The 'Lubra' Type in Australian Imaginings of the Aboriginal Woman from 1836-1973.

This article investigates the emergence and circulation of the term ‘Lubra’ as a referent for aboriginal women in Australia. The article ranges across contemporary classificatory systems or the typologies that supported the use of ‘Lubra’, narratives of inter-racial encounter, early settler dictionaries of vernacular languages, nineteenth-century anthropology, journalism and visual tropes in advertising and print media. This wide-ranging survey provides the basis to assess the recurrence of racialised types in white imaginings and their role in understandings of human difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]