Conceptually a brilliant book that displays how upbringing and conditioning shapes a person’s concept of another.
Feature image credit: Wakefield Press
This is a conceptually brilliant book that, without any force, makes you analyse the way people had been conditioned before their arrival in Australia. By tracing the voices of German settlers and missionaries and taking a localised account of events, it situates South Australia within its unique history as a planned settler colony — shaped not only by British arrivals but also by a significant German Lutheran presence — rather than primarily a penal colony like NSW.
Why does this matter?
Well, it matters because this history shaped the types of people who arrived here. The early settlers here came with skills, capital, and education underpinning their governance; furthermore, the Wakefield scheme deliberately attracted middle-class migrants who prided themselves on order, civility, and ‘progress.’ The writings in this book were usually letters or reports sent to their superiors in Germany, and the focus on German writers highlights that paternalistic beliefs about Aboriginal people and their culture were shared across nations, not limited to just the British.
Unintentionally, simply by following the writings and reflections of the visitors — the anthropologists, missionaries, and officials — I ended up reading into the treatment of Aboriginal people. Whilst this was no doubt the intentions of editors Peter Monteath and Matthew Fitzpatrick in compiling this work, it was not the deliberate commentary of the writers themselves; rather, it just revealed their ingrained sense of superiority.
Through their words, you see the whole spectrum of colonial perception: Some looked upon Aboriginal people with detached curiosity, others with a genuine belief that they were ‘saving’ them from themselves (particularly the missionaries), and, occasionally, a kind of unexpected affection (rather than outright disdain). I found it really interesting to see how strongly the conditioning influenced their perceptions and interactions. That being said, it still felt awful to read about the racism and mistreatment in these accounts both on a personal and systemic level; this is not a light read.
The book is split into four parts — Sojourners and Immigrants, Missionaries, Geographers and Naturalists, and Anthropologists and Ethnographers. I found the writers in the first part difficult to read, but in the remaining parts, some of the writers were somewhat free thinking in that they were so dedicated to their craft, they allowed themselves to integrate for the purposes of their study, or in the case of the missionaries, for the purposes of conversion. In doing so they appreciated many aspects of Aboriginal culture, including their skills, systems of governance, and their knowledge of caring for the land and their community.
Furthermore, they documented the language fastidiously and learnt to speak it fluently. This was particularly the case for the missionaries, who saw mastering the local language as essential to their efforts to convert Aboriginal people. Today, these documents are critical in the reclamation of Indigenous languages and the recovery of cultural knowledge, much of which has been lost.
Fellows of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Flinders University historians, Peter Monteath and Matthew Fitzpatrick, are the editors of this book. Monteath is also the author of several books, including Germans: Travellers, settlers and their descendants in South Australia.
Reviewed by Rebecca Wu
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Wakefield Press
Released: September 2024
RRP: $39.95
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