Wilay badhang: an analysis of past and present relationships with and around possum-skin cloaks

McDaniel, Michael John

Wilay badhang: an analysis of past and present relationships with and around possum-skin cloaks

McDaniel, Michael John

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2023

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	McDaniel, Michael John
dc.date.accessioned	2025-03-21T03:53:28Z
dc.date.available	2025-03-21T03:53:28Z
dc.date.issued	2023
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186083
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	This research considers the south-eastern Australian Aboriginal cultural practice of making wilay badhang-galang (possum-skin cloaks). As a phenomenon, a movement and as a cultural practice it belongs not only to my Wiradjuri community but is now shared with other Aboriginal communities. Why did possum-skin cloaks disappear, how and why were they revived so, and why so enthusiastically? What does this re-emergence mean for south-east Aboriginal people today?  As well as collecting and analysing written and visual historical accounts to investigate the factors contributing to the disappearance of possum-skin cloaks, the research breaks new ground in combining personal reflection and my experience as a cloak-maker, together with an interrogation of their historical context and illustrated chronology. This both serves as evidence of European engagement and has the potential to help Aboriginal people in researching such cloaks. We see designs and methods of making and wearing via analysis of paintings, drawings, etchings, prints, lithographs and photographs. I argue that possum skin cloak-making and wearing has re-emerged in recent decades, a phenomenon best understood through the connectedness of south-eastern Aboriginal nations, increased access to resources, knowledge kept alive within communities and the determination of makers.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/186083/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2023 Michael John McDaniel
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Wilay badhang: an analysis of past and present relationships with and around possum-skin cloaks	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

This research considers the south-eastern Australian Aboriginal cultural practice of making wilay badhang-galang (possum-skin cloaks). As a phenomenon, a movement and as a cultural practice it belongs not only to my Wiradjuri community but is now shared with other Aboriginal communities. Why did possum-skin cloaks disappear, how and why were they revived so, and why so enthusiastically? What does this re-emergence mean for south-east Aboriginal people today?  As well as collecting and analysing written and visual historical accounts to investigate the factors contributing to the disappearance of possum-skin cloaks, the research breaks new ground in combining personal reflection and my experience as a cloak-maker, together with an interrogation of their historical context and illustrated chronology. This both serves as evidence of European engagement and has the potential to help Aboriginal people in researching such cloaks. We see designs and methods of making and wearing via analysis of paintings, drawings, etchings, prints, lithographs and photographs. I argue that possum skin cloak-making and wearing has re-emerged in recent decades, a phenomenon best understood through the connectedness of south-eastern Aboriginal nations, increased access to resources, knowledge kept alive within communities and the determination of makers.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186083