Asian Collections

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Asian Collection

The Australian Museum's Anthropology Branch views the south-east Asian component of the collection as a priority. This relates not only to the basic strength of these collections, but also to south-east Asia's geographical, political, historical and social relevance to Australia.

Tobacco Case and Pipe Holder, Ainu People, Hokkaido, Japan. Acquired by exchange from the Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan, 1903. (Photo by Paul Ovenden)

The main bulk of the south-east Asian collection represents the peoples of Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, but its main body comes from the islands across the Indonesian archipelago. The core strengths of the Indonesian collections are textiles, musical instruments, theatrical and dance costumes and puppetry. The Museum holds an important group of traditional Kamasan paintings from Bali and its collection of Indonesian textiles forms one of the largest of its kind in Australia.

The Asian collections also include cultural material from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, China, Korea and Japan. There are a very few items from the south-west of the Asian continent, including Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.

Those interested in gaining access to these collections for research, exhibition, education or other purposes should direct their enquiries to Rebecca Conway, Project Officer for the Asia / Africa / Americas Collections.

Asian Collection

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