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- 1. PUBLIC LECTURE (For the session ‘Yarn Up’ at the Plunge Arts Festival, Maclean NSW) 16 April 2015 Written and presented by Annika Korsgaard, Lead Researcher If citing this, please reference as: Korsgaard, A. 2015. Breimba – looking for you. Lindt Research Project. Public Lecture, 16 and 17 April, 2015, Grafton and Maclean, New South Wales. Unpublished lecture notes. SLIDE 1 Many thanks to Peter Wood from Arts Northern Rivers for inviting me to speak today. It’s lovely to be here. SLIDE 2 I’ll start today with a brief history of the Lindt photos, and the previous research that’s been done, and then I’ll discuss our finds from the current research project. In 1873 German photographer John William Lindt took a series of Aboriginal portraits in his studio in Prince St, Grafton. The photos were taken in a studio rather than outdoors because photographic technology was very limited at the time and the lighting needed to be regulated. Also, long exposure times meant that the people in the photos had to stand very still for several minutes while Lindt took each portrait, which partially accounts for their very composed, sombre expressions. The portraits were perceived by national and international audiences of the time to be accurate representations of how the Aboriginal people of the Clarence Valley lived,
- 2. however, the photographs were actually unique artistic interpretations of how Aboriginals of the region might be living, when away from the townships. Lindt went to great efforts to include authentic Aboriginal gunyahs, tools, weapons, clothing and adornments in the photographs, SLIDE 3 however, he did not make sure that they were being used in a culturally appropriate manner, such as depicting women wearing what we believe was a male-only head dress. By the 1870s the people in these photographs were living far more westernised lives than are depicted in the majority of these photos. They were wearing western clothing around town and drifted between Aboriginal camps that were situated on the fringe of Grafton, and camps located on European properties. While some hunting was still practiced, the men worked as farm labourers and stockmen, and the women worked as house maids and nannies. With land alienation traditional foods were no longer as easily accessible, and western foods of damper, rice and sugar had become basic food staples. Aboriginal men were not going about Grafton in kangaroo skins, and nor were the women walking through topless. These images, whilst very beautiful are, in my opinion, highly romanticised and idealised. SLIDE 4 The Colonial Office purchased a number of these photo albums and gifted them to major museum collections around the world, including Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The photographs were also displayed at exhibitions worldwide and Lindt acquired international acclaim for them. Throughout Lindt’s career the people in the photos remained largely anonymous to anyone outside of the Grafton area. Two newspaper articles dating to 1873 and 1874 gave the first names for some of the people in the photos, but they did not elaborate who they were or how they related to one another, either tribally or as family groups. Over the following 130 years nothing new came to light about the identity of the people in the photos. SLIDE 5 – IMAGES of people in the newspaper SLIDE 6
- 3. As a slight digression here, two other photos drew our attention based on names being attributed to them by a woman from the Bawden family who was friendly with the Aboriginals and had written names on the backs of two of the photos. As you can see she has given the name ‘Louis’ to the man who the newspaper named ‘Snowy’. Perhaps ‘Snowy’ was a local nickname, because there is no record for an Aboriginal named Snowy in NSW at the time. Apparently these Aboriginals camped on the Bawden property “Trefusis”. SLIDE 7 In the late 1990s artist, Ken Orchard, did some research on the photos and identified King Charlie of the McLachlan property at Ulmarra and King Harry of Small property at Swan Creek through other photographs of them wearing their breastplates. He also discovered a photo in the State Library of NSW of a young woman with the name “Mary Ann of Ulmarra” written in pencil on the back. It was not known who wrote the inscription or when, so it was very difficult to prove definitely if that was her name. In 2004, Sydney philanthropists, Sam and Janet Cullen, read that a near-complete album of Lindt’s Australian Aboriginals series was up for auction in London. They were distressed at the idea of these significant photos being sold to a private overseas collector, never to see the light of day, so they purchased the collection of 36 photographs and generously gifted them back to the people of the Clarence Valley, via the Grafton Regional Gallery. This kind deed sparked a renewed interest in the Lindt photographs, and the Cullens and the people of the Clarence Valley wanted to find out more about the individuals who appeared in the images. SLIDE 8 In 2010, the Grafton Regional Gallery engaged local historian, Nola Mackey, to research the photographs in an effort to find out more about the people. Nola’s research generated very important information that was to become the foundation from which the phase of the research was based. Whilst Nola’s research did not specifically identify any new identities, it did create several very promising leads that required further investigation, in particular identifying descendants of a Mary Ann Cowan, who was suggested as a possible candidate for Mary Ann of Ulmarra. Mary Ann Cowan’s descendants believed that their ancestor, Harold Arthur Cowan, bore a resemblance to the young woman in the Lindt photo. Nola and
- 4. Ken’s research also matched some of the Lindt photos to the descriptions in the newspaper articles, but no further information about these people, of whom we only had first names and some places of origin, was known. SLIDE 9 In 2013, Jennifer Feller from the ABC tv show, Australian Story, produced an episode called “Light of Day” about the search for the identities of the Aboriginal people in the Lindt photos. This renewed the public’s interest and people contacted the ABC from across Australia offering suggestions about who some of the people might be. In 2013 the Lindt Research Group was founded, made up of local Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members with a shared interest in finding the identities of the men and women in the Lindt photos. The project has been administered by Jude McBean, Director of the Grafton Regional Gallery, and historian, Dr Eliza Kent, from the University of New England headed up the research team, consisting of myself as the lead researcher, and Roberta Skinner, the research assistant. This new phase of research was entitled Breimba – looking for you: Lindt Research Project. Breimba was the Aboriginal name for the Clarence River, and this was deemed a fitting title for an investigation about the Aboriginal people who lived on or near the Clarence River. This phase of the research commenced in October last year and will have its official closing ceremony at the Grafton Regional Gallery on May 26 this year. SLIDE 11 The main aims of this phase of the research have been • To continue the search for the identities of the Aboriginals in the Lindt photographs that were gifted to the Grafton Regional Gallery • To find out as much about their lives, and the lives of their ancestors and descendants, as possible in the 6 month research period • To create a digital archive of all the research materials collected, so that they are easily accessible to anyone who wants to pursue the search for the people in the Lindt photos, and also for Aboriginal family and local history research. These materials will be available in the Grafton library in a few weeks.
- 5. So, this leads me to sharing with you the exciting research discoveries Roberta and I have made over the past six months. SLIDE 11 A Gumbaynggirr man, Charlie Whitton, is a very strong contender for the title of ‘King Charley of Ulmarra’. The persuasive evidence is as follows: • Colin McLachlan remembers his grandfather, Duncan McLachlan, talking about King Charley and Nancy, who lived on the property in the 1870s when his grandfather ran it. Charley would warn trespassers off the property, saying it belonged to him and Duncan. • Nancy Whitton’s death certificate shows she was 10 years older than her husband Charlie, which would account for a visible age difference in the photo, and the possibility that the newspaper mistook her for Charlie’s mother instead of wife. • The young woman could be Lucy Larrigo (nee Whitton), Charley’s sister. Lucy was born around 1850, making her about 23 at the time of the Lindt photo, which appears to be the right age for the young woman. • Colin McLachlan remembers an older woman, Maggie, living on the family property at Ulmarra in the 1930s. This may have been Maggie Whitton, Charlie and Nancy’s daughter. Maggie was born ca. 1868, making her in her 70 years of age in 1938, so she fits Colin’s description of an ‘older’ woman. If this is the Whitton family, and the Maggie Colin speaks of was Charlie’s daughter, then that would show an excellent example of semi-continued occupation of the site by a single family group. This also reaffirms that the McLachlan property was a safe-haven for Aboriginals, even during the depression. SLIDE 12 I came across a newspaper article that had not previously been found regarding the Lindt photos. This 1883 article names ‘Larrigo’ as one of the men in the collection, and says he is
- 6. one of the last surviving people who posed for Lindt. We had found many references in news articles to Larrigo, and I suspected he was likely to be one of the men because he was well known around Grafton, however this article is the proof that he was in the photos. Unfortunately we cannot tell you which man he is, and we are hoping that future research might reveal this. Larrigo or his son married Lucy Whitton, daughter of Charlie Whitton and Nancy, and their daughter Jessie worked as a Nanny on the Bawden property. This ties Larrigo back to key people and places in this current investigation. SLIDE 13 Roberta found a photo in a book about Nymboida of a King Harry Neville. The photo was taken ca. 1900 and isn’t overly clear, but there is a resemblance to King Harry of Swan Creek. There is also a photo in the State Library of Victoria which depicts a man wearing an illegible breastplate. This photo was taken in the 1890s and looks like Harry Neville. Harry Neville married Lizzie MacDonald, who was thirty years younger than him, at Nymboida in a Christian ceremony in 1909. Harry’s and Lizzie’s marriage certificates state they were both born in Nymboida. Harry Neville had at least one son, Eric Neville, whom Harry petitioned to have educated in Nymboida. Harry died in 1915, age 90, making him approximately 48 in 1873/4. This makes Harry Neville the right age to be King Harry of Swan Creek. SLIDE 14 Arthur Devlin is believed to be the figure lying down in the Lindt photo. I found a prison photo of Arthur Devlin dating to 1877, 3 years after the Lindt photo was taken. Eliza Kent and I are 90%+ sure they are the same person, based on an examination of the facial features. There are numerous news articles about Arthur Devlin. He was imprisoned for attempted rape twice, once at Ulmarra, and once at Swan Creek. This puts him in the right area for where we believe many of the people in the photos were living. He was noted as a known menace by locals in Ulmarra, suggesting that he lived there, or close by. Arthur died from tuberculosis in Darlinghurst Gaol in 1883, age 29. He does not appear to have been married, have children, or have any known family or descendants. There was a white man called James Devlin who was the manager of the Small property at Swan Creek, so it is a possibility that Arthur lived or worked on the small property, and may have taken his boss’s name, as was commonly done.
- 7. SLIDE 15 I have also found a copy of two Lindt photos paired together that were created for the German market and had the inscription "Australisches Brautpaar aus der Gegend von Almarra" which translates to "Australian newlyweds from around Almarra”. On the reverse in pencil it says in German "Bushman and his bride from the area of Almarra" Although it doesn’t name the couple, they are very familiar to us! There is the possibility that Lindt took creative license and called them newlyweds for the German market to make them more romantic, however I believe that they were married because of the inclusion of the specific detail of them coming from Ulmarra, which would mean nothing to people in Europe. The Germans were quite meticulous record keepers, so it stands to reason that they are married, either in the Aboriginal or European tradition. This, however, cannot be confirmed at this stage. Further to the earlier discussion on the photo of the young woman labelled ‘Mary Ann’, up until very recently there were several line of inquiry I was pursuing, including an Aboriginal lady, Maryanne Tindale, who was committed to an insane asylum. However, two days ago I received an email from a woman in Sydney, Jo-Anne Clarke, who is the great granddaughter of Mary Ann Cowan. She and I had been corresponding about the Williams / Cowan families, and exchanging information. To my great surprise and delight I opened one of her emails to find this SLIDE 16 wonderful photo of Mary Ann Cowan as an older lady. Until two days ago all the evidence pointed towards Mary Ann Cowan being the young lady in the photo, but we had no concrete proof. Now, as the project nears its end, Mary Ann has revealed her true identity. When researching the Cowan and Williams families we had built up an extensive family tree. Now that we know Mary Ann of Ulmarra was definitely Mary Ann Cowan we can begin to understand a bit more about the young woman in the photograph. SLIDE 17 Mary Ann Cowan may have indeed had a traditional Aboriginal wedding to the man in the previous photo. We know that at the time of the Lindt photos she was a mother to a one year old son, Herbert. The title of the photo suggests that she lived on the McLachlan
- 8. property in Ulmarra at that point. We know nothing further of her life until she married a non-Aboriginal, Leonard Williams, in 1877, and together they had another four children and many grandchildren. Mary Ann Cowan lived her entire life from 1877 through to her death in 1935, age 86, at 51 Fitzroy Street, Grafton, where Shopping World now sits. SLIDE 18 When you compare Mary Ann’s photos to that of other relatives on the Cowan side of the family, you can see some strong resemblances. As a researcher I can’t explain the excitement and delight I feel at finishing this project in such an extraordinary way. It feels like this phase of the project has come full circle. Mary Ann of Ulmarra was always a tantalising mystery for many people. She had become the poster girl for the Lindt photographs, and had intrigued researchers and the public alike. SLIDE 19 There are still many questions and conundrums that, for the time being, cannot be resolved. There is the persistent issue with the identity of Louis / Snowy / Jacky. In a comparison of all these men they look to me like the same person. We know that Lindt took the photos over a period of between 3 months to a year so the hair and beard lengths are not an issue. I asked a facial recognition software expert if there was a program that could definitively tell us if this is the same person, or related, but he said the programs do not work that way, so it’s up to us humans to decide. The scar on the cheek of the men in the first three images suggests the same person, along with the distinctive eyes, eyebrows and facial shapes. The last two share a striking resemblance, as do the third and fourth images. Jacky was in the same photo as Arthur Devlin, and Arthur was correctly labelled in the newspaper, so does that mean that Jacky’s name is also correct? I think so but I cannot be 100% sure. SLIDE 20
- 9. One thing I keep coming back to is the similarity in appearance between Mary Ann Cowan and this young man. I cannot prove it, but I do believe there is a chance that this young man may be related to her, and he may even be Mary Ann’s brother Jack Cowan. The Lindt photos are a starting point from which other conversations can be had about topics such as how colonialism dramatically altered the lives of the local Aboriginal people, through land alienation, massacres, and the dissolution of tribal law, to name a few, and all the social and cultural problems that arose from these events. These struggles and social problems can be detected in the lives of some of the people in the Lindt photos, as discovered through this research. Therefore these photos are no longer simply static, romanticised images of "the noble savage". By knowing something of the history of the people in the photographs the photos themselves become a narrative of the hardships, struggles and confusion that the Aboriginal people of the mid-late 1800s, and beyond, had to endure. Thank you. SLIDE 21 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS