'Ochre and Rust' - a book by Dr Philip Jones: Andrew McLeod reviews some of the culture of South Australia with the author
In a clearing in Lincoln National Park, an old stump jump plough slowly rusts -a victim of the elements. You wonder about the farmer and his team of horses who once dragged this piece of nineteen-century engineering across country.
Head over to Canunda National Park in the State's Southeast and you might stumble across an Aboriginal midden where sharp cutting stones and an abundance of shells point to days long gone, when the Boandik people gathered here for regular seaside feasts.
Remnants of early European and ancient Aboriginal culture are everywhere - if you know where to look. And according to Dr Philip Jones of the South Australian Museum, sometimes these objects have a shared history.
"Some of the stories are fairly grim but others tell the story of engagement and the way in which Aboriginal and Europeans actually interacted on the frontier," said Philip. "I think that it something which is forgotten now - that there were periods when aboriginal people and Europeans were united together in a very interesting zone of contact."
In his book Ochre and Rust, Adelaide historian Dr Philip Jones travels back to this "zone of contact" through the story of objects - many stored in the South Australian Museum's Aboriginal Cultures Gallery. It houses the world's largest collection of Australian Aboriginal artefacts and each has it's own tale to tell.
As an example, Philip showed us some fire sticks. For Aboriginal people they were essential for delivering an instant source of heat. In the display cabinet, one set is missing because it's now on loan to the Warramungu people of Tenant Creek in the Northern Territory.
"These sticks belong to a particular individual, a Warramungu man called Dick Cubagee, who entered Australian history when an explorer, David Lindsay picked him up on his expedition through Central Australia in 1885 and ultimately brought him down to Adelaide.
"He brought his fire sticks with him and demonstrated fire making methods to the people of Adelaide, particularly at the International Exhibition here in 1887," said Philip.
Dick Cubagee - a six foot six Warramungu man - made a lasting impression on the people of Adelaide but his story says a lot about the often sad and tragic clash of cultures. Cubagee lived in Adelaide for three years but eventually became ill. Many of the wealthy and powerful matrons of Adelaide would visit him on his sickbed.
"It was in those interviews that he told them of his desire to return to his country and set up a cattle station. He believed that the white people should leave his country and pass the cattle to him and that he and his people would manage the economy from there on.
"So this is in the 1880s - an extraordinary individual who really had a vision of how his people could live. Unfortunately, he fell ill and died. His skeleton was preserved and put in the museum and it was only in the 1990s that the that the Warramungu people arranged for a ceremony for his skeleton to be returned and reburied."
In another display cabinet Philip shows us a piece of ochre from near Brachina Gorge in the Flinders Ranges. It's part of the story of Harry Bales, an aboriginal man who fought to protect a sacred ochre pit from destruction by European miners back in 1904. Harry pleaded his case for preservation and won.
"This ochre cake is evidence of this remarkable little event in Australian history because it was probably the first Aboriginal reserve for heritage purposes in Australia," said Philip.
From fire sticks to cakes of ochre - they all have meaning and tell the story of contact between European and Aboriginal culture on the Australian frontier.
Dr Philip Jones' book Ochre and Rust is published by Wakefield Press and is available from all major bookstores.
'Ochre and Rust - Artefacts & Encounters on Australian Frontiers by Dr Philip Jones
Published by Wakefield Press
$49.95Published 2nd September 2007
