The Donald Thomson Collection represents a unique cultural resource, which is of national and international distinction. Its greatest significance resides in its importance to communities of origin and their descendant families. It's considered one of the largest and most historically significant collections of Aboriginal cultural heritage.
The Collection, comprising material from over ninety communities of origin, reflects the social and cultural life of Aboriginal people from Cape York, Arnhem Land, and the Central and Gibson Deserts and includes material from Papua, Solomon Islands and West Papua sourced during Thomson’s World War II service there. Amassed by Thomson while undertaking anthropological research and field collecting in botany, herpetology, mammalogy and ornithology, the collection holds deep cultural knowledge and richness for diverse audiences, but most especially for Aboriginal people.
The University of Melbourne has recently received the generous gift of the Donald Thomson Ethnohistory Collection from Elaine Thomson and Dorita Louise Fergusson Officer, in recognition of Professor Thomson OBE and Mrs Dorita Thomson. The gift includes field notes, diaries, maps and photographs and will enable the University’s important work in caring for Indigenous Collections, including the repatriation of ancestral remains. The gift was donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2024.
Donald Thomson Collection News
The family of Donald Thomson donates one of the largest collections of Aboriginal cultural heritage to the University of Melbourne
