This work is conducted in memory and respectfully honours the First Australian People,
the Aboriginal People of this land.
From Ngukurr to Newcastle: Surprising material in the Copley Archive
By Associate Professor Kate Senior, School of Humanities and Social Science
In late 2020, I made a surprising discovery; in a file marked ‘Aborigines 1970’ I found multiple newspaper clippings about people from the community of Ngukurr, where I have worked as an anthropologist for the past 23 years. Ngukurr is a very remote Indigenous community in Arnhem Land, and is home to about 1000 people. It seems very distant from the Cultural Collections (now Special Collections) room at the University of Newcastle.
The clippings predominately focused on the work of Dexter Daniels, the great uncle of my closest friend and research associate Daphne Daniels. Dexter was the organiser of the North Australian Workers Union and was instrumental in organising the Wave Hill Walk off in 1966. But his significant influence was not confined to the Northern Territory. Dexter became active in the unions movement across Australia and was supported by the unions to speak at meetings and attend rallies. Dexter was a member of the Australian Communist Party and his activities were closely monitored by ASIO.
Dexter was supported by the unions in Newcastle, who raised money through the Aboriginal Advancement Committee to support strike action in the Northern Territory. He visited Newcastle several times (the latest date we could find in the archive was in 1970). Although Ngukurr people know the story of Dexter going to the World Youth Conference in Bulgaria in 1968, it is less widely known that he attended as a guest of the Communist Party of Australia. The story of Dexter’s influence in the southern states of Australia is also not well known.
In April 2021, Two descendants of Dexter Daniels (Daphne Daniels and Karen Rogers) were able to visit the library and see the material first hand. They were able to do this as part of a collaborative project between UON and the University of Melbourne entitled “The Living Archive of Aboriginal Knowledge”. This project aims to re-engage the community with material from the archives, both from museums and libraries.
Daphne and Karen found the visit exciting, but emotionally draining as they had to comprehend what had been a largely hidden history of their relative. Karen Rogers is a prominent artist in Ngukurr and she plans to work with the Ngukurr Art Centre to re-tell the Dexter Daniels story through paintings and sculpture. Daphne Daniels is working with the Newcastle Trade Unions in a collaboration to create an exhibition on the life and impact of Dexter. As Karen said:
“No one in Ngukurr knows about this story, but it’s a strong story and we need to tell it”
Associate Professor Kate Senior
School of Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Education and the Arts
University of Newcastle (Australia)
May 2021 Update
Associate Professor Kate Senior has since located further clippings dating back to 1964, which were digitised, date ordered, OCRed and made text searchable and incorporated in the PDF above.
All news clippings digitised, date ordered, and posting compiled by Gionni Di Gravio, OAM, 28-30 April -May 2021.
Interesting article. Thanks so much Kate and Gionni.
BTW … my dear Dr Joe Flood’s mother – Dorothy Hewett – covered the Wave Hill strike for The Tribune.
Have you way to check these by-lines in the press clips?
Pretty sure Trib is now digitised??
Marilla North