He painted the law

William Westall, 'stone monuments' and remembrance of things past in the Sir Edward Pellew Islands

Bibliographic Data

ID2390963
AuthorsJohn Bradley (0000-0002-0356-6945, Monash University, Victoria, Australia,, corresponding author), John J Bradley, A Kearney (0000-0002-4559-0660, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia,)
Year2011
Volume16
Issue1
Pages25-45
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183510394946
OpenAlexW2328981472
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

Early colonial expeditions were responsible for the documentation of the Australian landscape, fauna, flora and the indigenous owners of the land. Today, these documentations remain: locked in archives and hanging on the walls of museums. Visual representations reflect artistic traditions of the time and the curiosities of colonial administrations. In this article, the authors discuss a painting by the artist William Westall, who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia from 1802. Westall's paintings depict objects of indigenous Australian material culture that hold significance for the Yanyuwa, indigenous owners of land and sea throughout the Sir Edward Pellew Islands, Australia. These objects are of the highest value to the Yanyuwa and are linked to ceremonial practices no longer performed. By direct reference to Westall's painting and Yanyuwa ethnography, the authors examine how people conceive of this material culture as something powerful as well as the nature of re-engagements that result from triggers to memory

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Colonialism · Documentation · Ethnography · Flora (microbiology · Indigenous · Painting · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Anthropology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Ecology