Aboriginal Trade in Fish and Seafoods to Settlers in Nineteenth-Century South-East Queensland
A Vibrant Industry?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2013.17Keywords:
Aboriginal–European trade, exchange values and redistribution systems, colonial economyAbstract
Aboriginal peoples have been ‘doing business’ with foreigners for centuries (McCarthy 1939; Langton, Mazel and Palmer 2006), yet research to date has focused either on traditional exchange networks (Donovan and Wall 2004) or the impact of Western goods. Thus Harrison (2002) and Jones (2007) plotted Aboriginal exchange values and redistribution systems for iron and cloth. The general impression from such works is that, following European contact, Aboriginal society was radically transformed, while Europeans received curios. For example, Western goods stimulated a ‘glass artefact industry’ (Harrison 2003) and Aboriginal ‘doggers’ controlled dingos (Young 2010), but only officials or anthropologists had use for the resultant spearheads and scalps. At best, Aboriginal–European trade is considered inconsequential — ‘trinkets for trash’ — while Noel Butlin's (1994) analysis of the colonial economy entirely ignores it. Discussion of profitable exchange seems limited to the post-1950s arts trade (Kleinert 2010: 175). The notion that Aboriginal people might ‘flourish’ in trade or labour with Europeans (e.g. Anderson 1983) is discarded as absurd (White 2011: 81). This is perplexing, because colonial expansion saw commercial exchanges with Indigenous peoples all over the globe. Trade between Europeans and native people forms the opening chapter of national histories — for example, those of Canada and New Zealand (Innis 1999; Salmond 1997; McLusker 2006).
References
Allen, C. A. 1870. A visit to Queensland and her goldfields. London: Chapman & Co.
Altman, J. 2005. ‘Development options on Aboriginal land: sustainable Indigenous hybrid economies in the twenty-first century’, in Taylor, L., Ward, G., Henderson, G., Davis, R. and Wallis, L. (eds), The power of knowledge: the resonance of tradition. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, pp. 34–8.
Anderson, C. 1983. ‘Aborigines and tin mining in North Queensland: a case study in the anthropology of contact history’, Mankind 13 (6): 473–98.
Bartley, N. 1896. Australian pioneers and reminiscences. Brisbane: Gordon & Gotch.
Bennett, M. 2007. ‘The economics of fishing: sustainable living in colonial New South Wales’, Aboriginal History 31: 85–99.
Blake, T. and Osborne, P. 2008. Deception Bay: the history of a seaside community. Caboolture: Caboolture Shire Council.
Blyth, A. 1994. John Low's house and family Yandina: Koongalba 1894–1994. Yandina: Queensland Complete Printing.
Box, K. 1985. ‘Sam Bell (Bo-Ama) — last of his tribe: a talk given by Kathy Box to the Redcliffe Historical Society’. Ms Redcliffe Historical Society, Redcliffe.
Butlin, N. 1994. Forming a colonial economy: Australia 1810–1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrne, D. 2003. ‘The ethos of return: erasure and reinstatement of Aboriginal visibility in the Australian historical landscape’, Historical Archaeology 37 (1): 3.
Calley, M. J. C. 1957. ‘Race relations on the North Coast of New South Wales’, Oceania 27 (3): 190–209.
Carmichael, J. 1930. ‘Tingalpa — Old Tingalpa, the Early Settlers’, Brisbane Courier, 29 March: 31.
Clark, W. 1909, ‘A Jubilee retrospect — the city of South Brisbane’, Queenslander, 7 August: 21.
Clarkson, H. and Langford, D. 1985, Text the next generation. Brisbane: Boolarong Press.
Clendinnen, I. 2003. Dancing with strangers. Melbourne: Canongate.
Cowlishaw, G. 1988, Black, white or brindle. London: Cambridge University Press.
Cook, M. 2005. Shifting sands — memories of Moreton Island. Brisbane: Moreton Island Protection Committee.
Craig, J. W. 1908. Diary of a naturalist. Ed. Paisley, A. F. Craig., Scotland: J. & R. Parlane.
Cruse, B., Stewart, L. and Norman, S. 2005. Mutton fish: the surviving culture of Aboriginal people and abalone on the South Coast of New South Wales. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Daley, B., Griggs, P. and Marsh, H. 2008. ‘Exploiting marine wildlife in Queensland: the commercial dugong and marine turtle fisheries, 1847–1969’, Australian Economic History Review 48 (3): 227–65.
Devaney, J. 1932. ‘Records of the Brisbane Blacks’, Brisbane Courier, 21 May: 19.
Dixon, J. 1928. ‘Reminiscences’, Joseph Dixon Diary 1875–1928. Mss John Oxley Library OM75–117 Box 8948.
Donovan, V. and Wall, C. 2004. Making connections: a journey along Central Australian Aboriginal trading routes. Brisbane: Arts Queensland.
Drakakis-Smith, D. 1981, ‘Aboriginal underdevelopment in Australia’, Antipode 13 (1): 35–44.
Egan, A. J. 2010. Nundah: mission to suburb. Brisbane: Joe Egan.
Eipper, C. 1841. Statement of the origin, condition, and prospects, of the German mission to the Aborigines at Moreton Bay conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales. Sydney: J. Reading.
Evans, R. 1984. ‘“Kings” in brass crescents: defining Aboriginal labour patterns in colonial Queensland’, in Evans, R. and Saunders, K. (eds), Indentured Labour in the British Empire, 1834–1920. London: Croom Helm.
Fisher, B. 1997. Moongalba (Myora) sitting down place. Point Lookout: North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum Association.
Fisher, R. 1992. ‘From depredation to degradation: the Aboriginal Experience at Moreton Bay 1842–1860’, in Fisher, R. (ed.), Brisbane: the Aboriginal presence 1824–1850. Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Papers No. 12.
Fisher, R. 2003. Diggles Down Under: Brisbane via Sydney from Merseydere 1855–80. Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Series No. 3.
Greenwood, G. 1959. Brisbane 1859–1959: a history of local government. Parramatta: Council of the City of Brisbane.
Gregory, H. (ed.) 1990. Arcadian simplicity: J.B. Fewing's memoirs of Toowong. Brisbane: State Library of Queensland.
Gubby, A C. 1976. Campbellville and cedar days. Brisbane: Department of Forestry.
Harrison, R. 2002. ‘Australia's Iron Age: Aboriginal post-contact metal artefacts from Old Lamboo Station, Southeast Kimberley, Western Australia’, Australasian Historical Archaeology 20: 67–76.
Harrison, R. 2003, ‘“The magical virtue of these sharp things”: colonialism, mimesis and knapped bottle glass artefacts’, Australia Journal of Material Culture 1 (8): 311–36.
Holthouse, H. 1982. Illustrated history of the Gold Coast. Sydney: AH & AW Reed.
Innis, H. A. 1999.The fur trade in Canada: an introduction to Canadian economic history. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Jackson, J.et al. 2001. ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’, Science 293 (5530): 629–37.
Jones, P. 2007. Ochre and rust: artefacts and encounters on Australian frontiers. Adelaide: Wakefield Press.
Karskens, G. 2009. The colony: a history of early Sydney. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Kennedy, E. B. 1870. Four years in Queensland. London: Edward Stanford.
Kennedy, E. B. 1872, ‘Dugong fishing in Queensland’, South Australian Advertiser, 5 September: 3.
Kerwin, D. 2010, Aboriginal dreaming paths and trading routes: the colonisation of the Australian economic landscape. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic.
Kleinert, S. 2010. ‘Aboriginal enterprises: regulating an urban Aboriginality’, Aboriginal History 34: 171–96.
Knight, J. J. 1895. In the early days: history and incident of pioneer Queensland. Brisbane: Sapsford & Co.
Kolberg, n.d. ‘Early Brisbane history’, vol. 1, unpublished ms Zillmere Local Studies Unit, Zillmere.
Lack, C. 1950. ‘Norman Creek was natives’ rendezvous’, Courier-Mail 27 May: 2.
Langton, M., Mazel, O. and Palmer, L. 2006. ‘The “spirit” of the thing: the boundaries of Aboriginal economic relations’, Australian Journal of Anthropology 17 (3): 307–21,
Lawrence, S. and Davies, P. 2011. An archaeology of Australia since 1788. New York: Springer.
Longhurst, R. I. 1988, South Bank: an historical perspective from then until now. Brisbane: South Bank Corporation.
Loos, N. 1982. Invasion and resistance: Aboriginal–European relations in North Queensland 1861–1897. Canberra: ANU Press.
Lovekin, J. T. 1895. ‘Provision for Aboriginals: to the editor’, Brisbane Courier, 11 December: 2.
McCarthy, F. D. 1939. ‘Trade’ in Aboriginal Australia, and ‘trade’ relationships with Torres Strait, New Guinea and Malaya’, Oceania 9 (4): 405–38.
McGovern, M., Gibson, D. and Mulroney, D. 2005. Cobbers: a history of suburban and military cohesion. Maroochydore: Debut Publishing.
McLusker, J. J., 2006. History of world trade since 1450, Stamford, CT: Thomson.
McMahon, T. J. 1924, ‘Brisbane 70 years ago: octogenarian's memories: an interesting story’, Brisbane Courier, 31 July: 18t.
May, D. 1994, Aboriginal labour and the cattle industry: Queensland from mission settlement to the present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Melton, C. 1915. ‘When Woolloongabba was wattle-scented’, Melton Cuttings Book mss, RQHS, 20 March, pp. 58–9.
Melton, C. 1919. ‘When Woolloongabba was wattle-scented’. Historical Society of Queensland Journal 1 (6): 347.
Monks, C. 2006. ‘Aborigines’ (unsourced newsclippings files), Nambour Library Local Studies Unit, Nambour.
Moses, A. D. 2000. ‘An antipodean genocide? The origins of the genocidal moment in the colonization of Australia’, Journal of Genocide Research 2: 89–106.
Morphy, H. and Layton, R. 1981 ‘Choosing among alternatives: cultural transformations and social change in Aboriginal Australia and French Jura 1’ Mankind 13 (1): 56–73.
Nugent, M. 2011. ‘“You really only made it because you needed the money”: Aboriginal women and shellwork production, 1870s to 1970s’, Labour History 101: 71–89.
Orrell, J. 1926 ‘Landsborough: peeps into the past’, Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, 8 January: 7.
Parke, J. 2012. The rich history of the fishers of Moreton Bay. Brisbane: MBSAI, Moreton Bay Heritage Project.
Peachester Historical Society 1998. Peachester pioneers: the continuing history. Peachester: Peachester Historical Committee.
Petrie, C. C. 1904. Tom Petrie's reminiscences of early Queensland. Brisbane: Watson Ferguson.
Petrie, R. 1986. Reminiscences of Fraser Island. Comp. Sinclair, John. Fraser Island: Fraser Island Defenders Organisation.
Phillips, C. W. 1929. ‘Old Brisbane: Blacks at the Hamilton: Memories of Mr C. W. Phillips’. Brisbane Courier, 29 March: 18.
Pope, A. 1988, ‘Aboriginal adaptation to early colonial labour markets: the South Australian experience’, Labour History 54: 1–15.
Reece, R. H. W. 1974. Aborigines and colonists in New South Wales in the 1830s and 1840s. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Reynolds, H. 1974. ‘Lectures on North Queensland history’, University of Queensland, espace.uq.edu.au.
Reynolds, H. 1990. With the white people. Ringwood: Penguin.
Reynolds, H. 2003. North of Capricorn: the untold story of Queensland North. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Robinson, G. 1991. Mt Gravatt: bush to suburb. Brisbane: Mt Gravatt District Bicentennial Committee.
Salmond, A. 1997. Between worlds: early exchanges between M?ori and Europeans, 1773–1815. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Scott, J. and Laurie, R. 2008. Showtime: a history of the Brisbane Exhibition. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.
Steele, J. G. 1975. The Brisbane River. Adelaide: Rigby.
Teague, D. R. 1976. The history of Kedron. Brisbane: Colonial Press.
Tennant-Kelly, C. 2011. ‘Ms field note No. 103: Kabi Totemism and Medicine’, in The Caroline Tennant-Kelly Ethnographic Collection: Fieldwork Accounts of Aboriginal Culture in the 1930s. CD-ROM. Brisbane: University of Queensland.
Thistlethwayte, D. S. 1863–1870. ‘Wallaby Drive Queensland: skinning the dead’ (drawing) JOL Collection: ACOOOO6158 6158ead-6158 2005–08–19 Box 14930.
Torrence, R. and Clarke, A. 2000. ‘Negotiating difference: practice makes theory for contemporary archaeology in Oceania’. In Torrence, R. and Clarke, A. (eds), The archaeology of difference: negotiating cross-cultural engagements in Oceania. London: Routledge.
Tutt, S. 1978. By Obi Obi Waters: stories and photographs of early settlement in the Maleny district, Blackall Range, south eastern Queensland. Maleny: Maleny and District Centenary Committee.
Tutt, S. 1979. From spear and musket, 1879–1979 — Caboolture centenary. Nambour: n.p.
Ulm, S.et al. 1995. ‘Pre-European coastal settlement and use of the sea: a view from Queensland’. Australian Archaeology 41: 24–26
Walters, I. 1992. ‘Seasonality of fishing in south-east Queensland’. Queensland Archaeological Research 9: 29–34.
White, J. M. 2011. ‘Histories of Indigenous-settler relations: reflections on internal colonialism and the hybrid economy’, Australian Aboriginal Studies 1: 81–96.
Wilson, E. 1859. Rambles in the Antipodes. London: W. H. Smith & Son.
Young, D. 2010. ‘Dingo scalping and the frontier economy in the north-west of South Australia’. In Keen, Ian (ed.), Indigenous participation in Australian economies: historical and anthropological perspectives. Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 91–107.
