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The archaeological record of Lower Laura (aka Boralga) Native Mounted Police camp, a longstanding base for Queensland's frontier war in Cape York Peninsula, includes a diverse assemblage of culturally modified Erythophleum chlorastychys (Cooktown ironwood) trees. Analysis of cultural scar attributes and tool marks – which were found to be variously associated with Aboriginal stone tools, tomahawks of different types, and long handled axes – reveals a scenario of nineteenth century land use and technology that transcends the pre-conflict era of Aboriginal clan estates. As well as reflecting traditional patterns of Aboriginal tenure of prime waterfront land, the assemblage reveals innovations that occurred in Aboriginal technology in the lead-up to war. However, an unusual style of cultural scar cut using long handled axes appears to signal transformations in demography and land use following Native Mounted Police occupation. By integrating historical, oral history, spatial, typological, and botanical data this study provides evidence of demographic and environmental changes set in train by the gold-rush invasion. It also highlights the complexities of documenting Cooktown ironwood trees of advanced age and their fragile, deteriorating cultural modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although historians have provided substantial insights into the structure, development and activities of the Queensland Native Mounted Police, they have rarely focused on the complex and sensitive issue of Aboriginal recruitment. A careful reading of historical records, however, identifies several methods, including coercion, intimidation, kidnapping and inducement, as well as “voluntary” enlistment. It is difficult to identify Aboriginal agency in recruitment processes as the records are entirely one-sided—the voices of the troopers themselves are absent from the archival sources. In this article, we examine the cultural and historical contexts of Aboriginal recruitment—for example, the dire social situations of Aboriginal survivors of the frontier war and the absence of future survival options for the potential recruits. We explore, through the framework of historical trauma, the impacts on vulnerable victims of violence and other devastating effects of colonisation. We conclude that the recruitment of Aboriginal troopers was far from a homogeneous or transparent process and that the concept of agency with regard to those who can be considered war victims themselves is extremely complex. Unravelling the diverse, conflicting and often controversial meanings of this particular colonial activity remains a challenge to the historical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1970s, a rare assemblage of trade beads was discovered inside a woven plant fibre bag in a rockshelter (the ‘Dillybag site’) near Laura, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Cached post-1895, the bag held more than 4000 glass beads strung on cotton, nylon and hand-spun (possibly human) hair twine. Seventy-eight percent of beads showed some degree of damage from bead-on-bead contact, suggesting that the assemblage accumulated gradually over time. All beads on hair twine were minute or small, and potentially reveal consumer choice in their selection, as does the large proportion of red, white and black beads, suggesting a preference for customary colours. This cache is not only the largest collection of glass beads recovered from an archaeological context in Australia, but also speaks to the dynamism, agency and persistence of the Indigenous people of southeast Cape York Peninsula following invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Australian Indigenous rock art tourism, a field that has received limited research attention. Our aim is to identify aspects which are invisible in tourism promotions. We note trends in rock art tourism and related research, survey the Australian situation, and employ a case study approach to outline the development of Indigenous rock art tourism in Kakadu National Park (KNP) and parts of the Quinkan (Laura Cooktown) region. In both regions, Aboriginal communities inherited legacies of top down decision-making and bureaucratic methods. Although the Laura people transitioned to a community-based system and a successful ranger program, they face challenges in achieving their aspirations for sustainable rock art tourism. KNP communities, subsumed into an unwieldy joint management arrangement for the World Heritage listed National Park, are faced with competing values and perspectives of the dominant government system. A centerpiece of the Balnggarrawarra tourism initiative is the ranger/tour guide system of the type which operated for some years at Laura and was introduced briefly at KNP. The model incorporates key elements of sustainable Indigenous tourism–traditional owner control and jobs, land care, conservation, cultural preservation, partnerships, and public education. Notwithstanding contemporary challenges and realities, a unifying theme is caring for rock art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clothing is capable of providing a range of insights into aspects of identity, authority, power, and hierarchy. Here we present the results of an analysis of an assemblage of uniform buttons and accoutrements from seven 19th-century Native Mounted Police (NMP) camps in Queensland, Australia. As part of wider colonial structures of discipline and expropriation, the NMP uniform was a powerful symbol of control: over troopers' bodies, over NMP detachments by officers, and over "wild" and "savage" Indigenous peoples by the NMP. Exploring the history and development of the NMP uniform, its intent in constructing officers and particularly troopers, the indexical qualities it acquired as a symbol of violence and fear amongst Indigenous people, and some of the alternative ways in which uniforms could be worn provides a variety of insights into the role, nature, and experience of the Queensland NMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]