Abstract
Indian jute sacking played an essential role in Australian life for over 150 years, yet its contribution to Australian development and its Indian origins have been barely recognised in Australian public collections. What has Australian history gained by this erasing of jute from public memory? Wool, sugar and hop sacks are displayed in public collections as evidence of an Australian national story, but their national dimension depends on the cultural invisibility of jute and jute’s connections to the stories of other communities in other places. Developing an awareness of the contribution of Indian jute to the development of Australia requires an awareness not simply that jute comes from India but that the construction of national identity by collecting institutions relies on forgetting those transnational connections evident in their own collections. Where jute sacks have been preserved, it is because they are invested with memories of a collective way of life, yet in attempting to speak on behalf of the nation, the public museum denies more multidimensional models of cultural identity that are less linear and less place-based. If Indian jute is to be acknowledged as part of ‘the Australian story’, the concept of an Australian story must change and exhibitions need to explore, rather than ignore, transnational networks.
Highlights
Jute sacks emerge from invisibility, as in 2009 when it was reported that sacks used to transport asbestos had been re-used to carry agricultural fertilizer or pulped to make carpet under felt
As a result of breathing asbestos fibres released from the recycled sacks, a number of people died of mesothelioma, the ‘trail of death’ enveloping Western Australian wheat farms, Queensland banana plantations, Victorian fruit markets, home renovators and children who ran sack races.[2]
While few sacks have been preserved, the catalogues contain numerous examples of jute being used in the production of other preserved objects such as a Coolgardie safe in Western Australia, a camel saddle in South Australia, an iron house in Victoria and a convict isolation mask in Tasmania
Summary
Jute sacks emerge from invisibility, as in 2009 when it was reported that sacks used to transport asbestos had been re-used to carry agricultural fertilizer or pulped to make carpet under felt.
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