Arts Collected Works - Theses
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ItemImperialist nostalgia and the tide of history : the life and legacy of Edward M. Curr(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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Item"I like the native names" : Aboriginal place names in settler Australian culture(University of Melbourne, 2000)This thesis examines the use of Aboriginal words and place names by non-indigenous Australians from 1788 until the present. Place names with indigenous origins exist in large numbers on the maps of every state of Australia and are the result of an official preference for Aboriginal names that has spanned many generations. This thesis examines the origins and development of this official preference for indigenous name use with particular reference to New South Wales and Victoria. It also explores the many ways in which Aboriginal names have been used at a popular level for houses, boats, farms or homesteads. It argues that in a majority of cases (at both an official and popular level) indigenous name use is an example of cultural appropriation, for which Aboriginal linguistic diversity, cultural heritage and spatial organisation are largely irrelevant. The motives behind the appropriation of Aboriginal names are examined and, in particular, the role of Aboriginal place names in establishing an Australian national identity is explained. Consideration is given to the attitudes to actual indigenous people that accompanied the use of Aboriginal place names. The thesis asks whether non-indigenous use of Aboriginal names must always be described as appropriation or whether sensitive use can foster respect for indigenous cultures.