Reading' the Landsborough, Leichhardt and Gregory Explorer Trees of Northern Australia in Cultural Studies and Anthropology

Bibliographic Data

ID2963372
AuthorsRichard Martins (0000-0001-5600-1860, The University of Queensland, corresponding author), Richard James Martins, Richard James Martin
Year2013
Volume19
Issue2
Publication date2013-08-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1446-8123 • E-ISSN: 1837-8692
PublisherUniversity of Technology, Sydney (UTS) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5130/csr.v19i2.2814
OpenAlexW1968578367
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

This article examines theoretical as well as methodological issues provoked by different responses to three landmark trees marked by Europeans during the exploration of northern Australia. The first of these trees is an ironwood that was reportedly marked by Ludwig Leichhardt during his first expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington in 1844-45. The second tree is a coolibah marked by William Landsborough during his search for the missing Burke and Wills in 1862. The third is a boab tree marked by the explorer A. C. Gregory during the North Australia Exploring Expedition of 1855-56. Drawing on the results of fieldwork conducted at Borroloola, Burketown and Timber Creek since 2007, I highlight overlapping as well as divergent responses to these trees by local residents of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal descent, pointing to continuing struggle over the meaning of exploration, and colonisation, in northern Australia

Archaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Meaning (existential · Northern territory · Political science · Reading (process · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · History · Law · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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