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MS 4319

Papers of Elspeth Anne Young



ACCESS

Most of the material is available to be read, and a reasonable portion may be copied for private study and research and/or published with acknowledgement [Access code: R1 C1B]. The exceptions are ten folders that have closed access and require the Principal’s permission for reading, copying and quotation [Access code A3b B1]. Exceptions - Series 2, Folder 3 and genealogical charts in Folder 9; Series 5, entire series [Folder 1-5]; Series 7, Folder 8; Series 8, Folder 3, and genealogical chart in Folder 4-5: Principal's permission required for reading, copying, and quotation. For details to these folders see introductory notes to ‘series’. 

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SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

Date range: 1954-2002 (bulk 1976-2002)

Extent: 1.2 metres (7 boxes) + 3 folio folders

Elspeth Young was a geographer who spent many years studying Indigenous communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea. This collection mainly contains material on the Australian Indigenous communities of central and north-west Australia including Alice Springs, Willowra, Yuendumu, Numbulwar, Mount Allan, and the Kimberley.

Elspeth Young’s collection was deposited with AIATSIS Library by the executor of Young’s estate, in November 2002. The collection comprised numbered boxes of papers, and accompanying slides, photographic prints and negatives. All material had been listed and given a reference number by Jocelyn Davies prior to it being deposited with the Library [listing on Library file]. AIATSIS Library has since rehoused and renumbered the collection by ‘series’, while maintaining the original arrangement of the folders and the items within them.

The slides, photographic prints and negatives [Jocelyn Davies reference numbers 1-18, 22-40] that accompanied the papers were transferred to AIATSIS Audiovisual Archives in September 2004. To access any of this audiovisual material contact the Audiovisual Archives Program

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Elspeth Anne Young was born in Auchterarder, Scotland on 25 August 1940. In her first year at university she studied pure mathematics but in the following year, switched to geography. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with MA (Honours) in Geography in 1963.

After completing a Diploma of Education at the University of Edinburgh in 1964, Young taught geography and mathematics at the Dollar Academy, a senior school in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Following four years at the Dollar Academy she taught mathematics at St Francis Girls High School, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

In 1969 Young returned to a position in Scotland lecturing in economic geography at the Edinburgh College of Commerce. In late 1971 she was appointed Research Assistant and Tutor in the Geography Department of the University in Port Moresby where she later enrolled as a staff candidate for a post-graduate degree. Young was awarded an MA in geography for her thesis on ‘Population mobility in the Kainantu area’ in 1974.

Young gained an Australian National University post-graduate scholarship, and for her thesis, ‘Simbu and New Ireland migration’ she was awarded a PhD in human geography in 1977. On graduation she was appointment as Research Fellow in the ‘Aboriginal component in the Australian economy projectled by Fred Fisk in the Development Studies Centre, ANU. In 1978, while working with Fisk, Young began a study of the newly established Aboriginal-owned pastoral enterprise at Willowra station, north of Alice Springs. Thus began her interest in Aboriginal land management from which she became one of the most influential champions of the Aboriginal English term ‘Caring for Country’.

Subsequently, Young became the first geographer to have worked on Northern Territory land claims, contributing to the successful claims to Ti Tree and Mt Allen (1980-85).

While Research Fellow in Demography, ANU, (1980-1981) and Senior Research Fellow (1982-1985) in the North Australia Research Unit of the ANU in Darwin, Young contributed to the East Kimberley Impact Assessment Project led by Nugget Coombs (Young 1988), and a study on Aboriginal mobility (Young and Doohan, 1989).

In 1983, Young made the first of many research trips to Canada. She finally returned to Canberra in 1985 joining the Department of Geography and Oceanography at the newly-established University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy (1985-1994), where she became Associate-Professor.

In 1994 she returned to the ANU as Reader (1994-2002) and Director (1994-1999) of the Graduate Studies in Environmental Management and Development Program at ANU.

Young was a Council Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers (1987-1992); editor of Australian Geographical Studies (1989-1992); holder of the IAG Professional Services Award for 1998; Member and then Chair of the National Committee for Geography; Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Australian Social Science Organisations; and Chair of the Australian Antarctic Naming and Medals Committee.

Elspeth Young died in England on 10 August 2002.

Ref: Obituary, Australian Geographical Studies, March 2003, vol.41, no.1, pp85-90

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RELATED MATERIAL

Important: Before you click on the link to the catalogue entries below for other works by Young please read our sensitivity message.

The Institute also holds other works by  Elspeth Young .

For other related material search the Institute's Mura® online catalogue.  To access any  audiovisual material found in Mura® contact the Audiovisual Archives Program

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SERIES LIST

Series 1     Field diaries, 1978-89

Series 2     Mount Allan land claim research material, 1981-85

Series 3     East Kimberley cattle stations, 1982-90 (bulk 1985)

Series 4     Adult education, 1983-91

Series 5     Central Australian patrol officer reports, 1954-69

Series 6     Willowra field notes and research material, 1976-83

Series 7     Ti Tree Land Claim research material, 1981-84

Series 8     Census papers for mobility study, 1986?

Series 9     Numbulwar economic study, 1978-80

Series 10   Published papers

Series 11   Personal

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series 1           Field diaries, 1978-89

This series contains Young’s handwritten field notes written in shorthand notebooks.

Folder

 
1

Preliminary trip to various towns and Aboriginal communities in western NSW, 1978. Familiarisation for Fisk economic study in Central Australia. Spiral bound shorthand notebook

2

Yuendumu. Contains observations October-December, 1978. Commonwealth of Australia shorthand notebook

3

Willowra. Contains observations December 1978-February 1979. Commonwealth of Australia shorthand notebook

4

Numbulwar. Contains observations February 1979-March 1979. Commonwealth of Australia shorthand notebook

5

Telecom. Contains notes on Yuendumu, Pit Council, Willowra, Numbalwar for [communications study?] for Telecom, November 1979

6

Mount Allan land claim, 1980. Also contains notes for Willowra mobility study in spiral bound ‘reporters’ notebook

7

Mount Allan land claim, June 1982. Includes genealogy, sketch map and notes in ‘Spirax’ notebook

8-9

Stores, 1982. Four shorthand notebooks [3 x ‘Spirax’ and 1 x ‘Croxley’] with details of the shops for the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, and ‘Yuendumu etc’ areas

10

Enterprise Yuendumu, 1986. ‘Victory’ shorthand notebook

11

Cattle stations, East Kimberley, 1986. ‘Victory’ shorthand notebook and loose-leaf sketch map

12

Adult education, 1983. Finke and other Central Australian Aboriginal communities. ‘Spirax’ shorthand notebook

13

Adult education, 1983. Yuendumu, Willowra, Utopia, Santa Teresa, Finke, Elliott. Notes in two ‘Spirax’ shorthand notebooks

14

Adult education, 1983. Ngukurr and Katherine [?]. Two ‘Spirax’ shorthand notebooks

15-17

Ti Tree land claim, 1984. Five ‘Spirax’ shorthand notebooks including sketch maps, diary notes on relationships to country, mobility, genealogies, and Yaning side

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Series 2           Mount Allan land claim research material, 1981-85

Mount Allan is a pastoral station 240 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. The lease was purchased by Aborigines in 1976 and so became open to claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. In 1979 the Central Land Council lodged a land claim on behalf of the Walpiri and Anmatyerre traditional owners. The Aboriginal Land Commissioner Kearney heard the evidence in 1982 and in March 1985 his report recommended the bulk of the land claim be granted. This decision was later the subject of legal action by the Northern Territory Government consequently it was not until 1988 that the Minister was able to proceed with the grant.

This series includes Young’s correspondence, seminar paper, research (and interview) notes, and financial statements compiled during the period she was involved with the Mount Allan land claim. Folder 2 holds copies of the actual land claim, 1981.

Access to most of these folders is open for reading and a reasonable portion can be copied for private study and research and/ or published with acknowledgement [R1 C1b]. The exceptions are Folders 3 and genealogical charts in Folder 9 that have closed access. Principal’s permission is required for reading, copying and quotation [A3b B1].

Folder

 

1

Draft Institute of Australian Geographers conference paper entitled ‘Aboriginal cattle stations: strategies for self-management’ and associated material, 1981

2

Land claim to Mount Allan Pastoral lease, by Elspeth Young and Nicolas Peterson. Prepared at the instructions of the Central Lands Council on behalf of the claimants, 1981 (2 copies + another copy held in Library at BA927.36/M2). Also handwritten tables and notes on genealogy and population generally

3

Research notes. Access code A3b B1

4

Correspondence to Elspeth Young concerning field trip, 1981-82. Includes black and white photographic prints of community members. For access to images contact Audiovisual Archives

5-6

‘Yuelumu’ Cattle Company and ‘Yuelumu’ Community Inc. funding, 1976-85. Includes budgets, financial year statements, and handwritten notes

7

Interview notes, 1986. Persons interviewed include John Taylor, Jack Cook and David Smith.

8

Reference material. Includes Land claim by Walpiri and Kartangarurru-Kurintji, report by Mr Justice Toohey, 1979; photocopy ‘Room to move: contemporary Alyawara settlement patterns and their implications for Aboriginal housing policy’, by James F. O’Connell, Mankind, no.11, 1977, pp. 119-31; and ‘Yuelamu Community Development Plan. Draft guidelines and strategies for development, 1991-96’, prepared by the Northern Territory Open College, Alice Springs, 1991

9

Two ANU maps of the Mount Allan area (1 annotated), topographical maps of the Napperby and Mount Doreen and various genealogical charts. Located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet. Access code A3b B1 for genealogical charts

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Series 3           East Kimberley cattle stations, 1982-90 (bulk 1985)

This series includes photocopies of a submission for funding, correspondence, reports of meetings, budget papers, maps, and handwritten genealogies and notes relating to the Aboriginal owned pastoral stations of Bow River and Doon Doon (formerly known as Dunham River) in the east Kimberleys, Western Australia.

The papers refer to the purchase and the running of Bow River Station by Warmun later called the Julwulinypany Aboriginal Community, and the Doon Doon Station (incorporating Glen Hill lease) by the Woolah Aboriginal Community.

Folder

 

1-3

Bow River Station

4

Doon Doon Station

5

Doon Doon property development submission, by Pastoral & Agricultural Services, 1986

6

East Kimberley Impact Assessment Project. Working papers no. 21 entitled Aboriginal cattle stations in the East Kimberley: communities or enterprises, by Elspeth Young. Department of Geography and Oceanography, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, 1988

7

Three maps showing pastoral potential in the Kimberley region, Western Australia produced by the Western Australia Department of Agriculture, 1985. Scale 1: 500,000. Located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet.

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Series 4           Adult education, 1983-91

This series includes copies of programmes and notes for training courses, questionnaires and interview notes, tables showing population and employment data, photographic prints of building construction, reports, hand written field notes, and reference material particularly relating to the administration of stores in Aboriginal communities.

Folder

 

1

Pitjantjatjara Training School, stores co-operative etc.

2

Willowra, Utopia, Mount Allan and Elliott

3

Finke

4

Amata, Ernabella, Fregon and Pipalytjara

5

Arnhem Land Progress Association (ALPA). Reports of meetings etc, 1984-91

6

Stores cooperatives. Includes ‘Pitjantjatjara Store Co-operative report’, August 1982, notes and overhead transparencies [for talk?] on Alaska Native Industries Co-operative Association (ANICA)

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Series 5           Central Australian patrol officer reports, 1954-69

This series includes mainly carbon copies of patrol officer census reports for a variety of Central Australian stations. The reports can list, though not always, persons under their European and Aboriginal names, skin group, sex, tribe, residence, year of birth, place of birth, name of mother and father, identifying mark's, source of information, education, relationships, children, and occupation.

The reports have been arranged alphabetically by station name. Folio size reports (Folder 1) are located in the Manuscript Plan Cabinet.

Closed access. Principal’s permission is required for reading, copying and quotation [A3b B1].

Folder

 

1

Folio size reports for Alcoota (1961), Anningie Station (1963), Jervois Mine (1962), Manners Creek Station (1954), Maryvale Station (1963), McDonald Downs area (1961), Mount Dennison Station (1954?), Mount Doreen Station (1954), Murray Downs (1960), and Neutral Junction (1963). Located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet

2

Reports for Aileron (1969), Ammaroo (1969), Arlionga? (1963), Atnarpa (1963), Barrow Creek (1967), Birrindudu Station (1963), Derry Downs (1969), Epenarra Station (1964), Hamilton Downs (1963), and Happy Valley Bore (Mt Riddock) (1968)

3

Reports for Harts Range (1968), Jervois Mine area (1969), Inverway (1963), Kirkimbie (1964), Lake Nash and Georgina Downs (1964), and Limbunya (1964)

4

Reports for McLaren Creek (1964), Mistake Creek (1965, 1971), Mongrel Downs (1967), Mt Cavanagh (1963), Mt Dennison (1966), Mulga Park (1967), Murray Downs (1968), and Napperby Station (1958)

5

Reports for Narweitooma (1961), Neutral Junction (1953), Numery (1966), Owen Springs Station (1960), Ringwood Station (1963), Stirling(1963), Supplejack (1968), Tarlton Downs (1967), Tempe Downs (1960, 1965), Umbeara (1966), Wallamunga (1964), Wauchope (1963), Wave Hill (1967), Wilton Park Station (1963), and Woodgreen Station (1962)

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Series 6           Willowra field notes and research material, 1976-83

This series includes handwritten notes, official budget papers and newspaper clippings on financial position of the Willowra Pastoral Company and Willowra Community, and in particular the Willowra store. There are also notes on the social makeup of the community, sources of income, community attitudes to education, correspondence, newsletters, and a photocopy of an article entitled ‘Myths and other realities of Aboriginal education’, by Jim Wafer.

Folder

 

1

Financial statements and handwritten notes on the Willowra Pastoral Company and the Willowra Community Inc and Willowra Housing Association, 1976-78. Also four miscellaneous newspaper articles

2

Willowra store stock lists and individual purchase orders. Also notes on income and people on social security pensions/benefits

3

Handwritten notes on the educational level of people on the community; lists of names community members, and ‘Marriages in January 1979’; letters to Elspeth Young concerning her research project; and article by Jim Wafer

4

Various Willowra school newsletters entitled Wriliyajarrayi Ngurrju Yimi, 1979-83

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Series 7           Ti Tree Land Claim research material, 1981-84

This series includes photocopies of correspondence, reports, minutes of meetings, internal minutes, financial statements, genealogies, population data, maps, and handwritten notes collected and/or written by Elspeth Young for her research into a project on the contribution of Aborigines to the North Australian cattle industry, and the Ti Tree land claim. A copy of the Ti Tree Land Claim Book is located in Folder 8.

Access to most of these folders is open for reading and a reasonable portion may be copied for private study and research and/published with acknowledgement [R1 C1b]. The exception is Folder 8 that has closed access – Principal’s permission is required for reading, copying and quotation [A3b B1].

Folder

 

1

Correspondence and reports, 1981-84. Includes Young’s research proposal entitled ‘Potential contribution of Aborigines to the North Australian cattle industry’, progress report and correspondence relating to the project

2

Minutes of meetings etc. re. Puraiya and Woolla cattle stations, 1982-83; copy of ‘Review of pastoral property Aboriginal communities’, 1979; and handwritten notes on community relationships

3-4

Cattle station activities

5

Financial statements for cattle stations, 1976-79

6

Population data. Mainly photocopies of census data from patrol officer reports, and related handwritten notes, 1944-83

7

Relationship charts, and explanation of charts, produced for Ti Tree Land Claim

8

Ti Tree Land Claim. Claim book. The Anmatyerre Land Claim to Ti Tree Pastoral Lease and Associated Areas, by Jenny Green, Rod Hagan, John Spierings and Elspeth Young, September 1984. Access code A3b B1.

9

Maps. Includes Ti Tree town layout (1982), Ti Tree Land Claim site map, and National Mapping Division topographic maps of Mt Peake, Barrow Creek and Alcoota. Located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet

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Series 8           Census papers for mobility study, 1986?

This series includes genealogical charts, handwritten notes, maps, and data from interviews possibly collected for a mobility study by Elspeth Young and Kim Doohan. Indigenous communities studied include Finke, Ernabella, Willowra and Mount Allan.

Access to most of these folders is open for reading and a reasonable portion may be copied for private study and research and/published with acknowledgement [R1 C1b]. The exceptions are Folder 3 and chart in Manuscript Plan Cabinet that have closed access. Principal’s permission is required for reading, copying and quotation [A3b B1].

Folder

 

1

Spare forms (and masters) used for study. Also table showing ‘A.P.R. languages/sub-section grouping’ and information on town camps

2

Population statistics based on ‘Ward’s book 1957’, DAA data 1981-83, and the Government Gazette 1957. Also maps showing ‘Pitjantjatara, Yungkutatjara and Ngaanatja lands in South Australia’ located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet

3

Mount Allan genealogies and paper entitled ‘Population mobility settlements and land use at Mount Allan’. Access code A3b B1. See also Series 2 Folder 3

4-5

Willowra. Interview data compiled on index cards and in statistical tables. Also folio sized genealogical chart of the Willowra community (1978), located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet [Access code A3b B1]

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Series 9           Numbulwar economic study, 1978-80

This series includes handwritten notes on the finances, employment, housing, population, transport and the economy in general on the Numbulwar community in the Northern Territory, by Elspeth Young; photocopies of journal articles and other research material; and draft paper entitled ‘Numbulwar: from mission station to Aboriginal community’, by Young with associated correspondence.

Folder

 

1-2

Interview data on index cards, and in tables and diagrams

3

Handwritten notes on the economy and employment situation

4

General file containing handwritten notes on the genealogies, store purchases, school, income, housing, air transport and other research notes. Also hand drawn map and of Numbulwar town located in Manuscript Plan Cabinet

5

Other papers including ‘Rose River Mission’ (6pp), ‘Notes on the development of Numbulwar. Orientation Jan.'75’(4pp), and ‘Some of the history, custom and law of the people of Numbulwar’, by the Victoria Catherine Burbank, 1980 (72pp)

6

Draft paper ‘Numbulwar: from mission station to Aboriginal community’ for the Development Studies Centre, ANU, by Elspeth Young, 59pp. Also three letters (1980) including one from Sandra Parker

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Series 10           Published papers

This series comprises a selection of published articles in journals and newsletters, written by or about, Elspeth Young

One folder that includes the following items:-

‘Whatever we do let’s not overwork the computer’, by Elspeth Young, Identity, vol.3, no.10, October 1979, pp.14-15;

‘Detailed analysis of how development affects indigenous peoples’, review article of Young’s book entitled Third world in the First, by Catherine Fletcher, ANU Reporter, 19 September 1995;

‘Dr Elspeth Young. Studies of the Third World within the First’, by Liz Tynan, ANU Reporter, 28 June 1995, pp.9,11;

‘In search of a more sustainable society’, review article by Elspeth Young of book entitled Human ecology, human economy, eds, Mark Diesendorf and Clive Hamilton, ANU Reporter, 12 March 1997, p.7;

‘Shared experiences: interactions of Aboriginal peoples and 'outsiders'’, by Elspeth Young, n.d.;

‘Sustainable development planning for Aboriginal communities’, by Elspeth Young and Helen Ross, Australian Aboriginal studies, no. 1, 1993, pp.91-92;

‘Managing the land: land and Aboriginal community development in Australia’, by Elspeth Young in Indigenous land rights in Commonwealth countries, pp. 218-229;

‘Striving for equity: Aboriginal socioeconomic transformation and development in the 1980s’, by Elspeth Young, Geoforum, vol. 19, no. 3, 1988, pp.295-306;

‘Aborigines, land and society’, by Elspeth Young, Australian geographical issues, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire Pty Ltd, 1993;

‘Using the Aboriginal range lands: 'insider' realities and 'outsider' perceptions’, by Elspeth Young and Helen Ross, [Rangel, J. 16 (2) 1994, pp.184-97];

‘Mabo: an inspiration for Australian land management, by Helen Ross, Elspeth Young and Lynette Liddle, Australian journal of environmental management, vol. 1, no. 1, July 1994, pp. 24-41;

‘Striving for development of sustainability’, by Elspeth Young, Australian Development Studies Centre (ANU) Briefing paper, no. 47, April 1997, pp.1-4;

‘First peoples’, by Elspeth Young, Globel issues, vol. 3 no. 4, 1997, pp1-3; and

‘Reconciliation or exclusion? Integrating indigenous and non-indigenous land management concepts for Australia’s Native Title era’, by Elspeth Young, Asia Pacific viewpoint, vol. 40, no.2, August 1999, pp.159-171

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Series 11           Personal

Folder

 

1

Order of service leaflet and memorial book/messages compiled by colleagues and friends of Elspeth Young for a memorial service to her held in Canberra, Australia, 25 October 2002. Also copy of a curriculum vitae, compiled by Young, 1987

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BOX LIST

Box

Series

Folder

1

1

1-10

2

1

11-17

 

2

1-3

3

2

4-8

Manuscript Plan Cabinet

2

9

 

3

1-6

Manuscript Plan Cabinet

3

7

4

4

1-6

Manuscript Plan Cabinet

5

1

4

5

2-5

5

6

1-4

 

7

1-6

6

7

7-8

Manuscript Plan Cabinet

7

9

6

8

1-5

 

9

1-3

7

9

4-6

 

10

1

 

11

1

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Finding Aid compiled by J.E. Kirkham, October 2004