By Anthony Probert | posted on May 25, 2017
THE recent landmark exhibition of Aboriginal artefacts in Albany received national recognition at the Museums and Galleries National Awards last week.
The Western Australian Museum was awarded for the Yurlmun: Mokare Mia Boodja exhibition in the Indigenous Project or Keeping Place level 2 category.
Co-curated by the Albany Heritage Reference Group Aboriginal Corporation, the Yurlmun exhibition saw the return of objects collected from the Albany area in the early 1800s by settlers.
These included objects collected by local surgeon Dr Alexander Collie, who became close friends with significant Menang man Mokare.
The objects, including stone axes, spears, spear throwers and knives were loaned by the British Museum and displayed at the WA Museum Great Southern and were viewed by nearly 23,000 visitors.
WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition showcased the significant shared history of Albany’s Menang people and early European settlers through the historic objects on display.
“Yurlmun is an astounding project that forged new ground in relationships between collecting institutions and source communities,” he said.
“The loan of a whole collection of British Museum objects back to Country and to their place of origin, is unprecedented. It has never happened before in Australia.”
Mr Coles said he was grateful to the British Museum as well as colleagues from the National Museum of Australia and the Menang people.
“It represents a significant step in reconnecting museum collections with people and place, and in reconnecting communities with their cultural heritage,” he said.
“The story of friendship and the sharing of gifts between friends is also something that everyone can relate to.”
Mr Coles said the exhibition introduced the Emerging Curators program where young Aboriginal men and women could participate in the program by working alongside lead curators and specialist WA Museum curators.
“The Emerging Curator program has been so successful we are expanding it to other Aboriginal communities across the State,” he said.
“Albany’s Shona Coyne and Lindsay Dean provided great insight into the exhibitions through the Emerging Curator program.”
Minister for Culture and the Arts David Templeman said the awards recognised the Museum’s commitment to co-curating content with communities to share their stories.
“The Museum does a fantastic job working with communities and bringing shared stories to the people. These rewards are well deserved,” he said.
Judges referred to the Yurlmun exhibition as an excellent project leading the way in how museums and communities can work together.