Voicing the Living Archive: Working with First Nations Collections in Higher Education

This symposium will present perspectives on, and experiences of, people working with First Nations arts and artefact collections in universities.

Increasingly universities in Australia are engaging and working with First Nations perspectives, knowledge and communities in teaching and research. University museums and collections are part of this, being custodians of First Nations material culture, archives, and art.

Speakers will include First Nations Australians and Non-Indigenous researchers doing collaborative work. The symposium will be of interest to curators, managers of collections, researchers, teachers and students.

Keynote speaker:  Professor Sandy O’Sullivan 

Sandy is a Wiradjuri transgender/non-binary person. Sandy recently completed an internationally-focused Australian Research Council program examining the representation and engagement of First Nations’ Peoples across 470 museums and Keeping Places, and they continue to engage with the Museum Queeries collective in Canada. They also recently completed an ARC Linkage project mapping creative practice across the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory (Creative Barkly). Sandy's work is often across both industry and the academy, and recently they completed a national review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance and theatre makers for the Australia Council for the Arts. They are currently a 2020-2024 ARC Future Fellow, with a project titled Saving Lives: Mapping the influence of Indigenous LGBTIQ+ creative artists.

Draft program

Thursday 18 July 2024

9.30  Welcome
9.45   Introduction. Wendy Somerville, University of Canberra
10.15    Keynote Speaker Sandy O’Sullivan, Macquarie University
11.00 Morning Tea
11.30    Andrew Simpson, University Museums and Collections 
12.00    Rose Barrowcliff, Macquarie University
12.30    Brad Webb, Monash University
1.00 Lunch
1.30   Wander to Ngunnawal Garden
2.00      Ashley van den Heuvel & Delephene Fraser, University of Canberra
2.30      Grace Zhang
3.00 Afternoon tea
3.15       Panel Discussion. ‘On the future of university collections’
4.15       Conclusion 
4.30 Networking event 

Friday 19 July 2024
10.00    Our Collection Introduction. Hakim Abdul Rahim
10.30    Conservation lab viewing and talk
11.00    Workshop – Teaching with the Collection, Andi Stapp-Gaunt
1.00 Light lunch
1.30      Welcome ceremony for the Collection