Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia

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The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia
Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia.jpg
Author David Horton
Subject Aboriginal Australians
Genre Encyclopaedia
PublisherAboriginal Studies Press
Publication date
1994
Publication placeAustralia
Media typeBook and CD-ROM
Awards
ISBN 0-85575-234-3 (CD-ROMs 0-85575-261-0 and 0-85575-278-5)
994.0049915

The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture, edited by David Horton, is an encyclopaedia published by the Aboriginal Studies Press at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in 1994 and available in two volumes or on CD-ROM covering all aspects of Indigenous Australians lives and world (such as biography, history, art, language, sport, education, archaeology, literature, land ownership, social organisation, health, music, law, technology, media, economy, politics, food and religion). There are 2000 entries and 1000 photographs, with the CD-ROM having 250 sound items and 40 videos.

Contents

A map showing all of the Aboriginal groups, "based on language, history, self-identification, culture, [and] technology" as in the Encyclopaedia, was created by Horton in 1996 (and later updated).

Description

The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture was first published in two volumes, containing 1340 pages of entries and illustrations, in 1994. [1]

According to Horton, The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia was "the first significant authoritative and comprehensive reference on all aspects of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture". It covers all major subject categories, including history, art, economy, food, health, land ownership, language, law, literature, and music, as well as more recent political issues and biographies. [2]

Over 200 contributors wrote articles for the Encyclopaedia, many of them Indigenous writers, activists or scholars. The editor chose to mention white people in the Encyclopaedia only where they had some impact on Aboriginal society. [3] There about 2000 entries and about 1000 photographs, maps and drawings. Two main themes are attributed to every article: Geographic Region and General subject. [4] Prominent Aboriginal Australians Charles Perkins, David Mowaljarlai, and Galarrwuy Yunupingu all wrote endorsements to be printed on the cover of the book. [2]

The work is aimed at a wide audience, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and it is written for general as well as academic readers. Most entries are followed by suggestions for further reading, with each work fully cited in the bibliography. [5]

Maps

The map, published separately in 1996 (and with further editions in 1999, 2000, 2008 and 2013 [6] ) delineates about 500 groups, divided into 18 geographic regions. [2] Horton created the original map "by laying a large piece of transparent paper over the top of a large Tindale map" and then searching for further information from various published works, theses and work by linguists. The result of his researches led to the creation of the distinctive "fuzzy borders" of his map, which mostly corresponded with Tindale's boundaries. His original hand-drawn version is dated 1993. This version, which he called the "mud map" was used as a basis for the maps in the printed encyclopaedia. The Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG), a precursor to Geoscience Australia, produced the 1996 version. [7]

Reviews

A 1996 review by an Indigenous reviewer called it a "Dreaming Send", praising the work for representing the Indigenous perspective and for recognising both the diversity as well as the unity among Indigenous Australians. She writes also that it allows white Australians to find information they may not otherwise find, while using a "very concise and easy to absorb style". [4]

Archaeologist Sharon Wellfare said that the "much admired" work was an "invaluable resource", which she had used extensively in teaching Aboriginal Studies in New South Wales public schools. She did have some criticisms, notably that the context in which each entry was written relied on self-identification by the author, which was not always evident, as biographies of authors are not supplied. [5]

The CD-ROM was made available after the launch of the book version in 1994. It was criticised for user-unfriendliness due to the lack of hypertext links. Important details, such as the passing of the Native Title Act 1993 , were missing from the CD-ROM as of 1995. [8]

Awards

The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia won the following awards: [9]

Citations and significance

As of May 2020, Google Scholar lists 419 citations of the work, [12] while ResearchGate lists 43. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies</span> Australian research institute for Indigenous studies

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, publishing, and research institute and is considered to be Australia's premier resource for information about the cultures and societies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Tindale</span> Australian anthropologist & entomologist (1900–1993)

Norman Barnett Tindale AO was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians at the time of European settlement, shown in his map published in 1940. This map provided the basis of a map published by David Horton in 1996 and widely used in its online form today. Tindale's major work was Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits and Proper Names (1974).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Australians</span> One of the two categories of Indigenous Australians

Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.

Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, and/or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of present day Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, which include many ethnic groups: the Aboriginal Australians of the mainland and many islands, including Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islanders of the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea, located in Melanesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian studies</span> Academic field of cultural studies of Australia

Australian studies forms part of the academic field of cultural studies. It involves an examination of what constructs Australia's national identity. This area of scholarship traditionally involves the study of Australian history, society and culture but can be extended to the study of Australian politics and economics. This area of scholarship also includes the study of Australia's Indigenous population, Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

Indigenous Australian customary law or Indigenous Australian customary lore refers to the legal systems and practices uniquely belonging to Indigenous Australians of Australia, that is, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanyaka Station</span>

Kanyaka Station was a cattle and sheep station in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia located at Kanyaka, approximately 40 km (25 mi) north-north-east of Quorn, South Australia. along Hawker-Stirling North Road (B83).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maroochy Barambah</span> Australian Aboriginal mezzo-soprano singer

Maroochy Barambah is an Australian Aboriginal mezzo-soprano singer. She is a song-woman, law-woman and elder of the Turrbal people.

Natascha Duschene McNamara is an Ngarrindjeri Australian academic, activist, and researcher. She co-founded the Aboriginal Training and Cultural Institute in Balmain, New South Wales and served as President of the Aboriginal Children's Advancement Society Ltd. Her affiliations include: Fellowship, Centre of Indigenous Development Education and Research, University of Wollongong ; member, Australian Press Council; and Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Council.

Dhauwurd Wurrung is a term used for a group of languages spoken by various groups of the Gunditjmara people of the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Keerray Woorroong is regarded by some as a separate language, by others as a dialect. The dialect continuum consisted of various lects such as Kuurn Kopan Noot, Big Wurrung, Gai Wurrung, and others. There was no traditional name for the entire dialect continuum and it has been classified and labelled differently by different linguists and researchers. The group of languages is also referred to as Gunditjmara language and the Warrnambool language.

Mbara, and Yanga are mutually intelligible but separate Aboriginal language of Queensland, both now extinct. Glottolog assigns a code to a group level as Mbara-Yanga (mbar1254). Yanga is not to be confused with the Yangga language, a dialect of Biri.

Wanggamala, also spelt Wanggamanha, Wangkamahdla, Wangkamadla, Wangkamanha, Wangkamana, Wonkamala, Wongkamala, Wonkamudla, and other variants, is an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan family, previously spoken in the Northern Territory around Hay River and to the south of the Andegerebinha-speaking area.

Gkuthaarn, also rendered Kuthant, Kutanda and other variant spellings, is an extinct Paman language of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. It also known as Karundi/Garandi, but the Garandi language may be a separate dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wardandi</span> Aboriginal people of Western Australia

The Wadandi, also spelt Wardandi and other variants, are an Aboriginal people of south-western Western Australia, one of fourteen language groups of the Noongar peoples.

The Njakinjaki are an indigenous Noongar people of southern Western Australia, in the Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions.

The Dingaal people, also known as Walmbarddha or Walmbaria, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.

The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinders Ranges.

The Yangkaal, also spelt Yanggal, are an Aboriginal Australian people of area of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the state of Queensland.

David Robert Horton is an Australian writer with qualifications and careers in science and the arts. He is known for his compilation of the work The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture in 1994, and its accompanying map of Aboriginal groupings across Australia.

References

  1. ↑ Horton, David, 1945– (1994), The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture, Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, ISBN   978-0-85575-234-7 , retrieved 16 May 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Horton, David. "The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia". ResearchGate. Retrieved 16 May 2020. Note: Includes downloadable PDF of the Introduction.
  3. ↑ Read, Peter. For the record. In: Australian book review. No. 165, Oct 1994, pp. 29–30.
  4. 1 2 Wellfare, Sharon (June 1997). "Review of 'Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture' edited by D. Horton". Australian Archaeological Association. Republished online 8 January 2014; original publication in Volume 44, pp. 74–75 in Australian Archaeology . Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "Aboriginal Australia / compiled by David Horton Horton, David, 1945-". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Zdanowicz, Cathryn (July 2019). "MS5086: David Horton, papers, including Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia 1984–1999" (PDF). AIATSIS. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Nash, David; Keefe, Kevin (1995). "Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia CDROM [review]". Aboriginal History. 19 (1–2): 206–209. JSTOR   24046314. (Requires login - free account)
  8. ↑ Zdanowicz, Cathryn (July 2019). "MS5086: David Horton, papers, including Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia 1984-1999" (PDF). AIATSIS. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "Western Australian Premier's Book Awards - Historical & Critical Category Winners". 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  10. ↑ Welfare, Sharon (June 1997). "Book review: Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture by D. Horton". Australian Archaeology (44). ISSN   0312-2417. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  11. ↑ "Google Scholar". Google Scholar. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
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