Objects of possession: artefact transactions in the wet tropics of North Queensland, 1870 -2013. The project's research into artefact collecting will provide Indigenous peoples, museum curators and other community members with important insights into the history of Indigenous cultures in the Wet Tropics region. Our project will contribute to the development of innovative ways of presenting Indigenous peoples' connections with their cultural heritage.
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
Contexts of Collection- a dialogic approach to understanding the making of the material record of Yolngu cultures. The research project will make people aware of the collaborative nature of the material record of Yolngu societies that has been made over time by the participation of researchers, collectors, filmmakers and Yolngu people themselves. It will demonstrate the ways in which digital technology can be used as an integral part of a research process to produce outcomes that can be made acc ....Contexts of Collection- a dialogic approach to understanding the making of the material record of Yolngu cultures. The research project will make people aware of the collaborative nature of the material record of Yolngu societies that has been made over time by the participation of researchers, collectors, filmmakers and Yolngu people themselves. It will demonstrate the ways in which digital technology can be used as an integral part of a research process to produce outcomes that can be made accessible to a wide range of different users. It will help people understand the complex historical processes that have resulted in the present museum and archival record and facilitate their use.Read moreRead less
Investigating the educational impact of wildlife-based leisure experiences in supporting visitors? adoption of environmentally sustainable practices. National environmental policy makers acknowledge the central role education plays in addressing the many serious environmental problems facing the country and encouraging Australians to adopt environmentally sustainable practices. This project will inform the design of free-choice, wildlife-based learning experiences that are relevant, meaningful a ....Investigating the educational impact of wildlife-based leisure experiences in supporting visitors? adoption of environmentally sustainable practices. National environmental policy makers acknowledge the central role education plays in addressing the many serious environmental problems facing the country and encouraging Australians to adopt environmentally sustainable practices. This project will inform the design of free-choice, wildlife-based learning experiences that are relevant, meaningful and accessible to the majority of society. Wildlife-based learning experiences offer a way to secure sustainable economic benefits while supporting both wildlife conservation and local communities. By developing new tools to assess and enhance the educational impact of such experiences this project will contribute to building the capacity of visitors to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.Read moreRead less
Assessing collaborative, community-based museum practice and changing cultures of citizenship at the National Museum of the American Indian. Focusing on the role and influence of indigenous citizenship within the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, this project will contextualise and contribute to developing new understandings of reconciliation for the Australian nation. The knowledge acquired by this project will also be of significant benefit to the National Museum of Aust ....Assessing collaborative, community-based museum practice and changing cultures of citizenship at the National Museum of the American Indian. Focusing on the role and influence of indigenous citizenship within the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, this project will contextualise and contribute to developing new understandings of reconciliation for the Australian nation. The knowledge acquired by this project will also be of significant benefit to the National Museum of Australia, which shares the National Museum of the American Indian’s interest in developing partnerships with community-based museums that improve the understanding, experience and representation of an expanded concept of citizenship in a multicultural and postcolonial world.Read moreRead less
Collecting institutions: cultural diversity and the making of citizenship in Australia since the 1970s. This project will develop the first comprehensive history of the engagement of the Australian collecting sector with cultural diversity. It aims to understand the role of the sector in the management and promotion of culturally diverse societies, including the formation of citizens and to identify Australian innovation in this regard.
Four South Pacific Museums: New Museums and Public Culture. The last decade has witnessed a global explosion in the development of new museums. Nowhere is this more striking than in our region where four major new museum buildings opened between 1998 and 2001.
FOUR SOUTH PACIFIC MUSEUMS will explore these regional developments by asking:
-How are they renovating their institutions through exhibitionary, architectural, technological, commercial and entertainment strategies?
-How are they re-n ....Four South Pacific Museums: New Museums and Public Culture. The last decade has witnessed a global explosion in the development of new museums. Nowhere is this more striking than in our region where four major new museum buildings opened between 1998 and 2001.
FOUR SOUTH PACIFIC MUSEUMS will explore these regional developments by asking:
-How are they renovating their institutions through exhibitionary, architectural, technological, commercial and entertainment strategies?
-How are they re-negotiating relationships between indigenous people and museums in post-colonial nations?
This interdisciplinary project will generate significant publications, evaluate contemporary museum practices, enrich debate about the cultural and civic roles of museums, and contribute productively to imagining their future.
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Museum, field, metropolis, colony: practices of social governance. This project studies early twentieth-century Australian museums comparatively by considering parallel developments in Europe, North America, and New Zealand. Examining the relations between anthropological collections and social governance in colonial and metropolitan settings, it highlights the roles of museums in culturally diverse societies.
Suburban archaeology: approaching an archaeology of the middle class in 19th century Melbourne. This project has three main benefits. First, it will help Australians understand more about the richness and diversity of urban experience in the country, thereby enhancing the heritage value of Museum collections drawn from urban archaeological sites. Second, by focusing on the historical archaeology of the emergent middle class in Australia we will improve our understanding of the history of Austral ....Suburban archaeology: approaching an archaeology of the middle class in 19th century Melbourne. This project has three main benefits. First, it will help Australians understand more about the richness and diversity of urban experience in the country, thereby enhancing the heritage value of Museum collections drawn from urban archaeological sites. Second, by focusing on the historical archaeology of the emergent middle class in Australia we will improve our understanding of the history of Australian society during a crucial period. Last, it will enrich the social and cultural histories of Australia through a deeper and closer integration of archaeological and written historical information.Read moreRead less
The Business of Art: Corporate Interventions into the Production, Display, and Reception of the Visual Arts. The corporate presence in the Australian art world has increased exponentially over the past decade, resulting in a redefinition of the arts as an industry not to be subsidised but marketed. This project's analysis of the art historical implications of this corporate presence and an assessment of the aesthetic impact of increased corporate interventions into the production and display of ....The Business of Art: Corporate Interventions into the Production, Display, and Reception of the Visual Arts. The corporate presence in the Australian art world has increased exponentially over the past decade, resulting in a redefinition of the arts as an industry not to be subsidised but marketed. This project's analysis of the art historical implications of this corporate presence and an assessment of the aesthetic impact of increased corporate interventions into the production and display of art is of vital significance to the future of Australia, not only in terms of the quality and type of art that is produced by Australian artists, but also to the way that Australians understand the role of the visual arts in their society.Read moreRead less