Mission-Based Indigenous Production at the Weipa Presbyterian Mission, Western Cape York Peninsula (1932-66)

Title
Mission-Based Indigenous Production at the Weipa Presbyterian Mission, Western Cape York Peninsula (1932-66)
Publication Date
2010
Author(s)
Morrison, Michael
McNaughton, Darlene
Shiner, Justin
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Springer New York LLC
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1007/s10761-009-0096-8
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/29439
Abstract
Previous research on remote nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Indigenous missions in northern and central Australia point to their often tenuous existence and the complex nature of engagements between Christian Missionaries and Indigenous people. This paper explores the contribution and significance of Indigenous production of wild foods in the context of one such settlement located at Weipa on Cape York Peninsula, north eastern Australia. It is premised on the assertion that investigation of the economies of these often remote settlements has the potential to reveal much about the character of cross-cultural engagements within the context of early mission settlements. Many remote missions had a far from secure economic basis and were sometimes unable to produce the consistent food supplies that were central to their proselytizing efforts. In this paper it is suggested that Indigenous-produced wild foods were of significant importance to the mission on a day-to-day basis in terms of their dietary contribution (particularly in terms of protein sources) and were also important to Indigenous people from a social and cultural perspective. We develop this argument through the case study of culturally modified trees that resulted from the collection of wild honey.
Link
Citation
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, v.14, p. 86-111
ISSN
1573-7748
1092-7697
Start page
86
End page
111

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