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READING TODAY WITH FRIENDS

 

“Mumbulla Spiritual Contact”

a photographically illustrated (photobook) by Guboo Ted Thomas and photographer Wesley Stacey.

A large format photographic essay explaining the significance of Mumbulla Mountain to the Yuin people the traditional owners of the land. Mumbulla Mountain is a significant initiation site and is steeped in the mythology of the Yuin people.

The book’s narrative includes photographs of landscapes, portraits, copies of old photographs, a map and a photomontage featuring a petition requesting protection for the site from the immanent logging and other terraforming.

It’s a good book to read on what many Australians celebrate as Australia Day, though a large segment of Australian residents including Indigenous inhabitants and a growing number of supporters call it a Day of Mourning. The 26th of January 1788 marks the day that the British flag was planted in the land at Sydney Cove to establish a penal colony.

Many things happened after the original white settlement that are part of the history of Australia, much of which is in a state of continuous rewriting as research yields new accounts that add other voices to the record.

This book deals with the ongoing encroachment of commerce, industry and ‘progress’ into Aboriginal sites, landscapes and landforms.

 

 

 

Bibliographic record: Thomas, Guboo Ted. and Stacey, Wes. and Australian National University. Department of Prehistory.  Mumbulla spiritual contact  The Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University Canberra, A.C.T  1980

40 pages, B&W photographs and illustrations, 45x 36 cm.
ISBN 0909596719

25 copies are available in library collections around Australia. Here is the link to the National Library’s  TROVE SEARCH