The view from Marege’: Australian knowledge of Makassar and the impact of the trepang industry across two centuries

Abstract

The article discusses the history of the trepang industry in Australia, focusing on changing European attitudes towards trepangers from Makassar, Indonesia, and the influence of interactions between trepangers and Aboriginal Australians. The author highlights commonalities between European observers and trepangers, territorial claims by imperial powers in Australia in the 19th century, and the Enlightenment view of non-Europeans as influencing early views on the trepang industry, and special attention is paid to ethnographic field work conducted in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory in the mid-20th century.