Title: Canadian Indian cowboys in Australia : representation, rodeo, and the RCMP at the Royal Easter Show, 1939 /
Authors: Mannik, Lynda.
Publisher: University of Calgary Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Indian cowboys Canada.; Indian cowboys Australia.; Indians of North America Canada Government relations.; Rodeos Australia.; Race discrimination Canada.; Race discrimination Australia.; Indians of North America Canada Government relations; Cow-boys indiens d'Amérique Canada.; Cow-boys indiens d'Amérique Australie.; Discrimination raciale Canada.; Discrimination raciale Australie.; Indiens d'Amérique Canada Relations avec l'État; Canada Race relations.; Australia Race relations.
Abstract: "The big new thrill at this years Royal Show will be the Chuck Wagon Races, with Red Indians in full war-paint going helter-skelter around the arena, chuck wagons swaying and jostling perilously, horse teams urged with wild whooping into a frenzy of speed. -- newspaper advertisement, Sydney, Australia, March 1939 In 1939, a troupe of eight rodeo riders, accompanied by an RCMP officer, travelled to Sydney, Australia to compete in the Royal Easter Show. The men were expected to compete in various rodeo events, as well as to sell handicrafts at the fair's "Indian village," where they also camped. International competition in rodeo was very rare at the time, and the team proved to be a popular draw for Australian audiences. This little-known moment in Canadian history is explored in Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia. Author Lynda Mannik uniquely incorporates five different perspectives of the event: that of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales; the Canadian government; the eight First Nations men who participated; the RCMP officer who travelled with the team; and the Australian public. These multiple perspectives offer insight into the constructs of identity and visual representation as they are influenced by intercultural, social, and power relationships."--Pub. desc.
Contents: The Australian Request : The R.A.S. and its Ambassadors ; Modernity at the Royal Easter Show and the Accompanying Brochures ; Economic Depression, WW II and the Unspoken Political Motivations of the R.A.S. -- The Canadian Response : The Beginning of the Negotiations ; The Preferred Performance ; The Second Canadian Preference ; Schmidt's Bottom Line ; Handicraft Sales as Government Income at the Royal Easter Show -- Canadian Indian Cowboys at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney: Celebrities, Citizens, and Wards : Life on the reserves in Alberta, 1930s ; Life as an Indian Cowboy ; The Trip to Australia in 1939 ; Indian Cowboys as Celebrities ; Indian Cowboys as Wards of State ; Indian Cowboys as Equals -- Constable Leach at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney: Tourist, Amateur Anthropologist, and Chaperone : The Unique Relationship between First Nations and the RCMP ; Constable Leach and a Touristic View ; Primitivism Discourse within Constable Leach's Commentary ; Constable Leach as Chaperone and Representative of Canada -- The Australian Audience : "Noble Savage" and Savage Idealogy in North America and Australia ; Press Reports from Australia.