The Process of Making Pottery Decorating, Firing, Glazing, Making, Technical There is a rhythm and flow to clay. It can’t be done all at once! Even the making process! It can take weeks to get everything done, especially if you can only work on your pottery once a week! Even though we have three hour classes, it’s often just not enough time! Here is an overview of some of the processes so you have a bit more grasp on some of the technical stuff! Step One – Design There are SO many ideas out there for making stuff in clay! From delicate porcelain jewellery, through to heavy sculptural work and everything in between. Deciding your direction is sometimes not that easy – when you first start, try everything, you will naturally gravitate to the style that you enjoy! The options and variations are endless and can get a wee bit overwhelming too! Check in with me before you start to ensure your ideas will work, what order you might do things, how you could achieve the look you are seeking and any other technical data required! Step Two – Making Clay is thixotropic. This means that as you work with it, the clay first gets sloppier and wetter, before is begins to dry in the atmosphere. For most things, you simply can’t do all parts of the project at once. An example of work order might look like: Get last weeks work out from the shelves Prepare clay for today’s work – roll your clay, prepare balls for throwing, make the first stage of a pinch pot) Clean up last week’s work and put it on the shelf for bisque firing Check that you have any glazing to do – and do enough of it that you will have time to finish your main project Do the next step of your next project – there might be a further step that can’t be complete immediately, in that case, wrap your work well and put onto the shelves. Letting your work rest for a while can really help keep your work clean and professional looking. Many things require bagging under plastic to keep it ready for work the next week – put your name on the outside of the bag so you can find your work easily. We have stickers and markers. Consider how you want to decorate your work – coloured slip can be applied at a fairly wet stage (remembering that it will make your work even wetter!). Trying to apply slip to dry clay won’t work! If you want to do sgraffito – you will need to keep the work leather hard (a state of dryness where you can still work the clay with a little effort and a little water and care). Step Three – Drying Most of the time your work can go into the rack uncovered to let it dry out for the following week. If you want to continue forming or shaping you will need to double bag your work – put your work on a suitable sized bat and put the bat in a bag so the base of the bag is under the bat, then put another bag over the top of the work and tuck the top of the bag under the bat. If you want to trim (or turn) your thrown work the following week, it should also be double bagged. If your work is large, delicate, or of uneven thicknesses, you should lightly cover your work for drying. When considering the drying process, bare in mind the weather, humidity and wind! The hotter and dryer, the faster things dry and work can dry unevenly in the shelves – this can lead to cracking – another time to lightly cover your work for drying. Step Four – Trimming and Cleaning Up Your work is dry! It is called greenware now and it is at it’s most fragile! Handle everything with two hands. I often refer to soft hands – keep everything gentle and with your fingers spread as much as possible. Try to not pick up things like plates too much, and always with both hands! Before your work can be bisque fired it should be “cleaned up”. You work won’t go into the kiln if it has sharp edges – when glazed, sharp edges turn into razor blades! Use a piece of fly wire to rub the work all over – this will scratch a little so be light handed. Use a knife or metal kidney to scrape any areas that require a bit more dynamic treatment than the fly wire offers! Finally, a very light wipe over with a slightly damp sponge can help soften and soothe all of your edges and dags! Trimming thrown work: If you are planning to trim (or turn) your thrown work (and you should be), make sure you bag it well – your work should be leather hard to almost dry for easiest trimming. Use this step to finish the work completely – use a metal kidney to polish the surface, or a slightly damp sponge to give a freshly thrown look. Wipe the sponge around the rim after trimming, and check the inside of the pot for dags! Trimming slip cast work: Usually I will trim the rims of your work on the wheel the following day to make that stage easier, however you will still need to check your work for lumps and bumps. Last but not least – check that your name is still clearly on the bottom of your work. Step Five – Bisque Firing When the work is completely dry it can go into the bisque kiln. The bisque kiln is fired to 1000°C. This process burns off the water in the clay as well as some of the chemically bound water. The structure of the clay is not altered that much at this temperature. Inside the bisque kiln, the work is stacked a little, small bowl inside a larger bowl and onto a heavy plate. Smaller items like decorations or drink coasters might get stacked several high. Consideration is paid to the weight of the stack and shape of the work. A bisque kiln can fire about one and a half times the amount of work that the glaze kiln can fire. The firing takes about 10 hours to complete the cycle and about two days to cool down. Once it has been emptied the work is placed in the glaze room ready for you to decorate! Step Six – Glazing Decorating your work with colour can be a lot of fun – and time consuming! There are three main options for surface treatment at this stage: Oxide Washes Underglazes Glazes Washes and underglazes do not “glaze” the work – It will still need a layer of glaze to fully seal the clay (washes don’t need glaze on surfaces not designed for food or liquid as they can gloss up a little on their own). Underglazes are stable colourants that turn out pretty much how they look in the jar. They can be mixed with each other to form other colours and can be used like water colours to paint onto your work. Mostly they should have a clear glaze on top to seal them. Oxides are a different species – the pink oxide (cobalt) wash turns out bright blue for instance. They don’t always need a glaze on top, and some glazes can change the colour of the wash! The glazes need no other “glaze” on top! Be careful of unknown glaze interactions – you can put any combination of glaze in a bowl or on a plate, but only a single glaze on the outside of any vertical surface! Glazes are a chemical reaction under heat. We don’t know the exact chemicals in the Mayco glazes we use. I can guess by the way they interact with each other, however, on the whole, you need to test every idea you have, and not run the test on a vertical surface! Simply put, glaze is a layer of glass like substance that bonds with the clay underneath. Clay is made of silica, alumina and water. Glaze is made of mostly silica. Silica has a melting point of 1700°C and we fire to 1240°C. The silica requires a “flux” to help it melt at the lower temperature. Fluxes can be all sorts of chemicals – a common one is calcium – calcium has a melting point of 2500°C, however, together they both melt at a much lower temperature! Colourants are metal oxides like cobalt (blue), chrome (green through black), copper (green, blue, even red!), manganese (black, purple and pink) iron (red brown), etc. Different chemicals in the glaze can have dramatic effects. for example, barium carbonate (which we don’t use) turns manganese bright pink! Other elements can turn manganese dioxide brown, blue, purple and reddish brown. Manganese dioxide is a flux in and of itself as well. So, glazes that get their black and purple colours, often interact with other glazes and RUN! Our mirror black is a good example – it mixes really well with many glazes because it fluxes them – causes them to melt faster. It will also bring out many beautiful colours in the glazes because it’s black colouring most definitely comes from manganese dioxide! Glaze chemistry is a whole subject on it’s own! We use commercial Mayco glazes on purpose – for their huge range of colour possibilities, stability, cool interactions, artistic freedom with the ability to easily brush the glazes on and ease of use. We currently have almost 50 glazes on hand! A major project is to test the interactions of all glazes with each other. That is 2,500 test tiles!!!! I’m going to make the wall behind the wheels the feature wall of pretty colours! Step Seven – Glaze (Gloss or sometimes called “Glost”) Firing Most of the time this is the final stage of making your creation (but not always!) The glaze kiln goes to 1240°C. This is called cone 6, or midrange. It is the low end of stoneware temperatures. Stoneware clays and glazes are typically fired at cone 8 – 10, that is 1260 – 1290°C. The energy requirement to go from 1240°C to 1280°C is almost a 30% more! Our clay is formulated to vitrify (mature, turn “glass-like”) at 1240°, as are our glazes. A glaze kiln take around 12 hours to reach temperature and two to three days to cool down. Sometimes a third firing process is required – this is for decoration that is added to work after the glaze firing. For example – adding precious metals and lustres. this firing temperature is usually around 600 – 800°C depending upon the techniques being used. There are many students interested in gold and silver trims – we will be doing this third type of firing soon! After firing your work will be in the student finished work shelves. Remember to pay for it before you head out the door! There is a small extra charge for using porcelain clay (it’s more than twice the price of regular clay), and for any third firing process! Once your work has been fired it can not turn back into clay for millennia – so don’t fire it if you don’t like it! Put it in the bucket for recycling. https://firebirdstudios.com.au/the-process-of-making-pottery/Ceramics have evolved over thousands of years.White earthenware dinner plate. Crazing evident all over.Backstamped ‘Made in England S LTD’flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, ceramics, tableware

The Process of Making Pottery Decorating, Firing, Glazing, Making, Technical There is a rhythm and flow to clay. It can’t be done all at once! Even the making process! It can take weeks to get everything done, especially if you can only work on your pottery once a week! Even though we have three hour classes, it’s often just not enough time! Here is an overview of some of the processes so you have a bit more grasp on some of the technical stuff! Step One – Design There are SO many ideas out there for making stuff in clay! From delicate porcelain jewellery, through to heavy sculptural work and everything in between. Deciding your direction is sometimes not that easy – when you first start, try everything, you will naturally gravitate to the style that you enjoy! The options and variations are endless and can get a wee bit overwhelming too! Check in with me before you start to ensure your ideas will work, what order you might do things, how you could achieve the look you are seeking and any other technical data required! Step Two – Making Clay is thixotropic. This means that as you work with it, the clay first gets sloppier and wetter, before is begins to dry in the atmosphere. For most things, you simply can’t do all parts of the project at once. An example of work order might look like: Get last weeks work out from the shelves Prepare clay for today’s work – roll your clay, prepare balls for throwing, make the first stage of a pinch pot) Clean up last week’s work and put it on the shelf for bisque firing Check that you have any glazing to do – and do enough of it that you will have time to finish your main project Do the next step of your next project – there might be a further step that can’t be complete immediately, in that case, wrap your work well and put onto the shelves. Letting your work rest for a while can really help keep your work clean and professional looking. Many things require bagging under plastic to keep it ready for work the next week – put your name on the outside of the bag so you can find your work easily. We have stickers and markers. Consider how you want to decorate your work – coloured slip can be applied at a fairly wet stage (remembering that it will make your work even wetter!). Trying to apply slip to dry clay won’t work! If you want to do sgraffito – you will need to keep the work leather hard (a state of dryness where you can still work the clay with a little effort and a little water and care). Step Three – Drying Most of the time your work can go into the rack uncovered to let it dry out for the following week. If you want to continue forming or shaping you will need to double bag your work – put your work on a suitable sized bat and put the bat in a bag so the base of the bag is under the bat, then put another bag over the top of the work and tuck the top of the bag under the bat. If you want to trim (or turn) your thrown work the following week, it should also be double bagged. If your work is large, delicate, or of uneven thicknesses, you should lightly cover your work for drying. When considering the drying process, bare in mind the weather, humidity and wind! The hotter and dryer, the faster things dry and work can dry unevenly in the shelves – this can lead to cracking – another time to lightly cover your work for drying. Step Four – Trimming and Cleaning Up Your work is dry! It is called greenware now and it is at it’s most fragile! Handle everything with two hands. I often refer to soft hands – keep everything gentle and with your fingers spread as much as possible. Try to not pick up things like plates too much, and always with both hands! Before your work can be bisque fired it should be “cleaned up”. You work won’t go into the kiln if it has sharp edges – when glazed, sharp edges turn into razor blades! Use a piece of fly wire to rub the work all over – this will scratch a little so be light handed. Use a knife or metal kidney to scrape any areas that require a bit more dynamic treatment than the fly wire offers! Finally, a very light wipe over with a slightly damp sponge can help soften and soothe all of your edges and dags! Trimming thrown work: If you are planning to trim (or turn) your thrown work (and you should be), make sure you bag it well – your work should be leather hard to almost dry for easiest trimming. Use this step to finish the work completely – use a metal kidney to polish the surface, or a slightly damp sponge to give a freshly thrown look. Wipe the sponge around the rim after trimming, and check the inside of the pot for dags! Trimming slip cast work: Usually I will trim the rims of your work on the wheel the following day to make that stage easier, however you will still need to check your work for lumps and bumps. Last but not least – check that your name is still clearly on the bottom of your work. Step Five – Bisque Firing When the work is completely dry it can go into the bisque kiln. The bisque kiln is fired to 1000°C. This process burns off the water in the clay as well as some of the chemically bound water. The structure of the clay is not altered that much at this temperature. Inside the bisque kiln, the work is stacked a little, small bowl inside a larger bowl and onto a heavy plate. Smaller items like decorations or drink coasters might get stacked several high. Consideration is paid to the weight of the stack and shape of the work. A bisque kiln can fire about one and a half times the amount of work that the glaze kiln can fire. The firing takes about 10 hours to complete the cycle and about two days to cool down. Once it has been emptied the work is placed in the glaze room ready for you to decorate! Step Six – Glazing Decorating your work with colour can be a lot of fun – and time consuming! There are three main options for surface treatment at this stage: Oxide Washes Underglazes Glazes Washes and underglazes do not “glaze” the work – It will still need a layer of glaze to fully seal the clay (washes don’t need glaze on surfaces not designed for food or liquid as they can gloss up a little on their own). Underglazes are stable colourants that turn out pretty much how they look in the jar. They can be mixed with each other to form other colours and can be used like water colours to paint onto your work. Mostly they should have a clear glaze on top to seal them. Oxides are a different species – the pink oxide (cobalt) wash turns out bright blue for instance. They don’t always need a glaze on top, and some glazes can change the colour of the wash! The glazes need no other “glaze” on top! Be careful of unknown glaze interactions – you can put any combination of glaze in a bowl or on a plate, but only a single glaze on the outside of any vertical surface! Glazes are a chemical reaction under heat. We don’t know the exact chemicals in the Mayco glazes we use. I can guess by the way they interact with each other, however, on the whole, you need to test every idea you have, and not run the test on a vertical surface! Simply put, glaze is a layer of glass like substance that bonds with the clay underneath. Clay is made of silica, alumina and water. Glaze is made of mostly silica. Silica has a melting point of 1700°C and we fire to 1240°C. The silica requires a “flux” to help it melt at the lower temperature. Fluxes can be all sorts of chemicals – a common one is calcium – calcium has a melting point of 2500°C, however, together they both melt at a much lower temperature! Colourants are metal oxides like cobalt (blue), chrome (green through black), copper (green, blue, even red!), manganese (black, purple and pink) iron (red brown), etc. Different chemicals in the glaze can have dramatic effects. for example, barium carbonate (which we don’t use) turns manganese bright pink! Other elements can turn manganese dioxide brown, blue, purple and reddish brown. Manganese dioxide is a flux in and of itself as well. So, glazes that get their black and purple colours, often interact with other glazes and RUN! Our mirror black is a good example – it mixes really well with many glazes because it fluxes them – causes them to melt faster. It will also bring out many beautiful colours in the glazes because it’s black colouring most definitely comes from manganese dioxide! Glaze chemistry is a whole subject on it’s own! We use commercial Mayco glazes on purpose – for their huge range of colour possibilities, stability, cool interactions, artistic freedom with the ability to easily brush the glazes on and ease of use. We currently have almost 50 glazes on hand! A major project is to test the interactions of all glazes with each other. That is 2,500 test tiles!!!! I’m going to make the wall behind the wheels the feature wall of pretty colours! Step Seven – Glaze (Gloss or sometimes called “Glost”) Firing Most of the time this is the final stage of making your creation (but not always!) The glaze kiln goes to 1240°C. This is called cone 6, or midrange. It is the low end of stoneware temperatures. Stoneware clays and glazes are typically fired at cone 8 – 10, that is 1260 – 1290°C. The energy requirement to go from 1240°C to 1280°C is almost a 30% more! Our clay is formulated to vitrify (mature, turn “glass-like”) at 1240°, as are our glazes. A glaze kiln take around 12 hours to reach temperature and two to three days to cool down. Sometimes a third firing process is required – this is for decoration that is added to work after the glaze firing. For example – adding precious metals and lustres. this firing temperature is usually around 600 – 800°C depending upon the techniques being used. There are many students interested in gold and silver trims – we will be doing this third type of firing soon! After firing your work will be in the student finished work shelves. Remember to pay for it before you head out the door! There is a small extra charge for using porcelain clay (it’s more than twice the price of regular clay), and for any third firing process! Once your work has been fired it can not turn back into clay for millennia – so don’t fire it if you don’t like it! Put it in the bucket for recycling. https://firebirdstudios.com.au/the-process-of-making-pottery/Ceramics have evolved over thousands of years.A white earthenware side plate with a gadroon edge. Has water marks and chips on front.‘Johnson Bros England Reg No 15587’flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, johnson bros, ceramics, tableware

The Process of Making Pottery Decorating, Firing, Glazing, Making, Technical There is a rhythm and flow to clay. It can’t be done all at once! Even the making process! It can take weeks to get everything done, especially if you can only work on your pottery once a week! Even though we have three hour classes, it’s often just not enough time! Here is an overview of some of the processes so you have a bit more grasp on some of the technical stuff! Step One – Design There are SO many ideas out there for making stuff in clay! From delicate porcelain jewellery, through to heavy sculptural work and everything in between. Deciding your direction is sometimes not that easy – when you first start, try everything, you will naturally gravitate to the style that you enjoy! The options and variations are endless and can get a wee bit overwhelming too! Check in with me before you start to ensure your ideas will work, what order you might do things, how you could achieve the look you are seeking and any other technical data required! Step Two – Making Clay is thixotropic. This means that as you work with it, the clay first gets sloppier and wetter, before is begins to dry in the atmosphere. For most things, you simply can’t do all parts of the project at once. An example of work order might look like: Get last weeks work out from the shelves Prepare clay for today’s work – roll your clay, prepare balls for throwing, make the first stage of a pinch pot) Clean up last week’s work and put it on the shelf for bisque firing Check that you have any glazing to do – and do enough of it that you will have time to finish your main project Do the next step of your next project – there might be a further step that can’t be complete immediately, in that case, wrap your work well and put onto the shelves. Letting your work rest for a while can really help keep your work clean and professional looking. Many things require bagging under plastic to keep it ready for work the next week – put your name on the outside of the bag so you can find your work easily. We have stickers and markers. Consider how you want to decorate your work – coloured slip can be applied at a fairly wet stage (remembering that it will make your work even wetter!). Trying to apply slip to dry clay won’t work! If you want to do sgraffito – you will need to keep the work leather hard (a state of dryness where you can still work the clay with a little effort and a little water and care). Step Three – Drying Most of the time your work can go into the rack uncovered to let it dry out for the following week. If you want to continue forming or shaping you will need to double bag your work – put your work on a suitable sized bat and put the bat in a bag so the base of the bag is under the bat, then put another bag over the top of the work and tuck the top of the bag under the bat. If you want to trim (or turn) your thrown work the following week, it should also be double bagged. If your work is large, delicate, or of uneven thicknesses, you should lightly cover your work for drying. When considering the drying process, bare in mind the weather, humidity and wind! The hotter and dryer, the faster things dry and work can dry unevenly in the shelves – this can lead to cracking – another time to lightly cover your work for drying. Step Four – Trimming and Cleaning Up Your work is dry! It is called greenware now and it is at it’s most fragile! Handle everything with two hands. I often refer to soft hands – keep everything gentle and with your fingers spread as much as possible. Try to not pick up things like plates too much, and always with both hands! Before your work can be bisque fired it should be “cleaned up”. You work won’t go into the kiln if it has sharp edges – when glazed, sharp edges turn into razor blades! Use a piece of fly wire to rub the work all over – this will scratch a little so be light handed. Use a knife or metal kidney to scrape any areas that require a bit more dynamic treatment than the fly wire offers! Finally, a very light wipe over with a slightly damp sponge can help soften and soothe all of your edges and dags! Trimming thrown work: If you are planning to trim (or turn) your thrown work (and you should be), make sure you bag it well – your work should be leather hard to almost dry for easiest trimming. Use this step to finish the work completely – use a metal kidney to polish the surface, or a slightly damp sponge to give a freshly thrown look. Wipe the sponge around the rim after trimming, and check the inside of the pot for dags! Trimming slip cast work: Usually I will trim the rims of your work on the wheel the following day to make that stage easier, however you will still need to check your work for lumps and bumps. Last but not least – check that your name is still clearly on the bottom of your work. Step Five – Bisque Firing When the work is completely dry it can go into the bisque kiln. The bisque kiln is fired to 1000°C. This process burns off the water in the clay as well as some of the chemically bound water. The structure of the clay is not altered that much at this temperature. Inside the bisque kiln, the work is stacked a little, small bowl inside a larger bowl and onto a heavy plate. Smaller items like decorations or drink coasters might get stacked several high. Consideration is paid to the weight of the stack and shape of the work. A bisque kiln can fire about one and a half times the amount of work that the glaze kiln can fire. The firing takes about 10 hours to complete the cycle and about two days to cool down. Once it has been emptied the work is placed in the glaze room ready for you to decorate! Step Six – Glazing Decorating your work with colour can be a lot of fun – and time consuming! There are three main options for surface treatment at this stage: Oxide Washes Underglazes Glazes Washes and underglazes do not “glaze” the work – It will still need a layer of glaze to fully seal the clay (washes don’t need glaze on surfaces not designed for food or liquid as they can gloss up a little on their own). Underglazes are stable colourants that turn out pretty much how they look in the jar. They can be mixed with each other to form other colours and can be used like water colours to paint onto your work. Mostly they should have a clear glaze on top to seal them. Oxides are a different species – the pink oxide (cobalt) wash turns out bright blue for instance. They don’t always need a glaze on top, and some glazes can change the colour of the wash! The glazes need no other “glaze” on top! Be careful of unknown glaze interactions – you can put any combination of glaze in a bowl or on a plate, but only a single glaze on the outside of any vertical surface! Glazes are a chemical reaction under heat. We don’t know the exact chemicals in the Mayco glazes we use. I can guess by the way they interact with each other, however, on the whole, you need to test every idea you have, and not run the test on a vertical surface! Simply put, glaze is a layer of glass like substance that bonds with the clay underneath. Clay is made of silica, alumina and water. Glaze is made of mostly silica. Silica has a melting point of 1700°C and we fire to 1240°C. The silica requires a “flux” to help it melt at the lower temperature. Fluxes can be all sorts of chemicals – a common one is calcium – calcium has a melting point of 2500°C, however, together they both melt at a much lower temperature! Colourants are metal oxides like cobalt (blue), chrome (green through black), copper (green, blue, even red!), manganese (black, purple and pink) iron (red brown), etc. Different chemicals in the glaze can have dramatic effects. for example, barium carbonate (which we don’t use) turns manganese bright pink! Other elements can turn manganese dioxide brown, blue, purple and reddish brown. Manganese dioxide is a flux in and of itself as well. So, glazes that get their black and purple colours, often interact with other glazes and RUN! Our mirror black is a good example – it mixes really well with many glazes because it fluxes them – causes them to melt faster. It will also bring out many beautiful colours in the glazes because it’s black colouring most definitely comes from manganese dioxide! Glaze chemistry is a whole subject on it’s own! We use commercial Mayco glazes on purpose – for their huge range of colour possibilities, stability, cool interactions, artistic freedom with the ability to easily brush the glazes on and ease of use. We currently have almost 50 glazes on hand! A major project is to test the interactions of all glazes with each other. That is 2,500 test tiles!!!! I’m going to make the wall behind the wheels the feature wall of pretty colours! Step Seven – Glaze (Gloss or sometimes called “Glost”) Firing Most of the time this is the final stage of making your creation (but not always!) The glaze kiln goes to 1240°C. This is called cone 6, or midrange. It is the low end of stoneware temperatures. Stoneware clays and glazes are typically fired at cone 8 – 10, that is 1260 – 1290°C. The energy requirement to go from 1240°C to 1280°C is almost a 30% more! Our clay is formulated to vitrify (mature, turn “glass-like”) at 1240°, as are our glazes. A glaze kiln take around 12 hours to reach temperature and two to three days to cool down. Sometimes a third firing process is required – this is for decoration that is added to work after the glaze firing. For example – adding precious metals and lustres. this firing temperature is usually around 600 – 800°C depending upon the techniques being used. There are many students interested in gold and silver trims – we will be doing this third type of firing soon! After firing your work will be in the student finished work shelves. Remember to pay for it before you head out the door! There is a small extra charge for using porcelain clay (it’s more than twice the price of regular clay), and for any third firing process! Once your work has been fired it can not turn back into clay for millennia – so don’t fire it if you don’t like it! Put it in the bucket for recycling. https://firebirdstudios.com.au/the-process-of-making-pottery/Ceramics have evolved over thousands of years.Earthenware dessert plate, cream colour. Made by Alfred Meakin, England. Backstamped ‘Alfred Meakin England’. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, alfred meakin, ceramics, earthenware, kitchenware

The Process of Making Pottery Decorating, Firing, Glazing, Making, Technical There is a rhythm and flow to clay. It can’t be done all at once! Even the making process! It can take weeks to get everything done, especially if you can only work on your pottery once a week! Even though we have three hour classes, it’s often just not enough time! Here is an overview of some of the processes so you have a bit more grasp on some of the technical stuff! Step One – Design There are SO many ideas out there for making stuff in clay! From delicate porcelain jewellery, through to heavy sculptural work and everything in between. Deciding your direction is sometimes not that easy – when you first start, try everything, you will naturally gravitate to the style that you enjoy! The options and variations are endless and can get a wee bit overwhelming too! Check in with me before you start to ensure your ideas will work, what order you might do things, how you could achieve the look you are seeking and any other technical data required! Step Two – Making Clay is thixotropic. This means that as you work with it, the clay first gets sloppier and wetter, before is begins to dry in the atmosphere. For most things, you simply can’t do all parts of the project at once. An example of work order might look like: Get last weeks work out from the shelves Prepare clay for today’s work – roll your clay, prepare balls for throwing, make the first stage of a pinch pot) Clean up last week’s work and put it on the shelf for bisque firing Check that you have any glazing to do – and do enough of it that you will have time to finish your main project Do the next step of your next project – there might be a further step that can’t be complete immediately, in that case, wrap your work well and put onto the shelves. Letting your work rest for a while can really help keep your work clean and professional looking. Many things require bagging under plastic to keep it ready for work the next week – put your name on the outside of the bag so you can find your work easily. We have stickers and markers. Consider how you want to decorate your work – coloured slip can be applied at a fairly wet stage (remembering that it will make your work even wetter!). Trying to apply slip to dry clay won’t work! If you want to do sgraffito – you will need to keep the work leather hard (a state of dryness where you can still work the clay with a little effort and a little water and care). Step Three – Drying Most of the time your work can go into the rack uncovered to let it dry out for the following week. If you want to continue forming or shaping you will need to double bag your work – put your work on a suitable sized bat and put the bat in a bag so the base of the bag is under the bat, then put another bag over the top of the work and tuck the top of the bag under the bat. If you want to trim (or turn) your thrown work the following week, it should also be double bagged. If your work is large, delicate, or of uneven thicknesses, you should lightly cover your work for drying. When considering the drying process, bare in mind the weather, humidity and wind! The hotter and dryer, the faster things dry and work can dry unevenly in the shelves – this can lead to cracking – another time to lightly cover your work for drying. Step Four – Trimming and Cleaning Up Your work is dry! It is called greenware now and it is at it’s most fragile! Handle everything with two hands. I often refer to soft hands – keep everything gentle and with your fingers spread as much as possible. Try to not pick up things like plates too much, and always with both hands! Before your work can be bisque fired it should be “cleaned up”. You work won’t go into the kiln if it has sharp edges – when glazed, sharp edges turn into razor blades! Use a piece of fly wire to rub the work all over – this will scratch a little so be light handed. Use a knife or metal kidney to scrape any areas that require a bit more dynamic treatment than the fly wire offers! Finally, a very light wipe over with a slightly damp sponge can help soften and soothe all of your edges and dags! Trimming thrown work: If you are planning to trim (or turn) your thrown work (and you should be), make sure you bag it well – your work should be leather hard to almost dry for easiest trimming. Use this step to finish the work completely – use a metal kidney to polish the surface, or a slightly damp sponge to give a freshly thrown look. Wipe the sponge around the rim after trimming, and check the inside of the pot for dags! Trimming slip cast work: Usually I will trim the rims of your work on the wheel the following day to make that stage easier, however you will still need to check your work for lumps and bumps. Last but not least – check that your name is still clearly on the bottom of your work. Step Five – Bisque Firing When the work is completely dry it can go into the bisque kiln. The bisque kiln is fired to 1000°C. This process burns off the water in the clay as well as some of the chemically bound water. The structure of the clay is not altered that much at this temperature. Inside the bisque kiln, the work is stacked a little, small bowl inside a larger bowl and onto a heavy plate. Smaller items like decorations or drink coasters might get stacked several high. Consideration is paid to the weight of the stack and shape of the work. A bisque kiln can fire about one and a half times the amount of work that the glaze kiln can fire. The firing takes about 10 hours to complete the cycle and about two days to cool down. Once it has been emptied the work is placed in the glaze room ready for you to decorate! Step Six – Glazing Decorating your work with colour can be a lot of fun – and time consuming! There are three main options for surface treatment at this stage: Oxide Washes Underglazes Glazes Washes and underglazes do not “glaze” the work – It will still need a layer of glaze to fully seal the clay (washes don’t need glaze on surfaces not designed for food or liquid as they can gloss up a little on their own). Underglazes are stable colourants that turn out pretty much how they look in the jar. They can be mixed with each other to form other colours and can be used like water colours to paint onto your work. Mostly they should have a clear glaze on top to seal them. Oxides are a different species – the pink oxide (cobalt) wash turns out bright blue for instance. They don’t always need a glaze on top, and some glazes can change the colour of the wash! The glazes need no other “glaze” on top! Be careful of unknown glaze interactions – you can put any combination of glaze in a bowl or on a plate, but only a single glaze on the outside of any vertical surface! Glazes are a chemical reaction under heat. We don’t know the exact chemicals in the Mayco glazes we use. I can guess by the way they interact with each other, however, on the whole, you need to test every idea you have, and not run the test on a vertical surface! Simply put, glaze is a layer of glass like substance that bonds with the clay underneath. Clay is made of silica, alumina and water. Glaze is made of mostly silica. Silica has a melting point of 1700°C and we fire to 1240°C. The silica requires a “flux” to help it melt at the lower temperature. Fluxes can be all sorts of chemicals – a common one is calcium – calcium has a melting point of 2500°C, however, together they both melt at a much lower temperature! Colourants are metal oxides like cobalt (blue), chrome (green through black), copper (green, blue, even red!), manganese (black, purple and pink) iron (red brown), etc. Different chemicals in the glaze can have dramatic effects. for example, barium carbonate (which we don’t use) turns manganese bright pink! Other elements can turn manganese dioxide brown, blue, purple and reddish brown. Manganese dioxide is a flux in and of itself as well. So, glazes that get their black and purple colours, often interact with other glazes and RUN! Our mirror black is a good example – it mixes really well with many glazes because it fluxes them – causes them to melt faster. It will also bring out many beautiful colours in the glazes because it’s black colouring most definitely comes from manganese dioxide! Glaze chemistry is a whole subject on it’s own! We use commercial Mayco glazes on purpose – for their huge range of colour possibilities, stability, cool interactions, artistic freedom with the ability to easily brush the glazes on and ease of use. We currently have almost 50 glazes on hand! A major project is to test the interactions of all glazes with each other. That is 2,500 test tiles!!!! I’m going to make the wall behind the wheels the feature wall of pretty colours! Step Seven – Glaze (Gloss or sometimes called “Glost”) Firing Most of the time this is the final stage of making your creation (but not always!) The glaze kiln goes to 1240°C. This is called cone 6, or midrange. It is the low end of stoneware temperatures. Stoneware clays and glazes are typically fired at cone 8 – 10, that is 1260 – 1290°C. The energy requirement to go from 1240°C to 1280°C is almost a 30% more! Our clay is formulated to vitrify (mature, turn “glass-like”) at 1240°, as are our glazes. A glaze kiln take around 12 hours to reach temperature and two to three days to cool down. Sometimes a third firing process is required – this is for decoration that is added to work after the glaze firing. For example – adding precious metals and lustres. this firing temperature is usually around 600 – 800°C depending upon the techniques being used. There are many students interested in gold and silver trims – we will be doing this third type of firing soon! After firing your work will be in the student finished work shelves. Remember to pay for it before you head out the door! There is a small extra charge for using porcelain clay (it’s more than twice the price of regular clay), and for any third firing process! Once your work has been fired it can not turn back into clay for millennia – so don’t fire it if you don’t like it! Put it in the bucket for recycling. https://firebirdstudios.com.au/the-process-of-making-pottery/The form of the jug has been in use for many centuries.Stoneware jug. Two tone brown glaze with pierced lip behind spout. Spout chipped.None.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, jug, ceramic jug

1. The moral lexicon of the Warlpiri people of central Australia LR Hiatt This paper discusses words that match ?Good? and ?Bad?; examples of ?Good? and ?Bad? behaviour; morality and law; and egalitarianism and dominance. It also presents a comparison with Gidjingarli (Burarra). 2. Mobs and bosses: Structures of Aboriginal sociality Patrick Mullins (Mount Druitt, NSW) A commonality of Aboriginal social organisation exists across the continent in communities as different as those from the Western Desert across to Cape York, from the towns of New South Wales and Western Australia to cities like Adelaide. This is found in the colloquial expressions ?mob? and ?boss?, which are used in widely differing contexts. Mobbing is the activity where relatedness, in the sense of social alliances, is established and affirmed by virtue of a common affiliation with place, common experience and common descent, as well as by the exchange of cash and commodities. Bossing is the activity of commanding respect by virtue of one?s capacity to bestow items of value such as ritual knowledge, nurturance, care, cash and commodities. Mobbing and bossing are best understood as structures in Giddens? sense of sets of rules and resources involved in the production of social systems, in this case social alliances. Mobbing and bossing imply a concept of a person as a being in a relationship. Attention needs to be given to the way these structures interact with institutions in the wider Australian society. 3. Recognising victims without blaming them: A moral contest? About Peter Sutton?s ?The Politics of Suffering: Indigenous Policy in Australia since the 1970s? and Gillian Cowlishaw?s replies Ma�a Ponsonnet (Universit� Paris- 8-Saint-Denis) Peter Sutton?s texts on Aboriginal violence, health and their politicisation are replied to using his methodology, and acknowledging his convincing points. Sutton rightly denounces a lack of lucidity and scientific objectivity in anthropological debates. These inadequacies impede identification of what Aboriginal groups can do to improve their situations for fear that this identification would lead to blame the victims. At the other end of the ethical spectrum, those who advocate a broader use of what I will call a ?resistance interpretation? of violence fail to recognise victims as such, on the implicit grounds that seeing victims as victims would deprive them of any agency, on the one hand, and entail blame, on the other hand. I aim to define a middle road between those views: the idea that victims should be acknowledged as such without being denied their agency and without being blamed for their own condition. This middle road allows identification of the colonisers? responsibilities in the contemporary situation of Indigenous communities in Australia, and to determine who can do what. Secondly, I show that Sutton?s texts convey, through subtle but recurrent remarks, an ideology of blame rather than a mere will to identify practical solutions. As a consequence, some of his proposals do not stand on a solid and objective causal analysis. 4. 'You would have loved her for her lore?: The letters of Daisy Bates Bob Reece (Murdoch University) Daisy Bates was once an iconic figure in Australia but her popular and academic reputation became tarnished by her retrograde views. Her credibility was also put in doubt through the exposure of her fictionalised Irish background. In more recent times, however, her ethnographic data on the Aborigines of Western Australia has been an invaluable source for Native Title claims, while her views on Aboriginal extinction, cannibalism and ?castes? are being seen as typical of her time. This article briefly reviews what has been the orthodox academic opinion of her scientific achievement before summarising what is reliably known of her early history and indicating what kind of person is revealed in the 3000 or more letters that she left behind. 5. What potential might Narrative Therapy have to assist Indigenous Australians reduce substance misuse? Violet Bacon (Curtin University of Technology) Substance misuse is associated with adverse consequences for many Australians including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Extensive research has been conducted into various intervention, treatment and prevention programs to ascertain their potential in reducing substance misuse within Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. I explore the potential of Narrative Therapy as a counselling intervention for assisting Indigenous Australians reduce the harm associated with substance misuse. 6. Bone points from the Adelaide River, Northern Territory Sally Brockwell (University of Canberra) and Kim Akerman (Moonah) Large earth mounds located next to the vast floodplains of the lower Adelaide River, one of the major tropical rivers draining the flat coastal plains of northern Australia, contain cultural material, including bone points. The floodplains of the north underwent dynamic environmental change from extensive mangrove swamps in the mid-Holocene, through a transition phase of variable estuarine and freshwater mosaic environments, to the freshwater environment that exists today. This geomorphological framework provides a background for the interpretation of the archaeology, which spans some 4000 years. 7. A different look: Comparative rock-art recording from the Torres Strait using computer enhancement techniques Liam M Brady (Monash University) In 1888 and 1898, Cambridge University?s Alfred C Haddon made the first recording of rock-art from the Torres Strait islands using photography and sketches. Systematic recording of these same paintings and sites was carried out from 2000 to 2004 by archaeologists and Indigenous Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal communities as part of community-based rock-art recording projects. Computer enhancement techniques were used to identify differences between both sets of recordings, to reveal design elements that Haddon missed in his recordings, and to recover images recorded by Haddon that are today no longer visible to the naked eye. Using this data, preliminary observations into the antiquity of Torres Strait rock-art are noted along with recommendations for future Torres Strait region rock-art research and baseline monitoring projects. 8. Sources of bias in the Murray Black Collection: Implications for palaeopathological analysis Sarah Robertson (National Museum of Australia) The Murray Black collection of Aboriginal skeletal remains has been a mainstay of bio-anthropological research in Australia, but relatively little thought has been given to how and why this collection may differ from archaeologically obtained collections. The context in which remains were located and recovered has created bias within the sample, which was further skewed within the component of the collection sent to the Australian Institute of Anatomy, resulting in limitations for the research potential of the collection. This does not render all research on the collection unviable, but it demonstrates the importance of understanding the context of a skeletal collection when assessing its suitability for addressing specific research questions.maps, b&w photographs, colour photographs, illustrations, graphs, chartswarlpiri, sociology, daisy bates, substance abuse, narrative therapy, rock art, technology and art, murray black collection, pleistocene sites, watarrka plateau

Mawul Rom Project: Openness, obligation and reconciliation Morgan Brigg (Universtiy of Queensland) and Anke Tonnaer (University of Aarhus, Denmark) Aboriginal Australian initiatives to restore balanced relationships with White Australians have recently become part of reconciliation efforts. This paper provides a contextualised report on one such initiative, the Mawul Rom crosscultural mediation project. Viewing Mawul Rom as a diplomatic venture in the lineage of adjustment and earlier Rom rituals raises questions about receptiveness, individual responsibility and the role of Indigenous ceremony in reconciliation efforts. Yolngu ceremonial leaders successfully draw participants into relationship and personally commit them to the tasks of cross-cultural advocacy and reconciliation. But Mawul Rom must also negotiate a paradox because emphasis on the cultural difference of ceremony risks increasing the very social distance that the ritual attempts to confront. Managing this tension will be a key challenge if Mawul Rom is to become an effective diplomatic mechanism for cross-cultural conflict resolution and reconciliation. Living in two camps: the strategies Goldfields Aboriginal people use to manage in the customary economy and the mainstream economy at the same time Howard Sercombe (Strathclyde University, Glasgow) The economic sustainability of Aboriginal households has been a matter of public concern across a range of contexts. This research, conducted in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, shows how economically successful Aboriginal persons manage ?dual economic engagement?, or involvement in the customary economy and the mainstream economy at the same time. The two economies sometimes reinforce each other but are more often in conflict, and management of conflicting obligations requires high degrees of skill and innovation. As well as creating financially sustainable households, the participants contributed significantly to the health of their extended families and communities. The research also shows that many Aboriginal people, no matter what their material and personal resources, are conscious of how fragile and unpredictable their economic lives can be, and that involvement in the customary economy is a kind of mutual insurance to guarantee survival if times get tough. Indigenous population data for evaluation and performance measurement: A cautionary note Gaminiratne Wijesekere (Dept. of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra) I outline the status of population census counts for Indigenous peoples, identifying information on Indigenous births and deaths, and internal migration estimates. I comment on the ?experimental? Indigenous population projections and question the rationale for having two sets of projections. Program managers and evaluators need to be mindful of limitations of the data when using these projections for monitoring, evaluating and measuring Indigenous programs. Reaching out to a younger generation using a 3D computer game for storytelling: Vincent Serico?s legacy Theodor G Wyeld (Flinders University, Adeliade) and Brett Leavy (CyberDreaming Australia) Sadly, Vincent Serico (1949?2008), artist, activist and humanist, recently passed away. Born in southern Queensland in Wakka Wakka/Kabi Kabi Country (Carnarvon Gorge region) in 1949, Vincent was a member of the Stolen Generations. He was separated from his family by White administration at four years of age. He grew up on the Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve in the 1950s, when the policies of segregation and assimilation were at their peak. Only returning to his Country in his early forties, Vincent started painting his stories and the stories that had been passed on to him about the region. These paintings manifest Vincent?s sanctity for tradition, storytelling, language, spirit and beliefs. A team of researchers was honoured and fortunate to have worked closely with Vincent to develop a 3D simulation of his Country using a 3D computer game toolkit. Embedded in this simulation of his Country, in the locations that their stories speak to, are some of Vincent?s important contemporary art works. They are accompanied by a narration of Vincent?s oral history about the places, people and events depicted. Vincent was deeply concerned about members of the younger generation around him ?losing their way? in modern times. In a similar vein, Brett Leavy (Kooma) sees the 3D game engine as an opportunity to engage the younger generation in its own cultural heritage in an activity that capitalises on a common pastime. Vincent was an enthusiastic advocate of this approach. Working in consultation with Vincent and the research team, CyberDreaming developed a simulation of Vincent?s Country for young Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal persons from the Carnarvon Gorge region to explore Vincent?s life stories of the region. The use of Vincent?s contemporary paintings as storyboards provides a traditional medium for the local people to interactively re-engage with traditional values. Called Serico?s World, it represents a legacy to his life?s works, joys and regrets. Here we discuss the background to this project and Vincent?s contribution. A singular beeswax representation of Namarrkon, the Lightning Man, from western Arnhem Land RG Gunn (La Trobe University) and RL Whear (Jawoyn Association) Samples from a beeswax representation of Namarrkon, the Lightning Man, from western Arnhem Land were analysed for radiocarbon and dated to be about 150 years old. An underlying beeswax figure was found to be approximately 1100 years old. The Dreaming Being Namarrkon is well known throughout Arnhem Land, although his sphere of activity is concentrated around the northern half of the Arnhem Land plateau. Namarrkon is well represented in rock-paintings in this area and continues to be well represented in contemporary canvas-paintings by artists from the broader plateau region. We conclude that representations of Namarrkon in both painted and beeswax forms appear to be parallel manifestations of the late Holocene regionalisation of Arnhem Land. ?Missing the point? or ?what to believe ? the theory or the data?: Rationales for the production of Kimberley points Kim Akerman (Moonah) In a recent article, Rodney Harrison presented an interesting view on the role glass Kimberley points played in the lives of the Aborigines who made and used them. Harrison employed ethnographic and historical data to argue that glass Kimberley points were not part of the normal suite of post-contact artefacts used primarily for hunting and fighting or Indigenous exchange purposes, but primarily were created to service a non-Indigenous market for aesthetically pleasing artefacts. Harrison asserted that this market determined the form that these points took. A critical analysis of the data does not substantiate either of these claims. Here I do not deal with Harrison?s theoretical material or arguments; I focus on the ethnographic and historical material that he has either omitted or failed to appreciate in developing his thesis and which, in turn, renders it invalid. The intensity of raw material utilisation as an indication of occupational history in surface stone artefact assemblages from the Strathbogie Ranges, central Victoria Justin Ian Shiner (La Trobe University, Bundoora) Stone artefact assemblages are a major source of information on past human?landscape relationships throughout much of Australia. These relationships are not well understood in the Strathbogie Ranges of central Victoria, where few detailed analyses of stone artefact assemblages have been undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to redress this situation through the analysis of two surface stone artefact assemblages recorded in early 2000 during a wider investigation of the region?s potential for postgraduate archaeological fieldwork. Analysis of raw material utilisation is used to assess the characteristics of the occupational histories of two locations with similar landscape settings. The analysis indicates variability in the intensity of raw material use between the assemblages, which suggests subtle differences in the occupational history of each location. The results of this work provide a direction for future stone artefact studies within this poorly understood region.document reproductions, maps, b&w photographs, colour photographskimberley, mawul rom project, 3d computer game, storytelling, vincent serico, beeswax, namarrkon, artefact assemblages, strathbogie ranges, groote eylandt, budd billy ii

We don?t leave our identities at the city limits: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban localities Bronwyn Fredericks Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who live in cities and towns are often thought of as ?less Indigenous? than those who live ?in the bush?, as though they are ?fake? Aboriginal people ? while ?real? Aboriginal people live ?on communities? and ?real? Torres Strait Islander people live ?on islands?. Yet more than 70 percent of Australia?s Indigenous peoples live in urban locations (ABS 2007), and urban living is just as much part of a reality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as living in remote discrete communities. This paper examines the contradictions and struggles that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience when living in urban environments. It looks at the symbols of place and space on display in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Brisbane to demonstrate how prevailing social, political and economic values are displayed. Symbols of place and space are never neutral, and this paper argues that they can either marginalise and oppress urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or demonstrate that they are included and engaged. Juggling with pronouns: Racist discourse in spoken interaction on the radio Di Roy While the discourse of deficit with regard to Australian Indigenous health and wellbeing has been well documented in print media and through images on film and on television, radio talk concerning this discourse remains underresearched. This paper interrogates the power of an interactive news interview, aired on the Radio National Breakfast program on ABC Radio in 2011, to maintain and reproduce the discourse of deficit, despite the best intentions of the interview participants. Using a conversation-analytical approach, and membership categorisation analysis in particular, this paper interrogates the spoken interaction between a well-known radio interviewer and a respected medical researcher into Indigenous eye health. It demonstrates the recreation of a discourse emanating from longstanding hegemonies between mainstream and Indigenous Australians. Analysis of firstperson pronoun use shows the ongoing negotiation of social category boundaries and construction of moral identities through ascriptions to category members, upon which the intelligibility of the interview for the listening audience depended. The findings from analysis support claims in a considerable body of whiteness studies literature, the main themes of which include the pervasiveness of a racist discourse in Australian media and society, the power of invisible assumptions, and the importance of naming and exposing them. Changes in Pitjantjatjara mourning and burial practices Bill Edwards, University of South Australia This paper is based on observations over a period of more than five decades of changes in Pitjantjatjara burial practices from traditional practices to the introduction of Christian services and cemeteries. Missions have been criticised for enforcing such changes. However, in this instance, the changes were implemented by the Aboriginal people themselves. Following brief outlines of Pitjantjatjara traditional life, including burial practices, and of the establishment of Ernabella Mission in 1937 and its policy of respect for Pitjantjatjara cultural practices and language, the history of these changes which commenced in 1973 are recorded. Previously, deceased bodies were interred according to traditional rites. However, as these practices were increasingly at odds with some of the features of contemporary social, economic and political life, two men who had lost close family members initiated church funeral services and established a cemetery. These practices soon spread to most Pitjantjatjara communities in a manner which illustrates the model of change outlined by Everett Rogers (1962) in Diffusion of Innovations. Reference is made to four more recent funerals to show how these events have been elaborated and have become major social occasions. The world from Malarrak: Depictions of South-east Asian and European subjects in rock art from the Wellington Range, Australia Sally K May, Paul SC Ta�on, Alistair Paterson, Meg Travers This paper investigates contact histories in northern Australia through an analysis of recent rock paintings. Around Australia Aboriginal artists have produced a unique record of their experiences of contact since the earliest encounters with South-east Asian and, later, European visitors and settlers. This rock art archive provides irreplaceable contemporary accounts of Aboriginal attitudes towards, and engagement with, foreigners on their shores. Since 2008 our team has been working to document contact period rock art in north-western and western Arnhem Land. This paper focuses on findings from a site complex known as Malarrak. It includes the most thorough analysis of contact rock art yet undertaken in this area and questions previous interpretations of subject matter and the relationship of particular paintings to historic events. Contact period rock art from Malarrak presents us with an illustrated history of international relationships in this isolated part of the world. It not only reflects the material changes brought about by outside cultural groups but also highlights the active role Aboriginal communities took in responding to these circumstances. Addressing the Arrernte: FJ Gillen?s 1896 Engwura speech Jason Gibson, Australian National University This paper analyses a speech delivered by Francis James Gillen during the opening stages of what is now regarded as one of the most significant ethnographic recording events in Australian history. Gillen?s ?speech? at the 1896 Engwura festival provides a unique insight into the complex personal relationships that early anthropologists had with Aboriginal people. This recently unearthed text, recorded by Walter Baldwin Spencer in his field notebook, demonstrates how Gillen and Spencer sought to establish the parameters of their anthropological enquiry in ways that involved both Arrernte agency and kinship while at the same time invoking the hierarchies of colonial anthropology in Australia. By examining the content of the speech, as it was written down by Spencer, we are also able to reassesses the importance of Gillen to the ethnographic ambitions of the Spencer/Gillen collaboration. The incorporation of fundamental Arrernte concepts and the use of Arrernte words to convey the purpose of their 1896 fieldwork suggest a degree of Arrernte involvement and consent not revealed before. The paper concludes with a discussion of the outcomes of the Engwura festival and the subsequent publication of The Native Tribes of Central Australia within the context of a broader set of relationships that helped to define the emergent field of Australian anthropology at the close of the nineteenth century. One size doesn?t fit all: Experiences of family members of Indigenous gamblers Louise Holdsworth, Helen Breen, Nerilee Hing and Ashley Gordon Centre for Gambling Education and Research, Southern Cross University This study explores help-seeking and help-provision by family members of Indigenous people experiencing gambling problems, a topic that previously has been ignored. Data are analysed from face-to-face interviews with 11 family members of Indigenous Australians who gamble regularly. The results confirm that substantial barriers are faced by Indigenous Australians in accessing formal help services and programs, whether for themselves or a loved one. Informal help from family and friends appears more common. In this study, this informal help includes emotional care, practical support and various forms of ?tough love?. However, these measures are mostly in vain. Participants emphasise that ?one size doesn?t fit all? when it comes to avenues of gambling help for Indigenous peoples. Efforts are needed to identify how Indigenous families and extended families can best provide social and practical support to assist their loved ones to acknowledge and address gambling problems. Western Australia?s Aboriginal heritage regime: Critiques of culture, ethnography, procedure and political economy Nicholas Herriman, La Trobe University Western Australia?s Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) and the de facto arrangements that have arisen from it constitute a large part of the Aboriginal ?heritage regime? in that state. Although designed ostensibly to protect Aboriginal heritage, the heritage regime has been subjected to various scholarly critiques. Indeed, there is a widespread perception of a need to reform the Act. But on what basis could this proceed? Here I offer an analysis of these critiques, grouped according to their focus on political economy, procedure, ethnography and culture. I outline problems surrounding the first three criticisms and then discuss two versions of the cultural critique. I argue that an extreme version of this criticism is weak and inconsistent with the other three critiques. I conclude that there is room for optimism by pointing to ways in which the heritage regime could provide more beneficial outcomes for Aboriginal people. Read With Me Everyday: Community engagement and English literacy outcomes at Erambie Mission (research report) Lawrence Bamblett Since 2009 Lawrie Bamblett has been working with his community at Erambie Mission on a literacy project called Read With Me. The programs - three have been carried out over the past four years - encourage parents to actively engage with their children?s learning through reading workshops, social media, and the writing and publication of their own stories. Lawrie attributes much of the project?s extraordinary success to the intrinsic character of the Erambie community, not least of which is their communal approach to living and sense of shared responsibility. The forgotten Yuendumu Men?s Museum murals: Shedding new light on the progenitors of the Western Desert Art Movement (research report) Bethune Carmichael and Apolline Kohen In the history of the Western Desert Art Movement, the Papunya School murals are widely acclaimed as the movement?s progenitors. However, in another community, Yuendumu, some 150 kilometres from Papunya, a seminal museum project took place prior to the completion of the Papunya School murals and the production of the first Papunya boards. The Warlpiri men at Yuendumu undertook a ground-breaking project between 1969 and 1971 to build a men?s museum that would not only house ceremonial and traditional artefacts but would also be adorned with murals depicting the Dreamings of each of the Warlpiri groups that had recently settled at Yuendumu. While the murals at Papunya are lost, those at Yuendumu have, against all odds, survived. Having been all but forgotten, this unprecedented cultural and artistic endeavour is only now being fully appreciated. Through the story of the genesis and construction of the Yuendumu Men?s Museum and its extensive murals, this paper demonstrates that the Yuendumu murals significantly contributed to the early development of the Western Desert Art Movement. It is time to acknowledge the role of Warlpiri artists in the history of the movement.b&w photographs, colour photographsracism, media, radio, pitjantjatjara, malarrak, wellington range, rock art, arrernte, fj gillen, engwura, indigenous gambling, ethnography, literacy, erambie mission, yuendumu mens museum, western desert art movement

This is a photograph of two people (James Toole and Beryl Witkowski) amid celebrations for St Patrick's Day at the Burke Museum in an unknown year. St Patrick's Day is traditionally an Irish religious holiday, but has been adopted in countries such as Australia to celebrate an idea of Irish culture. These celebrations often include wearing green clothes, especially a shamrock hat, and drinking beer, all pictured here. This celebration appears to be taking place within the Burke Museum itself, with museum's iconic stained glass oval window in the background. The Museum, situated in Beechworth, holds a collection of over 30,000 individual objects - including this photograph. James Toole (left) was the 'face of the Beechworth Post Office' until his retirement in 2015, following a 45-year career in mail service. He is a Friend of the Burke Museum, volunteering on projects such as crafting the Burke Museum's float in the 2018 Beechworth Bakery and Beechworth Honey Grand Parade at the Golden Horseshoes Festival. He is known for his flamboyant character. Beryl Witkowski (right) was a historian and curator for the Burke Museum, retiring from her position in 2016. She was involved as a Friend of the Burke Museum from at least 2004.This photograph is significant to the Burke Museum and Beechworth as it depicts two prominent, contemporary members of the museum's paid and volunteer staff in the museum itself. It highlights both how the staff interacted with the museum through celebrations and how the museum itself was used in capacities other than object display. The photograph can also be used to interpret Australia's relationship to the St Patrick's Day holiday, especially given the presence of Irish immigrants to the Beechworth area in the nineteenth century.A colour, square photograph printed on rectangular photographic paper.First Card: WITKOWSKI, Beryl / TOOLE, James / BMM 3067 / Databased Second Card: Burke Museum / 3067 /burke museum, beechworth, museum staff, celebrations, st patrick's day, beer, australia, st patrick's day celebration

This trophy was presented by the Country Women's Association (C.W.A) Kiewa Valley Branch circa 1950's and 1960s. This was in a period when the C.W.A. was the major women's organisation which had the greatest influence among rural women (especially in isolated areas). This was a period when broad based communications were mainly by radio,women orientated magazines and the telephone. The CWA was an organisation that catered exclusively to women's needs. The C.W.A. motto; "Honour our God, Loyalty to the throne, Service to the country, Through country women, For country women, By country women."The atmosphere was one of "sisterhood" and covered nearly all the needs of rural based women. This one organisation incorporated knowledge and learning targeting women who physically may be isolated but not mentally. This particular trophy was for the "most outstanding Item" in the years: 1956,1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965.The Kiewa Valley Group of the C.W.A. was a focal point for women in this still relatively isolated rural region a place of refuge from the heavy domestic demands that family and business exerted. It provided for women needs of a time and space to gain all the mental relaxation and group bonding necessary to balance the sometimes harsh environment that rural life presented. It provided companionship and "self worth" avenues through competitions in various activities. Unlike the rural males retreat to the local pub for male bonding women's retreat to the CWA provided a greater facility to interact with other women, of like minds, which for the majority of time benefited their families as well.This item has been manufactured in the form of a "flower" vase. It is made from bronze and is silver plated. It resembles the ancient Olympic torch, with a wide rim at the top and narrowing to the base. The base is circular and has three wave like forms cascading from the base of the "stem" to the bottom of the base."HICKEN TROPHY 1956"mementos, acknowledgement, cwa awards, trophies, rural women's club

This badge, which was used in the mid to late 1900's (Scouts started in Australia in 1909) clearly demonstrates that the families in the Kiewa Valley although slightly remote were still able to participate in one of the prime "boy" only social groups. The Boy Scouting movement brought together boys from all the socio-economic areas in the Australian population. The scouting group applied the concept of self sufficiency and friendship to all its membership. It was an avenue to cross the boundaries of distance and regional mores. Many of the boys in the Kiewa Valley and its regions would have been more "in tune" with the core principles of the scouting movement because being in a rural environment and "living on the land" was a day to day part of their life. What was an important aspect to they was the "mateship" and the belonging to a very large, and international, group of "like minded" boys. This avenue of interacting with a larger group of boys cut through the "small population" mores of a rural and at times isolated environment. This Boy Scouting activity was both mentally and physically significant to growing boys within the Kiewa Valley as it opened up the world to them.This brass badge has a front formed in a half circle base supporting a "Fleur de Leis" in a spear shape with "cut outs" at the appropriate places to provide the emphasis needed to project the form. Attached to the badge is a crescent moon shaped pronged frame for attaching the badge to lapels or collars or button eyelets. On the bottom scroll "BOY SCOUTS" and on the back type fastener "STOKES & SONS" below this "Melb".societies, boy scouts, apparel badges, numismatics badges

This tea towel was manufactured in 1978 in Ireland and shipped to Australia. This was in a period when the C.W.A. was the major women's organisation which had the greatest influence amongst rural women (especially in isolated areas). This was a period when broad based communications were mainly by radio,women orientated magazines and the telephone. The relay of television to "remote" rural areas was not yet established. The CWA was therefore a very important organisation that catered exclusively to women's needs. The C.W.A. motto "Honour our God, Loyalty to the throne, Service to the country, Through country women, For country women, By country women." The atmosphere was one of "sisterhood" and covered nearly all the needs of rural based women. This one organisation incorporated knowledge and learning targeting women who physically may be isolated but not mentally. On the tea towel are portrayed all the activities that would be beneficial to rural women.This tea towel with its respective motifs is very significant to the Kiewa Valley as it related especially to women who felt the limitations of social interactions within a rural area. This tea towel represents a era where communications was relatively based on radio, magazines, books and limited telephone access. Within these restrictive interactive communication levels, the isolation of a "back o' Bourke" location applied tremendous mental fatigue on women more than on men.This CWA Victoria Golden Jubilee (1928-1978) tea towel is made from Irish flax at the Blackstaff Flax Spinning and Weaving factory. It is therefore of high quality and very durable. The major colours projecting from a light blue background are red, yellow, green, orange and black. The motives portrayed the activities of the CWA in 1978. These activities are embroidery, crocheting, dress making, knitting, cooking, art, macrame, drama, music, patchwork, toy making and community relief, pennies for friendship, emergency relief and welfare, residential club flats, the thanks giving and Papua New Guinea.The main or central theme of this tea towel is presented in the central area within three rings. "1928" on the left and "1978" on the right. On the top part "GOLDEN JUBILEE" and at the bottom "COUNTRY WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA" There are various shapes representing the activities listed above.cwa promotional material, cwa golden jubilee, women only organisations, country women's association

This ledger was started in 1901 when ledgers and other bookkeeping methods were hand written and with nib or fountain pen application. The various ink spots on the pages of this ledger suggests that when the office worker scribed they used the nib and the owner used the fountain pen. It was not until the mid 1950s that ball point pens were discovered and used in rural areas. The owner of this rural general store was more interested in recording transactions, be it in ink or pencil than the aesthetics of a neat and tidy document. Even though in this era, the principle of neat and tidiness was instilled in workers, this was overlooked and fell away through the economics of employing one staff member to do a variety of tasks for which they may not have had the proper training. It was in the early 1900s that the rural areas such as the Kiewa Valley "had to do" with local employees who had basic training but knew their customers very well and were very respectful of age and the mores of the trading public. The respect by shop owners and staff towards their customers was greater in small rural townships and villages within the Kiewa Valley than in the larger towns and cities. Their was no rushing to get the groceries or to spend the least amount of time within the shop. The social interactions where mixed with commercial activities at a very personalised level of one on one. This closeness gave the customer the confidence that those in the commercial transactions in the shop, where looking after them. This ledger is very significant to the Kiewa Valley as it lists the personal transactions of local businesses, farmers, graziers and miners. Larger accounts and other businesses had one or more pages set aside for their transactions. The words are in large freehand (Capitals 5 mm high) possibly to be read by those with poorer eyesight. The relative long distance to travel for reading glasses or specialised optometrist was overcome by writing in larger fonts. The time taken to register produce or other consumables was not critical during the period when this ledger was in use because the local population was not at the critical level where the demand was not as intense as later on when periods of tourist influx became more demanding. The lay back and relaxed attitude of the local population during this period (early 1900s) was not intense and impersonal as within the larger city shopping and commercial environment. The ability of the shop keepers to interact with their customers not only in the commercial sense but also in a social atmosphere permitted the long hand scribbling of purchases without causing any offence.This item is a cloth and suede leather covered ledger.The spine is suede leather with a red stamped "LEDGER" title. The cover is covered with a dark blue cloth and shows a faded unrecognisable pattern. Each page has light blue lines running horizontal and 90 mm apart. Each page has, from the second line going horizontal two fine 1 mm apart red line. Each page is divided horizontally by single vertical line (except for the two double lines in the centre of the page). The first division separates the month from the day.Next to these lines is an area for the description of the item being purchased. Within the central double lines are vertical lines separating the type of tender paid, i.e., pounds, shillings and pence. The last section of the page has various comments, as required by the scribe.Each page is approximately 160 g/ms. The ledger has 698 pages drawn up on both sides and page numbers of 5 mm in height. 'On spine " LEDGER"commerce, book keeping, shop ledger, local history

Jakob Maul (1866-1953) founded a metal works factory in 1912 at Zell in Odenwald not far from Frankfurt. He was born the son of a winegrower from the Rheinhessen region of Germany that lies on the left bank of the river Rhine. At the age of 45, he started a metal works factory to produce various types of scales but during the second world war the factory was bombed and production ended. Production for the manufacture of scales resumed in 1948. In 1953 at his death Jakobs son Fritz Scharmann an engineer who had been working with his father since 1923 took over the management of the Maul companies. In 1970 the production responsibilities for Philip J Maul was taken over by Porti Office Equipment who was based in Hamburg. The company has undergone several integrations with subsidiary companies. Today the company has diversified into different areas one of which is manufacturing solar scales. An original postal scale made in Germany before the Second World War and regarded today as a collector's item. It is significant as it is a snapshot into the past and how everyday vintage items were used and interacted within society in the 1930s.Antique German Jacob Maul "Concav" brass postal or letter scale, quadrant type, with pendulum, measuring up to 9ozs. The scale has a level-adjusting screw.The balance is marked "CONCAV" and graduated in imperial ounces to 9 ozflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, scale, quadrant scale, postal weight, 9 oz, philip jakob, maul, scale manufacturer, german industry, weighing instrument, inclination scale

Index, notes, p.361.non-fictionDissent or Conform examines how churches reacted to, and were affected by, two world wars. Its underlying theme, however, is how the Church can be a creatively dissenting community, focusing on how easily the church can turn into a conforming community that only encourages the occurrence of uncreative dissenters, the ones who criticize the power without offering solutions and leading to a real change. -- Wilkinson opposes this trait of the church, especially given the impact that it has on society as a messenger of the gospel. To this end, the author depicts religious groups during three periods of time: English Nonconformity before and during WWI, pacifists and pacifiers between the two wars and Christianity during WWII, focusing on how church history interacts with the developments in history and society. -- This book is of particular interest to social and church historians of the 20th century, and to all interested in the history and ethics of war and pacifism. It will also appeal to those attracted by the interaction between church and society. religious dissenters - england - 20th century, pacifism - religious aspects

Ill, map, p.352.non-fictionJim Molan is the Australian General who served in Iraq with the Coalition during 2004-05. Initially, under General Ricardo Sanchez, he worked on infrastructure: trying to restore/maintain the provision of water, power and rail services. Under General George W. Casey, he became Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Operations with the Multi National Forces Iraq and ran the operations for all the US and Coalition forces assigned to the Iraqi area of operations. He had to interact with the new interim Iraqi government, bringing the political, diplomatic, information, economic and reconstruction sectors into line with the military side. In this book he describes his background and military career, but focuses on describing key aspects of his time in Iraq.australian army - iraq war - 2003, iraq war - personal narratives

"Wangaratta's Own", the 2nd 24th Battalion was formed in Wangaratta on 1st July 1940, during World War Two. They camped at the Wangaratta Showgrounds, where they trained until they marched out of Wangaratta on 28th September 1940. Before they marched out Alan MacFarlane and the Battalion were presented with the Battalion pennant by Wangaratta Mayor, Cr Thomas Nolan. They fought in . On 28th September 1990, the 50th anniversary of the Battalion leaving Wangaratta, (retired) Alan MacFarlane, President of the 2nd 24th Battalion Association were presented the Freedom of the City and represented with the Battalion pennant by Wangaratta Mayor, Cr Kevin Gleeson & Cr Val Gleeson, Cr Thomas Nolan's son in law & daughter. This was an Army Battalion formed in Wangaratta. The young men interacted with the businesses, sporting & social societies & families of Wangaratta in the early 1940's. Lifelong friendships were made."Wangaratta's Own", the 2nd 24th Battalion was formed in Wangaratta on 1st July 1940, during World War Two. They camped at the Wangaratta Showgrounds, where they trained until they marched out of Wangaratta on 28th September 1940. Before they marched out Alan MacFarlane and the Battalion were presented with the Battalion pennant by Wangaratta Mayor, Cr Thomas Nolan. They fought in . On 28th September 1990, the 50th anniversary of the Battalion leaving Wangaratta, (retired) Alan MacFarlane, President of the 2nd 24th Battalion Association were presented the Freedom of the City and represented with the Battalion pennant by Wangaratta Mayor, Cr Kevin Gleeson & Cr Val Gleeson, Cr Thomas Nolan's son in law & daughter. army battalion wangaratta's own world war two

BOUND FOLDER, BLACK CARDBOARD COVER 152 PAGESnon-fictionFred Cahir tells the story about the magnitude of Aboriginal involvement on the Victorian goldfields in the middle of the nineteenth century. The first history of Aboriginal–white interaction on the Victorian goldfields, Black Gold offers new insights on one of the great epochs in Australian and world history—the gold story. In vivid detail it describes how Aboriginal people often figured significantly in the search for gold and documents the devastating social impact of gold mining on Victorian Aboriginal communities. It reveals the complexity of their involvement from passive presence, to active discovery, to shunning the goldfields. This detailed examination of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria provides striking evidence which demonstrates that Aboriginal people participated in gold mining and interacted with non-Aboriginal people in a range of hitherto neglected ways. Running through this book are themes of Aboriginal empowerment, identity, integration, resistance, social disruption and communication. For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.first nations history, australia's victorian goldfields