Katie Langloh Parker and the Beginnings of Ethnography in Australia
Julie Evans
Abstract
Living across the 19th and 20th centuries, in both remote and urban communities, Katie Langloh Parker observed at first hand how the dispossession and attempted assimilation of Indigenous peoples supported the expansion of first colonial, and then national, interests. Accordingly, the records of her life and work shed further light not only on the general characteristics of this turbulent period in Australian history but also on how certain individuals and communities, both Indigenous and settler, sought to grapple with the difficult circumstances in which they were variously embroiled. The following essay considers the question of Parker's leadership status by tracing some of the ways in which her past and contemporary influence, particularly in relation to her role as a collector of Aboriginal 'myths and legends', has been received and understood since the publication of her first book Australian Legendary Tales in 1896.
Keywords
Settler colonialism, ethnography, regional history, New South Wales history, women and leadership, frontier interactions, Aboriginal 'myths and legends'
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