‘Our Sense of Beauty’: Visuality, Space and Gender on Victoria’s Aboriginal Reserves, South‐Eastern Australia

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Lydon
Keyword(s):  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
And Gender ◽  
South Eastern Australia

The 'Mallee-Made Man': Making Masculinity in the Mallee Lands of South Eastern Australia, 1890-1940

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-275
Author(s):  
Katie Holmes
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
And Gender ◽  
White Settlers ◽  
Settlement Schemes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
South Eastern Australia

The southern Australian Mallee is a broad ecoregion comprising distinct landscapes, and the clearing and farming of these lands have presented specific challenges to generations of white settlers. Cultivation of this region was characterised as 'one of the most strenuous and resolute battles with Nature'. So began the shaping of an enduring mythology around the 'Mallee man'. In the context of the settler state, this mythology was forged through race, place and gender, with devastating environmental consequences. It has been consistently evoked to suggest that the specific environment of the Mallee worked to produce a special type of 'home grown' masculinity. At the same time, the State sought to provide a particular type of man to work the Mallee lands. This article examines the ways ideas about masculinity shaped men's engagement with the environment and the impact of government settlement schemes on both the myth and lives of Mallee men.

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