Biodiversity Information Science and Standards :
Conference Abstract
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Corresponding author: Alison C Vaughan (alison.vaughan@rbg.vic.gov.au)
Received: 16 Sep 2024 | Published: 21 Oct 2024
© 2024 Alison Vaughan, Peter Taylor, Cameo Dalley, Nicole Huxley
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Vaughan A, Taylor P, Dalley C, Huxley N (2024) Indigenous Knowledge and the Hann Expedition: Re-Examining Scientific Collections From Colonial Expeditions. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 8: e137154. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.8.137154
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An examination of the motivations, dynamics and activities of colonial exploring expeditions can provide valuable insights into the ways in which the colonial mindset shaped the development of natural history collections in colonised lands. The Indigenous Knowledge and the Hann Expedition: Re-examining scientific collections from colonial expeditions project is working to redress these omissions in the historical record by re-contextualising the botanical specimens collected on the 1872 Northern Expedition and re-connecting them with the Aboriginal Country from which they were collected (
The 1872 Northern Expedition, led by William Hann, sought to establish the mineral and agricultural potential of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, Australia. Alongside Hann, the expedition party included Jerry (Aboriginal guide), Dr Thomas Tate (botanist), Norman Taylor (geologist) and three other European men: Warner, Stewart and Nation. It was this expedition, with its reports of gold on the Palmer River, that triggered Queensland’s biggest goldrush and led to an influx of more than 20,000 settlers, with disastrous consequences for the Aboriginal people who occupied the area (
Between June and November, the expedition party travelled from Mount Surprise north to the Stewart River, before returning south via the coast at Cooktown and Weary Bay (
The project is being led by three direct descendants of members of the expedition party: Nicole Huxley (descendant of Jerry); Peter Taylor (descendant of Norman Taylor) and Cameo Dalley (descendant of Thomas Tate), making the project uniquely—and powerfully—positioned to examine the personal, scientific and sociopolitical legacies of the expedition (
Initial engagement is being undertaken with Aboriginal communities in Cape York will be undertaken to generate shared history-making and elevate Indigenous knowledge and memory to develop countervailing historical narratives and recontextualise the botanical specimens collected on the expedition. All engagement with Aboriginal communities will be held on-Country, i.e., on lands to which the Aboriginal peoples being consulted are connected via law, cultural practice, spiritual belief, language and/or custom (
At the time of writing, the three descendants are continuing a series of region-specific engagements that are generating interest in—and support for—Indigenous-led knowledge-sharing and the documentation of untold stories. Based on this initial show of support, the project partners will likely seek funding for a broader Indigenous-led program of on-Country truth- and storytelling around key events that followed the 1872 Hann Expedition.
Alongside the on-Country truth-telling, the project will help herbaria develop protocols for recording Indigenous Cultural Knowledge (ICK) shared by Aboriginal knowledge-holders in ways that uphold cultural safety and principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Data Governance. Through two-way knowledge sharing, we hope to enrich the specimens both culturally and scientifically by:
This symbiotic blending of botanical science and Indigenous Cultural Knowledge will 'give voice to Country' through knowledge partnerships, helping to heal the past, and to better understand and conserve the complex biodiversity of Cape York.
herbarium, botany, specimens, colonialism, Cape York, Queensland
Alison Vaughan
SPNHC-TDWG 2024
The authors wish to acknowledge the pivotal role played by Terry Piper of Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation in the development of this project; as well as the enthusiastic support of Richard Thackway (Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU), Hugo Le Mao (Queensland Department of Resources), Harry Smith and Mark Nesbitt (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), and Gill Brown and Nigel Fechner (Queensland Herbarium).