Audio on demand

Mark Jenkins explores the role played by the Expedition’s primary American sponsor – National Geographic – and its intrepid representative, Howell Walker.

Gerald Blitner served as a guide and translator for the Expedition. Here, Martin Thomas explores his oral testimony alongside archival evidence, including observations recorded by the Expedition party, to unpack their intercultural exchanges.

Charles Mountford lacked formal credentials as an anthropologist or scientist, yet he led the largest and most complex scientific expedition to remote Australia. Dr Philip Jones explores Mountford’s contribution and the controversy around his leadership.

Margo Neale explores Charles Mountford’s collection of works on paper, locating them as a useful starting point for reassessing Mountford’s reputation as a collector of Aboriginal art and stories.

At the time of this ‘last great expedition’, many plants, animals, aspects of human culture were unknown to science. Robyn Williams launches the symposium Barks, Birds and Billabongs with a broad-ranging talk on science since 1948.

Dennis Foley describes two kinds of Indigenous entrepreneur: ‘opportunists’ who seize a concept and use their networks to embark on a business venture, and those who lack capital, so out of ‘necessity’ must adapt to dominant culture to provide the basics.

Erin Bohensky applies resilience theory to a proposal for an aquaculture farm as a sustainable enterprise on Palm Island, North Queensland, and adds historical analysis and empirical insights from interviews and photographic surveys.

Gretchen Stolte talks about Aboriginal art centres, arguing that a centre should be funded in accordance with its engagement with the community, because the more community-building it does, the less money it can make.

Ian Keen provides a brief, broad view of the discussions over the two-day conference, its themes and its significance, covering hybrid models, empirical studies and the links between research and practice.

For seven decades the Queensland government intercepted Aboriginal people’s wages, child endowment, pensions, inheritances. It controlled their bank accounts, deducted fees, restricted withdrawals. This was wrong. What are the avenues for redress?