The archaeology of culturally modified trees: Indigenous economic diversification within colonial intercultural settings in Cape York Peninsula, northeastern Australia

Morrison, Michael; Shepard, Emily E.

doi:10.1179/0093469013z.00000000044

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Previous research has shown that by at least the 1940s, the missions at Weipa and Mapoon were deploying physical and social measures to enforce segregationist and assimilationist agendas and policies (Morrison et al . ; Morrison & Shepard ; Sutton ). Results presented here indicate that some of these practices were unique to the second mission settlement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Their God is their belly”: Moravian missionaries at the Weipa Mission (1898–1932), Cape York Peninsula

Morrison

McNaughton

Keating

2015

Archaeology in Oceania

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The Weipa Mission (1898–1932) on Cape York Peninsula (north‐eastern Australia) was one of seven Australian missions designed and staffed by the Moravian Church during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We present findings of archaeological and historical research that illustrate key aspects of the settlement's development and operations. Moravian missionaries at Weipa aimed to create a built landscape that reshaped Aboriginal social, cultural and economic relations, with particular emphasis on children through the use of a dormitory system. However, their efforts were mediated by the open spatial and social boundaries of the settlement, which enabled Aboriginal people to make choices about the nature and extent to which they engaged with the mission. Adopting a political economy approach, we show that this openness emerged through complex social relationships between missionaries and Aboriginal people. While missionaries required access to children and adults, they lacked the ability (or will) to maintain a resident population through force, with limited financial resources also hampering their activities. Instead, Aboriginal people came and went from the settlement, with some establishing and maintaining social relationships with missionaries to access economic and social benefits. We argue that these social relationships led to the development of the settlement as a more open domain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Their God is their belly”: Moravian missionaries at the Weipa Mission (1898–1932), Cape York Peninsula

Morrison

McNaughton

Keating

2015

Archaeology in Oceania

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“…Indeed, the presence of scarred trees of a likely post-contact age in close association with shell mounds is also strongly suggestive of continued use of the mound complex itself in the post-contact period. As such, it is likely that shell matrix site formation continued in this area until the early contact period, when there was a major transformation in regional economies and settlement patterns, and characterised by short-duration forays from mission settlements (Morrison 2010;Morrison and Shepard 2013;Morrison et al 2015). While there is no direct evidence of post-contact use of mound sites at Mandjungaar, elsewhere in the region there are indications of post-contact use of shell and earth mounds as indicated by the presence of modified glass on and within mound deposits (Morrison 2015;Ó Foghlú et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…comm., 2004) used to describe what are referred to elsewhere as a 'palette or resin bat made of ironwood [Erythrophleum chlorostachys, the Cooktown Ironwood], with a wallaby incisor set in its handle, which was used for smoothing heated resin or wax and for engraving' (Sutton 1994:48). The axe-cut scars are associated with the extraction of sugarbag, or wild honey, and are strongly suggestive of post-contact residential food production which is well-documented on the Weipa Peninsula Morrison and Shepard 2013).…”

Section: Field Surveysmentioning

confidence: 93%

Report on excavation of a shell mound site at Mandjungaar, western Cape York Peninsula

Morrison

Wight

Evans

2018

QAR

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This report presents results of excavation and analysis of a shell mound deposit at Mandjungaar, near Weipa, Cape York Peninsula. This study was initiated as a cultural heritage management project focused on a shell mound damaged by unauthorised clearing of access tracks. This study included a small research component to establish a baseline understanding of longer-term use history of the Mandjungaar area at the request of Ndrua'angayth custodians. This included excavation and analysis of a test pit at the site. Results of the study are presented and contextualised in relation to previous research on the Weipa Peninsula in order to expand our understanding of the wider cultural history of the southern Weipa Peninsula. These results provide further support for the assertion that shell mound formation in the Albatross Bay region involved food production activities that were strategically focused on estuarine mud and sandflat ecosystems. In doing so, this dataset provides additional support for the previously proposed niche production model of shell mound formation.

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“…Recently, however, there has been a switch to a more inclusive view of the overall archaeology found in the landscape, including surface distributions of stone artefacts, scarred trees, low‐lying shell middens, earth mounds and historical remains associated with the pastoral industry and missions established since contact (Shiner & Morrison ). Oral history and traditional knowledge have further highlighted places of Traditional Owner significance (Morrison , ,b; Morrison & Shepard ).…”

Section: Weipa Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

New dates for earth mounds at Weipa, North Queensland, Australia

Brockwell

Foghlú

Fenner

et al. 2016

Archaeology in Oceania

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This paper reports new radiocarbon determinations for late Holocene occupation in the Weipa region of Far North Queensland, Australia. Earth mounds along the margins of small wetlands and freshwater creeks developed mainly after 2200 years ago, but are concentrated within the past 500 years. Their establishment appears to be associated with changing environmental conditions and a regional increase in the availability of permanent water sources around 2200 and 500 years ago. These results have implications for earth mound chronology and possibly climate change understanding elsewhere in Northern Australia.

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The archaeology of culturally modified trees: Indigenous economic diversification within colonial intercultural settings in Cape York Peninsula, northeastern Australia

Cited by 20 publications

References 31 publications

“Their God is their belly”: Moravian missionaries at the Weipa Mission (1898–1932), Cape York Peninsula

“Their God is their belly”: Moravian missionaries at the Weipa Mission (1898–1932), Cape York Peninsula

Report on excavation of a shell mound site at Mandjungaar, western Cape York Peninsula

New dates for earth mounds at Weipa, North Queensland, Australia

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