Replicas of Oscar’s sketchbook

When I first saw the replica of Oscar’s sketchbook I was blown away by the significance and potential of this book. The wonder of a replica is that it is a solid and tangible connection with the past. The object can be looked at, held and experienced as if it were the genuine artefact. The ‘realness’ of this object means that students have a greater sense of the value and importance of the evidence. The connection to the past seems more realistic and truthful and allows students to develop not only their skills of inquiry and analysis but also touches on the importance of perspective and empathy.

Oscar’s sketchbook was produced by a young Aboriginal man called Oscar who lived and worked at Rocklands station in far north Queensland in 1898. Using coloured pencils given to him by the station manager, Augustus Glissan, he filled the sketchbook with drawings of all that he saw around him. The sketchbook is an astounding record of life in far north Queensland in 1898 interpreted through the eyes of a child and with no words to accompany the pages. This leaves the pictures to do the talking and the viewer open to interrogate, interpret and reflect on what it is that they are seeing.

The sketches offer insight into what life was like on the outback stations and they are even more powerful because of the range of topics they cover. Oscar quite simply drew what he saw. He draws  the bush, complete with emus, lizards and snakes. Some pictures suggest an active and still vibrant Indigenous culture, with large gatherings of intricately decorated men dancing to the rhythm of clap sticks. Oscar’s book also reveals the European fashion of the times with men sporting long moustaches, hats and pipes and elegant ladies in great skirts, holding parasols. However, the pictures also make it clear that this lifestyle is threatened. It is the innocence of these drawings that make them so effective and, at times, all the more chilling.

A sketch of a Cooktown steamship solidly dominates one page contrasting so powerfully with the sketches on the opposite page of four troopers shooting at three Aboriginal men all running away from their fire. The red markings suggest that the shots hit their target whilst the small size of the drawings of the Aboriginal men make them seem so much less powerful than the larger dominant drawings of the troopers. Elaborate details reveal the police, with bullet belts around both the waist and chest. There is so much to consider as you look at the sketches, so many questions and so much information gained through the detail and content of the book. As a primary source this book is a wonder.

There are so many tangents that the students can go on once they have read this book. Simply recording and noting down their immediate reaction to the pictures will allow students and teachers to assess the impact of the source. This could provide the foundation for some empathetic writing, complete with more detailed research on the era. Collecting questions that the sketchbook raises would also be an outstanding starting point for further activities. Students can broaden their research and contrast what the secondary sources tell us about this period of settlement in outback Queensland with the view presented by Oscar. This would lead to an excellent discussion of the place and value of primary and secondary sources along with the chance to explore historical skills such as bias, perspective and interpretation. The book most certainly has value for English teachers as well, but that is for another blog.

We use Oscar’s sketchbook in the program Impacting Aboriginal Australia which focuses on what happened when Indigenous and non-Indigenous people came into contact. Students examine a range of sources and consider multiple perspectives and voices from our past and Oscar’s sketchbook is the perfect vehicle for this. The content for this program closely relates to the Australian Curriculum, most especially in Year 9 through the extension study on settlement. This looks at the intended and unintended effects of contact between European settlers in Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

One of the wonderful things about teaching at the National Museum of Australia is having the opportunity to work with the exciting and significant objects that we hold in our collection. The production of replicas is one way to extend this connection, allowing us to provide a ‘hands on’ experience for the students in the classroom, followed by a gallery visit that immediately extends and builds on this leaning. Students may well have studied what life was like on the outback stations. They may even have heard of the violence that existed during this era. However, the understanding and insight is so much more powerful when they are able to pick up a book and turn page after page filled with detailed and vivid drawings done through the eyes of a child. These sketches make the history so much more real, the past seem so much clearer.