Bayini, Macassans, Balanda, and Bininj : defining the Indigenous past of Arnhem land through culture contact
Date
2014
Authors
Wesley, Daryl Lloyd
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This study has set out to investigate unresolved issues regarding the chronology, nature, and subsequent impacts from culture contacts between South East Asian maritime communities, Europeans, and northern Australian Indigenous populations. These issues include the question of whether there is archaeological evidence for pre-Macassan visitation in north western Arnhem Land. Therefore an important aim included assessing whether it is possible to measure the level of interaction and impact the trepang industry and later European economies had on local Indigenous communities through the investigation of the archaeological record from the Wellington Ranges, coastal region of Anuru Bay, and South Goulburn Island. Within the scope of this aim, it was important to re-assess and radiocarbon date the well-known Malara (Anuru Bay A) trepang processing site in order to gain a greater understanding of the intensity and frequency of Macassan (and possibly pre-Macassan) occupation, trepang processing, and contact with Aboriginal people. The results of this study support a longer timeframe of culture contact occurring from the early to mid-17th Century with a proliferation in the Macassan trepang processing industry from the mid-1700s.The study also aimed to investigate the complexity of change in Indigenous society during the culture contact period through documentation and analysis of the Indigenous archaeological record (material culture, rock art assemblages) at the Malarrak, Djulirri, and Maliwawa rockshelter complexes in the Wellington Range. This involved an examination of the spatial distribution of Indigenous rock art and archaeological sites to assess changes in residential mobility (both local and regional), resource utilisation, and impacts on Indigenous customary trade and exchange. A particular focus of this study analysed changes in Indigenous rock art production within western Arnhem Land that occurred during the culture contact period. This archaeological evidence has also been evaluated in conjunction with historical, ethnographic, linguistic, and anthropological records. The changes that occurred in Indigenous society accompanied by culture contact have been assessed using the Indigenous hybrid economy model developed by Altman (2006). This thesis argues that the archaeological evidence (i.e. occurrence of beads, rock art paintings of firearms and ships) establishes the presence of an operating hybrid economy between Indigenous people, Europeans, and Macassans. The operation of the hybrid economy allowed for Indigenous people to negotiate and interact with others based on customary law and tradition to influence the outcomes in these exchanges, such as allowing others to be on their country and to utilise their resources (i.e. trepang, buffalo). Building on Mitchell (1994) and Clarke's (1994) models of culture contact, this study proposes that western Arnhem Land culture contact proceeds and then transforms during five significant temporal phases consisting of (a) pre-Macassan, (b) Macassan, (c) Colonial, (d) Mission, and (e) Welfare economic periods.
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