‘Years ago some lived here’: Aboriginal Australians and the production of popular culture, history and identity in 1930s Victoria

‘An edifying spectacle’: A history of ‘tourist corroborees’ in Victoria, Australia, 1835–1870

“…The correspondent reported: 'We agreed to walk out as far as the camping ground at the ever famous Swamp [now Lake Wendouree] to see the blackfellow's corroboree…Groups of well dressed Europeans, both males and females were gathered around to witness the strange forms and stranger evolutions of this singular race…' (Border Post 1857, p. 2). Healy (2006) confirms that the considerable interest in nineteenth century Victorian Aboriginal cultural performances was far from being an elitist, intellectual pursuit but was in fact occurring at a very popular level. In the context of European racial discourse, Tsari Anderson (1997) considers that reports of this nature reveal the high level of interest 'Europeans in nineteenth century Australia showed in the "peculiarities" of Aboriginal culture and society; of the way Aboriginal people were viewed as remarkably different, even opposite, to Europeans; and of the general confusion between race and culture' (Anderson 1997, p. 9).…”

“…For example, in the Minutes of the Ballarat Mechanic's Institute in February 1879 there are references to the hire of a lecture hall for an 'Aboriginal Concert' that had been held. Presumably this was an instance of non-Indigenous goldfields promoters trading on a 'modernist preoccupation with primitivism' (Healy, 2006) which Aboriginal performances provided (Ballarat Mechanic's Institute Committee, 1879). Healy's (2006, p. 18) observations upon the wide spread appeal enjoyed by Aboriginal performances in Victoria during the 1930s (built upon the generational interest generated in the nineteenth century), indicates that their popularity 'far from being an elitist, intellectual pursuit, was occurring at a very popular level' (Healy 2006, p. 18).…”

Tourist Visitation to Ebenezer Aboriginal Mission Station, Victoria, Australia, 1859–1904: A Case Study

“…Consistent with this view, in order to position tourism at Ebenezer Mission within an historical context, it is necessary to document tourist visitation to similar mission sites in Victoria (e.g., Attwood, 1989;Cannon, 1969;Carolane, 2008;Cato, 1976;Clowes, 1911;Comettant, 1980;Finlayson, 1991;Healy, 2006;James, 1877;Jensz, 2008;Longmire, 1985;Lydon, 2005aLydon, , 2005bLydon, , 2009Massola, 1975;Prior, 1889;Trollope, 1967).…”

“…The study of tourist visitation to Aboriginal missions in Victoria has primarily focused on visits to functioning sites or sites where Aboriginal communities are or were in residence, such as Carolane's (2008) study of tourism at Lake Tyers in the 1870s and 1880s and Healy's (2006) study of tourist visitation to Lake Tyers in the 1930s to view Aboriginal performances and purchase Aboriginal souvenirs. The visitors to Lake Tyers at this time "numbered thousands per year and authorities attempted to control the visitation by reducing visiting days from 3 to 2 a week despite opposition from local businesses who believed they would suffer from less tourist traffic" (Healy, 2006, p. 30).…”