Summary
Note: This object includes a derogatory human depiction and white superiority messaging. Such depictions are not condoned by Museums Victoria which considers them to be racist. Historical distance and context do not excuse or erase this fact.
Lantern slide depicting a Bechuana village. It is part of an incomplete set of 40 slides, two are missing, illustrating highlights from Livingstone's life and travels. These slides were manufactured by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company for The London Missionary Society, circa 1900.
Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873) spent thirty years in Africa as a missionary and explorer. He was the first European to cross Africa and to find Victoria Falls.
While at Kuruman Livingstone undertook three large journeys into the surrounding country to help himself gain fluency in the local Tswana language and an understanding of the culture of the local people. On his first journey in 1841 Livingstone travelled with missionary Rogers Edwards, who had been asked by Moffat to explore the possibility of setting up a mission station to the north of Kuruman. On his second and third journeys in 1842 and 1843 Livingstone travelled with African companions only, the principle being Paul and Mebalwe.
Bechuana was a common name used for the Tswana people in the 19th Century. The Tswana are a Bantu-speaking people of Southern Africa. In the 19th Century the land they occupied was divided into two administrative entities by the British. The northern part (modern Botswana) was administered as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the southern part was administered as the crown colony of British Bechuanaland. British Bechuanaland was incorporated into the Cape Colony in 1895 and now forms part of South Africa.
Description of Content
Image of huts with thatched roofs in a village. Stone walls in background. A group of people sitting on the ground between some of the huts.
Physical Description
Standard format colour Lantern Slide edged with black tape with number in top left corner.
More Information
-
Collection Names
-
Collecting Areas
-
Acquisition Information
Loan & Subsequent Donation from Australian Film Institute (AFI), Mr David Francis, by Nov 1990
-
Manufacturer
The London Stereoscopic Company, London, England, Great Britain, circa 1900
-
Manufactured For
London Missionary Society, London, England, Great Britain, circa 1900
-
Place & Date Depicted
South Africa, circa 1842
Most likely depicts a village in the northern part of what was then the Cape Colony (today part of South Africa) or British Bechuanaland. -
Format
Lantern Slide, Standard (3¼ in. x 3¼ in.), Colour
-
Inscriptions
In white circle in top left corner of slide: 6
-
Classification
-
Category
-
Discipline
-
Type of item
-
Overall Dimensions
82 mm (Width), 82 mm (Height)
-
Keywords
Lantern Slides, Missionaries, Exploration, African Exploration, Christian Endeavour, Colonialism, Racism, Slavery
