School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemIndigenous representation in Australia's frontier and foreign wars( 2005)This thesis investigates the evolving perception of Australian identity and its impact on the commemoration of Indigenous soldiers. Structured around three case studies, this thesis follows a chronological timeline of commemorative practices characteristically colonial in its presentation of Indigenous Australian communities. The first chapter focuses on colonial constructions of national identity and its influences on the legacy of Captain Reginald Saunders, the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. Referencing his 1960s biography and textual memorial, The Embarrassing Australian by Harry Gordon, this thesis argues that it is only through the language of assimilation that Saunders was accepted as an "Australian" and appropriately commemorated for his military achievement. The second chapter highlights evolving perceptions of Australian history and national identity and the impact of Indigenous soldier commemoration within the Australian War Memorial. While the Memorial initially disregarded the Indigenous Australian contribution to the war effort, it has since evolved to acknowledge their role within its galleries. The final chapter looks at museums and their representation of Indigenous soldiers during the Frontier Wars. The portrayal of Indigenous soldiers, either as savages or warriors, among the museum displays and storyboards reflect how the nation chooses to publicly commemorate them. The methods adopted by museums reveal their rejection or acceptance of the Indigenous story of European colonization. By showing how forms of representation are tied to historical moments in regards to Indigenous soldiers and linking these commemorative trends with Australian national identity this research both adds to the body of literature on Australian commemoration and foreshadows an evolving trend where perceptions of "nation" are increasingly willing to embrace an Indigenous past into its definition.
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ItemThe private face of patronage: the Howitts, artistic and intellectual philanthropists in early Melbourne Society( 2005)This thesis investigates a case of upper-middle class, private patronage in Melbourne, focusing on three decades between 1840 and 1870. Evidence points to the existence of a lively circle of intellectual and artistic activity around the Quaker family of Dr Godfrey Howitt and his wife, Phebe, from the Midlands who arrived at the Port Phillip District in 1840. The presentation of a group of fine, rare colonial water-colours and drawings to the National Gallery of Victoria by a direct Howitt descendant, Mrs James Evans in 1989, was the point of inspiration for this subject. Godfrey Howitt, one of the first experienced medical practitioners in the colony, had much in common with the Superintendent of Port Phillip. Their friendship gave the Howitts entrée into the uppermost social circles of the colony. Financially, the family prospered due to Howitt's professional practice which insulated them against economic downturns and provided a steady accumulation of wealth. While as a Quaker, Phebe Howitt had little background in the fine arts, she began to exercise patronage in support of her artist friends, most of who arrived with the gold rush in 1852. With it came Godfrey Howitt's elder brother, William, a famous English author. In London in 1850, William and Mary Howitt's daughter, the feminist painter and writer, Anna Mary, had become engaged to Edward La Trobe Bateman. A brilliant designer and cousin of Superintendent La Trobe, Bateman introduced the young, still struggling Pre-Raphaelite artists with whom he was closely associated, to the English Howitts. Arriving in Melbourne in 1852, William was followed shortly afterwards by Bateman and two artists, including the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor, Thomas Woolner. The gold rush also attracted Eugene von Guérard, and Nicholas Chevalier in due course. In 1856, as a guest of the Howitts' on her first Victorian visit, Louisa Anne Meredith, writer, botanical artist and social commentator, was introduced to their artistic and literary circle. The Howitts' friendship with these artists thus took on a very different hue from the normal patterns of patronage. Beyond commissioning works of art from artists returning empty handed from the gold fields, Phebe Howitt supported them in other ways until suffering a catastrophic stroke towards the end of 1856. During that period, the founding of the new Victorian colony's cultural institutions became a source of official artistic commissions for the first time. Through friends in influential positions like Justice Redmond Barry and Godfrey Howitt, Bateman was employed in various design projects for new public buildings and gardens. With the purchase of Barragunda at Cape Schanck in 1860, Godfrey Howitt assumed a central role as patron. In making the house available to Bateman and his artist friends, he and his daughter, Edith Mary, repeated the unusual degree of patronage formerly exercised by Phebe Howitt before her illness. By 1869, Woolner, Bateman and Chevalier had departed the colony and from 1870, von Guérard was taken up with the National Gallery of Victoria. Although succeeding generations of the family maintained contact with all the artists in their circle, by Godfrey Howitt's death in 1873, the prime years of Howitt patronage had passed.
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ItemHistorical context, patronage and decoration of the Melbourne Livy( 2000)The end of the fourteenth century saw the production in Paris of translations of the Latin classics in large, de luxe format, such as the Melbourne Livy manuscript. This study examines the historical development of French vernacular literature prior to these productions. It is argued that the demand for vernacular translations was not a sudden phenomenon but resulted from a tradition that had begun three hundred years earlier, a tradition that was aided by the political, social and cultural climate existing in France at that time. Possible reasons why Jean le Bon chose Pierre Bersuire for the task of translating Livy's History of Rome are investigated. It is concluded that Bersuire was ideally suited for the task because he had access to the most complete Livy texts available at the time, he was a renowned academic and humanist and was a respected, senior member of the Church. Examining the linguistics of the translation is outside the scope of this study but the success of the translation is measured by other factors: the dissemination of the text, the lavishness of its copies, the use of the manuscripts and the impact of the translation on other translations. The Melbourne Livy is argued to have belonged to the Burgundian Court and was possibly a New Year's Day gift to Philippe le Hardi from Dino Rapondi in 1400. Because of the lack of documentary evidence, the argument is based on stylistic comparisons between the Melbourne Livy and three other manuscripts, which are the only extant manuscripts that were produced by the Rapondi brothers for Philippe le Hardi. The comparison concentrates mainly on border decorations, but miniatures are also compared. The similarities in the decorative elements identified by these comparisons support the contention that the four manuscripts were all produced in the one workshop so may have been intended for the one patron - Philippe le Hardi. The illustrative programme is then studied from the point of view of influences that impacted upon it as well as its possible aims. Apart from relating the Melbourne Livy programme to previous Livy manuscripts and the wider genre of historical narrative, the political, social and didactic influences are also gauged. It is concluded that the Melbourne Livy adequately served the social and political aims of its patron. Finally, in an attempt to answer the question raised by previous scholars regarding the number of artists involved in the programme, a detailed study of the miniatures is undertaken. It is my belief that three, or possibly four artists were involved. My findings confirm the attribution by Millard Meiss that the miniatures of the 'first artist' relate to the Cite des Dames Master; and that the 'second artist' is most likely the Polycratique Master as suggested by Francois Avril. The remaining artist or artists were strongly influenced by this latter Master. Because of the highly collaborative nature of manuscript illumination, however, no decisive conclusions are drawn.
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ItemColonizing concepts of Aboriginal rights in land in Port Phillip and South Australia in the 1830s( 2002)At a time when Anglo-Australian law purports to recognize Indigenous systems of land ownership through the doctrine of 'native title', it is pertinent to examine previous discourses of 'recognition' and their impact within the process of colonization. As Patrick Wolfe points out, the uncompensated Indigenous owner presents a discomforting obstacle to non-Indigenous claims over land and national belonging in Australia. Dealing with the 'problem' of the uncompensated Indigenous owner was therefore an important element of the colonization process in colonies of settlement such as South Australia and Port Phillip. While Some resolution of the outstanding 'rights of the Aborigines' was necessary for the completion of colonization, to enable the colonizers to 'settle', it also threatened to undo or prevent colonization, demanding a return of the resources appropriated during colonization. Through the techniques observed in this thesis, colonizers constantly balanced these two actions. Deborah Bird Rose describes these twin operations as the left and right hands of conquest: …the right hand of conquest is conceptualised as beneficent: it brings productivity, growth and civilisation where these had not existed before, transforming nature into culture.. . Indigenous Australia was not, and is not now, a series of absences ... The task of the left hand of conquest is to erase all this specit1c life. The left hand creates the tabula rasa which the right hand will then transform into growth and civilisation ... Finally, there is inevitably a great disjunction between the concept of progress, and the practice of destruction. There are many strategies whereby the right hand can deny what the left hand is doing. This thesis observes three discourses through which colonizers managed this dual task of ‘protectin’ Aboriginal rights and peoples while also appropriating Aboriginal lands - discourses of legal rights, econOl11ic concepts of ‘property’ and humanitarian obligation. The very delineation of these three discourses operated as an exercise of power by which colonizers c1aiIned to 'manage' Aboriginal rights in land while excluding Indigenous voices. The lines of distinction between these discourses - between 'ancient occupation' and 'proprietary right to the Soil, between 'a plain and sacred right' and 'some portion of their own land, - were the points at which colonizers strategically denied Indigenous systems of law as sovereign entities and Indigenous people as land-owning subjects.