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Quoting from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-10/australia-wide-may-13/8515268
Australia Wide May 13
Posted Wed at 5:59pm
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Transcript:
Berndt Museum in Perth is home to what is believed the most culturally significant collection of Indigenous artefacts in the world. But that collection has been boxed up in a university storeroom for decades.
Now, as the history of the artefacts becomes clearer, campaigners are pushing for them to go on public display.
Pamela Medlen delved into the archives for Australia Wide.
Hidden away behind a car park under a gallery at this Western Australian university, there’s a treasure trove. This rare collection isn’t waiting to be discovered, it’s waiting to be revealed and shared with the ancestors of the people from whom it came.
Dr Vanessa Russ, Associate Director Berndt Museum speaking. “We don’t have anywhere for permanent display. So often is community comes, they may not see stuff in that space”.
There are about 12,000 objects as well as 35,000 photographs and archival material documenting Aboriginal Australia, all bequeathed to the University of WA by anthropologists Catherine and Ronald Berndt.
Ronald Berndt, Inaugural Professor Anthropology, UWA speaking in historical film – “They’re part of a living religion. It’s not just something that is static or something that happened in the past. Whatever was done in the past is relevant to the present”
The Berndts were world leaders in anthropology, and spent 60 years travelling to Indigenous sites around Australian and the Pacific, collecting and commissioning artefacts and documenting their studies. They moved the collection to the university in the 1950s and for decades, it was stored in a basement. In 2010, the collection was moved here, to what was meant to be a temporary location.
Dr Vanessa Russ is the first Aboriginal director of the museum, and has been pushing for a dedicated space for the collection.
Dr Vanessa Russ speaking - “The collection generally, though is pretty safe. It’s pretty health. But it’s a bit of a challenge to access, so we do have visits from community and often there’s sometimes a bit of frustration not being able to walk into a space and see it for themselves, so we do kind of assure them that UWA is very passionate about this collection, and we know that there is definitely a future. We’re working towards a building that is purpose-built for this collection and that can get the best out of it as a research facility”.
Research fellow at Australian National University Dr Louise Hamby was invited to study some handmade baskets that were uncovered last year in an old flour bin that hadn’t been opened for 75 years.
Her first impressions of the Berndt Museum were underwhelming. Dr Louise Hamby speaking. “Well, a very mundane one to start with, “Oh, there are all these cardboard boxes! Cardboard boxes don’t quite give you that sense of awe. But taking them out, looking at the objects, looking at the things around you, that’s when you get this, “Wow!” Effect.”
A museum for a lot of people is just the front, the showroom, and in this case, this museum, it is the …it’s the collection. There’s no sort of front of house if you would like. It’s all back of house”.
But getting a dedicated space is a slow-moving process.
Prof. Kent Anderson, Deputy Vice Chancellor, UWA speaking. “The museum has had a long-term plan. I think we’ve working on this for … gosh, about 10 years. I think in the long term the university would love to have facilities that …. Match the grandeur of the collection, and it really is a great collection. Getting there is always a challenge, particularly in West Australia in these current times”.
The museum faces another challenge - being essentially a store room they have limited resources to share the collection with communities, researchers and students.
Donna Oxenham Researcher, UWA is working with Indigenous photo collections across the world, to return the images to the communities they were taken. “I would love to see the accessibility of these photographs …more so for Aboriginal people to be able to come and view these records, and if they find photos of their ancestors and community members, even their country, images of country, they are able to take them away with them. And it’s a family heirloom that is priceless to a lot of Aboriginal people”.
Ms Oxenham says the Berndt Museum has limited space and staff to allow community members to view the archives. Ms Oxenham speaking. “If we have a facility that people can come and sit down and actually see what we’ve got, that will actually help them take that back to their community and start educating their younger ones coming up now. Definitely overdue. I was working in here over 10 years ago, and it was well overdue then. So the time is really … past time now. We actually need to start moving forward. And in order for us to move forward, we need to get a new facility”.
Dr Vanessa Russ speaking. “When you do provide a facility that has the archives and the photographic collections and display areas and study spaces and labs, you do then allow someone to come in and actually sit with an object and see the photographs and hear the songs being played. So I think that holistic research – so looking at all the avenues – is really where you get the context of what you’re trying to understand”.
For now, the museum works to safeguard the collection. Artworks like this one need to stored correctly to be preserved. The museum is negotiating with the university for a proper art racking system that will stop the paintings from deteriorating.
But for anything larger, the university says a private investor is necessary. Prof. Kent Anderson, Deputy Vice Chancellor, UWA speaking. “We really need support to make this happen. So we need the local people to want to share these materials, but we also need some financial support to make it happen. The university is there. We’re custodians of it, we’re taking care of it. We’re ready to be there as matching partners, but in the longer term we need some external help to realise the full vision that we share.
But even without a firm commitment, there’s still hope.
Dr Vanessa Russ speaking. “I am not sure of the time frame. I’m really optimistic as a person. I think for Aboriginal people, we wait for a long time for a lot of things, so we’re very patient
Report about the Berndt Museum in Perth available to view from 20 minutes and 36 seconds. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-10/australia-wide-may-13/8515268
Also available to view from 20 minutes and 39 seconds at this URL: http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australia-wide/NU1701H015S00
Broadcast 11:30 am Sat 13 May 2017. Published 2 days ago, available until 12:00 pm on 27 May 2017. File size 138 MB
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