Pelletier

Pelletier PDF

Author: Stephanie Anderson

Publisher: Melbourne Books

Published: 2018-09-01

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 192212902X

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This book tells the story of a French cabin boy, Narcisse Pelletier, and his life with the Uutaalnganu people of north-east Cape York from 1858 to 1875. Even though it is all but forgotten in Australia, and in France is known only in its broad outlines, Pelletier's story rivals that of the famous William Buckley, both as a tale of human survival and as an enthralling and accessible ethnographic record. Narcisse Pelletier, from the village of Saint-Gilles-sur-Vie, was fourteen years old when the Saint-Paul was wrecked near Rossel Island off New Guinea in 1858. Leaving behind more than 300 Chinese labourers recruited for the Australian goldfields - believed to have been subsequently massacred by the Rossel Islanders - the ship's captain and crew, including the cabin boy, escaped in a longboat. After a gruelling voyage across the Coral Sea, they landed near Cape Direction on Cape York, where Pelletier found himself abandoned when the boat sailed off without him. He was rescued by an Aboriginal family and remained with them as a member of their clan until 1875 when he was sighted by the crew of a pearling lugger. 'Rescued' against his will, Pelletier was conveyed to Sydney and then repatriated to France. The author, Stephanie Anderson, came across Pelletier's story by chance in an old French anthropological journal. As she started researching it, her fascination with the story grew. She found that Pelletier had left an account of his experiences, first published in 1876, that had never been translated into English. Now, for the very first time, this remarkable story is available to read in English, complemented by an ethnographic commentary by anthropologist Athol Chase and an in-depth introduction by Anderson. Pelletier: The Forgotten Castaway of Cape York is required reading for anyone with an interest in Australian history, anthropology, or the intriguing world of pre-colonial Aboriginal life.

Life in the Cape York Rainforest

Life in the Cape York Rainforest PDF

Author: Robert Heinsohn

Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

Published: 2008-11-03

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 0643102671

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The remote, beautiful and poorly known rainforests of Cape York Peninsula tell a special story about Australia’s historic and present-day connections to New Guinea. Life in the Cape York Rainforest highlights these connections by examining the fascinating biology of some of the most spectacular animals shared between the two regions. The author recounts his own ground-breaking research on ‘cross-dressing’ Eclectus parrots, musical palm cockatoos and multi-coloured pythons, together with the exotic lifestyles of other animals, while painting the bigger picture of the past when Australia and New Guinea were joined by extensive land bridges. Australia’s disconnection from New Guinea is probably only temporary, and even today many bird species continue to fly the short distance between the two landmasses. Whether just browsing the beautiful photos and informative captions, or reading it in its entirety, readers will gain a greater understanding of the unique attributes of our Cape York rainforests.

The Ghost of Cape York

The Ghost of Cape York PDF

Author: Richard G. Tomkies

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 9781921118722

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The story begins on the remote eastern shores of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula during the dark days of World War 2, when Australia was in ever-present danger of being invaded by the advancing Japanese Forces. The pilot of a scouting Japanese Air Force Zero, of the type nicknamed by the Allies as ‘The Flying Swallow’, heads south along the East Coast of Cape York. He is searching for an enemy target, which he duly finds, only to be fired upon by an Australian Coast Watcher and his companions. Some sixty years later, Tony Stevens, the grandson of the Coast Watcher, who has set out in his four-wheel drive Toyota Landcruiser truck, to explore with a friend the lonely and rugged region of Cape York, makes an unusual and accidental discovery, which connects him to his grandfather’s wartime experiences.

Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country

Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country PDF

Author: Jean-Christophe Verstraete

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-02-18

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 902726760X

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This volume offers a state-of-the-art survey of linguistic, anthropological, archaeological and historical work focused on Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country, in Australia’s northeast. The volume also honours Bruce Rigsby, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Queensland, whose work has inspired all of the contributors. The papers in the volume are organized in terms of five key themes, including the use of historical and archaeological methods to reconstruct aspects of language and social organization, anthropological and linguistic work uncovering aspects of world view embedded in languages and ethnographic data sets, the study of post-contact transformations in language and society, and the return of archival data to communities. Its thematic intersections draw together the varied disciplinary threads in an overview of the cultures and languages of the region, and will appeal to all those interested in Australian Aboriginal studies, linguistics, anthropology and associated disciplines.

Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches

Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches PDF

Author: Nonie Sharp

Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0855752300

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An ethnohistory drawing upon written documents and oral tradition, following the lives of the North Cape York Peninsula and Kaurareg Aboriginal people from 1864 to today. Particularly contentious in the light of current moves for redevelopment of this region.