Our Work
The Indigenous Collections team is applying new approaches to enhance how Museums and Universities collaborate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and families represented in the University’s Collections (communities of origin).
We work closely with communities of origin to keep culture and art strong, pass on knowledge, and strengthen identity. Our purpose is to enhance education and conservation of Indigenous knowledge for future generations through shared power and transparent decision-making. We put community at the heart of everything we do.
Meet our team and learn more about the University’s strategic approach to Indigenous Collections.
The Place
The Place for Indigenous Art and Culture (The Place) will be an Indigenous-led research and teaching facility for celebrating the diversity of Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander artmaking and material culture.
The Place will be located on the University of Melbourne Parkville campus and include museum-grade storage, collection, and archive care, learning and meeting spaces, research, community accommodation, ceremonial grounds, and an extensive exhibition space.
Collections
The University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Collections include significant art and cultural material from more than ninety communities of origin across Australia. Collected as early as the 1920’s, these objects continue to retain their cultural significance. They connect people, place and cultural practices in both their historical and contemporary contexts.
Repatriation
The University of Melbourne is committed to the return of Ancestral Remains and recognising the impact of extractive research methodologies of the past.
The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 guides repatriation in Victoria and the University sees its role as a facilitator to support people from communities of origin to find and return Ancestors to their home.
Find out what we're doing to facilitate repatriation and the support we can provide.
Exhibitions
Learn about our upcoming exhibition 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art and USA touring exhibition, Madayin: Eight decades of Australian Aboriginal bark paintings from Yirrkala.
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