Australia. graves, from a short- problems of historiography: the value Melbourne: Macmillan, 1981. lived gold rush to the and reliability of primary sources as Cannon, M. ed., The Victorian Gold nearby Pennyweight Flat. Almost all the burials in evidence. Is history just what someone Fields 1852–3, An Original Album by S. T. records and what is remembered? this cemetery are young Gill. South Yarra: John Clurrey O’Neil children. Just how valuable are artworks as Publishers, 1982. 3 The Gold Museum is evidence? Paintings are the view of only part of the Sovereign Hill one person. Could they be biased? Are Online Museums Association paintings as reliable as photographs? in Ballarat. The Gold The Australian Dictionary of Who and what does the artist leave out? Museum extends Bibliography online edition, www. Sovereign Hill’s story of It is interesting to note that in almost adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gill-samuel- Ballarat and is located all of Gill’s Ballarat images the sun is thomas-2096. in a modern building shining. Is this an accurate record of the opposite Sovereign Hill in weather conditions in Ballarat? Trove: Australia in Pictures, www.flickr. Bradshaw Street. Entry to com/groups/pictureaustralia_ppe/pool/ the Gold Museum is free Gill died a pauper in Melbourne in with your Sovereign Hill 1880 and for many years his work Sovereign Hill Education, www. ticket. Separate entry is was ignored. Today collections of his sovereignhill.com.au/education. also available.

82 From Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 Praktikos

Worksheet

Who can you see? What is happening in this scene?

Why do you think Gill might have drawn this sketch?

John Alloo’s Chinese Restaurant, Main Road, Ballarat, by S.T. Gill, 1855–56. Image courtesy of The Gold Museum, Ballarat.

How reliable is it as historical evidence?

Where is this scene?SAMPLEIs this a primary or a secondary source? Explain.

When was it drawn?

From Agora vol. 45, no. 2, 2010 83