Secrets of the Aranda. [Contained in two issues of] 'People' Magazine. 3 August 1978 [and] 10 August 1978

STREHLOW, T.G.H.

Edité par Sungravure, Sydney, 1978

A propos de cet article

Sydney, Sungravure, 1978. Royal quarto (305 × 233 mm), pages 20-23 with 10 illustrations (8 in colour) plus the striking full-page colour illustration on the front cover (repeated in much reduced form in black and white inside the front cover); and pages 30-32 with 5 illustrations (4 in colour). The three black and white illustrations show Strehlow at various stages of his life. Colour pictorial wrappers; in fine condition. 'In March 1978 "Stern" magazine in Germany published a sumptuous sixteen-page spread on secret-sacred Aranda ceremonies [including] eight colour photographs displaying Aboriginal men in ceremony. Strehlow had provided "Stern" with 211 colour slides and 78 black-and-white photographs. The selection from which the editors had made such a limited choice represented the span of his life. "Stern" agreed not to publish the shots elsewhere for the next eight months or to pass them on to any other magazine. All the material was to be returned within six months, because, as Strehlow wrote later, "it had not been sold"' (Barry Hill - see below). He was paid $6000, and was assured that the material would not be sold to any Australian magazine. This proved not to be the case, and these two issues of 'People' tell the sorry truth of the matter that lead to the discrediting of Strehlow and hastened his end; he died less than two months later on 3 October 1978. Copies of these magazines, produced in vast quantities and disposed of on the same scale, are virtually unheard of on the open market. Barry Hill devotes twelve pages in 'Broken Song. T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possessions' (pages 741-752) to the story surrounding the publication of these photographs. We can do no better than recommend his book to you. [For the record, Hill's account contains some inaccuracies, small enough in themselves, and easily corrected if you know the facts, but disappointing nonetheless if you are looking for them therein. The first article is not a 'front-page story under the headline "Sacred Secrets Revealed"'. One of the illustrations occupies the full front cover, with the caption 'Exclusive! Secret Rites of the Aranda - with pictures you've never seen before'. The second issue has the caption 'Amazing Pictures of the Arandas' on the front cover, over the full-page illustration of a young woman feeding a pig - the magazine did not run to front-page stories. Nowhere in either issue does Hill's stated headline appear. 'Hitler's Secret Sex Life' is advertised on the front cover of the second issue, not the first, which refers to the Elvis Museum, Demis Roussos, Lisa Peers and the Sappho scandal. Mountford's 'Nomads of the Australian Desert' was published in 1976, not stopped from being published in 1974; it was not pulped - we know for a fact that large quantities were remaindered through Angus and Robertson outlets in New South Wales, if not elsewhere.] A final comment on the subject appeared in 'People' on 24 August. At the head of the second page, the editor issued a 168-word apology, which stated in part that 'It was not our intention to cause either Professor Strehlow, the Aranda or any other Aboriginal peoples any embarrassment or distress through publication of the photographs, but rather to provide our readers with an illustrated record, in a way never before depicted, of a fine race of Aboriginals who form a valued part of our Australian heritage'. A full transcript is provided with the magazines. [2 items].

N° de réf. du vendeur 76706

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Secrets of the Aranda. [Contained in two issues of] 'People' Magazine. 3 August 1978 [and] 10 August 1978
• Éditeur: Sungravure, Sydney
• Date de parution: 1978
• Reliure: Paperback
• Édition: First Edition.
• État de l'article: Fine
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Australian Aborigines
  • Australia