Author: Stephanie Anderson
Publisher: Melbourne Books
Published: 2018-09-01
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 192212902X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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.
Author: Simon Haberle
Publisher: ANU E Press
Published: 2012-01-01
Total Pages: 480
ISBN-13: 1921862726
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"This volume brings together a collection of papers from a diverse field of international scholars exploring the multiple ways that East Timorese communities are making and remaking their connections to land and places of ancestral significance. The work is explicitly comparative and highlights the different ways Timorese language communities negotiate access and transactions in land, disputes and inheritance especially in areas subject to historical displacement and resettlement. Consideration is extended to the role of ritual performance and social alliance for inscribing connection and entitlement. Emerging through analysis is an appreciation of how relations to land, articulated in origin discourses, are implicated in the construction of national culture and differential contributions to the struggle for independence."--Publisher's description.
Author: Nicolas Peterson
Publisher: Sydney University Press
Published: 2014-02-19
Total Pages: 418
ISBN-13: 1743323891
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Most Australians are familiar with the concept of land ownership and understand the meaning of native title, which recognises Indigenous peoples' rights to land to which they are spiritually or culturally connected. The ownership of areas of sea and its resources is often overlooked however, despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander connections with the sea being just as important as those with the land. The papers in this volume demonstrate how the concept of customary marine tenure has developed in various communities and look at some of its implications. Originating in a session of papers at a conference in 1996, the papers in this volume were originally published as Oceania Monograph 48 in 1998.
Author: Ghazally Ismail
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Published: 2022-11-21
Total Pages: 216
ISBN-13: 1664108238
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An ardent advocate for species protection and conservation of tropical rainforests, Ghazally Ismail tells us of his encounters with the primates in his first memoir entitled Monkey Moment: Encounters in Rainforest Escapadaes. That was in 2021 after hunkering down at home during Covid 19 pandemic. What a true raconteur he proves to be in sharing his amazing experiences in Borneo, the world’s third largest island. As a sequel to his previous book, he now brings us to another tropical ecosystem that is undergoing an equally gripping future. He writes about the fascinating mangrove plant and animal species currently under siege. Their continued survival are seriously at risk with the rapid disappearance of the mangroves unprecedented in modern history. Written in simple nontechnical language, he effectively explains the evolution and adaptation of mangrove species in order to thrive in their harsh inhospitable environment. Here too, he again produces beautiful drawings of plants and animals to accompany his well-researched text. Like the rainforests, tropical mangroves are been systematically cleared and drained at alarming rates for land reclamation, housing development and aquaculture. In the process, we are exposing ourselves to the two global calamities lurking at the doorsteps of humanity today, namely global warming and loss of biodiversity. Only the conservation of our rainforests and mangroves could we avert these pending catastrophes. In his book, Ghazally again shares his provocative thoughts on issues he has been grappling with throughout his academic life - the protection of biodiversity and their habitats. He gave intriguing revelations about the biological and behavioral features of mangrove species that are increasingly driven to the cusp of extinction. He effectively reminds us that the rainforests and mangroves are two known nature reserves in the entire universe we must learn to treat with utter respect with stringent and uncompromised guardianship. He speaks with an authority born of decades of university research, teaching and active involvement in organising expeditions into numerous biodiversity-rich tropical ecosystems in Borneo. What distinguishes Ghazally from many of his environmentalist peers is his training in medical immunology and microbiology. Plants and animals are not his forte. He readily admits he does not have all the answers to the vexing ecological questions of our times. But his vast knowledge on tropical plants and wildlife are drawn from his networking and close associations with dozens of world-renowned researchers gravitating to Borneo in the past 40 years during his time there. He has essentially learned from field experts first-hand. This has put him on the vanguard of the conservation movement of the tropical ecosystems. He expressed passion and responsibility towards species and the environment without sanctimony, making this book a winning memoir for anyone interested in tropical ecology. A lively, readable hands-on account of fascinating field experiences that will appeal to a wide audience. “Environmentalism does not just happen,” he said,”It is forged through our impassioned sadness looking at the ever-increasing threats to our living world. I hope to inspire a generation that could pause, turn back and rediscover collective sanity in our relationship with planet Earth.”
Author: Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Published: 2016-02-18
Total Pages: 492
ISBN-13: 902726760X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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.
Author: Michael McCoy
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 257
ISBN-13: 0643096957
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Reef and Rainforestis a photographic portrayal of marine and terrestrial life in one of the world's most biodiverse regions - the tropics of north-eastern Australia, together with the South Pacific nations of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The photographs were taken over a period of more than 30 years while the author was living in Solomon Islands and northern Australia. They depict life on the coral reefs, in the rainforests and in adjacent tropical savannahs. From detailed macro studies to sweeping scenics and aerials, the photographs are impressive for both their technical/compositional expertise and the unique insight they provide into the behavioral nuances of marine and terrestrial wildlife. Reef and Rainforestconveys the richness and diversity of the natural world with maximum visual impact. Key Features * High quality photographic coverage of both marine and terrestrial environments * Unique portrayal of natural history subjects in one of the world's most biodiverse regions