Performing Indigenous Sovereignty: Aboriginal Australian commercial performances 1800-1949

This project is the first comprehensive study of Indigenous Australian initiated and controlled commercial performance events 1800-1949. This unexamined history and foundation for contemporary Indigenous theatre will be revealed through detailed examinations of newspaper, public record archives, diaries and anthropological and historical accounts and picture archives. As the first extended account of nineteenth century Indigenous controlled cross-cultural exchange and public entertainment, the research will challenge current perceptions of Indigenous theatre and cultures, in the process providing a new understanding of Australia s past. The outcomes will include scholarly and popular histories, a major exhibition and a digitised resource.