‘Inventing' a Colonial Dark History: The Derby Boab 'Prison' Tree
Files
(Published version)
Date
2016
Authors
Grant, E.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference item
Citation
Annual Meeting of the 72nd American Society of Criminology, 2016, vol.Part F4164, pp.735-759
Statement of Responsibility
Elizabeth Grant
Conference Name
The American Society of Criminology 72nd Annual Meeting (16 Nov 2016 - 19 Nov 2016 : New Orleans, LA)
Abstract
A large hollow boab known as the “prison tree” just outside the small town of Derby in Western Australia is a major tourist attraction, visited by thousands of people annually. It is represented as a historic site, where Aboriginal people were incarcerated for opposing “heroic” European pastoralists attempting to found a modern Australia. To understand the “prison tree”, it is vital to comprehend the impact on the Aboriginal traditional owners of the expansion of pastoralism to the Kimberley region in the 1880s and 1890s. Within European concepts of exclusive use of land, Aboriginal people were driven from their lands, forced to work on the newly established stations, incarcerated or killed Aboriginal people resisted pastoral settlement by burning pastures and livestock and by making spearheads of glass and iron to fight police and pastoralists.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Theme: The many colors of crime & justice
Access Status
Rights
© The Author