australianhistory

Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word taxidermy describes the process of preserving the animal, but the word is also used to describe the end product, which are called taxidermy mounts or referred to simply as "taxidermy". The word taxidermy is derived from the Greek words taxis and derma.[1] Taxis means "arrangement", and derma means "skin" (the dermis).[1] The word taxidermy translates to "arrangement of skin".[1] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxidermy

Boomerangs are an internationally recognised symbol of Australia. For Aboriginal people the boomerang is as old as creation and a symbol of the enduring strength of Aboriginal culture. The boomerang has also been a popular symbol for tourism and travel, with notions of visitors returning ‘like a boomerang’. The boomerang is a symbol of cultural endurance and a tangible link to the long presence of Aboriginal people on the continent. Boomerangs have many uses for First Nations people, including as a weapon and a tool, for hunting and digging, and in ceremonies. Some are designed to return to the thrower but the vast majority are not. For many thousands of years, Aboriginal groups exchanged boomerangs across the continent. Trade in boomerangs continued after 1788. European fascination with the boomerang, especially the returning variety, meant that early barter with settlers, and then tourists, led Aboriginal people to create an industry making boomerangs. That trade continues today. Source: www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/defining-symbols-australia/boo...

Cambooya Cambooya, a rural town, is 20 km south-west of Toowoomba. The area was settled by Arthur Hodgson in 1840. Hodgson chose 65,000 acres of choice land on eastern Darling Downs, fertile slopes watered by the headwaters of the Condamine River (Hodgson and Emu Creeks). He named his pastoral run 'Eton Vale'. The ruins of Eton Vale homestead, New England Highway, are listed on the Queensland heritage register. In 1843 New South Wales Commissioner of Crown Lands, Christopher Rolleston, carried out a survey and reserved a site on Eton Vale for a township, lands administration facilities and a court house. He named it Cambooya, a rendering of the Aboriginal word 'yambuya', thought to refer to tubers growing in a water hole. Rolleston's township did not eventuate, however. Hodgson resisted the formation of a township and nearby Drayton instead emerged as the region's principal settlement. Cambooya did become a railway station in 1868, however, when the line was extended from Toowoomba to Warwick, and this development, along with a simultaneous closer-settlement subdivision of part of Eton Vale, overcame Hodgson's resistance to a township. Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/cambooya

Under various Acts of Parliament, Aboriginal women were sent to privately owned properties to be utilised as ‘domestic servants’ through a system of forced indentured labour, which continued until the 1970’s. This social history research reveals that the practice of removing Aboriginal women from their families at the age of 12 or 13 and to white families was more common practice than not. These women were often: not paid, worked up to 15 hour days, were not allowed leave, and were subjected to many forms of abuse. This hidden Aboriginal Australian women’s history needs to be revealed to better understand the experiences and depth of misappropriation of Aboriginal women as domestic workers. In doing so, it also reveals a more accurate reflection of women’s work in Australia. Source: Indigenous Australian women and work : an historical context Best, Odette & Fredericks, Bronwyn (2013) Indigenous Australian women and work : an historical context. In The Oxford Women's Leadership Symposium eprints.qut.edu.au/71360/