Greenop Uncanny Brisbane

Uncanny Brisbane: New Ways of Looking at Urban Indigenous Place Kelly Greenop Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, School of Geography, Planning and Architecture The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia Abstract Revealing new types and forms of place and place networks can render a place ‘uncanny’ leaving the mainstream unsettled and disturbed from its previously fixed and secure colonial version of the past. These forms of place are created and used by contemporary urban Indigenous people both as part of their daily personal lives, and as part of their self-consciously constructed Indigenous identities with social and political motives. The author’s current research into Indigenous places in suburban Brisbane reveals a set of places and networks which are both unsettling to the mainstream history of Brisbane’s origins and continue to offer alternative ways of inhabiting, valuing and using the city. New versions of the traditional meeting and gathering places are being created, maintaining and renewing traditions in the suburban landscape. Contemporary types of places are also created which have no equivalent in the traditional past, but support traditional values of holding community and kin together, in the multi-cultural suburban context. Indigenous geographies and places are both affirming traditional Indigenous place systems, and creating new versions of Indigenous place, with unique and specific forms in the suburban context. This paper will examine initial findings from fieldwork currently being undertaken in Inala, on Brisbane’s South West edge. It will reveal that far from being ‘not proper blackfellas’ Indigenous people in suburban Brisbane have a proud and continuing heritage of place, which is parallel to and unsettling for, the settler version of Brisbane.

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Uncanny Brisbane: New Ways of Looking at Urban Indigenous Place

Introduction This paper examines the urban place making of Indigenous people in contemporary Brisbane, and seeks to reveal some of the contemporary place attachments of Indigenous people in Brisbane today. Links can be drawn between traditional ways of using and valuing place, and new versions of place attachment, demonstrating cultural continuity as well as change and the continuing development of contemporary place attachments. This paper will explore the possibility of an ‘uncanny’ version of Brisbane, one that may unsettle or disturb mainstream versions, or render the city unrecognisable to its residents. This revealing of an uncanny version of place is part of a postcolonial approach to the human geography of Brisbane by the author, attempting to decolonise it through a series of revisitations of historical assumptions and an analysis of the use of places by contemporary Indigenous residents. Preliminary findings for current fieldwork being undertaken in the outer South West Brisbane suburb of Inala will be used as a case study. The research was conducted during involvement with the Inala community over the course of 2006-2007, including a deep involvement with the Inala and Acacia Ridge National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) celebrations in July 2007, where the author was a member of the Inala NAIDOC committee and assisted in the Inala NAIDOC Family Day event as a photographer and video recorder for the event. Inala’s comparatively high proportion of Indigenous people (5.3% compared to a Brisbanewide average of 1.4%1) make it an ideal location to uncover non-White versions of Brisbane. Indigenous resident’s concepts of Inala are at odds with common perceptions of it by outsiders and the popular media, in which it is characterised by high levels of violence, crime and poverty; yet to residents it is a beloved place, rich with positive associations and history. The history of ‘the uncanny’ is initially examined, and its relevance to place in Brisbane discussed. Traditional Indigenous gathering practices from literature sources are then

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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outlined and the Indigenous place making constructs of the pre-colonial and colonial periods in the Brisbane region are established. Contemporary events in South East Queensland will then be examined to establish their similarities with pre colonial and colonial events. Events in Inala were examined as part of ongoing fieldwork, and here the author seeks to position them as part of continuing and reworked traditions, as well as reveal emerging customs which reflect new Inala identities embedded in place. Far from being inauthentic or degraded in culture, the research reveals that Inala’s Indigenous communities demonstrate diverse, living cultural practices, rather than a degraded version of a traditional culture with a focus on what has been lost. Finally the paper examines how these Indigenous place responses position theoretical questions of place for urban Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. It is argued that this Indigenous version of Brisbane unsettles the ‘mainstream’ version of Brisbane. If a dynamic Indigenous culture is occupying the city and suburbs, assumed by most to be a young place with a heritage of Queenslander houses and mango trees, where, in fact, does this place the White version of Brisbane? Are non-Indigenous claims to these places less legitimate and therefore are mainstream geographies on shaky grounds, themselves ‘degraded’? Or could a new acknowledgement of multiple layers of cultures and understanding of places reward us all (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) with a richer understanding of contemporary urban life? It is here we return to the notion of the uncanny to explore these issues, offering new questions for contemplating this dilemma, rather than a set of neat answers. The Uncanny Freud discussed the uncanny and the means by which it disturbs the familiar and unsettles the comfort of the everyday feelings of being at ease. “the uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what is know of old and long familiar”2

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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I borrow the term ‘uncanny’ in its application to Indigenous Australia from Gelder and Jacobs3 who seek to explore how contemporary accounts of the Aboriginal sacred in Australia can make Australia unfamiliar and disturbing to its non-Indigenous inhabitants. They see the Aboriginal sacred in contemporary Australia as being “identified only in order to be restricted, bounded, fenced off: neutralised”4 The translation of the term uncanny is from the German unheimlich, the antonym of heimlich, a word not directly translatable, but meaning approximately homely, cosy comfortable and companionable.5 The notion of the uncanny, the unheimlich is not merely that which is uncomfortable, but that which has been rendered strange when it is usually heimlich, it is the heimlich turned back on itself, the familiar made unfamiliar, with a particular kind of disturbance being felt by the onlooker. Freud points out that it is not merely the unfamiliar being brought to attention, but a combination of “what is familiar and agreeable, and what is concealed and kept out of sight” and what has in fact, been repressed.6 This is particularly relevant to our attempts to revisit the places of our neat, clean young city of Brisbane. To reveal a side, a parallel set of places which transform, for example, suburban parks into places of tradition and ceremony linking back to a classical Aboriginal past, can disturb the assumptions many have about Brisbane, and unfix Indigenous people from ancient history and remote locations where they are ‘safely’ away from White suburbanites. Said7, in his classic work, uncovers the ambition of ‘orientalism’ to fix and control the notion of the Orient, and hand it over to a Western scholarly process to speak for, and about, the Orient with authority and confidence8. A similar process has been undertaken in Australia with the colonisation of the land and its peoples, such that authority for places is now vested in registers of sacred sites and the legal structures that regulate them, rather than people, as was the case in the Classical Aboriginal past. The revealing of secret information is now required in order to protect the sacredness of the place, ironically, potentially eroding its integrity during this process9. Control of information has been an important part of the colonial project, with the idea of ‘secret information’ being dangerous and meaning that “the concept is escaping from…control”10. Yet if it exists in a manner that is ‘beyond control’ of

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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colonisers, it retains its authority and power, parallel to the systems that attempt to fix and control it. This could be seen as a decolonising effect, one which has been described as necessary, by anthropologists11 and geographers12, who seek to unpick the work of colonisation in these disciplines and re-stitch the pieces more loosely into a new and fuller version which remains flexible and changeable, and out of (total) academic or legal control. The process of how this decolonisation of academic practices is actually done, what work it entails, is emerging with new versions of history, anthropology and geography surfacing, and the previously unheard voices of Indigenous academics, and historical actors being revealed.13 Carter’s attempt to make all of Australia ‘uncanny’ with the Lie of the Land14 was a complete rethinking of the process of settlement. Jacobs15 has examined Brisbane in sketch form some time ago, and also written a selective account of Indigenous urban issues in Melbourne.16 AIATSIS have published non-academic Indigenous interpretations of Melbourne17, Sydney18 and Darwin19 and Adelaide has also been examined in terms of Indigenous interactions within the city20 and within an historical context by Gara.21 Indigenous authors make important contributions to the lived history of Brisbane and South East Queensland,22 and recent Indigenous academic work of note by Bond23 examines Inala Identities in the context of health. Memmott24 and Memmott & Long25 have demonstrated the sophisticated use of place and architecture in traditional and contemporary remote Indigenous Australia. However, the lives of urban and suburban Indigenous people have not featured in our academic understanding of cities in Australia to any great degree, Merlan26, Morgan27, Birdsall28, and Keen29, are significant exceptions. These authors are notably primarily within the fields of anthropology and geography, while few urban planners or architectural theorists deal with these issues of contemporary Indigenous life in cities and how it is reflected in place. The author has begun with an initial critical examination of the history of Brisbane settlement and geography relating to Indigenous prior occupation30. This paper seeks to continue this exploration, and demonstrate the connections between the theorising of the city and lived places, and give Indigenous occupants of the city a voice often unheard in research.

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Traditional Gathering and Place Making in South East Queensland There is a global, cross-cultural tradition of people gathering to share food, news and to trade, for celebration, ritual and the enforcement of law. Many gathering events for Aboriginal people occurred in South East Queensland in the pre-colonial and colonial eras. People from distinct groups and disparate regions gathered to feast together in times of abundance, to help initiate each other’s young adults, and to share songs, stories and settle disputes. There was a traditional of hospitality, and the reciprocation of hosting events.31 Social obligations created strong bonds, which helped to define relations within and between groups. The importance of extended kin and welcoming them with food and hospitality was a key part of gathering events. From the historical and archaeological literature a number of place constructs are able to be attributed to the gathering sites and their associated events. Physical Features of Place The creation of a gathering place was physically specific and followed a highly coded pattern not only in terms of its actual construction, but how it was located with respect to other gathering sites in the region. Satterthwaite & Heather32 provide archaeological evidence of Earth circle sites33 in the Moreton Region, which were locations of ceremonial and social activity. The physical construction of the sites was one to two cleared circles on the ground, with built up earth mounds forming the edge of the circles. In some cases there has been evidence of one circle, in others two (and in rare cases, three or more), and typically with a path joining the two circles. It is generally believed that the larger earth circle was for more public ceremonies and gathering, and the smaller circle was for the conducting of secret or sacred events, following a 100-200m walk down the connecting path away from public gaze.34 Earth circle grounds were specially marked out, so that the uninitiated, and women35 would keep away.36 The blazing of trees around sacred ceremonial grounds37 was used to deter people from a approaching the area, carved tree trunks visible to those using the earth circle site,38 and, indeed the raised earth mounds of the circle defined the area itself.39 The location of the enduring earth circles gives an indication of the spread and distribution of Aboriginal ceremonial activities in the region. Satterthwaite & Heather discuss site selection

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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and possible requirements for the suitable selection of earth circle locations, the criteria for which included, distance from the nearest neighbouring site, which was likely to be a device to manage resources to avoid over-exploitation of an area;40 proximity to resources such as fresh water,41 sources of game and plant foods;42 and specific physical features, such soil suitable for the creation and maintenance of the earth circle43. Importantly Satterthwaite & Heather conclude that it is likely that the earth circle sites formed a site system that developed to support the practice of culture over the region in a sustainable manner.44 They argue that earth circles constituted principal elements of the region’s Aboriginal built environment…by establishing these sites the Aboriginal people of the region signalled their appropriation of it by transforming its natural landscape into a cultural landscape.45 Timing of Gathering Events The timing of the use of earth circles is also discussed by Satterthwaite & Heather who point out that there were favoured times for gathering. Obvious rallying times were those of natural abundance of food, such as that provided by the Bunya (Bonyi) Pines whose annual nut ripening provided a rich food source, with extra large crops every two to three years. The plenitude of sea mullet46 was also a feasting and assembly opportunity. Other times were also favoured according to Satterthwaite & Heather47 which coincided with the most reliably abundant rainfall in the region, around March and April, following the long wet-season summer. The approximate time is known from descriptions of gathering events occurring at the time that particular constellations appeared: the ‘coal sacks’ which were also described as “the sky bora rings”,48 dark patches in the night sky which would be visible during those particular months of the year, and also later in September-October.

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Figure 1. Map of earth circle locations in South East Queensland, based on Satterthwaite & Heather (1987), 46.

Activities which Create Place In addition to the physical aspects of the gathering places, there were associated activities which were essential to the proper use of the earth circles, and without which the place would not be activated into its full potential. The gathering of the people at these events was to bring the place to life, to make the place. Petrie describes the ‘Bonyi Nut’ festivals, which were held in the Blackall Ranges. These events gathered people from a wide area, and fulfilled an important social function in the cultural system. The inviting of people, strengthening of connections and the creation of reciprocal ties was an important aspect of the gatherings. These gatherings were really like huge picnics, the aborigines belonging to the district sending messengers out to invite members from other tribes to come and have a feast…The these tribes in turn would in turn ask others. For instance, the Bribie blacks (Ngunda tribe) on receiving their invitation would perchance invite the Turbal people to join them, and the latter would then ask the Logan or Yaggapal tribe, and other island blacks, and so on from tribe to tribe all over the

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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country, for the different tribes were generally connected by marriage, and the relatives thus invited each other. Those near at hand would all turn up, old and young, but the tribes from afar would leave the aged and sick behind49… tribes were assembling from every part of the country, some hailing from the Burnett, Wide Bay, Frazer Islands [sic], Gayndah, Kilcoy, Mount Brisbane, and Brisbane.50 Langevad in his transcripts of Winterbotham’s original documentation of Gaiarbau, an Aboriginal man from Kilcoy born in the 1880s, describes large gatherings of Aboriginal groups in that region “for initiations, for the settlement of tribal quarrels, for the playing of organized games such as wresting and other sport, for trading, and for the bunya feasts”51. The use of fire is well documented as a special place-making practice in many Australian Indigenous cultures,52 and it was also a key component of classical coroborree events and other gathering events in South East Queensland.53 Fire here was not only used for warmth, but as a marker and creator of a comfortable place, and as a way to demonstrate hospitality to a visiting guest.54 Ceremonial activities that occurred during gathering were the ultimate goal of the creation of place in these specially designed locations. The purpose of these events was varied and included initiation of young into adults, ritualised settling of disputes through fighting and law procedures.55 Social and Behavioural aspects of Place Making Ceremonial gathering was accompanied by specific behaviours, and dress which including head-dresses of flowers or feathers,56 body painting57, and other body ornaments58 not usually worn which marked these occasions. Ritualised language for ceremonial events was used.59

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Elders had a special function at gathering events, particularly at initiations, where they were central in educating and enculturating their young adults, and handing down important knowledge, both sacred and practical, which would keep the group spiritually and physically sustained. Winterbotham60 explains the importance of different meetings of Elders61 separately held for men and women, who would make major decisions and act as the law keepers of the group. Particular relationships of kin had ritualised roles in ceremonies62 and while men and women took on different roles,63 they each were important and the obligation to fulfil that role was strong. Summary of Classical Era Place Constructs From this literature we can see that a number of different constructs were used to create ceremonial gathering places, including but also beyond the physical locations that were constructed. A model of earth circle construction was developed with attributes that supported the ceremonies being conducted and markers to ensure privacy and protocols were respected, creating boundaries to the place. The development of a system of places and how it was used was important, allowing a sustainable distribution of places with the opportunity to reciprocate hospitality and share in seasonal abundances of food with neighbouring groups. Places were used at specific times of the year and ceremonies conducted at particular times of the day following seasonal and celestial patterns, and ceremonial protocols. Particular activities were associated with the gathering places, including fires as both practical and symbolic gestures, special dress, body decoration and language, and naturally highly valued ceremonial events. At these events, not only gathering and ceremony occurred, but sport, feasting, socialisation, enculturation of the young, law making and dispute settlement occurred. These activities were associated with these places and help to create the place. A comparison will now be drawn with places, created and maintained in contemporary Brisbane for Indigenous gathering at NAIDOC events.

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Contemporary Place Making In Urban Brisbane A key event in the national Indigenous calendar is the week now known as NAIDOC. Originally begun in 1937 as the ‘Day of Mourning’ for Aboriginal people on 26th January, the National Aboriginal Day Observance Committee (NADOC)64 has become NAIDOC65, a weeklong celebration and remembrance of the past and gathering of people at NAIDOC events around the country each July66. These events have a ‘grass-roots’ instigation: established by Aboriginal people for their own cultural and political purposes, they have remained relevant to diverse range of Indigenous people. Brisbane and South East Queensland Indigenous people have developed a network of NAIDOC events, which draw through cultural parallels from classical Aboriginal traditions. Despite many NAIDOC events being funded primarily from Federal through to local governments and their agencies with cash and in-kind support, cultural practices remain the focus of the events and bureaucratic requirements are negotiated to create a valid Indigenous event. Physical Features of Contemporary Place Similar criteria to that which determined earth circle location are applied today to networks of NAIDOC sites. NAIDOC activities are typically conducted at a free, open invitation ‘Family Fun Day’. There have been numerous NAIDOC sites in Inala over the past 10 years since its inception, including a local park, considered by some locals to by their ‘sacred site’ for Inala; an oval adjoining the current site of the Inala Elders; and a football oval where local Junior Rugby League play and train. Parks and outdoor locations are favoured as ‘natural settings’ more suitable for traditional dancing, children’s rides and activities, and able to accommodate the thousands of people attending events. In 2007 Inala NAIDOC Family Fun Day was held in a park which is on a prominent corner, and has significance for the community in the contributions that have been made there by Indigenous community members during community service activities and programs. The park featured benches decorated in an Indigenous theme, a skate bowl, and a community shelter featuring murals painted by Indigenous locals. Other sites for the event have been mooted, however there are a number

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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of physical criteria which need to be met in order to stage the event, such as flat land for stage and sound set up, public toilets, power supply for food stalls, rides and stage, access for vehicles and even the ability to peg safely into the ground for marquees. These practical considerations restrict the number of suitable sites, and sometimes remove favoured locations, which have positive historical associations from the available options. As NAIDOC events expand and government funding body’s fears of litigation grow, insurance and public liability become issues, which must be woven into the mix of cultural requirements. There are inevitable differences of opinion on which sites should be considered as NAIDOC event locations and this sites reflects the diversity of Indigenous experiences and place attachment in Inala. There is no one ‘Indigenous Inala’ but, like any other group, a diverse range of place experiences positioned by age, gender, social and economic status and other factors shapes each person’s place attachments. A key point on physical location is the distribution of sites which reflects the concentration of Indigenous populations in the South East Queensland region. While there may be some changes to the location of NAIDOC events in Inala, there is no thought to moving it outside Inala to another location altogether, reflecting Inala itself as a centre for cultural activities, not only Indigenous residence. The availability of funding resources in Inala primarily from Brisbane City Council and other smaller funding grants to help fund the events creates a geographical spacing of NAIDOC events, reflecting the tendency of funding bodies to spread their grants physically across their region. However, this does also operate on a level where Indigenous communities that are strong and populous, in effect create funding centres and traditions, with adequate catchment populations to make the event suitably popular and worthwhile, reflecting a cultural dimension to the location of funded events. The neighbouring suburb of Acacia Ridge now has its own NAIDOC event, in 2007 mentored and supported by Inala’s NAIDOC committee. The resulting layout of NAIDOC event sites across greater Brisbane gives what could be described as a fragment of a similar network pattern to Satterthwaite & Heather’s earth circle

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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analysis, and a similar social function is fulfilled. Importantly, similar to Satterthwaite & Heather’s claims for a system of sites developed to facilitate and maintain cultural expression, a system of NAIDOC sites can be conceptualised reflecting a contemporary Indigenous cultural landscape.

Figure 2. Map of NAIDOC Family Day locations in South East Queensland. Source: author.

Timing of NAIDOC Events The selection of the days for the events is also given careful consideration, finding a day in NAIDOC week that does not clash with nearby events, so that people can travel to other NAIDOC events in neighbouring communities or where there are family or other connections which oblige attendance, is important. Acacia Ridge has staged its event, held for only the second year in 2007, outside the official NAIDOC week, possibly in order to ensure maximum support and attendance for its event, or in an attempt not to crowd calendar filled with more established events. The more established Inala event (conducted in various forms since the early 1990s) is traditionally on the Wednesday of NAIDOC week, in the middle of the NAIDOC calendar. This reflects its importance as the largest NAIDOC event outside the central city of Brisbane, and keeps it with a day’s ‘rest’ between Inala NAIOPC and the traditional Friday of Brisbane city’s Musgrave Park NAIDOC event, at which a number of

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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Inala dance troupes, singers and other performers participate, and at which the Inala Elders have a ‘tent’ for meeting friends and watching the events. NAIDOC Activities which Create Place Activities at Inala NAIDOC include a similar range of cultural activities to those which occurred at the traditional Bonyi Festivals, and other corroborees, including traditional dancing from local and visiting groups, passing down of stories from Elders to young people, sport and games, family gatherings reuniting kin from local and distant areas, displays of art and craft and selling of cultural items. There is an emphasis on hospitality, overt cultural displays of belonging, and unity of Indigenous people. The way I see it, the Aboriginal and Islander people need a day of celebration you know, or a week as it is, and I think it’s great everyone gets out…has a good feed, has a good sing along.67 NAIDOC in Inala is really community spirit and the good thing about this is that we’re celebrating our survival, and this is the 50th year of the NAIDOC celebration and it’s absolutely awesome. And I think as I said, pride in the community is displayed here because here’s heaps of people, children enjoying themselves and most of all it’s about building up our community strength and giving the Elders the opportunity to showcase their mentorship, and leadership I think that’s’ terrific. That’s what these special celebrations are all about.68 The 2007 event was similar in ambience to a local fete, with an array of stalls from local stallholders selling arts, crafts and food, to government agencies promoting safety, health and community services. Free children’s rides, slides and art activities, as well as raffles and café style seating created a family day out.

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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NAIDOC is really fun and the rides are fantastic and I love doing the paintings and all the people are really, really fun and you can see all the tents that you can do activities and the train, slide, yeah and there’s babies that play too.69 There was a mix of elderly people catching up to chat and hear news about each other’s families. Young children gathered balloons and sample bags of stickers, pens and giveaways, older children and teenagers came to meet up with mates and be seen with their friends, in an environment where parents were happy to let them wander. There was a busy atmosphere of community and celebration, a central stage with music and events with a vibrant MC to keep the atmosphere going and the crowds interested. Inala NAIDOC to me is, it’s more spiritual over here, even though Musgrave Park is big, you meet more family, but this is close, compact. I grew up in Acacia Ridge, it’s always over here.70 NAIDOC in Inala is good, good little spot here…you get all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people all together, mix it up, listen to some music, talk to each other, yeah, stuff like that.71 Inviting of important local families and friends from outside Inala to the event is common. Many Inala Elders attended Acacia Ridge’s event and in their turn reciprocated by hosting Acacia Ridge Elders at the Inala event. The reciprocity of the neighbouring groups shows the obligation to share knowledge at attend events by proximate groups is still apparent. In addition, local politicians and dignitaries are invited, as the NAIDOC event moves beyond sharing and reciprocity within the Indigenous community, to showcasing and welcoming nonIndigenous community members to cultural events. It brings all of us people together…not only us Murri people, but the non-Murri people, multi-cultural, they’re from everywhere, I mixed with so many last night,

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international guests and they are celebrating NAIDOC as well. I did the Welcome [to Country] last night and it was so wonderful to see all these other people.72 There is certainly an element of being proud of Indigenous culture and showing the rest of the community that they can organise, and successfully host a major event which offers a positive version of Indigenous identity. Traditional ceremonial activities, including dancing, singing and fire making were amongst the most popular at Inala NAIDOC where large crowds gathered to watch the traditional dancing in particular. Inala has a diverse range of Indigenous cultures and some local troupes have been given permission and instruction in dance from traditional owners of dances originating elsewhere, such as Stradbroke Island,73 so that despite their apparent lack of cultural ‘depth’, groups with heterogeneous memberships and whose knowledge of classical culture was disrupted by past settlement practices, there is a maintenance and revival of traditions. Far for being ‘inauthentic’ the passing of dances and songs from one group to another was one of the main functions of traditional gatherings, as described by Petrie At night during the bonyi-season, the blacks would have special great corroborees, the different tribes showing their special corroboree (song and dance) to each other, so that they might all learn something fresh in that way. For instance a northern tribe would show theirs to a southern one, and so on each night, till at last when they left to journey away again, they each had a fresh corroboree to take with them, and this they then passed on in turn to a different tribe.74 Other dancers at Inala NAIDOC, included one family originating from Cape York Peninsula.75 This family dance only their traditional dances from that area and only members of their family may participate. They take their protocols directly from the ‘Uncles’ in Kuku-Yalanji country and were required to complete instruction and testing in their home country before

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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being given permission to dance in Brisbane by their home country Elders. So it is clear that there is no one set of standards, but a continual process of negotiating behaviours and protocols, depending on family history and background. Culture is in this case not only racial, but personal. In Inala, NAIDOC dancing in 2007 included a fire making ceremony, where the tradition of making a fire using two sticks briskly spun on each other using their hands, was performed by a local dance troupe. The young men dancers performed the fire making to the sounds of a droning didgeridoo, and then as smoke appeared, the crowd began an escalating cry of anticipation, and they called out with joy as the dancers waved the burning grass bundle above their heads, then flung the fire high up into the air to the whoops and applause of the large crowd. This is significant, in that it is not only maintaining the tradition of fire being used to create a special place, an Indigenous place, but it is the showcasing of a highly skilled traditional cultural practice, being demonstrated by young urban men today. A key feature of the day in Inala is showcasing young contemporary performers, who sing and dance in many styles from hip-hop to country, rap and ballads. Country music is hugely popular, especially with many Elders who grew up in rural areas, and the songs and the repetition of music from their past draws out many stories and memories for people, as the tradition of oral history and song has always done. Two songs have particular significance in Inala and are played at nearly every major event, including NAIDOC. The first was originally recorded by ‘Mop and the Drop-Outs’ in the 1960s titled “Brisbane Blacks”, which is still known and loved by all ages, who sing along to the words, and the second is a song written in the 1980s called “The Inala Song”76, which gives a potted history and affirmation of love for Inala, sung by the Inala Elders Yarning Place Singers. Social and Behavioural aspects of Inala NAIDOC Place Making The social aspects of Traditional gathering are maintained and strengthened during NAIDOC events. Key business conducted at NAIDOC events is the acknowledgement of Traditional Owners who generally perform a ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony as the first item of activity

Proceedings of the XXVth International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Geelong, Australia, 3-6 July 2008

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on the event day. The speech, though generally short, is significant as it both invites people to be welcome in the country still acknowledged to be rightfully owned by that Traditional Owner group, and it reinforces that group as having rights to speak for and give permission for others to be in their country. Similar to the special function of words used at classical ceremonial events, this short speech transforms one’s awareness beyond that of the dominant colonial system of cartography and suburban streetscape, into an awareness of another layer of ownership and meaning, and in fact transforms that place into part of a wider, pervasive Indigenous cultural landscape. At Inala NAIDOC in 2007, the Traditional Owner wasn’t available to perform the Welcome to Country ceremony, but a local Elder who could be described as having historical ownership due to length of residence, spoke to acknowledge the traditional owners and welcome people to the event. Rights to ‘speak for country’ or speak ‘about’ country such as this were also prevalent in the classical era, when these rights could also be established through residence and caring for country, as well as genealogical connections.77 For some the seeking of permission from traditional owners for events is a key part of protocols which must be enacted in order to ensure a proper and happy event. “You don’t muck around with those ancestors, they’ll let you know!…If you get the right people, it all goes right”.78 The fact that the Traditional Owner has been asked, even if they are unable to attend, constitutes a following of protocol that then permits others to then perform this act. In 2007, not only was Indigenous culture highlighted in the welcoming speeches, but Inala as a place with it’s own Indigenous identity is conceptualised, made real through the speeches and the crowd is bonded through these words. The community and family support that you have clearly demonstrated, this is what Inala’s all about, bringing all us Murri people together, and I think that’s fantastic. [Crowd applause]79 Elders and other community members are acknowledged at NAIDOC events through the giving of yearly awards, voted on by the local community. Paraphernalia such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag stickers, ties, lapel pins, bags, earrings, and many other forms

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of overt cultural identification are available. It is a day when unity as Indigenous people is emphasized and people are encouraged to be proud and feel strong within their culture. NAIDOC is important in the enculturation of children, with kindergarten and pre-school children from Inala’s Indigenous community-run pre-school being brought along to watch the dancing and have their faces painted with flag colours. Older children are given the day off school to attend and in some cases perform in events, with culturally specific activities being provided at the event, such as flag painting, traditional games, stories told by Elders, and traditional practices such as Torres Strait Islander basket weaving. Teens are also strongly enculturated through a series of programs leading up to a separate, youth cultural event80 at which young people develop their own dance routines and songs over weeks and months, under the guidance of grant-funded arts workers and community volunteers. The resulting routines and songs speak about pride in suburb and identity, strength of the community, and defiance against pressures to be more ‘mainstream’. Some of these routines are then reused at NAIDOC, giving the wider community the opportunity to see some of the youth festival’s events. Emerging hip-hop and other artists (the youth group performers of the past) are also given the opportunity to perform, as entertainers in their own right, and their gritty street version of Inala identity, ‘raps’ about police and politicians, and the injustices of racism, as well as the joys of friends and family, and ‘hanging out’ in Inala are all aired. Laydeez, where you at? Show the world you’re proud and black Hey laydeez…81 To the mothers, the daughters, the aunties, the nieces, We’re all representing for all the deadly sisters Four-oh-double-seven82, we’re representin’ Four-oh-double-seven, we represent.83

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The localness of artists showcased and the specificity of the issues they describe bind the performance to the place and people of Inala. Conclusion This paper describes a new attempt to understand Indigenous place in Brisbane through the reexamination of history and comparison with contemporary gathering and celebration, to reveal both persistence and change in place networks. Place systems based on Indigenous cultural traditions continue to exist and these systems undergo continual development and change, unsettling the view that Indigenous cultural practices are fixed ‘safely’ in the past, without resonance or effect on the modern lived city. These networks of places are both a revival and a continuation of a traditional social system reflected in place. The existence of an Indigenous cultural landscape parallel to the settler understanding of Brisbane places creates an uncanny version of Brisbane, which can unsettle the dominant geography, an open up new understandings for settler group. NAIDOC events are just one example of Indigenous events and activities which create a parallel human geography, which is largely ignored by mainstream media and the dominant culture. Other events such as informal gatherings of families to practice dancing, the use of parks and other public spaces to gather paper-bark for seating or leaves for weaving; more organized events such as touch football carnivals with teams based on Indigenous identity systems; and formalised Indigenous events at self-consciously constructed Indigenous spaces, such at the Queensland State Library’s ‘Yarning Circle’ all contribute to an alternative version of Brisbane. Being confronted with this parallel version of Brisbane could bring forth an uncanny experience for the general White suburban population who may typically think that Indigenous people are somehow ‘elsewhere’, or are stereotyped as, for example, ‘drunks in parks’, and not relevant to their own suburban existence. The revealing of what has previously been suppressed, what could was familiar but now seems unfamiliar in these new version, is the uncanny being conjured. This encounter with the uncanny can be a positive experience however, an opportunity to learn, to discover and potentially embrace multiple versions of places and systems which overlay one’s usual experience of the city, leading to a

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richer experience of, and understanding of one’s own place within the city. Indeed, not only alternative Indigenous versions of the city exist, but versions of the city for different migrant groups, genders, sexualities, ages and subcultures which inhabit it in distinct ways are possible. A permanent unsettling of the notion that places are fixed and completely knowable, limited to an official version, can be a called upon to encourage broader and deeper readings of place in Australia. Acknowledgements Gratitude is extended to the Inala Indigenous community without whose generosity the research would not be possible. Many thanks to Dr Chelsea Bond and several anonymous reviewers who provided constructive criticism. The research is conducted within the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, School of Geography, Planning and Architecture, at The University of Queensland. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies generously funds research for this project. This research is proudly supported by the Queensland Government’s Growing the Smart State PhD Funding Program and may be used to assist public policy development. However, the opinions and information contained in the research do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Queensland Government or carry any endorsement by the Queensland Government. The Queensland Government accepts no responsibility for decisions or actions resulting from any opinions or information supplied.

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Endnotes 1

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006, Census Table for Brisbane, Cat. No. 2068.0 - 2006 Census Tables 2006 Census of Population and Housing Indigenous Status by Age by Sex, Australian Bureau of Statistics Website www.abs.gov.au, date viewed 25th February 2008. 2 Sigmund Freud, “The ‘Uncanny’” in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (London: The Hogarth Press, 1953), 219-253. 3 Ken Gelder and Jane Jacobs, Uncanny Australia Sacredness and Identity in a Postcolonial Nation (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1998). 4 Gelder and Jacobs, (1998), 2. 5 Freud, (1953), 219. 6 Freud, (1953), 224-225, 241. 7 Edward Said, Orientalism (London: Penguin, 2003 [1978]). 8 Said, (2003), 122. 9 Ken Gelder and Jane Jacobs, “‘Talking out of Place’: Authorizing the Aboriginal Sacred in Postcolonial Australia”, Cultural Studies, 9:1 (1995), 154-155. 10 Kenneth Maddock, Your Land is Our Land: Aboriginal Land Rights (Ringwood: Penguin, 1991), 226. 11 Ritchie Howitt and Stan Stevens, “Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships” in Iain Hay (ed.), Qualitative Methods in Human Geography (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2005) 12 Nigel Thrift, “The Future of Geography”, Geoforum, 33 (2002), 291-298; Jay T. Johnson, et al., Placebound Australian Feminist Geographies (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000). 13 Libby Connors, “Indigenous Resistance and Traditional Leadership: Understanding and Interpreting Dundalli”, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 19:2 (2005), 701-712; Rod Pratt, “The Affray at York's Hollow, November 1849”, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 18:9 (2004), 384-396; Ros Kidd, “Aboriginal History of South Brisbane”, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 17:11 (2001), 463-480; Raymond Evans, “ ‘Wanton Outrage’: Police and Aborigines at Breakfast Creek in 1860” in Rod Fisher (ed.) Brisbane Aboriginal, Alien, Ethnic Brisbane History Group Papers No.5 (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1987); Thom Blake, “Excluded, exploited, exhibited: Aborigines in Brisbane 1897-1910”, in Rod Fisher (ed.) Brisbane Aboriginal, Alien, Ethnic Brisbane History Group Papers No.5, (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1987); Thom Blake, “Excluded, exploited, exhibited: Aborigines in Brisbane 1897-1910”, in Rod Fisher (ed.) Brisbane Aboriginal, Alien, Ethnic Brisbane History Group Papers No.5 (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1987). 14 Paul Carter, The Lie of the Land (London: Faber and Faber, 1996). 15 Jane M. Jacobs, Edge of Empire Postcolonialism and the City (London: Routledge, 1996). 16 Jane M. Jacobs, “Resisting Reconciliation the Secret Geographies of (post)colonial Australia” in Steve Pile and Michael Keith (eds.), Geographies of Resistance (London: Routledge, 1997), 203-218. 17 Meyer Eidelson, The Melbourne Dreaming: a Guide to the Aboriginal places of Melbourne (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1997). 18 Melinda Hinkson, Aboriginal Sydney A guide to important places of the past and present (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2001). 19 Toni Bauman and Samantha Wells, Aboriginal Darwin A Guide to Exploring Important Sites of the Past and Present (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2006). 20 Gavin Malone, “Ways of Belonging: Reconciliation and Adelaide's Public Space Indigenous Cultural Markers”, Geographical Research, 45:2 (2007), 158-166; Rob Amery and Lester-Irabinna Rigney, “Recognition of Kaurna Cultural Heritage in the Adelaide Parklands: A Linguist's and Kaurna

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Academic's Perspective. Progress to date and future initiatives”, in Christine Garnaud and Kerrie Round (eds.), The Adelaide Parklands Symposium A Balancing Act: Past-Present-Future (Adelaide: The University of South Australia, 2006); Faye Gale and Joy Wudersitz, Adelaide Aborigines A Case Study of Urban Life 1966-1981 (Canberra: Developmental Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1982). 21 Tom Gara, “Aboriginal Fringe Camps in Adelaide, 1836-1911”, Presented to the Royal th Geographical Society of South Australia, June 28 , (2001). 22 Michael Aird, Portraits of our Elders (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1993); Michael Aird, Brisbane Blacks (Southport, Queensland: Keeaira Press, 2001); Rita Huggins and Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1994); Albert Holt, Forcibly Removed (Broome: Magabala Books, 2001); Ruth Hegarty, Is that you, Ruthie? (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1999); Ruth Hegarty, Bittersweet Journey (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 2003); Samuel Wagan Watson, Smoke Encrypted Whispers (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 2004); Yvette Holt, Anonymous Premonition (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 2008). 23 Chelsea Bond, “‘When you’re black they look at you harder’ Narrating Aboriginality within Public Health”, (PhD Thesis, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 2007). 24 Paul Memmott, Gunya, Goondie and Wurley The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 2007). 25 Paul Memmott and Stephen Long, “Place Theory and Place Maintenance in Indigenous Australia”, Urban Policy and Research, 20:1 (2002), 39-56. 26 Francesca Merlan, “European Settlement and the Making and Unmaking of Aboriginal Identities”, The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 17:2 (2006), 179-195. 27 George Morgan, Unsettled Places Aboriginal People and Urbanisation in New South Wales (Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press, 2006). 28 Christina Birdsall, “All One Family: Family and Social Identity among Urban Aborigines in Western Australia”, (PhD Thesis, University of Western Australia: School of Anthropology, 1991). 29 Ian Keen (ed.), Being Black Indigenous cultures in ‘settled’ Australia (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988). 30 Kelly Greenop and Paul Memmott, “Urban Aboriginal Place Values In Australian Metropolitan Cities: The Case Study Of Brisbane” in Caroline Miller and Michael Roche (eds.) Past Matters: Heritage and Planning History - Case Studies from the Pacific Rim (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007). 31 John Mathew, Two Representative Tribes of Queensland with an inquiry concerning the origin of the Australian race (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1910), 114; Constance Campbell Petrie, Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland (St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1992), 55. 32 Leonn Satterthwaite and Andrew Heather, “Determinants of Earth Circle Location in the Moreton Region”, Queensland Archaeological Research, 4 December (1987), 5-53. 33 These are also commonly known as ‘bora rings’. Satterthwaite and Heather (1987), 6 use the term earth circle site to avoid confusion with the term ‘bora ring’ which is properly used only for those specific ‘bora’ (initiation) sites of north-central NSW, other terms were applied in SE Queensland. 34 Satterthwaite and Heather, (1987), 14. 35 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (([Brisbane]: Archaeology Branch, 1982), 70 suggests that women in turn had their own ceremonies and grounds in the Brisbane region, and these too were secret sacred places where men were not allowed to go. His information, gathered from Gaiarbau, a man, is naturally lacking in this information. 36 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 70.

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37

Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 70. Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 71. 39 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987). 40 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 21. 41 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 44. 42 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 45. 43 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 43. 44 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 48. 45 Satterthwaite & Heather, (1987), 49. 46 J.T. Hall, “Sitting on the crop of the bay: an historical and archaeological sketch of Aboriginal settlement and subsistence in Moreton Bay” in S. Bowdler (ed.) The Coastal Archaeology of Eastern Australia (Canberra: Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1982), 82. 47 Satterthwaite and Heather (1987), 22. 48 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts, (1982), 77. 49 Petrie, (1992), 11-12. 50 Petrie, (1992), 16. 51 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts, (1982), 60. 52 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 71; Petrie, (1992), 21. 53 Lindsay P. Winterbotham, Some native customs and beliefs of the Jinibara and neighbouring tribes, on the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers, Queensland (Unpublished manuscript held in Fryer Library: University of Queensland, 1957), 62B. 54 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 70. 55 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 60. 56 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 65. 57 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts, (1982), 71, Petrie, (1992), 19-20. 58 Petrie, (1992), 20. 59 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 72-73. 60 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 75. 61 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 73-75. 62 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 76. 63 Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts (1982), 75. 64 “A History of NADOC”, (1987) Land Rights News, 4:2, 20. 65 Now know as NAIDOC to include Torres Strait Islander peoples. 66 th NAIDOC, National NAIDOC History website, www.naidoc.org.au/history, website viewed 14 February, (2008). 67 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 68 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 69 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 70 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 71 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 72 Inala NAIDOC July 11th, 2007, video interview. 73 These dances are performed by a group with diverse home countries who dance Noonucal dances. 74 Petrie (1992), 19. 75 These dances are performed by the Gudanji Dancers whose traditional country is Kuku Yalanji near Cooktown. 76 “The Place we want to Live in” also known as “The Inala Song”, by J. Driscoll, 1981. 38

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77

Peter Sutton, Native Title in Australia an Ethnographic Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 27. 78 P.C. Inala NAIDOC Meeting, April 2008. 79 Inala NAIDOC 11th July 2007, speech recorded on video. 80 This event is the Stylin’UP Indigenous Youth Festival held in Inala every May, in it’s 11th year in 2008, which attracts upwards of 15000 people. 81 Laydeez Biz performance, Inala NAIDOC July 11th 2007, videocassette. 82 4077 is the postcode of Inala and is frequently used as code for ‘Inala’. 83 Laydeez Biz performance, Inala NAIDOC July 11th 2007, videocassette.

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