Alistair Paterson

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This wooden dish from Broome, pre-1892, was made by Yawuru people, collected by police and later presented by the Commissioner of Police, Colonel Phillips, to the WA Museum. Courtesy of the WA museum

Friday essay: 5 museum objects that tell a story of colonialism and its legacy

Alistair Paterson, The University of Western Australia; Andrea Witcomb, Deakin University; Gaye Sculthorpe, The British Museum; Shino Konishi, The University of Western Australia, and Tiffany Shellam, Deakin University

A spear-thrower, a shell, a bowl, a vase, a bucket. Five very different items tell us much about the history of collecting, the role of Indigenous experts and the shadow of colonial violence.
The Enderby Island ship image depicting His Majesty’s Cutter Mermaid, which visited the Dampier Archipelago in 1818. Courtesy: Murujuga Dynamics of the Dreaming ARC Project

The Murujuga Mermaid: how rock art in WA sheds light on historic encounters of Australian exploration

Alistair Paterson, The University of Western Australia; Jo McDonald, The University of Western Australia, and Tiffany Shellam, Deakin University

An image of a ship on a rock in Western Australia’s Dampier Archipelago depicts HMC Mermaid – the main vessel of Phillip Parker King, an unsung hero of Australian exploration.
Detail of the Connecticut Inscription, with image enhancement. Centre for Rock Art Research and Management database

Rock art shows early contact with US whalers on Australia’s remote northwest coast

Jo McDonald, The University of Western Australia; Alistair Paterson, The University of Western Australia, and Ross Anderson, Western Australian Museum

Etchings over much earlier Aboriginal engravings show foreign whalers made contact with Australia’s remote northwest long before colonial settlement of the area.

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