RBTH 2239 RARE BOOKS LIB. S The University of Sydney Copyright and use of this thesis This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copynght Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act gran~s the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author's moral rights if you: • fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work • attribute this thesis to another author • subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author's reputation For further information contact the University's Director of Copyright Services Telephone: 02 9351 2991 e-mail: [email protected] Camels, Ships and Trains: Translation Across the 'Indian Archipelago,' 1860- 1930 Samia Khatun A thesis submitted in fuUUment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, University of Sydney March 2012 I Abstract In this thesis I pose the questions: What if historians of the Australian region began to read materials that are not in English? What places become visible beyond the territorial definitions of British settler colony and 'White Australia'? What past geographies could we reconstruct through historical prose? From the 1860s there emerged a circuit of camels, ships and trains connecting Australian deserts to the Indian Ocean world and British Indian ports. Aboriginal traders and travellers moving along railway lines, British Indian seafarers jumping ship at Australian ports, Muslim merchants and peddlers working camel tracks across deserts, left in their trail a rich archive of materials in their own languages. Whilst transnational history has emerged as a burgeoning area of writing in Australia, scholars have rarely engaged with materials beyond the English record. In this thesis I show that non-English language sources offer immense possibilities to take historical writing in Australia beyond the conceptual spaces of colony and nation. Examining South Asian and Aboriginal language records, in each chapter of this thesis I grapple with the pragmatic and conceptual challenges presented by working with a range of languages. Following the lead of postcolonial theorists I use and extend 'translation' as a productive metaphor for the methodologies necessary to discipline non-English language materials into historical scholarship in English. Examining a Bengali book of poetry, a Kuyani place-name, an Urdu memoir, Arabunna, Dhirarri and Dieri stories, an Arabic root word and Wangkangurru song­ poetry within the same analytic framework presents significant challenges. Yet a 2 circuitry of camels, ships and trains brought speakers of these languages into close, regular contact, intricately threading together Aboriginal lives, families and livelihoods with those of Indian Ocean travellers. Using a place-oriented framework to bring South Asian and Aboriginal language materials together, I map the multifaceted interconnections between the geographies of modernity inhabited by speakers of various tongues. With a twin analytical focus on language and place, in this thesis I treat 'translation' not only as a process of change between languages, but as a schema of physical mobility between places. Exploring multiple meanings of the word 'translation,' in this thesis I propose a palette of tentative solutions to the challenges of working with South Asian and Aboriginal language sources in the Australian context. Drawing upon the insights generated by scholars of Aboriginal history and postcolonial theory, this thesis extends the productive challenges they pose to the field of transnational history in Australia and offers significant contributions to Indian Ocean studies. Statement of Originality I declare that the research presented here is my own original work and has not been submitted to any other institution for the award of a degree. Signed: ........ 5.!~~~.......................... .................................... Date: ............ 21 August 2012 ............................................................ 3 ~ Dedicated to my mother Eshrat Hossain nee Mirza 27 December 1951- 12 June 2011 4 Acknowledgments This thesis was with me for six years. In that time it became entwined with some important relationships, gave me a good excuse to travel far and meet some extraordinary people. During research and writing I received financial support from an Australian Postgraduate Award, the Endeavour Asia Research Fellowship, two rounds of the Postgraduate Research Support Scheme and the John Merewether Fellowship awarded by the State Library ofNSW. I would like to thank my supervisor Penny Russell for steering me through innumerable difficult twists and bends to completion. Penny created a space in which I could think and write amidst increasing chaos. She encouraged me to take creative leaps, took it very calmly when I completely changed my topic three years into my candidature, then made tasks seem doable when I became overwhelmed. And finally when I tried to cut comers she wouldn't let me! She was an endless source of confidence in my ability to finish when I had none and it has been a luxury to have her as a teacher, mentor and a friend. Reg Dodd has been an influential and key interlocutor shaping this piece of writing. Discussions with Reg at various critical junctures propelled this thesis along and I thank him for sharing with me something of his relationship with his mother tongue at a time when I was reflecting on mine. For their family stories, letters and photos I would like to thank Lil Khan in Adelaide, Bobby Sharnrose and Janet Sharnrose in Broken Hill. I thank Jenny Camelleri from the Broken Hill Historical Society for all her assistance and my research in Adelaide would not have been possible without the love and warmth of Shona Russell. In Port Augusta Donna Cook, Aysha Zada and Karen Moosha invited me into their homes and I am indebted to wonderful Lal Zada and Christine for taking me to the Camel Cup in 2010. I thank the Marree community and in particular Fred Dodd, Paolo and Jan Whyte. I thank Toni Bauer and her family for asking me intriguing questions about their ancestors from the land of five rivers that I am still not able to answer. Richard Wilson was a wonderful co-traveller from Marree up to Oodnadatta and I am indebted to Phil Cox, Immy and Ariane Cox for taking me to Marree one final time when all my money had run out and all deadlines had passed. Over the course of research and writing I received important encouragement and feedback from Phillip Jones, Kirsten McKenzie, Pamela Rajkowski, Antoinette Burton, Isobel Hofrneyr, Richard Barz, Ann Curthoys, Ned Bertz, Alison Bashford, Ann McGrath, Sugata Bose, Tony Ballantyne, Luise Hercus and Jane Simpson. I am particularly indebted to Gabor Korvin from King Fahd University in Saudi Arabia who generously shared his research finds with me and answered my many questions. My research stay at Jadavpur University in Kolkata began with Supriya Chaudhuri taking me on an historical tour of the campus that I will never forget. My time in Kolkata would not have ben possible without the love and assistance of Sutanuka Bhattacharya and over many cups of cha with Nilanjana Deb, Abhijit Gupta, Moinak Biswas and Saswata Bhattacharya, Jadavpur proved a wonderful place to nurture my research obsessions. At the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, talking history and workshopping ideas with Bodhisattva Kar and Lakshmi Subramanian was an absolute delight. At the National Library when I visited Gautam Bhadra he yelled 5 at me "you seculars are ruining history" and I am indebted to him for kick starting what I hope will be a productive and creative relationship with stuff I don't believe in. Zeena Elton and Ben Spies-Butcher, my co-workers at the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, were exceptional, talented co-travellers on the PhD journey who taught me an enormous amount about negotiating between the worlds of academia and activism. At Redfern and Koolunga I am blessed to have enjoyed stories, laughter and time with Ali Cobby Eckermann whose powerful, sustaining relationship to words has been a constant source of inspiration and joy. My friends Noah Pleshet, Devleena Ghosh, Steve Ward, Geordie Williamson, Chris Jefferis, Sayam Ghosh, Huon Curtis, Titas Chakraborty, Ammel Sharon, Yagna Nag Choudhury, Jason Keith Fernandes, have all been dragged into reading, workshopping and proofmg various parts of my writing. And I am indebted to Shubham Roy Choudhury for his patient help with Bengali. With Altin Gavranovic, Jemima Mowbmy, Alecia Prudence Simmonds and Sophie Loy-Wilson I have shared the high highs and the low lows from the earliest days to the dark dark end of the PhD journey. My special love to Jemima who formatted the beast and to Altin who calmly insisted at 3am on the morning that the thesis was due and that after twelve years at the University of Sydney it was time to break up with the institution and submit. ToNic Low, Ben Wilson, Jolm De Satge, Naomi Cook, Willie Leslie, Naomi McCarthy and Paulina Fusitu'a I offer my gratitude for dragging me away from my desk, bringing me flowers, and not ignoring me when I emerged from the thesis-cage periodically. Now that I am free I hereby promise to repay your patience and love by: hiking in the South Island of New Zealand; Visiting Karratha; Surfmg with little regard for the value of human life, just once.