Clint Bracknell

Bobby Roberts: Intermediary and outlaw of Western Australia’s south coast

Reinterpreting and juxtaposing a variety of colonial accounts from the south coast of Western Australia reveals particular Aboriginal individuals as active agents engaged in cross-cultural exchange motivated by their own interests, albeit with increasingly limited options.1 The story of Bobby Roberts may be viewed as an example of such Aboriginal agency exercised in the early colonial context. A Noongar man from the south coast region of Western Australia,2 Bobby assisted colonial interests as a guide and, later, a ‘native constable’. However, colonial authorities also knew him as a brazen criminal.3

‘Say You’re a Nyungarmusicologist’: Indigenous Research and Endangered Song

Based on my work as an Aboriginal Australian researcher studying song traditions in the Southwest of Western Australia, this article interrogates notions of ‘native’ music researchers and distinctly Indigenous approaches to research. An Indigenous scholar’s identity, acceptance, and the advantages or constraints they experience are subject to constant negotiation as they attempt to balance responsibilities to the academic and Indigenous communities they belong to. In light of these responsibilities, Indigenous music researchers may be motivated to nourish their own, thus far under-researched, local music traditions, serving to increase the diversity of music studied and sustained worldwide.