Purai Stories

Bayira

Catching songs, stories and dreams

An event celebrating the creativity and stories of First Nations Novocastrians by focusing on dreams for the future was hosted by Purai Global Indigenous History Centre at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music in September 2023. As the nation moves towards the Voice referendum, University of Newcastle staff, students and members of the public were invited to immerse themselves in a range of activities, from yarning circles to musical and dramatic performances, panel discussions and mini lectures. This special event brought together local Elders, students and a performance by the Newcastle People’s Chorus who sang rousing songs of freedom and activism. Some of the highlights included presentations on urban dance and activism, supporting language renewal initiatives and a paint and yarn workshop where participants coloured their own sticks. Bayira means ‘a performer, dancer or singer’ from the Dhangatti (Dharrigarri) language on the south-east coast, around Kempsey/Nambucca Heads area.

From Ngukurr to Newcastle

Exploring Indigenous Activism Through the Creation of a Possum Skin Cloak

This video documents the creation of a possum skin cloak as a vehicle for Australian High school students to learn about forgotten aspects of Indigenous History. As they engaged in cloak making students also learnt about the skills of the participant observer, as they worked from being novices in cloak making to creators of a new possum skin cloak. This project is part of a larger University of Newcastle project, From Ngukurr to Newcastle. Exploring the activism, impacts and legacy of Dexter Daniels, a collaboration with the University of Melbourne's Living Archive Project and the Ngukurr community in Southeast Arnhem Land,  which celebrates the unexpected linkages between Ngukurr and Newcastle through the legacy of a largely forgotten Aboriginal activist, Dexter Daniels.

Looking Through Windows

A multi-media Aboriginal history and art exhibition

It started with a yarn that was transformed into a poem and grew into a video documentary, a community exhibition with a one-act play, opera piece and travelling exhibition. Looking Through Windows: tablelands, the coast to outback NSW  is an oral history, artistic and multimedia project exploring the removal, dispossession and ‘protection’ of Aboriginal people in New South Wales and parts of Queensland and South Australia. Led by Dr Lorina Barker from the University of New England (UNE), the travelling exhibition came to the University of Newcastle’s Gallery from 25th March – 3rd June 2022. Looking Through Windows is a significant outcome of an Australian Research Council Indigenous Discovery project, The NSW Aboriginal Protection / Welfare Board 1883-1969: A History, led by UoN’s Emeritus Professor John Maynard and Professor Victoria Haskins, founding Directors of Purai Global Indigenous History Centre. This seminar, conducted by Dr Lorina Barker, tells the story behind this travelling exhibition and provides details of artwork and all it's associated activities.

The Politics of Trauma and Integrity

Stories of Japanese "Comfort Women"

Dr Sachiyo Tsukamoto’s recently released book, The Politics of Trauma and Integrity. Stories of Japanese "Comfort Women" is based on her research completed at the University of Newcastle and supervised by Associate Professor Sara Motta and Professor Victoria Haskins. The book gives voice to the Japanese women behind one of the largest, government-sponsored human trafficking and sexual slavery scandals in modern history. The expression “comfort women” belies over 10 years of oppression which began in the early 1930s and continued until the end of World War II – “victims of the military sexual slavery system” is a more accurate description. In a pursuit of public recognition as the victims of state violence against women, Dr Tsukamoto uses diaries, interviews, letters and oral testimonies to uncover the hidden lives or, in many cases, death struggles of these survivors. Her book was launched internationally via a combined on-line and face-to-face event at the Purai Global Indigenous History Centre on 2nd August 2022 at 4pm (AEST). The launch was hosted by Purai Global Indigenous History Centre’s Co-director, Professor Victoria Haskins. It began with a short on-line tour of the Japan’s Kanita Women’s Rehabilitation Centre followed by speeches from her Principal supervisor, Associate Professor Sara Motta, the President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Professor Katharine McGregor, and a reading from the book by Dr Tsukamoto.

Looking Through Windows

The Performance

This is an excerpt of the performance that preceded the opening of the Looking through Windows exhibition at the University Gallery at the Callaghan Campus (25 March-3 June 2022). Co-written and Co-directed by Dr Lorina Barker and Dr Julie Collins and performed by actors; Michael Brogan, Julie Collins, Gordon Cope, Garry Slocombe and Suzie Wicks. The family members included; Gwen Barker, Lacey Barker and Lorina Barker with Simon Mellor as the driver, Paul Smith (bell ringer/musician), Alana Blackburn, Ian Sykes accompanying music and a recorded song by soprano Georgina Hall. This performance, which began at the Wollotuka Institute moves to the reconstructed humpy at the back of the university’s gallery and finishes inside the gallery beside the sand camp and mourning caps. It tells the story of the Wangkumara family’s removal from their Country in and around Tibooburra in the west of NSW, to the east, home of the Ngemba people, where the mighty Baaka Barwon (Darling/Barwon Rivers) flow.

The performance piece sets the scene for the exhibition, which is part of a larger project, A History of NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board 1883-1969. The negative impact of the Board's policies of removal, segregation, assimilation, control and wage withholding are remembered today by Indigenous Australians throughout the country.  But while the theme is familiar, no two stories are the same. Every loss is unique, their impact individually felt and the means by which people resisted and survived different. This is Dr Lorina Barker and her family’s story. It is a story that is as much about resilience as it is about remembering and acknowledging loss and, importantly, it is about truth-telling and the re-writing of history.

Ngarrama 2023

A Night of Reflection

On the eve of Australia Day, the University of Newcastle, in partnership with Awabakal Ltd and with support from the City of Newcastle, hosted a free public event to engage the community in meaningful reconciliation through truth telling and historical acceptance. Emeritus Professor, John Maynard was greatly honoured to speak that night. He began by asking the audience to check out the magnificent picture by convict artist, Joseph Lycett (see https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138500420/..., image:14) projected as a stage backdrop. The artwork depicted Muloobinba (the place of sea ferns) present day Newcastle with Whibaygamba or Nobbys in the background. He said, "This beautiful night scene is so reflective of our lifestyle in this area. Even the dogs are smiling!"

Getting Serious about Indigenous Footballers

Emeritus Professor John Maynard, is one of nine First Nations people on Football Australia's (FA) National Indigenous Advisory Group – a new panel aimed at addressing the round-ball game’s glaring deficiencies when it comes to First Nations people

Professor Maynard will be working alongside; FA’s head of women’s football, Sarah Walsh (co-chair), the first Indigenous captain of the Socceroos Jade North (co-chair), ex-Socceroos coach Frank Farina, Chelsea WSL assistant coach Tanya Oxtoby, television presenter Narelda Jacobs, FA’s new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement lead Courtney Hagen, first Indigenous footballer to score at FIFA World Cup Kyah Simon and first Indigenous woman to play for the Matildas, Karen Menzies.

Captain Cook

An Aboriginal Perspective

In 2020, the Australian nation will be torn between celebration and mourning as the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s “discovery” of Australia approaches. Although from the Aboriginal perspective, Australian Indigenous people were never lost, yet Cook’s ambitious aims had world shaping consequences for Indigenous Australians. In 2018 the National Library of Australia commemorates the Cook’s first voyage to Australia. As part of the exhibition’s catalogue, Professor John Maynard’s essay, I’m Captain Cooked: Aboriginal Perspectives on James Cook provides a constructive formula for navigating this space as well as contributing to a multi-layered narrative of this voyage. His address, essay and subsequent creation of digital study aids will discuss and address a wide range of perspectives on Cook, including how he was perceived at the time and how First Nations peoples continue to respond. Professor Maynard also appeared on ABC television’s The Drum: Cook 250 where he was joined by a panel of Indigenous Australians including Amy Thunig, Rory O'Connor and Tanya Hosch.

Aboriginal Boxing in Sydney

The historical boxing gym was a place of smell and noise, of sweat and liniment and the constant smack of gloves against the heavy bag and the rat-a-tat-tat of fists rattling upon the speed ball. The rough and ready boxing gymnasiums that once proliferated across Sydney have now largely faded away. In this new era, it is important to recall the places and people of Sydney’s most famous boxing gymnasiums and their magnetic attraction to Aboriginal boxers.

1884: The story of our 1974 World Cup Socceroos

The Newcastle Jets is committed to reconnecting with their origins and upholding the history of football in the region. That's why the 2020/21 season's jersey will feature the number '1884' boldly on the back. Why is 1884 a special year? It was the year in which the first football club in Northern NSW was founded. Travel with Emeritus Professor, John Maynard, as he takes the reader through a history of football in the region, highlighting some of the heroes and, ultimately, exploring the historic foundations that have allowed the Jets to flourish.  This edition pinpoints how football came to Northern NSW and some of the successes this region has achieved along the way.

This edition explores the influential female footballers who've lit up Northern NSW and their introduction to the sport

This edition highlights two local legends who featured in the first World Cup Socceroos squad and elsewhere on the world stage.

This edition highlights some of the male footballing legends that paved the way for football in Northern NSW.

Ayahs and Amahs

Not quite slaves

Join Professors Victoria Haskins (University of Newcastle) and  Swapna Banerjee (Brooklyn College, CUNY) on Late Night Live with Jonathan Green as they talk about Australia's first  domestic servants and their Ayahs and Amahs project. It is a joint research project conducted with the Purai Global Indigenous History Centre involving colleague, Dr Claire Lowrie (University of Wollongong) as co-Chief Investigator, and Research Assistant, Ms Srishti Guha, who is a current Vice Chancellor Scholarship recipient and PhD student at  the University of Newcastle. They are hoping to develop an online exhibition in 2022.

2020-2021 “Decolonizing History” event series

Highlights Reel of the 2020-2021 "Decolonizing History" event series Presented by the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest at Villanova University featuring the University of Newcastle's Emeritus Professor John Maynard.

‘Devil devil’: The sickness that changed Australia

In 1789, a disease tore through communities around Sydney Cove, leaving dead bodies scattered along the shorelines. Some think this outbreak was like a deliberately lit fire. In this feature article for Patient Zero, a Radio National program telling the stories of disease outbreaks, Indigenous communities reporter, Nakari Thorpe and health reporters, Olivia Willis and Carl Smith examine the implications of this epidemic, that spread as quickly as COVID-19, among the Indigenous population of Sydney Cove. Emeritus Professor John Maynard is one of the Indigenous people interviewed for this article.

2021 Mabo Lecture: James Cook University

In this lecture, Indigenous Heroes and Heroines - The missing profiles of Australian history, Emeritus Professor John Maynard pays tribute to Koiki Eddie Mabo, by highlighting forgotten heroes and heroines of Indigenous history. Focusing on the lives and times of three courageous historical figures, sports star Dave Sands, political activist Jane Duren, and war hero Douglas Grant, this lecture will reveal the importance of uncovering and understanding the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.

Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945

Ayahs and Amahs

This blog is hosted on the project website for the ARC Discovery project on the travelling Ayahs and Amahs. It looks at mobile child care work and family life embedded in histories of colonialism and empire and features regular posts from the research team as well as from guest historians working in the area every month.

A History of Aboriginal Rugby League in NSW

Since its inception in 1908 Rugby League has proven extremely popular amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In New South Wales, Aboriginal participation has occurred within the context of race-based social policy and the state’s historical control over Aboriginal lives. So what influence did race based social policy have on the uptake of Rugby League by Aboriginal men?

Speaking Out with Larissa Behrendt, Radio National (Sun 4 Apr 2021)

The Intersection of Aboriginal Political and Social History

Providing an Indigenous perspective of our history has proved increasingly important in contemporary Australia. Born into a family of activists, my work has largely focussed on political and social history. My research encompasses the early days of the Land Rights movement and the fight for self-determination, and truth-telling around race relations in our early colonial history.

Speaking Out with Larissa Behrendt, Radio National (Sun 28 Mar 2021)

Power in Vulnerability: NAIDOC Week Wrap

Last week I set out on a journey to get more involved in NAIDOC week and our Indigenous community on campus. Instead of writing up an article like I normally would, I decided to venture into the world of vlogging to give my perspective on the week and how I interacted with it.

The Loop - Posted by Chelsea Groth

The Rise and Demise of the Freedom Club

In 1925 an Aboriginal ‘man wrote from a far-back settlement, asking that someone should come and tell them about the “Freedom Club”’ (Macleay Chronicle, 19 August 1925). The man was clearly inspired with hope and enthusiasm as a result of the announcement of the formation in Sydney of the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA) in 1924. The AAPA is today recognized as the first modern united all-Aboriginal political organization to form in Australia.

Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences - Posted by Professor John Maynard

ANZAC: Her Story

This blog is based on research that I’ve been doing on the history of Australian women’s experiences of the Great War, as part of my NSW Centenary of Anzac Commemoration History Fellowship. It’s where I will be posting stories about different individual women whose stories of life during WWI have captured my imagination. I think these stories deserve to be shared more widely.

ANZAC:Her Story - Posted by Professor Victoria Haskins