Sacred turf: the Wimbledon tennis championships and the changing politics of Englishness

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This article is about ‘Wimbledon’, widely celebrated – not least in its own publicity material – as the world’s premier tennis tournament. It examines ‘Wimbledon’ essentially as a text (hence the inverted commas), viewed politically and historically. In this context, ‘Wimbledon’ is seen as a signifier of a certain kind of Englishness, carefully adapted to meet changing social and economic circumstance. Loose parallels are drawn between the cultural trajectory of ‘Wimbledon’ and that of the British royal family. The transmutations of ‘Wimbledon’ as a tennis championship are also seen as reflecting Britain’s decline as a world power during the twentieth century

Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia

Feasibility study for developing an Indigenous branded range of beef products and services (Producer Innovation Fast-track)

Western Kangoulu Indigenous Group, University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) through the MLA Donor Company (MDC) are examining the desirability, feasibility and commercial viability of Indigenous branded beef products and services. The research included assessing the opportunities for new beef products branded as ‘Blackfella Beef’ and the alignment with Indigenous culture, business development and employment across the whole value chain. This research was funded by the producer innovation fast track program. An integral component of the ‘Blackfella Beef’ vision is to provide support and employment opportunities to the Indigenous communities involved with the ‘Blackfella Beef’ enterprise. This support will come in terms of skills development, employment, infrastructure and improvements to the genetics of Indigenous beef herds. The ‘Blackfella Beef’ project is working with existing organisations and programmes to leverage project resources, to utilise existing services where appropriate and useful and to develop new and innovative approaches where necessary and possible. The project have identified processing 2000 cattle per annum will deliver an initial $4M sales opportunity for ‘Blackfella Beef’