Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less
Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, an ....Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, and develop the 'kaardtijin model' for participatory cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations. Workshops on country will produce content for a digital reassembling of the collection to be used by museum partners, ensuring wide cross-sector and community engagement with project outcomes.Read moreRead less
How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual ....How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual records. The project will situate the Show in local, national and transnational narratives informed by contemporary Indigenous perspectives. This research should illuminate Aboriginal agency in the ensemble, reconnect Aboriginal kin to performers, and chart changing concepts of race at a critical juncture in Australian history.Read moreRead less
Return, reconcile, renew: understanding the history, effects and opportunities of repatriation and building an evidence base for the future. The repatriation of ancestral remains is an extraordinary Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. This international project will provide critical new knowledge to understand repatriation, its history and effects and will provide scholarly and public outcomes that empower community-based research and practice.
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Engaging objects: Indigenous communities, museum collections and the representation of Indigenous histories. This project centres on the research process leading up to a major exhibition in Australia of the British Museum's Australian Indigenous collections. By exploring the historical and representational issues evoked in creating this exhibition, new understandings of these collections and their historical and contemporary significance will result.
Childhood, Tradition and Change: a national study of the historical and contemporary practices and significance of Australian children's playlore. Through extending knowledge of children's playlore in the daily lives and social frameworks of Australians from the 1950s to the present, this project will contribute to broader public and policy discussions concerning educational, recreational and public health outcomes for children. It will enhance understanding of past and contemporary children's p ....Childhood, Tradition and Change: a national study of the historical and contemporary practices and significance of Australian children's playlore. Through extending knowledge of children's playlore in the daily lives and social frameworks of Australians from the 1950s to the present, this project will contribute to broader public and policy discussions concerning educational, recreational and public health outcomes for children. It will enhance understanding of past and contemporary children's play practices and the external influences shaping these, and assist UNESCO and the Australian government in defining intangible cultural heritage. Through partnerships with the National Library of Australia and Museum Victoria, the project will disseminate its findings to the community through publications, conferences and public exhibitions.Read moreRead less
Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged p ....Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged problem. We hope to provide a workable model which can be used in gallery practice.Read moreRead less
Australian Indigenous Collectors and Collections. 'Indigenous Collectors and Collections' considers Indigenous people's contemporary roles in shaping private and public collections, and the influence of historical circumstances and ideas of communal ownership and responsibility. It therefore subverts the dominant emphasis upon Europeans as collectors and appropriators of indigenous objects. By considering Indigenous people as collectors, curators and presenters of beloved objects, this project w ....Australian Indigenous Collectors and Collections. 'Indigenous Collectors and Collections' considers Indigenous people's contemporary roles in shaping private and public collections, and the influence of historical circumstances and ideas of communal ownership and responsibility. It therefore subverts the dominant emphasis upon Europeans as collectors and appropriators of indigenous objects. By considering Indigenous people as collectors, curators and presenters of beloved objects, this project will offer major new perspectives on Australian Indigenous history and museology. By exploring the power of material objects in cultural identity and historical consciousness, this project disrupts the stereotype of Indigenous people as purely 'museum victims'.Read moreRead less
Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories . Australia has a rich legacy of archives, art and artefacts, including 4 shipwrecks in WA, from its history of encounters with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Through comparative research in Australian and overseas museums and archives we aim to situate Australian collections in a global context, creating new stories about Australia as part of the VOC global network. An interdisciplinary team will train 3 ECRs and 7 HDRs ....Mobilising Dutch East India Company collections for new global stories . Australia has a rich legacy of archives, art and artefacts, including 4 shipwrecks in WA, from its history of encounters with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Through comparative research in Australian and overseas museums and archives we aim to situate Australian collections in a global context, creating new stories about Australia as part of the VOC global network. An interdisciplinary team will train 3 ECRs and 7 HDRs and forge partnerships with the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Africa, strengthening national capacity. Our analysis will enrich the value of collections, provide narratives for museums and sites, and revitalise content for international and domestic tourism markets.Read moreRead less