Content warning:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that Dhoombak Goobgoowana contains images and names of people who have died. Readers are also advised that they may be disturbed by the content of this book, which includes distressing images and descriptions, and derogatory terms for Indigenous people used in their historical context.
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Dhoombak Goobgoowana Volume 2: Voice reveals the pivotal role played by Indigenous people in the history of the University of Melbourne.

It traces the University’s role in ignoring and quietening Indigenous peoples’ voices, and the reverberations created by those voices that broke through. It shows how collections of art and cultural objects have transitioned from texts for western interpretation to expressions of self-identity. It reveals the Indigenous pioneers who gained admission to the University as students more than a century after it was established, and then later as staff, and documents their triumphs and struggles.

This second volume, following the revelations of Dhoombak Goobgoowana Volume I: Truth, shows how Indigenous communities challenged and disrupted the University, how they contributed to its research endeavours and exhorted it to introduce Indigenous knowledge into the academic sphere.

Imperfect, overdue and then often painfully slow, but marked by stories of courage and hope—this is what a history of inclusion looks like.

Editors: Dr Ross L Jones, Dr James Waghorne and Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton AO.

About the editors
Cover image of the Dhoombak Goobgoowana

Introduction

The book explores the profound influence of the arrival of the Indigenous voice. It shows where idealism has fallen short, and where stated objectives have not been reflected in the level of institutional support. It is a story punctuated with moments of success… [and] it shows the hard work of Indigenous people in confronting an institution at times hostile to their presence and at others indifferent, and on whom great expectations are loaded, and who are asked to do so much. James Waghorne, Ross L Jones and Marcia Langton, 'Introduction' (p. xxvii)

The book's introduction outlines the history of Indigenous voice in the institution, from Margaret Williams-Weir, the first recorded Indigenous graduate of the University of Melbourne in 1959, more than a hundred years on from the founding of the University, through to today.

  • Introductory chapters
    • Foreword by Duncan Maskell
    • Introduction by James Waghorne, Ross L Jones and Marcia Langton

Section I | Museums and Collections

Knowledge, identity, access and repatriation are closely intertwined concepts. Using the stone tools from the Leonhard Adam Collection as the point of departure for the creation of an exhibition and new cultural material has supported a reframing of their function from archaeological finds to objects that are active in a cultural continuum. Robyn Slogget and Vicki Couzens, 'Wawatoor – Grinding Stones' (p. 47)

'Museums and Collections' follows the growing appreciation and recognition of Indigenous culture within the University's art collections and its teaching of art history. It also discusses some of the University's major collections of Indigenous artefacts, such as the Donald Thomson exploring how these might be reimagined from an Indigenous perspective.

  • Section I chapters
    • Museums and Collections by Ross L Jones and Carolyn Rasmussen
    • Untimely Mediations by Ian McLean
    • Dr Leonhard Adam at the University of Melbourne by Robyn Slogget and Mary-Clare Adam
    • 'Wawatoor—Grinding Stones' by Robyn Slogget and Vicki Couzens
    • Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum Collection, Stone Tools by Jacqueline Healy
    • Collectors and Connections by Susan Lowish
    • Photogrammetry by Richard Gillespie
    • Behind the Locked Door by Rita Hardiman
    • Corrosive Collecting by Rohan Long and Jacqueline Healy
    • Returns Ablaze by Sally Treloyn and Tiriki Onus
    • The Donald Thompson Collection by Louise Murray and Marcia Langton
    • This Incredible Gift by Julie Banks

Section II | Staff and Students

It is difficult today to imagine a time when the University lacked a critical mass of Indigenous scholars, Indigenous-focused research institutes or teaching and learning programs in Indigenous Studies, but this is the institutional environment that the growing number of Indigenous students at the University were required to negotiate in the 1980s and 1990s. Barry Judd, 'Just Tell Them What You Know' (p. 269)

'Staff and Students' traces the attempts to bring Indigenous staff and students into the University, and how this changed the institution.

  • Section II chapters
    • Staff and Students by James Waghorne, Ross L Jones and Margot Eden
    • Abschol by James Waghorne
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students at the University of Melbourne by Margot Eden
    • More than Poster Boys and Cover Girls by Peter Campbell
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Staff at the University of Melbourne by Margot Eden
    • 'Just Tell Them What You Know' by Barry Judd
    • Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity by Elizabeth McKinley
    • Building Indigenous Research and Leadership Capacity by Sarah French, Melitta Hogarth and Marcia Langton
    • Towards Economic Self-Determination for First Nations Australians by Michelle Evans, Ashlen Francisco, Mitchell Hibbens and Lan Hoang
    • Indigenous Students through Years of Challenge, 2020-2024 by Inala Cooper

Section III | Working Together

The idea of partnerships is a promise that grassroots community work will reshape the University. … The University’s partners on the community side are often undertaking gruelling work with genuine stakes; the University’s commitment must be similarly sincere, lest it repeat past practices. James Waghorne, 'Working together' (p. 328)

'Working Together' traces the increasing range and scope of programs involving Indigenous people and knowledge and explores the University's role in promoting the health of Indigenous peoples, from paternalism to active involvement and leadership.

  • Section III chapters
    • Working Together by James Waghorne
    • Joseph Neparrŋa Gumbula by Aaron Corn
    • Eye Diseases in Indigenous Australians by Hugh Taylor and Simon Farley
    • An Education in Epidemiology by Charles Guest
    • Oral Health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People by Julie Satur
    • The Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health by Shawana Andrews and Odette Mazel
    • Gurindji and the University of Melbourne by David O’Brien and Adrian Boddy
    • Yambirrpa Schools and the Faculty of Education by Bernadette Murphy, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Yalmay Yunupiŋu and Ḻombiŋa Munuŋgurr
    • Understanding and Valuing Yolŋu Ranger Work by Margaret Ayre, Djalinda Yunupiŋu, Jonathan Wearne, Mandaka Marika and Rrawun Maymuru
    • Ngawurra Luwaijiri Ngirramini by Peter Vesk, Gerd Bossinger, Janet Hergt, Mr W Rioli, Snr (deceased), Kate Hadden and John Hicks (deceased)
    • Djambatj Dhukarr by Bernadette Murphy, Yalmay Yunupiŋu, Djawundil Maymuru, Mundatjngu Munuŋgurr, Shenay Thorne, Mulmulpa Munuŋgurr and Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs

Section IV | Conclusion

When Indigenous staff and students at the University brought their cultural values into the institution and made them explicit, they contested Australia’s second-oldest university and its colonial foundations with Indigenous aspirations for equity and recognition of their pre-existing knowledge systems…There can be no conclusion to this history of overcoming the barriers to Indigenous success at the University of Melbourne. There is an ongoing challenge that will be better met with a thorough understanding of the institution’s history. Marcia Langton, 'Conclusion' (p. 453-460)

Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton concludes the volume with a focus on the efforts of a generation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and staff who have worked to decolonise the institution.

  • Section IV chapters
    • Conclusion by Marcia Langton

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