Ian D. Clark - ‘A Peep at the Blacks’: A History of Tourism at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station, 1863–1924

This study is concerned with the history of tourism at the Coranderrk Aboriginal station that operated near Healesville some 65km northeast of Melbourne from 1863 until its formal closure in 1924. The title of this account is A peep at the Blacks. It is adapted from the title of an 1877 newspaper article written by John Stanley James, the nineteenth century travel writer, who used the pseudonym The Vagabond. He was one of many journalists, researchers, and dignitaries who visited Coranderrk during its 60 years of operation to gaze at the residents. Coranderrk was one of six reserves that operated across Victoria in the second half of the nineteenth century (see , 2002: 81). Many tropes or themes mediated the tourist gaze the view that they were both a fossil race and a dying race made it imperative that they be researched before they became non-existent.

Before commencing a fine-grained study of Coranderrk it is necessary to take heed of Halls and Tuckers (2004: 8) observation that Any understanding of the creation of a destination involves placing the development of the representation of that destination within the context of the historical consumption and production of places and the means by which places have become incorporated within the global capital system. In terms of an international culture network, (2002) has shown how images of Coranderrk Aboriginal people became scientific currency within an international network extending as far afield as England, Italy, Russia, and France. It is no surprise, therefore, that many of the international visitors to Coranderrk came from some of these countries. Consistent with this view, in order to position tourism at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station within an historical context, it is necessary to document tourist visitation at similar stations and mission sites in colonial Victoria.

, 2008: 161).

Figure 1.1: Stations and reserves set aside for Aboriginal peoples in Victoria.

1891: 38). The tour of inspection began with the wooden houses of families, followed by the old peoples quarters and finished with the school.

, 2006: 29) and authorities attempted to control the visitation by reducing visiting days from three to two a week despite opposition from local business operators who believed they would suffer from less tourist traffic.

Ramahyuck Aboriginal station, also in Gippsland, was another significant site where Aborigines and Europeans encountered each other: by and large, on occasions which were ritualised or orchestrated, as in church where they sat separately or when European visitors came as holiday excursionists or to attend annual picnics or some commemoration or another (, 1989).