Issue 13. 6 September 2010.pdf [PDF File, 1.7 MB] - UWA Staff - The ...

Indigenous treasures
in safe keeping
The Berndt Museum of Anthropology
is on the move.
At the moment, the journey is more
important than the destination. Plans are
still being discussed for the eventual
location of the Museum, which will be a
major part of a new Indigenous gateway
to the University.
But safe storage for the treasures of the
Berndt Museum in the meantime is a
priority.
The collection has grown from 1,700
objects in 1978 to 11,500 this year. The
Museum still occupies the same space
it was given more than 30 years ago.
Director John Stanton said that 95 per
cent of the Indigenous art and cultural
materials acquired since 1978 have not
been displayed.
“We simply don’t have the space,”
Dr Stanton said. “It got to the stage
where it was so crowded that not only
could visitors not appreciate the
collection, but it had become a health
and safety issue. And it was too difficult
for our staff to do much.”
The extensive and unique collection is
now going through the lengthy and
painstaking process of being recorded.
Staff are measuring, checking,
photographing and carefully packing
thousands of objects for storage in a
conservation facility off-site.
The Museum will move, with some of its
collection, to temporary premises in The
Dr Harold Schenberg Art Centre
(incorporating the Lawrence Wilson Art
Gallery) by the middle of next year, where
they will stay for up to five years before a
permanent home is ready.
“We will have the use of the Holmes à
Court gallery for our exhibitions,”
Dr Stanton said. “It is only half the size of
our existing gallery but at least visitors
will be able to see some of our treasures
and we will be able to change the
exhibitions regularly.”
Dr Stanton said the potential for damage
in the original gallery, in the basement of
the Social Sciences building (“We have
had a few floods over the years”), and
the inability to be able to verify and audit
the collection had made the move
inevitable.
“We have put on two new staff and
Facilities Management has provided
three staff for the relocation,” he said.
Feathered and ochred items and bark
paintings are the most fragile objects in
the collection. These will be packed for
the move to the Shenberg Centre but
not stored.
“Any unnecessary movement is the
biggest danger to any art collection,” Dr
Stanton said.
While they are recording the collection,
staff are digitising it and at least part of it
will be put on the Web and made
available to visitors to the Museum at
LWAG and to UWA staff. They hope to
develop a virtual tour for visitors while
the bulk of the collection is inaccessible.
The Museum was named after two of
Australia’s greatest anthropologists,
Ronald and Catherine Berndt, who
worked together at UWA from the late
1950s to the early 1980s. It is a centre
for research and exchange of knowledge
about Indigenous art and culture.
The biennial Berndt Lecture will be held
at the University Club on October 21.
UWAnews will run more information on
the lecture in future issues.
John Stanton supervises packing of the
Marmarie man, made for him by
Noongar woman Joyce Ainslie. Artist
Nalda Searles helped Joyce to make the
spirit man out of grass and it was the
start of a new art form.
In the background, Berndt staff continue
packing: Kelly Rowe (assistant curator,
collections), Fiona Gavino (manager
relocation project) and Eve Chaloupka
(assistant curator, digitisation).
The University of Western Australia UWA NEWS 6 September 2010 3