Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia

Last updated

The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia
Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia.jpg
Author David Horton
CountryAustralia
Subject Aboriginal Australians
Genre Encyclopaedia
PublisherAboriginal Studies Press
Publication date
1994
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">Torres Strait Islanders</span> Ethnic group of Australia

Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia than on the Islands.

<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. The institute is a leader in ethical research and the handling of culturally sensitive material and holds in its collections many unique and irreplaceable items of cultural, historical and spiritual significance. The collection at AIATSIS has been built through over 50 years of research and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and is now a source of language and culture revitalisation, native title research and family and community history. AIATSIS is located on Acton Peninsula in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

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

Norman Barnett Tindale AO was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Australians</span> Indigenous Australians who live on the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and Tiwi Islands

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamilaraay language</span> Australian Aboriginal language

The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an Aboriginal Australian people. It has been noted as endangered, but the number of speakers grew from 87 in the 2011 Australian Census to 105 in the 2016 Australian Census. Thousands of Australians identify as Gamilaraay, and the language is taught in some schools.

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

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Indigenous Australian customary law 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>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henrietta Marrie</span>

Henrietta Marrie is an Australian indigenous rights activist. She is an Aboriginal Australian from the Yidinji tribe, directly descended from Ye-i-nie, an Aboriginal leader in the Cairns region. In 1905, the Queensland Government awarded Ye-i-nie with a king plate in recognition of her local status as a significant Walubara Yidinji leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maroochy Barambah</span>

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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.

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.

Biri, also known as Biria, Birri Gubba, Birigaba, Wiri, Perembba and other variants, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Mackay area of Queensland spoken by the Birri Gubba people. There are at least eight languages regarded as dialects of Biri, and two which are related but whose status is not yet fully determined. All are covered in this article.

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.

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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 who has been described as a polymath, 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)
  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, p. 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.