ABSTRACT

One of the most mythologised Australian explorers is the Prussian-born Ludwig Leichhardt, who famously ‘disappeared’ in 1848. The only seemingly authenticated relic from his final journey is a gunplate, purchased by the National Museum of Australia in 2006. In a context conditioned by the Australian History Wars, the Museum presents the plate in singularising, largely heroicising fashion and occludes the uses to which the gun was once put. However, an expanded object biography – a ‘ballistic biography’ that wonders about trajectories, interactions with the media through which an object travels, and terminal impacts as well as subsequent repercussions – can contemplate the significance of guns and their parts in Indigenous lifeworlds, and their after-effects. Plumbing these hidden histories and effects can add nuance and complexity to the simpler story of colonial nostalgia accreting around objects like this gunplate in its current institutional setting. By encouraging speculation it can prompt museum visitors into a more activated state.

摘要

最神话般的澳大利亚探险家之一是普鲁士出生的路德维希·莱希哈特（Ludwig Leichhardt），他于1848年“失踪”。在他最后的旅程中，唯一看似经过鉴定的遗物是一块炮塔，是由澳大利亚国家博物馆于2006年购买的。在澳大利亚历史战争的影响下，博物馆以单数形式（主要是英雄主义形式）展示了该车牌，并且遮挡了枪支曾经使用过的用途。但是，扩展后的对象传记-一种“弹道传记”，它对轨迹，对象传播所经过的媒体的相互作用以及最终的撞击以及随后的影响产生了疑问-可以考虑到枪支及其零件在土著生活世界中的重要性，以及他们的后遗症。仔细研究这些隐藏的历史和影响，可以使殖民地怀旧主义的简单故事增加细微差别和复杂性，这些故事在当前的机构环境中会像这种炮盘一样散布在物体上。通过鼓励猜测，它可以促使博物馆参观者进入更加活跃的状态。