Creating Cultural Memory: Public Memorials to Asylum Seekers in Australia by Rebecca Cole Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) Master of Arts (Art History) A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 13 April 2017 School of Culture and Communication The University of Melbourne Abstract This thesis identifies and interrogates a new genre of public memorial in Australia – those to asylum seekers who sought to settle here, but who died at sea during their journey, thus never making it to Australian shores. The research seeks to answer the question: what function/s do Australian public memorials to asylum seekers serve and how do they achieve these functions? Drawing on concepts of the countermemorial, community collaborative practices and prosthetic memory, I argue that these memorials were initiated to create cultural memory and to challenge dominant government rhetoric that sought to dehumanise, make invisible and suppress not only public memory of such asylum seekers but also public debate about how they should be treated. The memorials analysed achieve this by invoking the bodies of the dead asylum seekers and requiring the bodily interaction of both the creators of the memorials and the viewers of the final objects. The research reveals the complex responses of Australian communities to ‘the other’ through the processes and forms they deploy for memorialisation. Declaration This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma to any university. To the best of my knowledge and understanding, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made within the thesis itself. The thesis is more than 80,000 and fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Rebecca Cole Date: 13 April 2017 Signed: i Acknowledgements There are many people without whom this thesis would not have reached completion. First among them are my supervisors Associate Professor Kate MacNeill and Dr Anthony White. Their constructive and detailed feedback on drafts, and enthusiasm for my research topic, has been invaluable. As my principal supervisor, Kate challenged me to think beyond my original proposal and to present, I hope, a more nuanced piece of research than would otherwise have been the case. She also provided inspiration and moral support, for which I am enormously grateful. I thank the University of Melbourne for financial support through GRATS and RAGS grants, which contributed to fieldwork costs and conference attendance. Completing a PhD can be an isolating experience; however, for me this was relieved by being able to share the process with my friend and study partner Juliet Fox – I thank her for those innumerable pomodoros and all the dumplings. Many stalwart friends acted as sounding boards and cheer squad, and their unwavering belief in my abilities was a constant motivator. I particularly thank Bronwyn Stocks and Siobhan O’Mara in this regard. Marie-Louise Symons deserves special mention for becoming my incredibly supportive and generous ‘completion coach’ and being more than patient with revision after revision to plans and schedules. I thank Manuela Hrasky for her years of wise counsel and for suggestions of readings that enriched my thinking and, I trust, the quality of the work presented here. I thank my colleagues at the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture for their flexibility, encouragement and interest in my research. In particular, I’m grateful to Ida Kaplan for her wisdom and insights throughout the research process and to Paris Aristotle for graciously supporting my decision to take up my PhD candidature. This thesis could not have come to fruition without the contributions of my research participants. I thank them for making themselves available for ii interviews, generously sharing their archives, and offering their personal insights and responses to the memorials under consideration. Particularly I thank Leslie Heath who assisted enormously in practical and personal terms during my fieldwork on Christmas Island. My parents have always encouraged my academic pursuits and this PhD was no different – I thank them for raising me to be intellectually curious and for their support throughout the research process. In particular, I thank my mother, August Cole, for introducing me to the Canberra SIEV X Memorial and in so doing sowing the seed that became this thesis. Finally, this research would not have been possible without my indefatigably generous and loving partner, Peter Cruttenden. In addition to being immeasurably grateful for the personal support he has shown, I thank him for his professional skills in proofreading (any infelicities in expression remain my own). I dedicate this thesis to him. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ i Declaration ....................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Australia – Social and Historical Context.................... 3 The Memorials: An Overview .......................................................................................... 8 Research Question ........................................................................................................ 14 Key Arguments .............................................................................................................. 14 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................ 17 Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................ 20 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 20 Memory Studies ............................................................................................................ 20 Countermemorials and Memorials ............................................................................... 29 Agency and Resistance .................................................................................................. 39 Community Collaborative Practice ............................................................................... 45 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3: Methods .............................................................................................................. 54 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 54 Research Question ........................................................................................................ 56 Research Approach ....................................................................................................... 56 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 59 Identifying Memorials ............................................................................................... 59 Data Collection Strategy ............................................................................................ 60 Archival and Literature Research .......................................................................... 60 Site Visits ............................................................................................................... 60 Interviews – Format and Participants ................................................................... 62 Interviews – Recruitment and Data Management ................................................ 66 Analytic Strategy ....................................................................................................... 68 iv Ethical Issues ................................................................................................................. 70 Considering the Recent Past ......................................................................................... 72 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4: Canberra SIEV X Memorial ................................................................................... 75 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 75 Background ................................................................................................................... 77 The SIEV X Story: Additional Background.................................................................