4 The politics of memory and the memory of politics
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Maria Nugent
Abstract
This chapter discusses the ways in which Aboriginal people in southeastern Australia since the 1880s have incorporated Queen Victoria as a narrative device into the stories they tell and the statements they make about their situation under British colonisation. By tracing the contexts and occasions on which references to Queen Victoria are made, the chapter examines how Aboriginal people in Australia’s south-east implicated the figure of Queen Victoria in their lives and predicaments, and the ways in which each new generation recycled and reworked inherited stories about her according to their own times and situations. It concludes that the name of Queen Victoria served multiple “memory-making” uses, not least of which was remembering Aboriginal people’s own histories of political activism as they sought redress for their dispossession.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the ways in which Aboriginal people in southeastern Australia since the 1880s have incorporated Queen Victoria as a narrative device into the stories they tell and the statements they make about their situation under British colonisation. By tracing the contexts and occasions on which references to Queen Victoria are made, the chapter examines how Aboriginal people in Australia’s south-east implicated the figure of Queen Victoria in their lives and predicaments, and the ways in which each new generation recycled and reworked inherited stories about her according to their own times and situations. It concludes that the name of Queen Victoria served multiple “memory-making” uses, not least of which was remembering Aboriginal people’s own histories of political activism as they sought redress for their dispossession.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of maps and figures vii
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Maps xiii
- Introduction 1
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Part I Monarch, metaphor, memory
- 1 ‘We have seen the son of Heaven/We have seen the Son of Our Queen’ 25
- 2 ‘We rejoice to honour the Queen, for she is a good woman, who cares for the Māori race’ 54
- 3 ‘The faithful children of the Great Mother are starving’ 78
- 4 The politics of memory and the memory of politics 100
- 5 ‘My vast Empire & all its many peoples’ 125
- 6 Māori encounters with ‘Wikitoria’ in 1863 and Albert Victor Pomare, her Māori godchild 144
- 7 Southern African royalty and delegates visit Queen Victoria, 1882–95 166
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Part III Sovereign subjects?
- 8 Sovereignty performances, sovereignty testings 187
- 9 Bracelets, blankets and badges of distinction 210
- 10 Chiefly women 228
- Select bibliography 246
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of maps and figures vii
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Maps xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Monarch, metaphor, memory
- 1 ‘We have seen the son of Heaven/We have seen the Son of Our Queen’ 25
- 2 ‘We rejoice to honour the Queen, for she is a good woman, who cares for the Māori race’ 54
- 3 ‘The faithful children of the Great Mother are starving’ 78
- 4 The politics of memory and the memory of politics 100
- 5 ‘My vast Empire & all its many peoples’ 125
- 6 Māori encounters with ‘Wikitoria’ in 1863 and Albert Victor Pomare, her Māori godchild 144
- 7 Southern African royalty and delegates visit Queen Victoria, 1882–95 166
-
Part III Sovereign subjects?
- 8 Sovereignty performances, sovereignty testings 187
- 9 Bracelets, blankets and badges of distinction 210
- 10 Chiefly women 228
- Select bibliography 246
- Index 249
