Blood Money

“We pay our respects and dedicate the Unsettled exhibition to the people and other Beings who keep the law of this land; to the Elders and Traditional Owners of all the knowledges, places, and stories in this exhibition; and to the Ancestors and Old People for their resilience and guidance.

We advise that there are some confronting topics addressed in this exhibition, including massacres and genocide. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be advised that there may be images of people who have passed away.”

Laura McBride and Dr Mariko Smith, 2021.

Blood Money is often used to describe money obtained at the cost of another’s life. The Blood Money series by Dr Ryan Presley explores the extent to which Australia’s wealth has been built on a history of exploitation and violence. Arguably, the bulk of Australia’s economy functions off Aboriginal dispossession. On some notes, the dollar value is replaced by the infinity symbol, a gesture to the ongoing and unquantifiable damage wrought by colonisation,

The version of history represented on Australia’s currency is primarily that of white settler figures. In contrast, Blood Money promotes important Aboriginal people, testifying to their intelligence and resilience. Their legitimate actions stand in contrast to the many colonial myths that Aboriginal people were passive and lacked the will to resist colonial encroachment.

Pemulwuy was a Bidjigal lore (law) man and formidable warrior. He is one of the most well-known resistance fighters of the early colony. He adamantly opposed the violence against Aboriginal peoples and the destruction and disrespect of his Ancestral lands. A respected leader, he united clans in a successful resistance campaign. In defence of their land and livelihoods, they would spear cattle, burn huts and homes, destroy crops and attack colonists. Pemulwuy evaded capture many times but was killed in 1802. Pemulwuy’s campaign lasted 12 years; he fought hard, inspired many and died for his people.

The nawi (tied-bark canoe) was utilised by Pemulwuy as an important tool in the campaign against the invaders. Nawira (canoes) were extremely versatile – swift, silent, light and easily landed anywhere, suited to lightning raids and hasty retreats. From 1788 to 1810, there were numerous raids conducted in canoes against homesteads, government buildings, as well as British vessels. For many years, the guerrilla warfare campaign by the Sydney clans hemmed the colonists inside their encampments. Colonists were unable to go outside the “lines of limitation” without firearms of an escort of soldiers.

Read more about First Nations watercraft culture here.

Truganini was a strong and intelligent Nunnone woman. When hardly more than a child, she living through The Black War of Tasmania. She survived by building strategic alliances with different people, both Aboriginal and European. Over seven decades she experienced a psychological and cultural shift more than most human imaginations could endure. Notwithstanding efforts by missionaries, she never gave up her cultural beliefs. Whenever away from authorities, she would hunt, dive, participate in ceremony and return to her traditional Country, Lunawanna Alonnah (Bruny Island).

Truganini liked to collect tiny luminous shells from the beaches, clean them until they shone and then string them into necklaces. She always wore her maireener necklace proudly, an important marker of her identity and connection to her Country, Lunawanna Alonnah (Bruny Island). Truganini has often, falsely, been commemorated as the last of her race. There were other Aboriginal survivors of The Black War of Tasmania. Palawa (First Peoples of Tasmania) continue to identify with and celebrate their culture, of which maireener shell necklace making is an important signifier. Read more about Tasmanian shell necklace making in the words of Aunty Lola Greeno here.

Dundalli was a Dalla warrior from the Blackall Ranges. At the instruction of Elders, Dundalli led early diplomatic attempts to negotiate with colonisers to trade for materials and food. But several unjust events, including a massacre (by poisoning food), caused relations to deteriorate. Dundalli and other warriors undertook a resistance campaign, destroying crops, ransacking houses and injuring colonists, successfully ejecting them from Aboriginal lands. His commitment to exacting Aboriginal justice made him a hero to local clans and a feared enemy to colonisers.

The Dalla People hosted very large bunya gatherings with clans travelling up to 200km to attend. These annual events were economic, social and spiritual gatherings: significant occasions where tribal councils resolved disputes and discussed important issues. Aboriginal justice was built on a belief that both blessings and hardships should be experienced equally by all. At the bunya gathering of 1842-1843 there would have been careful consideration by the clans on how to respond to colonisation. It is where Dundalli would have learned what course of action he must take against these unexpected invaders.

Fanny Balbuk was a Noongar Elder who defied the incursion of settlements and urban expansion on her traditional lands. She witnessed the devastation of Country by colonisers in Perth. In the 1890s, the railway station and other buildings were erected on important hunting grounds that had sustained her people from time immemorial. Fanny was renowned for protesting such occupation of her traditional lands. One of her most frequent protests was to stand at the entrance to Government House, reviling all who lived behind those stone gates that enclosed her grandmother’s burial ground.

Fanny was adamant to stick to her traditional rights of way. On finding people had built houses and laid fences on important tracks and songlines, she would break down the fence with her wanna (digging stick) or walk right through any house or yard that had been built in the way. Fanny predicted how colonisation would disrupt cultural practices and knowledges, and in response worked with anthropologist Daisy Bates to ensure a record and transfer of cultural knowledge to maintain her people’s traditional lore (law). To the end of her life, Fanny never let colonisers forget whose land they had taken.

Vincent Lingiari was a Gurindji lore (law) man and talented stockman. He worked on the Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory which had been established on his Ancestral Country. The Gurindji workers were poorly treated by the managers of the station. Vincent himself received no cash payment for his work, notwithstanding his position as head stockman. In 1966, Vincent led a walk off with two hundred Aboriginal workers of Wave Hill Station. This marked the beginning of a seven-year strike in protest of the poor working conditions and the dispossession suffered by the Gurindji.

Although initially an employee-rights action, the Wave Hill strike became a federal land rights issue. Vincent Lingiari travelled to Canberra to speak with the government: “I have come to tell the Parliament about the land rights. I got stories from my old grandpa that the land belonged to me, Aboriginal man, before all the horses and cattle came onto that land. I’ve got that story on my mind”. In 1973, after seven years of campaigning, the Australian Government handed 3236 sq km back to the Gurindji people, the first act of restitution to Aboriginal people and the start of the Aboriginal land rights movement in Australia.

Gladys Tybingoompa was a Wik woman and formidable warrior. She was one of the five plaintiffs in the Wik Peoples v Queensland Native Title case put to the High Court of Australia. In 1978, the Wik Elders began a fight for ownership of their traditional lands, as recognised by common law. Gladys said: “I’ll follow the line no matter how long, no matter how hard it gets… we need our land”. And they did fight long and hard, with a judgment being handed down in their favour in 1996. This judgment was significant as it found Native Title could co-exist with other interests including Pastoral Leases.

Women like Gladys play an important role in Native Title cases as they often hold the knowledge of bush medicines, foods and health that are important identifiers of economy and connection to Country. When Wik people won their Native Title case, Gladys danced outside the High Court of Australia in celebration. She told waiting journalists…