The importance of local history for nurses : an Aboriginal Australian microhistory

Background: Historical trauma related to phenomena such as invasion, colonisation and racial oppression can have long lasting effects on the social and emotional wellbeing of communities. Aim: This paper aims to show the importance of nurses increasing familiarity with the local history of communities they work in. Methods: A microhistory approach is used to explore research conducted on the skull of Aboriginal Australian man, Cannabayagal, at the University of Edinburgh in the early nineteenth century. Initial data was gathered through a review of historical literature focussed on the Appin Massacre, and the early nineteenth-century psychological system known as Phrenology. Hand searches of local library collections at Camden, Campbelltown, and Liverpool, along with the archives of the State Library of NSW, and the State Records Authority of NSW, were accompanied by online searches using databases such as Psych Info, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Primary documents outlining the study of Cannabayagal’s skull were accessed through online databases of Edinburgh University and the National Library of Scotland. Findings: In 1816, as part of the Appin Massacre that took place in the south-west of colonial NSW, the head of Aboriginal Australian man Cannabayagal was cut off, sold, and then shipped to Edinburgh University in Scotland. There, Cannabayagal’s skull was studied and written about in ways that reflected false science and supported racist ideology. Discussion: The Appin Massacre is memorialised with a local Aboriginal Australian ceremony every year, and the accompanying historical trauma is still felt by the local community. Microhistories like the one presented in this paper hold the potential to increase nurses empathy for communities they work in and may improve nurses’ abilities to critique and challenge current day abuses of scientific power and position. Conclusion: Local community microhistories have the potential to inform nurses’ delivery of trauma-sensitive, patient-focused interventions.