NAIDOC Week 2021 – Heal Country

NAIDOC week 2021 official poster

NAIDOC Week 2021 is from 4 – 11 July. This year’s theme is Heal Country. It is a call for all to seek greater protections of land, water, sacred sites and cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration and destruction. 

To celebrate NAIDOC week, the University of Sydney Library is showcasing items from the collection that have been published by Sydney University Press, and that focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and cultural heritage. 

Community-led Research: Walking New Pathways Together

The concept of community-led research has taken off in recent years in a variety of fields, from archaeology and anthropology to social work and everything in between. Drawing on case studies from Australia and the Pacific, this book considers what it means to participate in community-led research, for both communities and researchers. How can researchers and communities work together well, and how can research be reimagined using the knowledge of First Nations peoples and other communities to ensure it remains relevant, sustainable, socially just and inclusive? 

Find Community-led Research: Walking New Pathways Together at Sydney University Press

Djalkiri – Yolŋu art, collaborations and collections

Djalkiri are “footprints” – ancestral imprints on the landscape that provide the Yolŋu people of eastern Arnhem Land with their philosophical foundations. This book describes how Yolŋu artists and communities keep these foundations strong, and how they have worked with museums to develop a collaborative, community-led approach to the collection and display of their artwork. It includes contributions from Yolŋu elders and artists as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous historians and curators. Together they explore how the relationship between communities and museums has changed over time. 

Find Djalkiri – Yolŋu art, collaborations and collections in Library Search 

Recording Kastom - Alfred Haddon’s Journals from the Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888 and 1898 

A comprehensive and critical edition of Alfred Haddon’s intimate and remarkably rich journals from his two expeditions to the Torres Strait in 1888-89 and 1898-99. 

The journals record in vivid detail Haddon’s observations and relationships. They highlight his preoccupation with documentation, and the central role played by the Islanders who worked with him to record kastom (traditional culture). This collaboration resulted in an enormous body of materials that remain of vital interest to Torres Strait Islanders and the communities where he worked. Haddon’s Journals provide unique and intimate insights into the colonial history of the region and will be an important resource for scholars in history, anthropology, linguistics and musicology. 

This comprehensively annotated edition assembles a rich array of photographs, drawings, artefacts, film and sound recordings. An introductory essay provides historical and cultural context. The preface and epilogue provide Islander perspectives on the historical context of Haddon’s work and its significance for the future. 

Find Recording Kastom - Alfred Haddon’s Journals from the Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888 and 1898 in Library Search 

Singing Bones – ancestral creativity and collaboration 

Manikay are the ancestral songs of Arnhem Land, passed down over generations and containing vital cultural knowledge. 

Singing Bones foregrounds the voices of manikay singers from Ngukurr in southeastern Arnhem Land, and charts their critically acclaimed collaboration with jazz musicians from the Australian Art Orchestra, Crossing Roper Bar. It offers an overview of Wägilak manikay narratives and style, including their social, ceremonial and linguistic aspects, and explores the Crossing Roper Bar project as an example of creative intercultural collaboration and a living continuation of the manikay tradition.  

Find Singing Bones – ancestral creativity and collaboration  in Library Search

Songs from the Stations: Wajarra as sung by Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpnga, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal and Dandy Danbayarri at Kalkaringi

The Gurindji people of the Northern Territory are perhaps best-known for their walk-off of Wave Hill Station in 1966, protesting against mistreatment by the station managers. The strike would become the first major victory of the Indigenous land rights movement. Many discussions of station life are focused on the harsh treatment of Aboriginal workers. Songs from the Stations portrays another side of life on Wave Hill Station. Amongst the harsh conditions and decades of mistreatment, an eclectic ceremonial life flourished during the first half of the 20th century. Constant travel between cattle stations by Indigenous workers across north-western and central Australia meant that Wave Hill Station became a cross-road of desert and Top End musical styles. As a result, the Gurindji people learnt songs from the Mudburra who came further east, the Bilinarra from the north, the Nyininy from the west, and the Warlpiri from the south. This book is the first detailed documentation of wajarra, public songs performed by the Gurindji people in response to contemporary events in their community.  

Find Songs from the Stations: Wajarra as sung by Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpnga, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal and Dandy Danbayarri at Kalkaringi in Library Search 

For the sake of a song: Wangga songmen and their repertories

Wangga, originating in the Daly region of Australia’s Top End, is one of the most prominent Indigenous genres of public dance-songs. This book focuses on the songmen who created and performed the songs for their own communities and for the general public over the past 50 years. The book is organised around six repertories: four from the Belyuen-based songmen Barrtjap, Muluk, Mandji and Lambudju, and two from the Wadeye-based Walakandha and Ma-yawa wangga groups, the repertories being named after the ancestral song-giving ghosts of the Marri Tjavin and Marri Ammu people respectively. 

Find For the sake of a song : Wangga songmen and their repertories in Library Search 

Re-awakening languages : theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia’s indigenous languages

The Indigenous languages of Australia have been undergoing a renaissance over recent decades. Many languages that had long ceased to be heard in public and consequently deemed ‘dead’ or ‘extinct’, have begun to emerge. 

Geographically and linguistically isolated, revitalisers of Indigenous Australian languages have often struggled to find guidance for their circumstances, unaware of the others walking a similar path. In this context Re-awakening Languages seeks to provide the first comprehensive snapshot of the actions and aspirations of Indigenous people and their supporters for the revitalisation of Australian languages in the 21st century. 

The contributions to this volume describe the satisfactions and tensions of this ongoing struggle. They also draw attention to the need for effective planning and strong advocacy at the highest political and administrative levels, if language revitalisation in Australia is to be successful and people’s efforts are to have longevity. 

Find Re-awakening languages : theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia’s indigenous languages in Library Search 

Research, Records and Responsibility: Ten years of PARADISEC 

The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) has been on the cutting edge of digital archiving, building a significant historical collection and community of practice engaged in the preservation and accessibility of research materials. Over the ten years of PARADISEC’s operation, the repository has grown to represent over 860 languages from across the world, including cultural materials from the Pacific region and South-East Asia, North America, Africa and Europe. With over 5000 hours of audio, the extent of the archival material, as well as the inclusion of a variety of styles such as songs, narratives and elicitation, has resulted in an invaluable resource for researchers and communities alike. 

PARADISEC’s innovation in archival practice allows communities to access original recordings of their own cultural heritage, and provides fieldworkers with a wealth of primary material. Research, Records and Responsibility explores developments in collaborative archiving practice between archives and the communities they serve and represent, incorporating case studies of historical recordings, visual data and material culture. It brings together the work of Australian and international scholars, commemorating ten years of PARADISEC, and reflects on the development and future directions of research and language archiving. 

Find Research, Records and Responsibility: Ten years of PARADISEC in Library Search 

Archival Returns : Central Australia and beyond 

Place-based cultural knowledge – of ceremonies, songs, stories, language, kinship and ecology – binds Australian Indigenous societies together. Over the last 100 years or so, records of this knowledge in many different formats – audiocassettes, photographs, films, written texts, maps, and digital recordings – have been accumulating at an ever-increasing rate. Yet this extensive documentary heritage is dispersed. In many cases, the Indigenous people who participated in the creation of the records, or their descendants, have little idea of where to find the records or how to access them. Some records are held precariously in ad hoc collections, and their caretakers may be perplexed as to how to ensure that they are looked after. Archival Returns: Central Australia and Beyond explores the strategies and practices by which cultural heritage materials can be returned to their communities of origin, and the issues this process raises for communities, as well as for museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions. 

Find Archival Returns : Central Australia and beyond  in Library Search 

Sydney Uni Anthology 2021 – call for submissions

Sydney University Anthology 2021 poster art

Creative folk – we want to hear from you! We’re looking for prose, poems and artwork by students, staff and alumni to publish in the Sydney University Anthology 2021.

The anthology is a great opportunity for you to get published and contribute to the creative exploration of the important issues of our times. The theme of this year’s anthology is ‘Networks’.

Why networks?

We live in a world increasingly defined by networks. The pandemic has simultaneously exposed not just the vulnerability of our physical and social networks, but also their adaptability and resilience.

Despite the incredible upheaval in our lives, we have been reminded how connected we all are. While being isolated, quarantined and separated, we still found ways to virtually network, connect and bond. We have also seen ourselves connecting on a much larger scale, uniting through movements and protests, and shared feelings of grief and loss.

The idea of networking cuts across many areas and has been explored as a concept in botany, philosophy, computer science and art. Networks are our communities, our communications and our neural networks, and they define our incredibly complex natural environment.

About the anthology

Published annually since 2007, the Sydney University Anthology showcases the creative talents of our students, staff and alumni. This student-led project is an opportunity for Master of Publishing students to apply their editing, design, marketing and project management skills to a real-life publication consisting of works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art by University of Sydney staff, students and alumni.

Each anthology features a foreword written by a renowned literary figure. In past anthologies, this has included Ceridwen Dovey, Kate Forsyth, PM Newton, Mark Tredinnick and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.


Sydney University Anthology 2021

What you can submit:
Up to 5000 words of prose, five poems or five artistic pieces that focus on the theme of networks.

Deadline for submissions:
Saturday 31 July 2021

Who can contribute:
Students, staff and alumni of the University of Sydney.

How to submit:
Upload your creative work at www.usydanthology.com/submit


For more information, visit usydanthology.com or our Facebook page: @USYDStudentAnthology.

Celebrating NAIDOC Week

Decal inside the Fisher Library

In 2020, NAIDOC Week (8–15 November) is dedicated to the theme ‘Always was, always will be’, celebrating the 65,000+ years of Indigenous custodianship of this continent.

If you’d like to get involved in this year’s NAIDOC Week celebrations, why not explore some of the Library’s First Nations resources? Below are some highlights. Keep an eye on our social media (Facebook and Twitter) for other NAIDOC Week activities.

First Nations voices in the Library collection

Our Aboriginal Studies Guide is where you will find books, news, journals and video featuring Aboriginal languages and culture, as well as links to websites and other resources with Aboriginal perspectives.

Earlier this year, Nathan mudyi Sentence, the Library’s Wingara Mura Librarian, put together a reading list of books and articles written by First Nations authors, with an emphasis on history, truth-telling, and self-representation.

Jazz Money

Throughout NAIDOC Week, the Library will be showcasing video works by Jazz Money, a Wiradjuri artist commissioned by the Library through a Wingara Mura grant for a Digital Placemaking Project to develop a series of artworks for Library spaces.

These pieces from Jazz’s collection are a response to the devastation of the bushfires that closed 2019 and heralded in the new decade. Titled ‘living landscape’, ‘burnt’ and ‘slow water’, these videos on display in Fisher Library reflect the artist’s grieving for Country and kin, as they seek out hope amidst the helplessness of mass destruction.

Wajarra from Wave Hill

On the Library website, you can watch and listen to performances of wajarra, public songs sung by the Gurindji people of the Northern Territory. Gurindji stock workers including Vincent Lingiari famously led the 1966 Wave Hill walk-off, a major victory in the Indigenous land rights movement.

The wajarra performances on the Library’s website include the ‘Freedom Day song set, which commemorates and celebrates those events. These recordings accompany the book Songs from the Stations, part of the Sydney University Press Indigenous Music of Australia series.

The series has also featured wangga singers from north-western Australia; you can hear their voices and learn more about wangga in the Library’s digital collections.

Indigenous languages

The Library is working to make it easier to search and discover items in our collection that feature Indigenous Australian languages, by adding AUSTLANG codes to relevant catalogue entries.

For example, whether your preferred spelling is “Kamilaroi”, “Gamilaraay” or Gamilaroi, you will now be able to find resources like Gagan = Colours, a picture book written for Gamilaraay language learners by Suellyn Tighe, a Gamilaraay woman and University of Sydney graduate.

Free access to online reading material from SUP!

book covers

Sydney University Press have compiled some of their favourite free reading material from their own open access collection and from around the world. There is history, Australian poetry, classic children’s picture books and much more to choose from!

SYDNEY OPEN LIBRARY

In our Sydney Open Library, you’ll find all of SUP’s open access books, including history, biography, politics, literary criticism, public health and more, all free to read.

AUSTRALIAN POETRY LIBRARY

Created by the University of Sydney and the Australian Copyright Agency, the Australian Poetry Library hosts tens of thousands of poems by Australian writers, plus recordings of poets reading their work.

INDIGENOUS MUSIC OF AUSTRALIA

Several books in our Indigenous Music of Australia series have companion websites, where you can learn about the music of Indigenous communities and stream audio and video recordings of musicians performing their songs

Book cover: Fighting Nature by Peta Tait

From Sydney Open Library:

Throughout the 19th century, animals were integrated into staged scenarios of confrontation, ranging from lion acts in small cages to large-scale re-enactments of war. Fighting Nature is an insightful analysis of the historical legacy of 19th-century colonialism, war, animal acquisition and transportation.

Book Cover: Singing Bones - ancestral Creativity and Collaboration by Samuel Curkpatrick

From Indigenous Music of Australia:

Manikay are the ancestral songs of Arnhem Land, passed down over generations and containing vital cultural knowledge.

Singing Bones foregrounds the voices of manikay singers from Ngukurr in southeastern Arnhem Land, and charts their critically acclaimed collaboration with jazz musicians from the Australian Art Orchestra, Crossing Roper Bar. It offers an overview of Wägilak manikay narratives and style, including their social, ceremonial and linguistic aspects, and explores the Crossing Roper Bar project as an example of creative intercultural collaboration and a continuation of the manikay tradition.

Sydney Open Textbooks: A Pilot

Open book to as symbol for Open Access Week

Are you passionate about open access and making education more affordable for your students? Would you like to publish an open textbook for your unit of study?

We are looking for expressions of interest from academics to participate in a pilot project that aims to publish an open textbook to support any discipline taught at the University of Sydney at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

How to get involved?

If you are interested in publishing an open textbook for your course, please submit a one-page proposal by 1 December 2017. We are particularly interested in proposals for original and previously unpublished projects with multidisciplinary appeal that would lend themselves to digital delivery and contain multimedia content.

Your submission should include the following:

  • Your contact details
  • Textbook title
  • Unit of study name and student enrolment numbers
  • Description of contents, including any multimedia
  • Table of contents with brief chapter descriptions
  • Estimated length of manuscript and delivery timeline.

To submit a proposal, and if you would like more information or have any further questions, please contact Agata Mrva-Montoya, Publishing Manager, Sydney University Press on 02 9114 1456 or agata.mrva-montoya@sydney.edu.au

Sydney University Press was re-established in 2005 as an initiative of the University of Sydney Library and is a not-for-profit scholarly publisher.

Sydney University Press invites you to a Wikipedia edit-a-thon

Celebrate Women’s History Month by joining Sydney University Press and the University of Sydney Library for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon. Tuesday 28 March in Fisher Library, downstairs on Level 2, from 10am to 4pm. Please RSVP via Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/ww-17

We’ll be editing Wikipedia together to improve the representation of Australian women writers and researchers. No experience needed: there’ll be training sessions, cheat sheets, reference sources and roving Wiki experts on-hand – plus snacks!

Why?

Wikipedia has a diversity problem. Women make up just 12% of Wikipedia contributors and 16% of individuals profiled. But we can fix it! Every year during Women’s History Month, gatherings like this one happen all around the world. In Sydney, we’ll be focusing especially on Australian women writers, scientists and scholars.

When? Is it all day?

You can participate all day or join us for just an hour or two, but our short training sessions for new Wikipedians will run at 10am, 12pm and 2pm. BYO device or use a library PC (bookings essential). We will provide reference works, suggestions for subjects to work on, and Wiki editing assistance. Just bring yourself, and your suggestions if you have them!

If you can’t make it to Fisher but would like to take part, we’ll be live-tweeting the event and would love you to join in at home. We will also have experts on hand to answer questions remotely!

If you have any questions, please email sup.info@sydney.edu.au.