Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Ethnographic Collections

Cultural Collections

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Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Ethnographic Collections

The Australian Museum holds about 40,000 ethnographic objects representing the cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Breast Plate reading 'Tommy, King of Carrs Creek'. Ploughed up on Carrs Creek, near Grafton, New South Wales in the 1890's. Purchased from Lawsons Auction House, 1982.

Basket from Russell River, North-east Queensland. Purchased A. Meston 1893.

Shield from Daintree River, Queensland. Purchased from W. Miller 1893

The collections comprise a diverse range of cultural material, including tools, weapons, containers, clothes and decorations, as well as artwork, and objects of ceremonial and spiritual nature. The collections come from areas throughout Australia, but research on, and acquisition of, material from New South Wales is a major focus. The Branch is especially motivated to acquire material directly from Aboriginal communities.

When the Museum was first established in 1827, Sydney was a penal settlement. A treaty had not been considered necessary in establishing the settlement on Aboriginal land. European violence, predation on traditional food resources, and introduced diseases had a major impact on Aboriginal people in the Sydney region and beyond. It is perhaps not surprising (although lamentable) that the systematic collection and recording of Aboriginal cultural material was not a focus of the Museum at this time. In 1837, ten years after the Museum was established, there were still as few as 25 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural items in the collections. By 1879, however, the collections had grown significantly, largely as a result of the employment of staff with specific interests in Anthropology and in collecting, documenting and understanding Aboriginal material culture.

The Aboriginal collections are of great contemporary cultural significance and play a major role in supporting Aboriginal Cultural Centres and Keeping Places throughout New South Wales. Aboriginal collections staff work closely with Aboriginal communities in New South Wales, through the Aboriginal Heritage Unit's Outreach Program and work to emphasise and promote a greater understanding of Aboriginal artefacts and culture.

Those interested in gaining access to these collections for research, exhibition, education or other purposes should direct their enquiries to Barrina South or Tammy Parnell, Aboriginal Project Officers.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Ethnographic Collections

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