The Adaptation of Violin Playing by Indigenous People in Early Twentieth-Century Western Australia and New South Wales

Abstract

This article will use the European violin as a lens through which to reinterpret interactions between Aboriginal people and Europeans in twentieth-century Australia. The violin is a particularly well-respected instrument within the western art music tradition. Accordingly, the Europeans took the Indigenous embrace of the violin as evidence of successful assimilation policies and the acquisition of civility. However, the diverse and adaptable sound of the violin, combined with its construction from natural materials, aligned with Aboriginal people’s traditional and collaborative experience of music. This allowed the violin to act as a powerful means of cultural continuation and expression that was encouraged, not forbidden. The ability to adapt in the face of cultural genocide has ensured the survival of Aboriginal people and their traditions over the years since the colonists arrived and it is important to understand how Aboriginal people reacted. The article aims to contribute not only to a new understanding of the way Aboriginal people have responded to the violin, but also to how it has been understood within histories of Australia and colonization.