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Fabri Blacklock
Fabri Blacklock is a descendent of the Ngarabal people from Glen Innes and Tingha and the Biripi people from Dingo Creek in New South Wales. She graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a BA Communications majoring in ‘Aboriginal Studies’ and ‘Film and Video’ in 1999. She was Assistant Curator of Koori History and Culture at the Powerhouse Museum from 1999 to 2008. She is also an artist who has recently exhibited in Sydney and Paris and is currently studying for a Doctor of Philosophy degree at University of Western Sydney on the history of her family.
Qualifications
BA Communications, University of Technology, Sydney
Awards
Nugget Award for Excellence in Arts Management
Grants
Beyond Fabrication of Australia’s History: A Documentation and Multi-Method Critical Analysis of Ngarabal and Biripi Elders’ Perspectives and Experiences of Australian History - ARC Indigenous Researchers Development grant
Thesis Title
Beyond Fabrication of Australia’s History: A Documentation and Multi-Method Critical Analysis of Ngarabal and Biripi Elders’ Perspectives and Experiences of Australian History
Supervisors
Professor Rhonda Craven & Associate Professor Geoff Munns
Abstract
Recently the long-running controversy over the historical relation between Europeans and Indigenous people was fuelled by Windshuttle (2002) in the first volume of his series: The Fabrication of Aboriginal History. The ensuring ‘history war’ has been largely underpinned by Anglo Australian perspectives and research methodologies whilst the perspectives of Koori people are seldom evident. This is hardly surprising given history has largely been written by non-Indigenous historians; and unique perspectives of Koori historians are still only emerging. The primary purpose of the proposed research is to add a primary history study by a Koori researcher to the literature by undertaking a multi-method critical analysis of Ngarabal and Biripi Elders’ perspectives and experiences of Australian history and extract the influence of these Elders’ perspectives on a body of artworks produced by the author of this research. The study aims to add a history of Koori people to the literature by a Koori researcher by focussing on oral history traditions, case studies, and traditional historiography methodology to document and critically analyse Ngarabal and Biripi Elders’ perspectives and experiences of Australian history and analyse the influence of their perspectives on the development of a new fresh body of artworks.
Publications
Books
Blacklock, F. (2000) Aboriginal Skin Cloaks. Sydney: Australian Museums Online.
Miller, S., Blacklock, F., & Wilson-Miller, J. (2002) Bayagul: contemporary Indigenous communication. Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing.
Miller, S. (2005) Our place: Indigenous Australia now. Australia’s contribution to the Cultural Olympiad of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing. (Served as a contributing author).
Miller, S. (2005) Our place: Indigenous Australia now. Dedicated to the Athens 2004 and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Chinese-English edition. Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing. (Served as a contributing author).
Refereed Journal Articles
Blacklock, F. (2003) Telling it our way: Koori history in New South Wales. Journal of the Aboriginal Studies Association, (12), 112 - 114. City: Publication
Blacklock, F. (2003) Telling it our way: Koori history in New South Wales. Australian Cultural History, (22), 155 - 160. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
Conferences
Blacklock, F. (2006) Reconceptualising Indigenous Historians’ Contributions to Australian history. Self-concept, Motivation, Social and Personal Identity for the 21st Century, 4th International Biennial SELF Research Conference, Ann Arbor, USA, 23-27 July 2006.
Blacklock, F. (2002) An Oral History: Ngarabal and Biripi Elder’s Perspectives and Experiences of Australian History. Self-concept, Motivation, Social and Personal Identity for the 21st Century, 4th International Biennial SELF Research Conference, Ann Arbor, USA, 23-27 July 2006.
Blacklock, F. (2008) Beyond Fabrication of Australia’s History: A Documentation and Multi-Method Critical Analysis of Ngarabal and Biripi Elders’ Perspectives and Experiences of Australian History. The Australian Association for Research in Education Journal, Victoria, December 2008.
Blacklock, F. (2009) The History Wars: Acknowledging Indigenous Oral History. SELF Research International Conference Refereed Journal United Arab Emirates University, UAE, 13-15 January 2009.
Blacklock, F. (2009) Indigenous Historical Perspectives: Ngarabal and Biripi experiences of Australian History. SELF Research International Conference Refereed Journal United Arab Emirates University, UAE, 13-15 January 2009.
