About the conference

This conference aims to bring together new approaches to colonial Australia across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Colonialism puts a range of practices and discourses into play: violent encounters, dispossession, trauma, 'development', 'civilisation', governance, trade, and so on. It produces endless narratives about what it is, what it does and the lives it radically changes. It is both immensely destructive and energetically productive: recording its various practices and discourses through a rapidly growing range of media and visual technologies.

The narratives of colonialism worked to reinvent Australia in colonialism's image, leaving us with legacies and frameworks that continue to shape who we are and how we identify to the world around us. Sometimes we try to 'forget' colonialism, but it constantly claims us and returns to us; we continue to live in its aftermath.

This conference will address some of the following topics:

Militant colonialism and frontier violence
Indigenous dispossession and resistance
Colonial racism, its histories and legacies
Colonialism and the anthropological turn
Language and the exchange of knowledge
Money, capitalism and trade
Settler and Indigenous governance
Colonial modernity and the 'global south'
Metropolitan identities
Bush, desert and coastal narratives
The convict archive
Gold rush narratives
Colonial transnationalisms
Immigrant narratives
Print culture and colonial literature: prose fiction, poetry, theatre
Gender and sexuality
Colonialism and the law
Institutions and their networks
Collectors, archivists and the colonial GLAM sector
Colonialism and the visual arts
Environment, species and the natural sciences
Colonialism and everyday life
The colonies and the nation: north, south, east and west
Colonialism today

Banner image: Black Thursday, February 6th, 1851. William Strutt 1864. State Library of Victoria.

Programme

Download the draft programme

Keynote speakers

Tim Bonyhady, Australian National University

Professor Tim Bonyhady is one of Australia's foremost environmental lawyers and cultural historians, a Professor of Law at the ANU where he is also Director of the Centre for Law, Arts & the Humanities (CLAH). His many books include The Colonial Earth (Miegunyah Press 2000), which examined the origins of environment concerns and colonial art practice in Australia. Tim was co-curator of the National Gallery of Australia's recent exhibition, The National Picture: The Art of Tasmania's Black War, which connects colonial Tasmanian art to themes of representation, the rule of law, rights and injustice. His book on this material, with Greg Lehman, was published by the National Gallery of Australia in June 2018.

Penny Edmonds, University of Tasmania

Black Line/Confiscation Line: Risky Performances and Contesting Reconciliation in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

Philosopher and playwright Hélène Cixious has described theatre as 'by definition the stage where the living meet and confront the dead, the forgotten and the forgettors, the buried and the ghosts, the present, the passing, the present past and the passed past'. Nowhere, I argue, is this more apparent than in the working through of the public, performative politics of reconciliation in settler societies, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples meet in the long shadow of colonial frontier violence. In this talk, I explore two Indigenous-led performances that deal directly with the colonial past and its aftermath: Tame Iti's fiery re-enactment of the New Zealand Land wars at the historic confiscation line in Ngāi Tūhoe country in 2005, and the 'Black Line' ceremony in Tasmania in 2001.

This talk considers these material lines of colonial warfare in the landscape and the 'lines' of the settler archive that serve to entrench colonial narratives against the re-visioning ‘lines’ of subversive Indigenous performance. Rather than peace-building ceremonies of unity and good feeling accompanied by the handshake that are the signature gesture of state based reconciliation, this talk explores the radical crossings of two colonial lines of violence and the 'affective alchemy' of the performances, including anger/rejection, endurance/survival and togetherness as performed by Indigenous peoples and others as they make claims on the settler state. These are risky performances, fierce acts of anti-forgetting drawn from the archive of Indigenous embodied genealogy and action, which reject colonial narratives and refuse that these sites of violence remain as 'dumb places' where the events of the past cannot be spoken.

Penny Edmonds is Associate Professor and a recent ARC Future Fellow (2012-2017) in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania. Penny's research interests include colonial/ postcolonial histories, humanitarianism and human rights, Australian and Pacific-region transnational histories, performance, and museums and visual culture. She is a recent co-editor of Australian Historical Studies (2015-2018). Her books include Urbanising Frontiers: Indigenous Peoples and Settlers in 19th-Century Pacific Rim Cities (UBC Press 2010) and Settler Colonialism and (Re)conciliation: Frontier Violence, Affective Performances, and Imaginative Refoundings (Palgrave 2016), which was shortlisted for the Ernest Scott Prize in 2017. Penny presented the 2017 Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture in Australian History, at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King College, London, titled 'Heart, Power, Treaty, Truth: Affective, Political Performances in (post) Reconciliation Australia'.

Bruce Pascoe, Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative

Bruce Pascoe is a Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian man born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. He is a member of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative of southern Victoria and has worked on the retrieval and teaching of Wathaurong language. With Lyn Harwood, Bruce edited and published Australian Short Stories for sixteen years. His many novels include Night Animals (1986), Shark (1999), Earth (2001) and Ocean (2002). His book Fog a Dox won the Young Adult category of the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards. His non-fiction publications include Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country (AIATSIS 2000) and Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident (Magabala Books 2014), which won the NSW Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year in 2016. This book was also the inspiration for the Bangarra Dance Theatre's recent production Dark Emu, directed by Stephen Page.

Lynette Russell, Monash University

Colonial Narratives: Affect and archival subjects

It is a common understanding that Australia was colonised without the consent of the traditional owners despite substantial and unequivocal instructions from the British Colonial Office. Nearly thirty years ago Henrietta Fourmile described Aboriginal people as 'captives of the archives' and alerted us that engaging with historical materials which emerge out of this illegal occupation can implicate the researcher in the ongoing processes of colonialism. Historians, and other users of archives, often observe the excitement and emotion of their 'discoveries'. Archives containing the physical remains of the past can transport us, we can move beyond the here and now we can time travel and retrace the past.

For many Aboriginal people archival research can also be a minefield of affect and distress. In this talk I will consider several case studies where the experience of delving into colonial archives elicits complex responses ranging from re-inscribing historical trauma, to the euphoria of discovering lost ancestors and kin. The colonial archives and the narratives they enable us to develop are forever enmeshed in delicate tension as the researcher attempts to balance the power of the written word with the lived experience of the archival subjects.

Professor Lynette Russell is Director of the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre (MISC) at Monash University, Melbourne. She has published widely in the areas of Indigenous and contact history, post-colonialism and representations of race, ethnographic knowledge and archaeology. Her many books include Roving Mariners: Aboriginal Whaler and Sealers, in the Southern Oceans (SUNY Press 2012) and, with Kate Auty, Hunt Them, Hang Them: 'The Tasmanians' in Port Phillip, 1841-42 (Justice Press 2016). Lynette was a contributor to the NGV's Colony: Australia 1770-1861/Frontier Wars(2018), where she was also one of the exhibition's opening speakers. She is the current President of the Australian Historical Association.

Registration for Colonialism and its Narratives: rethinking the colonial archive in Australia is open. Please complete the secure online registration form.

Register now

Full conference registration

Full conference registration includes ttendance at the conference on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 December 2018 including keynotes. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea on both days.

One day registration

One day registration includes attendance at all conference sessions and activities on the day selected. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea on the day selected.

Conference dinner

The conference dinner will be held on Tuesday, 11 December at 6.30pm, at Naughtons Parkville Hotel. Dinner is an additional cost of $80 a head for conference attendees. Please note numbers are strictly limited.

Registration prices

Registration prices are listed below. Concession rates apply to students and those with Australian Government concession cards. For any question about conference registration please email aust-centre@unimelb.edu.au.

Concession (daily rate): $60
Concession (2 days): $100
Full (daily rate): $120
Full (2 days): $200

A wide range of accommodation options are available near The University of Melbourne in Parkville and in the surrounding locations of Carlton, Flemington, Fitzroy and the CBD. Some may offer a university rate. Please contact these facilities to make a reservation, or if you have queries about their services.

Parkville

Maclean House
Centre for Theology and Ministry,
29 College Crescent, Parkville 3052

Phone: +61 3 9340 8800
Email: info@ctm.uca.edu.au

More information

Graduate House
220 Leicester Street, Carlton 3053

Phone: +61 3 9347 3428
Email: admingh@graduatehouse.com.au

More information

Naughtons Parkville Hotel
43 Royal Parade, Parkville 3052

Phone: +61 3 9347 2255
Email: info@parkvillehotel.com.au

Naughtons Parkville Hotel website

Vibe Hotel Carlton
441 Royal Parade, Parkville 3052

Phone: +61 3 9380 9222
Email: carlton@vibehotels.com.au

Vibe Hotel Carlton website

Larwill Studio, Arts Series Hotel
48 Flemington Road, Parkville 3052

Phone: +61 3 9032 9111
Email: info@artserieshotels.com.au

Larwill Studio, Arts Series Hotel website

Carlton

Rydges on Swanston
701 Swanston Street, Carlton 3053

Phone: +61 3 9347 7811
Email: reservations_rydgesswanston@evt.com

Rydges on Swanston website

Carlton Terrace
196 Drummond Street, Carlton VIC 3053

Phone: 0410 676 344

Carlton Terrace website

Quest Carlton on Finlay
2‐9 Finlay Place, Carlton 3053

Phone: +61 3 8341 4777

Quest Carlton on Finlay website

Best Western Travel Inn
Cnr Grattan and Drummond Streets, Carlton 3053

Phone: +61 3 9347 7922
Email: res@travelinn.net.au

Best Western Travel Inn website

Accommodation near The University of Melbourne map

Other accommodation options

Other hotel option can be found via booking sites such as:

Depending on availability, the University's Residential Halls and Colleges offer casual accommodation. Availability is generally, but not always, during non‐semester periods. Please submit your accommodation enquiry online on the Colleges website. If a College is able to help you, they will contact you directly.

Location

The conference will be held in the Old Arts (Building 149) at The University of Melbourne's Parkville campus.

Travel options

Getting into the city from the airport

Skybus

From Melbourne Airport, take SkyBus to the Melbourne city terminal situated at Southern Cross Station (in Spencer Street). This normally costs approximately $18.00 each way, and does not need to be booked in advance. For information about the public transport services which run to and from Melbourne Airport, including SkyBus and bus routes 478, 479, 500 and 901, please see the Public Transport Victoria Airport buses web page.

Taxis

A taxi from the airport will take around 40 minutes and will cost approximately $50.00. Taxi ranks are located on the ground floor outside Terminals 1 and between Terminals 2 and 3.

Public transport to the University

Please note: Please be aware there are road closures and major works in Grattan Street.

The best way to get to the University is by public transport. Trams run along Royal Parade and Swanston Street.

The University is located outside of the Tram Free Zone in the CBD. You will need a myki card when travelling on public transport in Melbourne. You can buy and top up a myki:

At all 7-Eleven stores, plus other retailers displaying the myki sign
At myki machines (full fare only) at all metropolitan train stations
Online
By calling 1800 800 007 (6am - midnight daily, all night Friday and Saturday)
At Melbourne Airport, myki machines have been installed in Terminals 2, 3 and 4; concession myki cards can be purchased from the SkyBus Terminal.

Public Transport Victoria (PTV) has useful resources; a Journey Planner and Tram Tracker.

How to travel to Melbourne University Parkville campus

Bicycle routes

The University has plenty of bicycle parking across the campus. For more information please see the Sustainable Campus Cycling/Walking web page.

Bicycles can be hired through the Melbourne Bike Share system at the University and at several locations around the city. Helmets are required by law, and can be purchased for $5 from 7-Eleven stores, vending machines and the Nona Lee Sports Centre (Building 103), Tin Alley at the University. Helmet locations are listed on the FAQs for Bike Rental Options in Melbourne web page.

Car Parking

On-street parking is very limited. There are multi-storey car parks within walking distance of the University. For more information please see the University's Parking on campus web page.