Literature in our Collection
(M-Z)

Massola, Catherine Anna: Living the heritage, not curating the past: A study of lirrgarn, agency & art in the Warmun Community, PhD Thesis, The Australian National University, 2016

Table of Contents        ¦         Cover Text        ¦         Review⁄Abstract

Table of Contents

Declaration -iii- 

Abstract -v- 

Acknowledgements -vi- 

Cautionary note .-vii-i 

Abbreviations -ix- 

Orthography -xi- 

Glossary -xiv- 

Chronology -xvi-i 

List of plates -xix- 

List of tables -xxvi- 

Table of contents -xxvii- 

Thesis outline .xxxi 

CHAPTER 1 SETTING THE CONTEXT -1- 

Introduction -1- 

Warmun community and Gija Daam -9- 

The Warmun Community Collection -11- 

The Warmun Art Centre -12- 

Lirrgarn -13- 

Literature -13-

Art historical and anthropological -13- 

Oral history -16- 

Art, value and agency -18- 

Agency and practice theory -19- 

Informal learning -20-

Methodology -22- 

Memory and oral history -22- 

Ethnography -25- 

Visual anthropology -26-

CHAPTER 2 THE WARRAMBANY AT WARRMARN -27- 

Introduction -27- 

The Warrambany of Warrmarn -27- 

Community displacement and relocation -37- 

The Warmun Community Collection after the Warrambany -41-

Interactions with the Collection, its role and its value in 2012 -51-

The return of the Collection -55- 

Conclusions -57-

CHAPTER 3 WARNA WARNARRAM NGARAG WOOMBERRAMANDE OBJECTS MADE ABOUT - WHAT THEY USED TO DO AND SAY - LONG AGO -59-

Introduction -59- 

A brief introduction to historical writing on early encounters -60- 

Early contact and difference -62- 

Violence and massacres -65- 

Gija knowledge and practices -75- 

Country and adaptation -78- 

Conclusions -80-

CHAPTER 4 WARNA WARNARRAM JARRAG WOOMBERRAMANDE SPEAKING

ABOUT - WHAT THEY USED TO DO AND SAY - LONG AGO -82-

Introduction -82- 

Living and working on the stations -82- 

Learning new ways and maintaining values and practices -88- 

Agency and autonomy -91- 

Leaving the stations -93- 

The 1970s and the beginning of Warmun Community -96- 

Inheritance -99-

CHAPTER 5 THE NGALANGANGPUM SCHOOL -102-

Introduction -102- 

The founding of Ngalangangpum School -102- 

The decision process -105- 

The Two Way Curriculum -112- 

What was taught? -118-

Conclusions -128-

CHAPTER 6 NGALANGANGPUM ART -131- 

Introduction -131- 

The art -132-

Catholicism -133- 

Country and Ngarranggarni -147- 

Corroborees and Ngarranggarni -151- 

Everyday life -165-

Conclusions -175- 

CHAPTER 7 THE BEGINNING OF A COLLECTION -177- 

Introduction -177- 

The beginning of a Collection -177-

The first registration of a Collection -180- 

The second registration and a Significance Assessment -184- 

The third stage and the beginning of this project -188- 

Conclusions -191-

CHAPTER 8 THE WARMUN ART CENTRE -195- 

Introduction -195- 

Selling art in Warrmarn -195- 

The beginning of the Warmun Art Centre -197- 

The structure of the Warmun Art Centre -200- 

The values and goals of the Warmun Art Centre -201- 

The unofficial roles of the Warmun Art Centre -202-

The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair -208- 

Conclusions -212-

CHAPTER 9 THE WARMUN ART CENTRE AND LIRRGARN -215- 

Introduction -215- 

Informal learning at the Art Centre -216-

Mantha -220- 

*** Summary -225-

Killer -226- 

*** Summary.-231-

Jarrambayiny on Barlinyin -234- 

*** Summary .-243- 

Conclusions -246-

CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSIONS -249- 

Appendix A: Mud map of Community.-258- 

Appendix B: Warmun Community flood map -259- 

Appendix C: ANKAAA letter dated 17th March, 2011 -260- 

Appendix D: CCMC letter dated 16th March, 2011 -262- 

Appendix E: Warmun Art Centre letter dated 12th April, 2011 -263- 

Appendix F: Fundraising press releases -264- 

Appendix G: Invitation for the Warmun Community Collection return celebration -266- 

Appendix H: Letter of support for the National Significance Assessment -267-

Appendix I: Flier for artworks to be moved to the Warmun Art Centre.-268- 

Appendix J: Occasions of learning through art and creative practice at the Warmun Art Centre -269- 

Appendix K: Actions from different age groups in learning contexts -270- 

Bibliography -274-                  

Review⁄Abstract

Abstract: This thesis is an historical and contemporary examination of the creative, social and cultural world of the Warmun community in Western Australia. It focuses on how the community as a whole, and as individuals, exert agency and maintain their values and priorities when situated within larger, sometimes more powerful, structures and frameworks that differ from their own. Through the prism of art, the research examines the community's engagement with and value of the Warmun Community Collection, their history of adjustment, the unofficial roles of the Warmun Art Centre and how the Warmun Art Centre supports and enables informal learning. The thesis connects these four themes through a sociohistorical analysis of the experiences of Warrmarn people, ethnographic and visual descriptions of their actions and a visual examination of the manifestations of their actions - objects of creative practice or, artworks. In doing so, the thesis reveals several overlapping matters: it tracks the development of a museum in an Aboriginal community; it brings to light the hidden roles of the Warmun Art Centre; it contributes to the developing field of informal learning; it reveals how people express agency in daily life; it unveils the proprietorial relationship people have with objects; and finally, it lays bare the purpose, use and interpretations of objects, which has at times made Warmun residents, and their sites of cultural production, tangential to the objects they make. The research finds that Warrmarn people live their heritage rather than curate their past.