The Conversation

Frozen in time, the casts of Indigenous Australians who performed in 'human zoos' are chilling

Author: Katherine Johnson, Lecturer (Casual) in Creative Writing, University of Tasmania

Bonangera and Jurano were depicted performing at the Dresden Zoo in an 1882 illustration. Illustrirte Zeitung

In a large storage room in the basement of the former Musée d'Histoires Naturelles in Lyon, France, stands a rare relic of the colonial era: a full-body plaster cast of an 18-year-old Badtjala man from K’gari (Fraser Island),...

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