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[Daisy Bates With Group Of Mirning People (Yinyila Nation)]

c1913. Group of six vintage silver gelatin photographs, sizes range from 6.8 x 4.7cm to 7.2 x 9.7cm. Slight scuffs and silvering, minor handling crinkles, laid down on original backing.

The group of photographs consists of:

(1) Daisy Bates standing among eight Indigenous men and one Western man with three Indigenous women and three children sitting on the ground;

(2) Three Indigenous men in Western clothing holding spears and shields; ;

(3) Head shot of Indigenous man with face paint and nose bone; ;

(4) Head shot of Indigenous man with feather headdress; ;

(5) Indigenous man with headdress and pipe, dressed in Western clothes with flowers in top pocket; and

(6) Indigenous young woman dressed in castoff clothing.

These photographs of the Mirning people were most likely taken in 1913, after Bates had established, in 1912, the “first of the harsh, isolated camps for which she became renowned. She camped at Eucla amongst the remnants of the Mirning tribe on the southern fringe of the Nullarbor Plain. The size and finish of these photographs indicate they were most likely taken by an amateur photographer who was visiting at that time the Eucla Telegraph Station, being the largest station on the East-West Telegraph line and a “transfer point of telegraphic messages between South Australia and Western Australia.”

Born in Tipperary, Ireland, Daisy May Bates (1859–1951) was the first anthropologist to carry out a detailed study of Australian Indigenous culture. Affectionately known as Kabbarli (grandmother), Bates was also a journalist, “welfare worker and lifelong student” of the Indigenous people.

Bates’ birth year has varied, depending on source, i.e., 1859 or 1863. Needing a dryer climate for her tuberculosis, Bates emigrated to Australia on board the Almora from England under an assisted passage scheme in 1883. She stated her age as 20 (rather than 24) to take advantage of the £1 reduced passage for single Catholic girls aged between 15 and 21 (otherwise the normal fee would have been £40). Ref: Wiki; southaustralianhistory.com; Australian National Museum; Encyclopedia.com; Flinders Ranges Research, Monuments Australia.

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Item #CL206-29

Price (AUD): $8,800.00  other currencies