Sunday 18 November 2012

of cleavages and capitals. how canberra got its name

Ngambri. Cleavage. A woman's cleavage.   That is the original- aboriginal -name of the land that was to become the capital of Australia. The Australian flag, complete with the Union Jack, now flies over the womb of the Dreamtime woman the land was seen to be.

At the base one of Ngambri's  breasts (now called Mount Ainslie) is built a memorial to the phallic, very male, nature of modern Australia . A War Memorial. A Memorial to the many white wars that Australians have fought in, all  around the world.

Reading the land, seeing the subtexts of the Texts imposed on the land, is something that I am drawn to almost naturally. Blame that on my habit of reading everything  that comes my way, but reading into texts has become more than just  a habit that now informs my photography. My ways of photographic seeing. And telling.




Daley offers evidence that Ngambri had, to the European ear, transmogrified as Canberri, hardly a skip of the tongue to the current Canberra.
He quotes the author of Canberra's First Hundred Years, Frederick Robinson, explaining in 1924 that the Australian Aboriginal ''spat out his words like chewing tobacco'' and also ''burred his Rs more frequently than a Scotchman''. In short, Ngambri, spat out, sounded as Cambri, or even Camberra.
Daley went to the great-great-great-great grandson of old James Ainslie and Ija Ngambri, Shane Mortimer. Canberra, Mortimer confirmed, was indeed the same word as Ngambri.
''So what does Ngambri actually mean?'' Daley asked.
''Cleavage,'' said the Ngambri elder. ''You sure?'' insisted Daley.
''No doubt whatsoever. Her womb is where Capital Hill is today.''
It's enough to persuade you that Australia's capital, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, should be gazed upon with more generous eyes.
Parliament House, the much sneered-at centre of Australian democracy, sits atop a Dreamtime woman's womb.


http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/cleavage-gives-canberra-allure-20121116-29hgk.html




                                             
                                              Ngambri's Breast . Mount Ainslie.








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