Publisher's synopsis
David Unaipon – the man on the $50 note – was a most extraordinary person. An early Aboriginal political activist, he was also a scientist, a writer, a preacher and an inventor.
In the 1920s, under contract to the University of Adelaide, he was commissioned to collect traditional Aboriginal stories from around South Australia. He also acted as a ‘collector’ for the Aborigines Friends’ Association. Most of the stories come from his own Ngarrindjeri people, but some are from other South Australian peoples.
The stories were published in 1930 as Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, but the author of the work was given as W. Ramsay Smith, FRS, anthropologist and Chief Medical Officer of South Australia. Unaipon’s name does not appear anywhere in the book, except where he is mentioned in passing as a ‘narrator’.
In putting together this new edition of the stories Unaipon collected and transcribed, Stephen Muecke and Adam Shoemaker have undertaken a ‘literary repatriation’, restoring the text to its original form and bringing it home to its community-the community to whom the stories belonged in the first place.
The descendants of David Unaipon played a pivotal role in verifying and editing the manuscript, noting anything which is inconsistent according to their knowledge, and restoring any words lost in the transcription from the hand-written version to the microfilmed typescript.
In producing this edition, Muecke and Shoemaker have at last righted the injustices done to David Unaipon by the brazen appropriation of his stories and by the patronising editorial changes effected by Ramsay Smith. The stories are accompanied by a substantial Introduction, which gives the historical and cultural context of Unaipon’s work, and recounts the complex sequence of events that led to the theft of his book.
David Unaipon was born at the Point McLeay Mission, South Australia, and attended the mission school until 1885 when he left to become a servant. Encouraged by others to pursue his interest in philosophy, science and music, Unaipon read widely and became well-known for his intellectual capacity and inventions. He spoke regularly at schools and learned societies, and often attended government enquiries.
In the 1920s, he began to study western mythology and began collecting his own people’s myths and legends. He wrote for the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper from 1924, and began publishing compilations of his myths. He is considered to be the first Indigenous Australian author, publishing Aboriginal legends in the 1920s. Without permission, the publisher Angus and Robertson sold the copyright of the stories to William Ramsay Smith who published Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals (1930) without acknowledgement. W. R. Smith also published some of Unaipon’s stories as Australian Legends (1984), with notes in Japanese.
Remaining a prominent voice in Aboriginal affairs, Unaipon continued to advise the state and Commonwealth, appearing before several royal commissions into the treatment of Aborigines.
David Unaipon received a Coronation medal in 1953. He continued to travel and speak widely and, late in life, returned to his inventions, seeking the key to perpetual motion. He died in 1967. In the 1990s, Unaipon’s manuscript of Aboriginal legends was edited and published as Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines (2001), adopting his original title and finally acknowledging his authorship.
An annual award, The David Unaipon Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer honours him. He is also depicted on the Australian $50 note.
David Unaipon was chosen as one of 150 great South Australians by a panel of The Advertiser senior writers to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of The Advertiser newspaper, 12 April 2008.
