'The White man calls me Jack': the many names and claims for Jackey Jackey of the lower Logan River, south-east Queensland, Australia

Michael J. Aird, Joanna Sassoon, David Trigger

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Genealogies that demonstrate a continuous historical lineage play a critical role for native title evidence as well as contemporary negotiations concerning Indigenous identity. The complexities of this genealogical research are compounded in regions with lengthy histories of disruption from traditional lands and contestation concerning the forebears of Indigenous individuals, families and wider groups. This article presents a case study that introduces a forensic methodology to demonstrate challenges facing researchers and family members investigating Indigenous histories. It explores a history of the renaming of an Aboriginal man photographed wearing a breastplate inscribed with a name, Jackey Jackey. In this review of the extant historical data, we outline our genealogy of names that have been attached to Jackey Jackey. We suggest that two men named Jackey from different parts of the Logan Valley region, south-east Queensland, have been conflated into a single person’s identity and then renamed firstly as Bilinba and then as Bilin Bilin. We explore what these symbolic acts of renaming mean for the first wave of Indigenous descendants researching their family history, pose questions about the significance of this renaming, and identify the consequential issues for those now seeking legal recognition of traditional rights in land.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1
Pages (from-to)3-32
Number of pages30
JournalAboriginal History
Volume45
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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