Dr Nikita Vanderbyl

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The happiest time of my life…’ Emotive visitor books and early mission tourism to Victoria’s Aboriginal reserves

On the afternoon of 16 January 1895, a group of visitors to the Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, gathered to perform songs and hymns with the Aboriginal residents of Lake Tyers Aboriginal Mission. Several visitors from the nearby Lake Tyers House assisted with the preparations and an audience of Aboriginal mission residents and visitors spent a pleasant summer evening performing together and enjoying refreshments. The ‘program’included an opening hymn by ‘the Aborigines’ followed by songs and hymns sung by friends of the mission, the missionary’s daughter and a duet by two Aboriginal women, Mrs E. O’Rourke and Mrs Jennings, who in particular received hearty applause for their performance of ‘Weary Gleaner’.

Publication:
Aboriginal History
Publisher:
ANU Press
Date:
January 1, 2017
Volume:
41
Issue
Pages:
95-120
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