The Wild Australia Show was a troupe of 27 Aboriginal performers recruited from northern Queensland in the 1890s for a world tour that would culminate at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Those grand plans were ultimately dashed, and the troupe only performed in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne before disbanding. This book tells the story of the Wild Australia Show from its inception to its afterlives. It traces how the performers were recruited, the places they came from, the repertoire they created, rehearsed and performed, their experiences on tour and the politics of their representation in word and image. Drawing on an extensive archive of newspaper reports, government records, and court proceedings, richly complemented by photographs and other visual images, the authors seek to reconstruct the Wild Australia Show story from the perspectives of the performers themselves. The book contributes to a growing literature on the history of Aboriginal performers and performances under colonial conditions, and the ways in which public performance could be a means for cultural survival and resurgence.
By:
Paul Memmott, Maria Nugent, Michael Aird, Lindy Allen, Chantal Knowles Imprint: ANU Press Country of Publication: Australia Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 549g ISBN:9781760466930 ISBN 10: 176046693X Series:Aboriginal History Monographs Pages: 266 Publication Date:08 July 2025 Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
