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Anthropology at the Australian Museum

The Anthropology Branch at the Australian Museum holds an ethnographic collection of 110,000 artefacts from Indigenous Australia, the Pacific Region, Asia, Africa and America, and approximately one million archaeological items in its Aboriginal Archaeology collections.

Australian Museum Anthropology collections and research focus on the material culture, ethnography, history and archaeology of the Indigenous peoples of Australia, the Pacific and island south-east Asia.

Research is carried out through the People and Place Research Centre. The Centre coordinates and develops innovative research projects that focus on past and present human social relationships to place within the greater Australian-Pacific region, including island south-east Asia. Field and collection-based projects are chosen to explore important questions concerning the colonisation, landscape relationships and material culture of specific regions.

An extensive Outreach Program that provides advice, services, loans and training to Aboriginal communities and cultural centres throughout New South Wales is managed through the Aboriginal Heritage Unit.

Collection management, scientific research, public programs, commercial ventures and policy development are some of our major functions. We promote the involvement of Indigenous peoples whose cultural heritage is represented in the collections and encourage close relationships with Indigenous peoples within and beyond Australia. We also collaborate widely with other museums and scientists across the world to develop state-of-the-art collection management practices, innovative research projects and unique public programs.

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