MUSE Issue 17, June 2017

Art. Culture. Issue 17 Antiquities. June 2017 Natural history. New home, new curator, new works A word from the Director, David Ellis

In this issue we reveal the first Occupying about 8000 square Fraser, fresh from the British glimpses of the Chau Chak Wing metres, the new building will Museum and digs in the foothills Museum provided by architects triple the previous capacity of of the Jordan Valley. Johnson Pilton Walker. our museums. We reveal two new acquisitions: Situated at the ‘front door’ of the Subject to development approval, photographic works by renowned University, opposite Fisher Library, construction is planned to start artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, purchased the new museum will bring together around November this year. The at auction in New York with funds the collections of the Macleay building is due for completion at from the Morrissey Bequest for the Museum, Nicholson Museum and the end of 2018 with the museum purchase of East Asian material in University Art Gallery under one opening to the public in 2019. memory of Professor Sadler. roof. The Chau Chak Wing Museum will feature state-of-the-art Staff are busy researching and Our Schools Education Program exhibition galleries, object-based developing concepts for new continues to challenge and inspire study rooms, collection care exhibitions, digitising collections through object-based learning facilities and of course a café and conserving works. One of the linked to the schools’ curricula. and museum shop. challenges we are facing is our For many students, it is their first ability, for the first time, to show experience of a university. In our far more of the collections than current spaces we are close to has previously been possible. capacity. In the Chau Chak Wing Museum, however, the additional In choosing new items to display space allocated to object-based we also need to consider their learning will enable our schools conservation needs. We are program to expand and flourish. indebted to the many donors who have generously supported this Keep up to date with the project at critically important work. sydney.edu.au/museums

In this issue, we introduce and David Ellis welcome our new Senior Curator Director, Museums and of the Nicholson Museum, Dr Jamie Cultural Engagement

David Ellis, photo by Martin Ho

Sydney University Museums Education and Public Programs Muse edited by Luke Parker. Comprising the Macleay Museum, To book a school excursion, an adult education Nicholson Museum and University Art Gallery tour or a University heritage tour This edition contains names and images of +61 2 9351 8746 people who have died. We acknowledge that, for The Macleay Museum and the University Art [email protected] some people and communities, these may cause Gallery are now closed as we prepare for the distress and sadness. Where possible, cultural opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2019. Macleay Museum permission to publish has been sought. Enquiries: The Nicholson Museum remains open: +61 2 9036 5253 Produced by Marketing and Communications, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm and [email protected] the University of Sydney, May 2017. 17/6552 the first Saturday of every month, 12 to 4pm ISSN 1449‑0420 ABN 15 211 513 464 Closed on public holidays. Nicholson Museum CRICOS 00026A General admission is free. In the southern entrance to the Quadrangle +61 2 9351 2812 Forest Stewardship Council Become a fan on Facebook +61 2 9351 7305 (fax) (FSC®) is a globally recognised and follow us on Twitter. [email protected] certification overseeing all fibre sourcing standards. This provides sydney.edu.au/museums University Art Gallery guarantees for the consumer that products are made of woodchips Enquiries from well‑managed forests and Sydney University Museums Administration +61 2 9351 6883 other controlled sources with +61 2 9351 2274 [email protected] strict environmental, economical +61 2 9351 2881 (fax) and social standards. [email protected] In this issue

2 A world of memories 14 Reclaiming identity 28 Unnatural history Important Indigenous Complex issues of identity in A unique insect in the Macleay collections held by 19th century photographs of collections is not all it the University are now Tasmanian Aboriginal people. appears to be. recognised by UNESCO. 18 Redressing the balance 3 New digs Recently commissioned We welcome Dr Jamie Fraser, portraits acknowledge our new Senior Curator of the contribution of the Nicholson Museum. women academics.

21 On the road Secrets revealed about a previously mysterious collector of artefacts in the Macleay collection.

24 Hadrian’s legacy Exploring the infamous Emperor’s influence on the 1900th anniversary of his accession to power. 29 School spirit in Vanuatu The delicate balance of the 26 From the library of PN Barnett traditional and contemporary in A collection of tiny bookplates ni-Vanuatu education systems. reveals the personal symbology of their subjects. 32 Repair to remember Conservation work was recently 4 Planned to perfection undertaken on an important We are delighted to share object from the Nicholson the first architectural collection. impressions of the new Chau Chak Wing Museum. 34 Man bites dog A dog-shaped vessel in the 9 Time exposed Nicholson reveals the interesting The University has recently tastes of Mesoamerican cultures. acquired two stunning photographs by renowned 35 Making history artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. All the news on Sydney University Museums, from special guests to 11 Some impressions of Greece collecting awards. A new project seeks to identify sites depicted in historic 36 Find your muse photographs by one of our For your diary: our upcoming earliest curators. events and programs.

Front cover and right: ‘Baining Above left: Adrian George Feint Above: [William J Woodhouse standing dancers’ hand-coloured lantern [bookplate for Thea Proctor], in a doorway at the University slide, photo: Ernest WP Chinnery, 1927 relief print, UA1990.714. of Sydney], glass plate negative, 1924–26, Gazelle Peninsula, East New See story on page 26. Nicholson Museum, NM2007.119.7. Britain province, Papua New Guinea, See story on page 11. transferred from the Department of Anthropology, the University of Sydney, 1990s, Macleay Museum, HP99.1.165. See story on page 2.

1 A world of memories –

Jude Philp reports Australia’s oldest collection of academic anthropology records, on a vital resource documenting a number of Aboriginal of Indigenous communities in Australia and Indigenous communities of the engagement with Pacific region, has been recognised by the United Nations Educational, academic work held Scientific and Cultural Organisation by the University of (UNESCO) Australian Memory of the Sydney and recently World (AMW) Register. inscribed on the Promoting Australian documentary heritage with influence and world UNESCO Australian significance, the AMW register photographs (such as the lantern Memory of the contains a wide variety of material slide featured on the cover of including the Australian Indigenous this issue of Muse), audio-visual World Register. Languages Collection, First World material, reports, secondary War diaries, convict records, the sources, bark paintings and pearl Endeavour journal of James Cook, shell ornaments. Together, these and the Pacific and Regional Archive materials present a unique and for Digital Sources in Endangered often intimate record of life in Cultures (PARADISEC), which is Australia and the Pacific region partly housed at the University. in the early-mid 20th century.

On Thursday 9 February 2017, A selection of the items is available the collections amassed by to view online via our collections the University’s pioneering search: sydney.edu.au/museums/ anthropologists, held by the collections_search University Archives and the Macleay Museum, was inscribed For a listing of archival papers, look to the register and celebrated at a for AP Elkin’s personal papers at ceremony at Canberra Museum and sydney.edu.au/archives Gallery. Included are field notes, genealogies, correspondence, Dr Jude Philp is Senior Curator, Macleay Museum

Above left: Axe with iron head, Tiwi people, Above right: Ri:ji or jakuli (pearl shell ornament), collection attributed to anthropologist Charles Hart, Bardi people, possibly by Akamo, collected before 1928–29, Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory, transferred 1940, Kimberley region, Western Australia, transferred from the Department of Anthropology, the University from the Department of Anthropology, the University of of Sydney, 1960–64, Macleay Museum, ETH.1786 Sydney, 1978, Macleay Museum, ETA.2007

2 New digs –

Paul Donnelly introduces Jamie Fraser, the new Senior Curator of the Nicholson Museum.

Dr James (Jamie) Fraser has joined projects including in Jordan, Syria, “I recognise the unique position us as the new Senior Curator of the Iraq, Greece, Uzbekistan, India, of the Chau Chak Wing Museum to Nicholson Museum, succeeding Cambodia, Afghanistan, the Solomon transcend traditional boundaries Michael Turner who departed Islands, and Australia. Much of between Old and New World last year. We are most grateful to his fieldwork research in Jordan archaeologies, and to set new Candace Richards for her excellent has been under his own direction, agendas in developing integrated caretaking of the role of Senior towards his now-completed exhibitions that invite a broad Curator for many months until doctorate on the dolmens cultural response,” Jamie says. Jamie’s arrival. (stone‑slab tombs) of Jordan, the subject of his forthcoming book, Please introduce yourself to Jamie Jamie previously worked in Dolmens in the Levant (Palestine at one of the many Nicholson the Middle East Department at Exploration Fund Annual XIV). programs planned for this year. the British Museum, as project curator for the Levant. He began his role at the Nicholson in April 2017 after completing a season as project director of the Khirbet Um al‑Ghozlan excavation project in Jordan with the British Museum.

He has a long and illustrious association with the University of Sydney, as a prize-winning undergraduate and graduate student, archaeological field director, trench supervisor on numerous excavations, lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and presenter of public lectures.

His talks at venues around the world, including the Nicholson, In Kabul, Afghanistan, he worked Dr Paul Donnelly is Associate have ranged from Bronze Age with the Oriental Institute of Director, Museum Content, burials to archaeology’s murky Chicago on the repatriation of Chau Chak Wing Museum relationship with espionage. antiquities to the National Museum.

Jamie comes to the Nicholson In addition to running the Nicholson, with broad archaeological and Jamie will be contributing to the Above: Jamie Fraser directing the museological experience. Since the suite of exhibitions proposed for British Museum’s excavation project early 2000s, he has participated the opening of the Chau Chak at Khirbet Um al-Ghozlan in the Wadi Rayyan in Jordan, March 2017. in many international fieldwork Wing Museum. Photograph by Adam Carr

3 Planned to perfection – Dr Paul Donnelly unveils the first impressions of our exciting new Chau Chak Wing Museum development.

We are excited to share the first side of a metaphorical ‘gateway of The bringing together, under the one architectural interpretations of the knowledge’ to the campus – with roof, of the Nicholson collection of new Chau Chak Wing Museum from the library a repository of textual antiquities, the Macleay collections our architects Johnson Pilton Walker knowledge, and the Chau Chak Wing of natural history, ethnography, (JPW). The images depict some of Museum a corresponding cultural and science, and the University Art the exterior and interior appearance repository of objects and artefacts. collections, is a watershed moment of the museum in its location at for the University’s holdings. The a prestigious main entry to the In parallel with a worldwide collections began in the early campus, where University Avenue recognition of the relevance of 19th century and have grown curves down from the Quadrangle to collections to enriched teaching exponentially ever since. Parramatta Road. and education, the new museum is poised to be as fundamental a The co-location of the University’s On this site, directly opposite Fisher part of the university experience unique holdings into a 21st century Library, the museum will form one as the library. building solves the inevitable

4 5 The Chau Chak Wing Museum is inspired by its place and purpose.

The University of Sydney is one of Australia’s most recognisable institutions and nowhere more so than University Place, the most important public open space of Australia’s first university. Our design for the Chau Chak Wing Museum is very much about this unmistakable sense of place.

We see this important addition to the campus as both a building that embraces the landscape, with a cascade of indoor and outdoor rooms and terraces, and a simple singular form that floats above this new landscape, completing the urban structure of University Place.

Within the museum, a diverse range of flexible display spaces will offer multiple itineraries and experiences. Controlled natural light from a central skylight will animate the central circulation space and framed views to outside will help visitor orientation without compromising museum‑quality display conditions.

Statement by the architect, Johnson Pilton Walker

6 shortcomings of limited gallery The new building includes suited to making the most of space and outdated, inefficient storage for the most vulnerable the collections for the benefit infrastructure for our growing and in‑demand portions of the of University students and staff, collections and expanding collections, under the best and the wider local, national, and audiences. In solving these issues, environmental conditions. international community. the Chau Chak Wing Museum will be a world-class cultural destination With relevant selections of the On a research trip last year, I and an essential teaching tool. collection stored on-site, the new visited 65 museums and galleries ‘object studios’, which facilitate across the United Kingdom and Scheduled to open in 2019, the university teaching through the United States, an invaluable museum will triple the current object‑based learning, will benefit experience, that provided a new gallery space and provide tailored teachers, students, researchers, appreciation of the complementary facilities vital to object-based school children and the public. nature of our collections and their learning and fostering visual literacy. ability to discuss the big issues The bespoke study facilities, drawing the world faces today – from the The Nicholson Museum will remain on international best practice, will Anthropocene, to natural and human open well into 2018 to provide a engage students and augment the diversity and climate change. physical presence for the collections traditional pedagogic lecture-based on campus for as long as possible. approach in what are promising to In discussions at the Wellcome The closure, at the end of 2016, of be innovative and worthwhile ways. Trust in London, its head of public the Macleay Museum and University programs, Dr Ken Arnold, wide‑eyed Art Gallery provides much‑needed For the first time, the University upon hearing of the collection space and time to allow staff to of Sydney will have a touring diversity of the Chau Chak Wing focus on the new museum. gallery, able to accommodate Museum remarked, “That’s exactly travelling exhibitions from both the kind of collection we like to Curators and educators are busy local and international institutions, work with”. developing exhibitions and program conforming to the stringent content, while conservators, environmental demands expected Dr Paul Donnelly is Associate photographers and registration of a museum in the 21st century. Director, Museum Content, staff are ensuring objects are Chau Chak Wing Museum prepared for display, and thoroughly The combination of exhibition Images are artists’ impressions of documented for online and in-house spaces, study rooms and an the Chau Chak Wing Museum, supplied by JPW Architects. The design is digital content delivery. auditorium will be a major facility, subject to development approvals.

7 8 Time exposed: the world of Hiroshi Sugimoto – Dr Ann Stephen reports on two magnificent works by internationally renowned art photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, acquired for display in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum.

The University has recently acquired of the State Theatre in Market Research has yet to establish what two works by Hiroshi Sugimoto, one Street, one site in Sugimoto’s film was screening in the State of the world’s most respected art vast international Theatres series Theatre at the time. photographers. Born and raised in (1978–ongoing) which documents Tokyo, Sugimoto studied politics and old movie palaces and drive-ins. The other new acquisition, Seagram sociology at Rikkyō University then Sugimoto used a tripod and a Building – Mies Van Der Rohe (left), retrained as an artist, graduating 4x5 large format camera with the part of Sugimoto’s Architecture in Fine Arts from the ArtCenter shutter open and directed at the series, proceeds from what might College of Design, Pasadena, centre of the theatre screen. He at first appear an unpromising California, in 1974. exposed the film for the duration of premise – to make blurred images a feature-length movie, with the film of modernist monuments, an All of Sugimoto’s works are black and projection as the sole light source. idea diametrically opposed white photographs, created using to conventional architectural large-format analogue cameras. In our example, the glowing white photography. The blurring The artist has stated the aim of his screen illuminates the lavish internal effect results from Sugimoto’s work is to make “time exposed”, a details of Sydney architect Henry Eli unconventional use of the large- zen-like description of his lifelong White’s eclectic mix of neo-gothic, format camera; he sets the distance project. Both the silver gelatin prints Italianate and art deco features. between the lens and the film to half shown here date from 1997, though Sugimoto discovered that “different the normal focal length, creating, in they are from different, ongoing movies give different brightnesses. his words, “twice-infinity”. photographic series. If it’s an optimistic story, I usually end up with a bright screen; if it’s a The site recorded in this acquisition State Theatre, Sydney (over page), sad story, it’s a dark screen. Occult is Van Der Rohe’s legendary presents the grand 1927 interior movie? Very dark.” glass‑curtain wall building in

9 New York. The Bauhaus exile’s Today, Japanese is the largest broadening the definition to sharp‑edged, high-rise verticals, department in the current Asian include art from Southeast Asia. along with all human presence, Studies Program, which contributes The Sugimoto photographs are are eliminated in Sugimoto’s to the China Studies Centre and part of this new initiative, and photograph, replaced by a soft, the Sydney Centre for Southeast follow purchases of contemporary dematerialised screen, the very Asia. After the publication of the Southeast Asian artworks by Thai temporality of which suggests profoundly influential work by artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook in a lost modernist utopia. Edward Said, Orientalism (1978), 2014 and by Singapore-born artist the term ‘Oriental’ became widely Simryn Gill in 2016. The Sugimoto acquisitions were recognised as Eurocentric and has made possible through the fallen out of use. Dr Ann Stephen is Senior Curator, Dr MJ Morrissey Bequest Fund, University Art Collection established in 1984 in memory of For three decades, the Morrissey Professor Arthur Lindsay Sadler. bequest acquired late 19th and early 20th century Japanese Sadler had taught in what was and Chinese prints, examples of then called Oriental Studies at the which have recently been shown University, from 1922–47, through in the University Art Gallery’s 2016 Page 8: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Seagram Building – Mies Van Der Rohe, the difficult war years when the exhibition, Floating Time. 1997 (Architecture series), silver gelatin print, 58.2 x 47cm, Dr MJ department largely focused on Morrissey Bequest Fund, University Japan and China. Morrissey, a After extended discussion, the Art Collection, UA2017.4 student of Sadler’s, left in his will Morrissey bequest committee Below: Hiroshi Sugimoto, State Theatre, Sydney, 1997 (Theatres a bequest for a collection of “Far decided to consolidate funds, series), silver gelatin print, 42.3 Eastern (particularly Japanese) allowing for a series of major x 54.6cm, Dr MJ Morrissey Bequest Fund, University Art Collection, pictorial works of art”. contemporary art acquisitions, UA2017.5

10 Some impressions of Greece –

A new project seeks to identify the sites in Greece photographed by former curator William J Woodhouse. Candace Richards explains how you can get involved.

A rare collection of 1800 glass plate photographs reveal not only his attains its full value by borrowing negatives, depicting the landscapes, interest in the historic monuments actuality from geography and archaeological sites, towns, villages of Greece but also his love of the topography”, meaning one needed and peoples of 1890s and early people and culture, and the affinity not only to read the works of 1900s Greece, is held in the he felt with this unique country. Thucydides and Herodotus or view Nicholson collections. objects in a museum, but also Woodhouse hints at the desire to place the ancient past in the Taken by William J Woodhouse to capture the Greek landscape physical world. (1866–1937), former Honorary in the introduction to his book Curator and Professor of Greek Aetolia: Its geography, topography Through photography, this goal at the University of Sydney, the and antiquities (1897): “History only could be achieved and shared

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through publications, as well as with stages of growth covering half a Needless to say, the intervening his students on the other side of the century of her existence … In the old decades have seen significant world in the coming decades. days, as one approached Piraeus, further urban development, as one looked eagerly to be the first well as sustained archaeological The photographs primarily date to pick up the table-like rock of the investigation. A quick comparison to Woodhouse’s fieldwork and Akropolis with its grey-golden crown between Woodhouse’s photographs social visits to Greece, a time when of the Parthenon shining clear of archaeological monuments and the country was on the cusp of against the background of historic the same sites today demonstrates industrial change and, significantly mountains. But now it is all very the extent of excavations and for travellers, increasing access to different … Everywhere is visible modern restoration (such as the modern transportation. Woodhouse, the ugly evidence of an enormous Tholos of Delphi) and reveals the following what was to be his last trip influx of population and its importance of the collection as a to Greece (1890s–1936), reflected on consequent industrial expansion ... documentary archive. these changes in his address ‘Some This time‑saving [conversion to train Impressions of Greece’, printed in and motor vehicle transport] means The collection was donated to The Union Recorder, 7 May 1936: that you make no contact with the the Nicholson Museum by Liska countryside and its people … All Woodhouse, William’s daughter “I carry in my mind what perhaps no that was the true spice of travel in and Museum Assistant throughout one else in Australia has, a series of Greece is now but a memory.” the 1940s. Part of the collection pictures of Greece in her different touchingly includes posed and

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candid photographs of the locate the Woodhouse photographs. Images: 1: (page 11) WJ Woodhouse, [Grave Woodhouse family, in their home Each photograph will be uploaded stone of Demetria and Pamphile in the Kerameikos, Athens], glass in the Blue Mountains and in to the Nicholson Museum’s plate negative, Nicholson Museum, Greece. Along with the negatives, Flikr page and we are asking for NM2007.5.11 the museum holds several of contributors to comment on the 2: WJ Woodhouse, [Women and children in the area of the Pnyx with the Woodhouse’s notebooks, papers following questions: Acropolis in the background], glass and reference scrapbooks. plate negative, Nicholson Museum, NM2007.118.14 Unfortunately, only a fraction of this –– What do you see? material relates to the photographs, –– Where was the photograph taken? 3: WJ Woodhouse, [Villagers at work in Greece accompanied by and the location of only a few of the –– Can you find the geo-coordinates donkeys, dogs and bears], glass plate negative, Nicholson Museum, images was recorded. (latitude and longitude) of this NM2007.26.3 exact place? 4: WJ Woodhouse, [Unidentified Previous research projects, –– Do you know what year this mosque by a river in Greece], glass plate negative, Nicholson notably Rowan Conroy’s PhD photograph was taken? Museum, NM2007.4.11 dissertation (2012), have delved 5: WJ Woodhouse, ‘Temple at Velvina; into the photographic archive We will acknowledge all of our Flikr from the South East’ (reproduced and assisted with identifying contributors when the collection in Aetolia p.329), glass plate negative, Nicholson Museum, monuments and reconciling some is published through our online NM2004.41.10 of the images to their modern collections portal at the completion 6: WJ Woodhouse, [The Tholos of locations using geo-coordinates. of the project. Delphi, before reconstruction], glass plate negative, Nicholson However, because of the large Museum, NM2007.49.12 volume of images to process, and To become a contributor is simple: 7: The Tholos of Delphi, the dramatic difference a century go to www.flikr.com and search photographed 19 September 2009 Source: Flikr, Peter CC BY-NC-ND has made to sites and landscape, for ‘Nicholson Museum’. From the vast majority of the collection there, you can browse the entire is unidentified. archive, create a Flikr user ID and begin adding your comments to To help us identify and catalogue any image you can help identify. the collection, we are launching a community project, via Flikr, seeking Candace Richards is Assistant the public’s help to describe and Curator, Nicholson Museum

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Reclaiming identity –

Rebecca Conway explores 19th century photographs of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from the Macleay collection as signals of legacy and endurance.

14 The Macleay Museum’s historic photograph collection reached out to people across the main island, offering holds 14 glass lantern slides depicting Tasmanian them ‘protection’. This took the form of segregated Aboriginal people. Taken between 1858 and 1866, settlements, first at Wybalenna on Flinders Island and, the images are of eight women and two men: later, at Oyster Cove station, south of Hobart. Families Meethecaratheeanna, Drunameliyer, Plowneme, and individuals with mixed ancestry were not invited to Pangernowidedic, Wapperty, Coonia, Drayduric and go to these places. Truganini, and William Lanne and Calamarowenye. Wybalenna was little more than an internment camp Since their creation, the images have been used to and mission. Aboriginal culture was suppressed and new perpetuate two kinds of identity theft: of the portrait anglicised names were assigned to some people. Many subjects themselves, whose individuality was subsumed people died due to poor living conditions, sickness and as they came to be identified as ‘The Last Tasmanians’; possibly despair. By 1847, the 47 remaining from the and that of the other Tasmanian Aboriginal people original group of 135 Aboriginal people were moved to whose ongoing existence was denied, partly as a Oyster Cove where the situation proved just as dire. result of this interpretation. Photography was in its infancy in this era, involving The violence of Tasmania’s colonisation was well specialised equipment and lengthy procedures to documented in its day and has been examined in capture and process images. In 2014, Julie Gough, an detail by historians since. Aboriginal landowners artist, academic and Tasmanian Aboriginal woman, fought British settlement and, by the 1830s, many wrote a detailed and poignant chapter for the book had been killed in the struggle. The survivors’ lives Calling the Shots: Aboriginal photographies, which were affected by immense social change, violence, assisted in the identification of the people in the disease and dispossession. Macleay images. As part of her research, Gough scrutinised the first 50 photographs of Tasmanian In an effort to reduce violent interactions and end Aboriginal people, all produced before 1867, an ‘The Black War’, as it had become known, George incredibly large number for the period. Augustus Robinson was appointed a conciliator. From 1830 to 1834, he and a group of Aboriginal The Macleay holds two types of images that are a people, including Truganini, then about 18 years old, feature of this colonial photography: posed group

15 and individual portraits. The group shots appear to Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s Indigenous showcase ‘assimilation’, with the subjects wearing Cultures Senior Curator and Pakana (Tasmanian European-style clothes in front of settlement houses. Aboriginal) woman, Zoe Rimmer, has commented that The individual portraits include anthropometrically “Shell stringing was one of the only practices that was styled frontal and profile views focused on continued throughout the invasion and colonisation of documenting people’s heads and faces. Tasmania so it’s something that obviously had a special importance to people.” Four of the Macleay images are attributed to Bishop Francis Russell Nixon, who was the first Bishop By 1869, Truganini and William Lanne were the only of Tasmania from 1842 to 1863. The majority are survivors of the group photographed by Woolley. individual portraits taken by Tasmanian-born Charles Despite a wide age difference, they were often Alfred Woolley. At Oyster Cove in August 1866, he described as being married, referred to as ‘King’ and photographed the remaining five people living at the ‘Queen’ and lauded as the ‘last’ of the Tasmanians. settlement: Coonia, Pangernowidedic, Truganini, When Lanne died, his body was exhumed, fought over William Lanne and Wapperty. and mutilated in the name of science. Alone, Truganini moved to Hobart and lived with the spectre of this fate. Framed in ‘colonial wood’, the images were displayed When she passed away on 8 May 1876, her body was later that year at the first Intercolonial Exhibition, treated no better. in Melbourne, which promoted the ‘products’ and ‘achievements’ of the Australian colonies. The images proliferated after their subjects’ deaths, with engravings made from the photographs appearing In Woolley’s photographs, the women’s shell necklaces in books, such as James Bonwick’s The Last of the are prominent. Were these worn as symbols of cultural Tasmanians (1870), sealing their ‘fame’ and their identity, defiance and resistance by the women? people’s purported fate. Photographic plates also Traditionally strung on kangaroo sinew, necklaces of ended up in the Hobart studio of John Watt Beattie small pearlescent maireener (rainbow kelp) shells who reproduced them as prints in souvenir volumes are a distinctive aspect of Tasmanian Aboriginal in the 1890s. The Macleay holds images published material culture. as lantern slides by Beattie and by Sydney-based photographer and studio owner, Henry King.

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Widely copied and circulated internationally, people’s Images: 1: (page 14) Group portrait personal names and identities were often confused or of people at Putalina, Oyster Cove. from left, front: erased over time. The majority of the Macleay lantern Truganini (Lalla Rookh), slides came from the Geology and Anthropology Drunameliyer (Caroline), middle: Drayduric (Sophia), Departments, used for teaching from the 1920s–40s. Calamarowenye (Tippo Saib), Meethecaratheeanna (Emma), The portraits illustrated lectures on race, with the back: unidentified woman, subjects employed as examples of racial ‘types’. photo: Bishop Francis Russell Nixon, 1858–60, lantern slide published by Henry King, Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Michael Mansell Sydney 1884–1923, Macleay Museum, HP90.28.929 has commented that the “images are held up to 2: (page 15) Portrait of perpetuate the racist myth that unless you were so- Truganini, photo: Charles called full‑blood, untainted by marrying with white Alfred Woolley August, 1866, lantern slide published people, you weren’t a real Aborigine”. by James Watt Beattie, 1890s–1920s, Macleay Museum, HP99.1.111 The continued positing of the people in these images 3: Portrait of Wapperty, as ‘The Last Tasmanians’ insults their memory as photo: Charles Alfred Woolley individuals and is also a denial of the Aboriginal identity August, 1866, lantern slide published by James Watt of the people who survived. Gough has written that the Beattie, 1890s–1920s, Macleay Museum, HP99.1.108 official determination to deny the existence of other Aboriginal people, those not interned at Oyster Cove, 4: Portrait of William Lanne, photo: Charles Alfred Woolley has ramifications to this day: the mainstream populace August, 1866, lantern slide published by James Watt has misunderstood Aboriginality, Aboriginal history and Beattie, 1890s–1920s, Macleay cultural continuance in Tasmania. The sad yet steadfast Museum, HP99.1.109 gazes in these portraits entreat us to understand a more 5: Portrait of Pangernowidedic, complex and nuanced history. photo: Charles Alfred Woolley, August 1866, lantern slide published by Henry King, Sydney 1884–1923, Macleay Rebecca Conway is Curator, ethnography, Museum, HP90.28.932 Macleay Museum

17 Celeste Chandler Professor Nalini Joshi, 2017 oil on canvas, 122.4 x 102.5cm commissioned by the University of Sydney, University Art Collection, UA2017.2

18 Redressing the balance –

Katrina Liberiou talks with artist Celeste Chandler about painting portraits of two important women for the University’s collection.

In late 2016, Melbourne-based, Tasmanian-born painter Celeste Chandler was commissioned to create portraits of two eminent University of Sydney academics, Professor Nalini Joshi and Professor Margaret Harris, to address the historic omission of female portraits in Maclaurin Hall. Professor Joshi’s portrait was unveiled on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017. The portrait of Professor Margaret Harris will be unveiled later in 2017.

KATRINA LIBERIOU (KL): For your and self-consciousness that women photographs, and I have the greatest 2016 solo exhibition, you ‘set out seem to experience when navigating respect and gratitude to Nalini to explore the heroic figure in senior and authoritative roles. and Margaret who committed to painting’. You talked about the the process through many hours many heroic male archetypes: I was conscious of trying to find of sittings. saints, heroes, soldiers, dandies, other ways to represent Nalini philosophers, prophets, martyrs and Margaret that were authentic, I worked on the two paintings and artists. When you came to that gave a sense of who they are as concurrently, mostly for practical consider female heroic archetypes, people and how they navigate their reasons, a rich experience enabling you found them limited to the saint, paths. In both cases, they are astute me to do a sitting with both subjects martyr and courtesan. Do you in reading people and are motivated in a day. Working in this way meant feel that these commissions are a by the personal connections they that the paintings were about the counterbalance to this history? make with others. relationship between the subject and me, and about their physical CELESTE CHANDLER (CC): KL: Being commissioned to paint presence in space and through time. I’m not sure the experience of two portraits at once is quite a making these two portraits was challenge. Can you tell us about Rather than the fraction of a second a counterbalance, but I certainly your process and what interested captured in a photograph, the reflected a great deal about what I you about the project? paintings capture many subtle was doing with them, and if I was changes in angle, posture and just making a female version of the CC: I do not usually take on portrait expression, characteristics brought typical male academic portrait. commissions, but this project out through conversation and also really interested me because it has stillness, fatigue and humour. Early in our portrait conversation, a political motivation – to present Nalini and I discussed the difficulties successful academic women on the Working from life meant that it around how women present walls of the hall in which young became a collaborative process; themselves within academia. women sit their exams, a space that decisions could be discussed and She observed that some women had, until now, been full of dead made together and we had time wear suits and try to emulate the white men. This gave a specific to reflect upon what we wanted to authoritative male dress; others audience and purpose beyond the communicate through painting dress in very feminine or even in standard portrait. and through posing. sexually provocative ways. Men, on the other hand, have a natural One of my conditions for this Continued over page. uniform of power – the suit – and project was that I wanted to make this protects them from the critique the paintings from life, not from

19 KL: You have previously talked paintings for an amazing site. It has Below left: Celeste Chandler at work painting Professor Nalini Joshi, about the romance and mystique of been a great challenge that has tested photo: Nalini Joshi painting. What is it that draws you to my ability to work fast and under Below right, top: Celeste Chandler, the medium in such a profound way? pressure. I’m looking forward to Painted lady 2, 2016, oil on linen, 66 x 61cm seeing them on the wall so I can see Below right, bottom: Celeste CC: I just love paint! It’s amazing if they work as anticipated within Chandler, Heroic Painting 1, 2016 stuff that transforms in front of the space of the hall, the lighting oil on linen, 66 x 61cm your eyes. I get such a thrill from and the viewing angle. mixing a slather of smooth paste on my palette then sticking it on a Celeste Chandler received her painting and it can become light, undergraduate and master’s degrees space, shadow or skin. It’s always a in Fine Art from the University of challenge; it’s infuriating and elusive Tasmania in 2003, and her PhD from at times. I often feel like I can say Victorian College of the Arts in 2014. things through painting that I can’t verbalise and when I don’t paint for a She has been awarded numerous bit I get tetchy and unsettled. prizes, and her work is held in the collections of the Queensland KL: What have you gained from Art Gallery, the University of this experience? Queensland Art Museum, Redcliff City Gallery, Maroondah Art Gallery, CC: I feel like I’ve gained a great the Sunshine Coast Council and now deal. I’ve had the privilege of the University Art Collection, the spending many hours in the company University of Sydney. of two very interesting women and to discuss their lives and perspectives. I can’t begin to describe how rich and interesting that has been. I Katrina Liberiou is Assistant also had the chance to make two Curator, University Art Collection

20 On the road –

Chris Jones discovers new information about a mysterious collector of Aboriginal artefacts held in the Macleay collection.

As part of the research of our difficulty in finding information may In 1910, believing that he possessed collections, we are always seeking in part be explained by Delbridge’s magnetic powers, he started new information about artefacts charlatan nature, and a tendency working for Charles Henderson and their provenance. A collection to misrepresent himself. Clarke’s Magnetic Hydropathic of Aboriginal objects in the Macleay Electric Healing Institute. The Museum is known to have been Delbridge’s personal life was marked relationship did not last, ending in collected by a ‘Mr Delbridge’ during by tragedy. Born in Ballarat on a court case with Delbridge suing a car trip around Australia, but 8 October 1881, Frederick John Clark for breach of contract. not much had previously been Delbridge married Frances King discovered about the man himself. Brown on 18 June 1900. Between He continued to make a living 1901 and 1910, they had four sons as a masseur, magnetic healer In Susan Davies’ 2002 publication, and two daughters. In 1909, their and herbalist, with businesses in Collected: 150 Years of Aboriginal son Alan died before his 1st birthday, Victoria’s Malvern and Bendigo. In Art and Artifacts at the Macleay and the following year Frances died. 1913, he started a beauty parlour at Museum, the entry for Delbridge Later that year, Delbridge would 493 Chapel Street, South Yarra called states that “efforts to find more have a son with Adelaide Carlyon, Mesdames De Awson & Delbridge. information about Delbridge, but the son died after only a few including his route around Australia, months. Delbridge and Adelaide In 1914, the Truth newspaper have been unsuccessful”. married in 1911. exposed Delbridge as a “spiritualistic spieler”, along with JT Allinson Who was Delbridge, and what was Delbridge worked as a miner for and photographer AW Coulson. the reason for his journey? The Victoria United Mine for 10 years. According to the article, Allinson and

21 Delbridge claimed that “whenever Unfortunately, Schliebs’s illness was Adelaide would file for divorce on they sit to be photographed, spirits serious and she died of nephritis. 23 August 1927, stating that she had come to grab hold of them to have The coroner’s report was critical of left Delbridge in May 1926. their likenesses taken too”. These herbalist practices. Although not On 10 July 1927, Delbridge set out spirits included Jesus, the Virgin criminally liable, Delbridge soon from Sydney in a 1924 Vauxhall Mary, Solomon and Nicodemus. They moved away from Albury, first to with the aim of circumnavigating made money by charging people to Woollongong, then Hamilton, and Australia. It was on this journey that see the photographs. finally to Newcastle in 1923. the 54 objects now in the Macleay were collected. However, he did not Delbridge and Adelaide moved By 1926, it is evident that Delbridge travel under the name Delbridge. to Albury, NSW, in 1919, buying and Adelaide’s relationship was His travelling companion was Mary a house in Dean Street, and he coming to an end. This may have Florence Green (Billie), and they continued working as a herbalist. been in part due to the stress of presented themselves as Mr and Mrs In 1921, Augustine Pauline Schliebs Schliebs’s death, as well as the Dean, possibly inspired by the street visited Delbriege with severe constant moving. From February, where Delbridge had lived in Albury. pain and paralysis in her legs and advertisements appeared in local arms. Delbridge treated her with a newspapers selling motor launches, The papers reported that Delbridge mixture including capsicum, juniper cars, and finally their house. had made a wager of £1000 to not berries and bark. shave or cut his hair for the whole

22 Page 21: ‘Mr & Mrs F.J. Dean, journey, nor stay more than 30 days stereotypes and general attitudes motorists touring Australia, arrive in a hotel. The money would be that white Australians had about in Perth, 12 October 1927’, courtesy State Library of Western Australia, donated to the Children’s Hospital, Aboriginal people in this period. 100161PD Sydney. The pair travelled to Opposite: ‘Frederick John Delbridge, Brisbane, to the Northern Territory, In one interview, Delbridge stated Herbal Practitioner’, Singleton on to Darwin, then Perth and that stories he had heard of the Argus, 10 Feb 1923, p. 8 Adelaide before returning to Sydney “wild natives” he would meet, Above: Coolamon, wooden vessel, Northern Territory, wood, pigment, on 3 December 1927. he found to be untrue. He later Macleay Museum, ET87.13.29

described the Aboriginal people Below: Woomera, spear thrower, Billie described herself as a “very he met as “quite harmless and very Northern Territory, wood, resin, plant fibre, pigment, Macleay enthusiastic collector of local helpful when treated the right way”. Museum, ET87.13.19 curios”. They collected items throughout northern Australia, Delbridge and Billie married on strapped in bundles and tied 24 July 1928, settling in Belmont. onto the running boards of the On 24 November 1929 they had car. By the time they reached a daughter, Billena Mary Theresa Adelaide, on 3 November 1927, the Delbridge. The family moved to car is described as “having the Auckland, New Zealand in 1935, appearance of a curio exhibition, as returning to Randwick in 1938. in addition to the outfit used on the trip it is packed with mementoes Delbridge died on 12 November which Mrs Dean has collected”. 1952. The artefacts passed into the collection of Stewart Lamb, who Delbridge and Billie expressed donated them to the Macleay in 1987. interest in the lives and customs of the Aboriginal people they met Chris Jones is Assistant Collections on the journey. However, their Manager, Sydney University comments reflect some of the Museums

23 Hadrian’s legacy – Dr Craig Barker examines the infamous Roman emperor on the 1900th anniversary of his accession to the Imperial title.

1. 2.

Hadrian is probably best known patron of the arts, particularly of the Empire as a commonwealth of today for Hadrian’s Wall in northern architecture and sculpture: his civilised people sharing a common England, and Hadrian’s Villa, near villa was the greatest example Hellenic culture. He particularly Tivoli in Italy. Born on 24 January of Alexandrian garden design in admired Greece, growing a beard in 76 AD, Hadrian reigned as emperor the Empire, and he oversaw the the style of Greek philosophers: he for 21 years, from 117 AD until his rebuilding of the Pantheon in Rome. was even teasingly called graeculus death in 138 AD. He oversaw, from or ‘Greekling’. He sought to make the first half of the 2nd century, the Marble sculpture in particular Athens a cultural capital of the pinnacle period of Roman territorial flourished under his reign; a marble Empire, building a library and expansion and military might. It was head of a youth in the Nicholson finally completing, after centuries also an era of economic strength collection (Fig. 4) is probably of construction, the Temple of and artistic beauty; Hadrian is Hadrianic, and elements such as Olympian Zeus. regarded as one of the ‘Five Good the wavy hair reflect the influence Emperors’ and a patron of the arts. of Greek art in the classicising style This love of Athens is reflected in that typified Hadrianic art. the monumental gateway Hadrian Hadrian was born Publius Aelius had constructed in 131 or 132 AD. Hadrianus in modern-day Spain. This element of classicism is A stereoscopic photograph of the His early life was devoted to military particularly visible in depictions of Arch of Hadrian, held in our historic duty and he served in Emperor Hadrian’s youthful lover, Antinous, photography collection (Fig. 3), Trajan’s Dacian campaigns, before who drowned in the Nile in 130 AD. shows the arch as it would have a senatorial career. He developed Hadrian had the young man deified looked around 1901, separating close links with Trajan and his family, and turned into a cult figure. In “the city of Hadrian from the City and married Sabina, the Emperor’s sculptural depictions, Antinous of Theseus”, as the dual inscriptions grandniece. Although questions would take on all the symbolism of on the gate describe. remained about the legitimacy of his classical Greek art: his youthfulness imperial claim, upon Trajan’s death and sexual potency now immortalised As with all other Roman rulers, the on 8 August 117 AD, Hadrian assumed in stone. Further, the deification minting of coinage was a means power with the endorsement of the of the Greek Antinous helped to of demonstrating prestige and Senate and the armies, and quickly symbolically link the Greek-speaking reinforcing position. Under Hadrian, had potential rivals executed. The eastern Mediterranean with their regional coinage production Empire settled into two decades of Roman rulers. emphasised his strong push for peaceful and successful reign. greater belonging within the During his reign, Hadrian travelled structure of the Empire and would Hadrian, despite a self-depiction as to almost all the provinces under his often bear representations of a strong military leader, was a strong command to enforce the philosophy allegories of the various provinces.

24 3.

A number of silver coins in the other hand: a symbol of the unity of Hadrian is a complicated historical Nicholson collection, formerly Roman military might and law under figure. His governance of the Empire owned by grazier and collector Hadrian’s control. Other popular receives high praise from modern AB Triggs, show the bearded symbols of Hadrianic coins were historians, as does his influence emperor facing right, with a laurel Felicitas, Pietas and Libertas. on art and architecture. He was, headdress and the inscription IMP. however, a difficult and ruthless CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG. A silver denarius (NM2004.1830), person. These small objects that (Fig. 1). of unknown provenance, depicts have made their way to Sydney from a bust of the empress Sabina on across the Roman Empire reflect a It is the obverse that gives the obverse with the honorific title remarkable period of Roman history. indications of variations in the ‘AVGVSTA’; the coin was minted after messages presented by the 128 AD when Hadrian accepted the Dr Craig Barker is Manager, Imperial leader. One coin (Fig. 2) title pater patriae and Sabina the Education and Public Programs, has a reverse with Roma, facing left title ‘Augusta’ (page 36). Sydney University Museums holding a spear, clasping hands with Hadrian, who is holding a roll in his On the reverse is a draped Concordia, a reference to harmony, 1: Silver coin, obverse: bust of Hadrian; reverse: Pax holding branch which may have had a double and sceptre, Nicholson Museum, meaning. The more usual reference NM2004.1775 would be to the harmony of the 2: Silver coin, obverse: bust of Hadrian; reverse: Roma and Hadrian Empire under Hadrian’s rule; but clasping right hands, Nicholson this reference may allude to the Museum, NM2004.1797 harmony in the couple’s partnership, 3: ‘The Arch of Hadrian, Athens, Greece’, stereoscopic photograph, to counter growing rumours about Macleay Museum, HP2016.4.44 the realities of their marriage. 4: Marble head of a youth, probably Hadrianic, Nicholson Museum, NM66.67 A bronze drachm, minted in Alexandria following Antinous’ death and deification (page 37), features a bust of the young man wearing a crown on the obverse; on the reverse he is depicted on horseback.

25 From the library of PN Barnett – Suzanne Kortlucke introduces some tiny yet intriguing prints from the University Art Collection.

The University Art Collection holds Barnett’s enthusiasm for and 1930s, and the work of the society a small group of works on paper that dedication to bookplates included more broadly, heralded a period of fall at the intersection of artwork the private publication of more than resurgence in the creation and use and ephemera: small decorative 20 deluxe limited editions. Hand- of bookplates. labels known as bookplates or tipped (where the individual plates ex libris, used to personalise books, are pasted in separately) and often The examples in our collection are and which bring together function hand‑coloured, the books were a product of this period of renewed and design. notable for their use of imported interest. The society and its original fonts and hand-made paper. 50 members were interested not Our examples, transferred from only in historical bookplates but the Sydney Teachers College, were Each edition was hand-numbered also in nurturing the creation of new originally part of the collection of and signed, and Barnett’s attention ones. They supported artists and Percy Neville Barnett. A reportedly to detail created beautiful commissioned bookplates as gifts, short-statured, mild‑mannered man volumes that are still sought after even presenting them to members who worked in a bank, Barnett held by collectors today. A founding of the royal family. Sydney artist the unusual title of Australia’s most member of the Australian Ex-Libris and trend-setter Thea Proctor noted authority on bookplates. Society, Barnett’s work in the commissioned multiple designs,

26 of which we have two examples. world was enviable. He even Opposite, left: Adrian George Feint, [Bookplate for C. Nigel-Smith], One, by Adrian Feint (page 1), is a convinced Sydney Long to take up c.1930, relief print, UA1990.724 nod towards the silk fans for which a commission, after many years Opposite, right: Adrian George Proctor was well known. hiatus, to design a frontispiece for Feint, [Bookplate for S.R Phippard], 1929, relief print, UA1990.726 one of his publications. Above: Adrian George Feint Bookplates united artists, printers, [Bookplate for Dorothea Mackellar], book-owners and collectors, and Through his work as collector, c.1930, relief print, UA1990.719 often employed symbology, a connoisseur and cataloguer of complex mix for an art form often ex libris, Barnett did much to written off as ephemera. Among the invigorate the use of bookplates University’s collection is a woodcut in Australia. The examples in our print featuring a centaur holding a collection, numbering almost 30, pipe, also by Feint, with the name offer an intriguing opportunity to of author Dorothea Mackellar, who consider bookplate design, creation wrote the widely known poem and use in the 1920s and 1930s. My Country. The significance of the centaur to Mackellar is unknown. The University of Sydney’s Rare Books Collection holds many of C. Nigel-Smith’s bookplate, Barnett’s publications. Other with caduceus and golf clubs, bookplates can be found through speaks directly to his occupation our online collections search: as a doctor and skill as an sydney.edu.au/museums/ amateur golfer. collections_search

Bookplates grew to become small Suzanne Kortlucke is Public commissioned artworks in their Programs Assistant, Sydney own right and Barnett’s influence University Museums in this niche of the Sydney art

27 Unnatural history –

A unique insect in the Macleay Museum entomology collections is not natural, but a human artefact. Robert Blackburn investigates.

Scarabaeus pulcher: thorace known resident of Tobago, while French colonists importing slave elytrisque pulchre variegatis, the Cotinis, not recorded in the labourers to work the plantations. laevibus, capite nigro Caribbean at all, is widespread In 1783, the island was transferred spina incumbente. over North and South America. from British to French ownership as a part of the Treaty of Paris, the In 1787, Nils Samuel Swederus signing of which ended the American (1751–1833), a Swedish entomologist Revolutionary War. It is unknown who worked throughout Europe, how long Mr Laing held his beetles published the names and before transmitting them to Drury. descriptions of some beetles The collector was known to pay held in the collection of Dru travellers 6 pence for any interesting Drury (1724–1803) in London, insects they might bring him. including Scarabaeus pulcher, a specimen from Tobago. Swederus Heads on beetle specimens clearly did not recognise the frequently detach from their bodies, specimen as a composite; it was and in a case of mixed insect in fact two different specimens species it would be very easy to literally glued together. accidentally ‘fix’ a specimen with parts from another. Famously, a This invented insect went specimen of the Madagascar Sunset unrecognised as composite until moth Chrysiridia rhipheus, featured 1937, when entomologist Paul in Drury’s Illustrations, was also Norbert Schürhoff (1878–1939) When and where did this handsome assigned the wrong head. reported that the ‘species’ composite specimen come from, comprised the head and body and who placed the two pieces Drury’s collections were dispersed of two completely different together? Although in Drury’s at auction in 1805, where a large beetles. Remarkably, Schürhoff possession, the beetle did not number of the specimens were recognised this from Swederus’s feature in his elaborate Illustrations purchased by Alexander Macleay Latin description and not the of Natural History (three volumes, (1767–1848) and are now held in physical specimen. 1770–82), suggesting it came to him the Macleay Museum. Professor after publication. Swederus drafted Ratcliffe is currently working on Professor Brett Ratcliffe, from his descriptions in London before the taxonomic revision of the New the University of Nebraska State December 1785, so Scarabaeus World beetles to which Scarabaeus Museum, recently confirmed the pulcher must have come into pulcher belongs. body as that of a Gymnetis sp., Drury’s possession sometime matched with the head of a Cotinis between 1782 and 1785. Robert Blackburn is Curatorial sp. The two beetles are similar in Assistant, Macleay Museum size and shape, and are part of the Drury’s catalogues list only a single same taxonomic family, but they collector from Tobago, Mr Laing. Above: Holotype of Scarabaeus come from geographically distinct Tobago was a tumultuous place in pulcher Swederus, 1787 (Flower places: the Gymnetis beetle is a the 18th century, with English and beetle), Tobago, before 1785

28 School spirit in Vanuatu –

Kirk Huffman reports on the delicate balance of traditional education and new initiatives in Vanuatu.

The government of Vanuatu Various forms of traditional From the 1840s, Western styles of strongly supports Universal education systems and techniques education were introduced and Primary Education, but it is not existed across the 80+ inhabited run by Christian missionaries, who compulsory, and while the idea of islands that today make up Vanuatu, generally established churches sending children to school is widely but none involved writing. on the coastal areas of the larger accepted, not everyone goes. islands, hoping to attract converts Traditional education for the late from interior hills and smaller The reasons are complex but not Chief George Boë Mwaghumbani islands. Not until 1959–60 did unusual for this part of the Pacific, (d. 1992), of central Maewo Island, the colonial governments of the where geographical isolation is included memorising 1000 songs Anglo‑French Condominium of typical and linguistic and cultural and 200 his-‘stories’, along with the the New Hebrides develop secular diversity is the order of the day. prescribed ways to recount them. education initiatives for ni-Vanuatu. Even modest school fees can be an impossible burden, particularly in Other learning systems involved Even after independence in 1980, areas outside the cash economy. aspects common to Western education and Christianity were Some ni-Vanuatu (local inhabitants) education, with levels of knowledge seen to be one and the same, are dubious about the benefits to be obtained, dress codes and the same term, skul (school), of modern education, or even indicating a person’s educational is used for both in the Vanuatu antagonistic towards it. achievements, ‘entry fees’ payable national language, Bislama. and restrictions on access imposed.

29 The Bislama phrase “Bae mi godaon Across the nation, ni-Vanuatu cultural knowledge. Former VCC long skul” (“I will go down to school”) have worked to bridge the gap director Ralph Regenvanu (currently can be understood literally, or the between government schooling Minister of Lands) engaged support meaning may suggest converting and traditional models of learning. from UNESCO for the Rethinking to Christianity – and a letting go Lasting from the mid-1970s until Vanuatu Education Initiative, with of local educational and ritual it was destroyed by cyclone Uma emphasis on creating textbooks responsibilities. (1987), the Yaonanen Kastom Skul at with local content. Laowasapat in southwest Tanna, was Many knowledgeable ni-Vanuatu one of the most famous initiatives. In 2005, the first of the National fear that Western education does Cultural Council textbooks was not value local forms of knowledge A semi-spontaneous and hugely published: a four volume culture and responsibility. As one renowned successful ‘school’, it provided and history series available in chief said “It scrambles our brains; a learning place that was not English and French. This was it steals our children”. associated with any churches, followed, in 2010, by an eight volume taught in the local language, and teacher’s guide, the Teaching of The first president of the allowed students and teachers to Indigenous Knowledge and Resource Malvatumauri (National Council wear traditional costume. Management. But with three official of Chiefs), Chief Willy Bong Matur languages used in the national Maldo, was sympathetic to modern The timetable followed the rhythm curriculum (Bislama, English, education, but wary of it as well: of agricultural, weather and ritual French), the issue of maintaining “Moa skul, moa save, moa stupid” cycles. Graduates include the the strength of the 100+ living (“The more you go to school, the cultural liaison coordinator for languages spoken across the nation more you learn, the more stupid Tanna, the award-winning 2015 film is a concern. you (can) become”), was his famous that embodies many of the ideals comment. In other words, modern of the school. In 2011, Chief Alben Reuben education can give information or Sarawoh’bahap deployed his skills ‘data’, but it must be balanced with The national education system, as a Malakula-based fieldworker of kastom (knowledge) or the child assisted through the Vanuatu VCC to promote a parallel form of will grow without wisdom, respect Cultural Centre (VCC), also skul to sit alongside the government or an identity. recognises that the national system. Malakula’s South West Bay wellbeing is based on strong Kastom School curriculum promotes

30 local languages, knowledge and “English may be a better language This article is dedicated to the cultures, as well as kastom concepts to do international business. French spirits and memory of three of environmental protection. may be a better language to discuss recently deceased Vanuatu artistic and poetic endeavour. Cultural Centre fieldworkers: From the 1990s, the north Ni‑Vanuatu languages are definitely Chief Richard Leona Boëvudalua Pentecost-based Turaga Nation better than both these international Tungoro Vanuatu, of Loltong, north (an Indigenous movement) has languages if one is back in one’s Pentecost (d. 6 December 2015); been pushing further, creating a home and needs to talk about Chief Vira Joseph of Avunatare, Malo new written form of their language, the important things in life: Land, (d. 5 May 2016), and Jimmy Simeon inspired by sand drawings, for use in Language, Culture and Identity,” of V’nmavis, west coast Malakula the Bwatielen Borebore, Vovoraga, said His Excellency Odo Tevi, (d. 26 September 2016). Mwaguana i Gotovigi (the Melanesian Vanuatu Ambassador to the United Institute of Science, Philosophy, Nations in 2017. Kirk Huffman is Honorary Curator Humanity and Technology). (National Museum) Vanuatu Cultural Centre, and an Honorary Associate of the Macleay Museum

Page 29: “Go to kastom school and you can become a film Above left: In a kastom school. Yaonanen Kastom Skul star!” Nivhaal/Nah’wal-speaking cast of Tanna, awaiting students listen to their teacher, Jack Willy Lakai. the 2015 Sydney premier. On the left is ‘JJ’, the film’s Wearing the daily dress of their region, those with multilingual cultural coordinator. Photo: Kirk Huffman faces painted and ornaments are about to partake in a nipé dance ritual. Laowasapat, southwest Tanna, Opposite, left: Membership payment to initiate learning. September 1978. Photo: Kirk Huffman, courtesy of A group of young male children, having paid the required Vanuatu Cultural Centre pig price to Chief Edwil Kaising (with pig on left), and other rights holders, will pass through the sacred Above: Woven mat, Vanuatu, Transferred from the barricade (in background) to begin education into the Department of Anthropology, the University of Sydney preliminary levels of Nalawan Nemen. There are many 1965–79, Macleay Museum, ET86.2.11. The Macleay holds Nalawan – sacred ritual knowledge cycles, referred to by approximately 180 cultural objects from Vanuatu, some as a form of kustom ‘university’. Nemel Minduwo, including items such as mats and belts which are often Nindé language area, South West Bay, Malakula, September part of women’s contribution to the kastom ekonomi 1999. Photo: Kirk Huffman (custom economy). Kastom products can be used to pay school fees in some provincial areas and, when worn, Opposite, right: A mark of learning: hairstyle. different designs can signify an individual’s ritual In the Nivhaal/Nah’wal-speaking area in the interior status within their community. of southwest Tanna Island, young males undergoing a specialised and lengthy special education process wear the laboriously-braided nukül ritual hairstyle. Interior of southwest Tanna, 1990. Photo: Kirk Huffman

31 See detail right

Repair to remember – Helen Merritt reports on her internship in our conservation department, working on a significant Nicholson collection object.

32 My recent internship in the My first task was to examine and The final proposed step, an conservation lab involved document the vessel and assess attempt to slot a broken triangular documenting and treating an its condition. It had been through fragment back into position, was not elaborately decorated red-figure several previous restorations, undertaken as the risk of damage funerary pot, known as a nestoris. with re-adhered breaks, fills, was too high. It became clear that Red-figure pottery rose in popularity cracks and some in-painting. Two the piece had been ‘locked out’ and in the Greek cities in southern Italy fragments had become detached: would not fit back into place without during the late 5th century, and this a rosette disc that adorned one of removing other broken fragments. example was produced in Lucania. the handles and a small triangular piece from the body. It was a privilege to be able to work The decorations are attributed on this exquisite object and be part to the Primato Painter, one of the In consultation with the of making it ready for exhibition in last Lucanian vase painters from conservation team, I proposed the new Chau Chak Wing Museum. the 4th century BC. On one side, treatments to stabilise the pot with Heracles is depicted resting on a minimal intervention, to reduce the Helen Merritt has recently club, with a lion skin and a wreath, risk of further loss and improve its completed a Master of Cultural conversing with the goddess Nike, appearance and thus interpretation. Material Conservation at the who is holding a phiale, a shallow University of Melbourne, bowl piled with offerings. The First, the broken disc fragment specialising in objects. reverse side shows a draped Adonis was reattached to the vessel, with between two women, Aphrodite, a barrier coating in‑between to with a small bird, and Persephone, prevent any adhesive from entering holding a mirror. the ceramic pores. Opposite: Two views of the Lucanian red figure nestoris, Acquired at Sotheby’s in London in Next, the visibly distracting areas 340-320BC, attributed to 1946 by the Classical Association of white plaster infill from previous Primato Painter, Lucania, Italy, Nicholson Museum, NM46.46 then donated to the Nicholson repairs were painted: first with a Below left: The broken rosette Museum, the pot had once belonged removable barrier layer then black disc being re-adhered to the to the Earls of Moray and had acrylic paint to match the previous object, held in place with small conservation pillow weights probably been displayed at the in-painting which was similar in tone family seat at Doune Lodge near and gloss to the original surface. Below right: Helen Merritt at work in a conservation laboratory Stirling in Scotland. at the University of Melbourne

Detail of repair

33 Man bites dog –

Karen Alexander introduces an intriguing object from the Nicholson collection.

Tucked away in the Nicholson However, this was not their only On his arrival in Melbourne, Dr Hess collection store is a small selection role – the Xoloitzcuintli were also and his family were greeted by of objects from pre-Columbian companion animals, just as dogs vocal protestors demonstrating Mexico – some colourful, some are for many people today, and their against Germany’s actions in the whimsical, all intriguing. body heat was used to relieve the war, despite Hess’s own lack of pain of rheumatism. involvement. When Hess travelled A standout is a pottery vessel on to Sydney, the authorities were shaped like a Mexican hairless When the Spanish arrived in Mexico so concerned about the prospect of dog, the Xoloitzcuintli. The vessel, in the 16th century, they brought another protest they smuggled him dating to 1-400AD, is from Colima their own dogs. The European off the ship in secret. in western Mexico. It is coloured a dogs were bred with native dogs, deep red, with black painted details, eradicating some breeds. The He remained in Australia until 1959 and has a spout in the top of its Xoloitzcuintli were saved from when he was appointed German upright tail. interbreeding by Mesoamerican Ambassador to Mexico. During his peoples who hid dog populations in time as a diplomat, Hess built up The Xoloitzcuintli are an American mountain villages in western Mexico, an interesting collection of cultural native breed of hairless dog, prized including Colima. The breed has material. On retiring, he emigrated among Mesoamerican cultures. survived to this day though it is to Australia and made the generous A number of pottery objects from now uncommon. donation of Mexican objects he Mexico have been found depicting had acquired while ambassador the Xoloitzcuintli, all with fattened The Colima pottery dog vessel was to the Nicholson Museum. bellies, some with corn cobs in their presented to the Nicholson Museum mouths or wearing human-faced in 1983 by Dr Walther Hess. Karen Alexander was Curatorial masks and others dancing in pairs. Assistant, Nicholson Museum, Hess had a colourful career with the until April 2017. The fattened bellies, and the German Foreign Office, from 1921 association with corn, have led to 1965. He served as vice-consul researchers to conclude the to Poland in 1927 and in Jerusalem Xoloitzcuintli were bred to eat. from 1929 to 1932. During the Dog bones are frequently found by Second World War, he retired from archaeologists in faunal assemblages active service, returning to accept Above: Colima dog vessel, in Mesoamerican occupation sites, the position of German Ambassador 1-400AD, Colima, Mexico, ceramic, donated by Dr Walther Hess, 1983, which further support the theory. to Australia in 1952. Nicholson Museum, NM83.12

34 Making history – 1: Professor Nalini Joshi, artist Celeste Chandler and Professor Margaret Harris at the unveiling of Professor Joshi’s portrait. See story on page 18.

2: His Excellency Dr Stavros Kyrimis, Consul General of Greece, presents the University’s Dr Craig Barker with the Kosmas o Aitolos Award at the Australian 1 2 Hellenic Educators Association awards.

3: In March, Judy Birmingham, left, with former colleague Lydia Bushell, reflected on her life in archaeology. The full interview is available on our website.

4: University Archives Senior Archivist Nyree Morrison at the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World inscription ceremony, Canberra Museum and Gallery. See 3 4 story on page 2.

7 Please help us to conserve and grow

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35 Find your muse at Sydney University Museums

Whether you want to view July August an exhibition or attend a talk, we have plenty on offer. – – Saturday 1 July, 2–3 pm Saturday 5 August, 2–3pm Postcards from the Past: Postcards from the Past: For more information and to Venice and the Ancient World: Florence through the eyes view the latest timetable, visit Byzantine and Roman Models* of a 15th-century artisan* sydney.edu.au/museums Dr Robert Veel, Academy Travel Dr Kathleen Olive, Academy Travel and click on ‘What’s on’. Cost: free Cost: free Unless otherwise stated, Wednesday 5 July, 10am–4pm Wednesday 16 August, 6pm all events take place at the School Holiday Activity Day: On the Consciousness of Nicholson Museum. Mummies Alive! Cephalopods Discover the world of ancient Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith, Egypt in a fun-filled activity day University of Sydney for children aged 5–12 years. Cost: free Cost: free Thursday 17 August, 6 for 6.30pm Tuesday 11 July, 10am–4pm Knole Unlocked: The secret School Holiday Activity Day: Art history of a country mansion A day filled with arts and craft Nathalie Cohen, Museum of London activities for children aged Archaeology 5–12 years. Cost: $40, $30 for Friends and their Cost: free guests, $10 for students. Includes light refreshments. Thursday 13 July, 10am–4pm School Holiday Activity Day: Saturday 26 August, 10am–4pm Volcanoes University Open Day Budding volcanologists can explore The Nicholson Museum will be open the science and history of volcanoes as part of the University’s Open Day in this fun activity day for children celebrations. aged 5–12 years. Cost: free Cost: free Wednesday 30 August, 6pm Wednesday 19 July, 6 for 6.30pm Who owns the past? Reviving Kubaba: uniting the Complex conversations on body of a Hittite goddess with NSW Aboriginal heritage her newly discovered head The Macleay Museum’s annual Dr Jamie Fraser, Senior Curator, Being Collected lecture by Aboriginal Nicholson Museum and Torres Strait Islander curators, Cost: $40, $30 for Friends and their this year explores the difficult issues guests, $10 for students. Includes around kinship, moral rights and light refreshments. world cultural heritage. Cost: free

Silver denarius, minted Rome, obverse: bust of Sabina; reverse: seated Concordia, Nicholson Museum, NM2004.1830

36 October Current – exhibitions Wednesday 4 October, 10am–4pm School Holiday Activity Day: – Chinese Art Please note: the Macleay Museum A free day of arts and craft activities and the University Art Gallery are for children aged 5–12 years. now closed as we prepare for the Cost: free public opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2019. Friday 6 October, 10am–4pm Bronze drachm, minted School Holiday Activity Day: Flight Nicholson Museum Alexandria, obverse: bust of Antinous; reverse: Antinous From feathers to rockets and –– Alpha and Omega: tales of on horseback, Nicholson boomerangs to Greek myths, find transformation Museum, NM2004.740 out how flight works and how birds –– The sky and the sea: ancient and flying have inspired artists and Cypriot art storytellers throughout history. –– Lego Pompeii Cost: free –– Death Magic –– Memento: remembering Saturday 7 October, 2–3pm Roman lives September Postcards from the Past: –– Tombs Tells and Temples: Amarna: Egypt’s City of the Sun* excavating the Near East – Dr Conni Lord, Sydney University –– Actors, Athletes and Saturday 2 September, 2–3pm Museums Academics: life in Postcards from the Past: Ancient Cost: free ancient Greece Qatna (Tell Mishrefeh) and its royal tomb* Wednesday 18 October, All Nicholson Museum exhibitions Dr Paul Donnelly, Sydney University 6 for 6.30pm are ongoing. Museums Aerial Photography and Archaeology Cost: free in Syria and Lebanon Dr Daniela Helbig, Wednesday 13 September, 6pm University of Sydney An irreplaceable heritage: recent Cost: $40, $30 for Friends and their discoveries in William Macleay’s Follow us on Twitter at guests, $10 for students. Includes priceless mammal collection twitter.com/sydneyunimuseum light refreshments. Dr Harry Parnaby, Australian or find us on Facebook Museum by searching for ‘Sydney Cost: free University Museums’.

Wednesday 27 September, 10am‑4pm All details are correct at the time of publication, School Holiday Activity Day: however, events may change due to circumstances Archaeology beyond our control. Please A day of arts and craft activities visit our website for up‑to‑date information: for children aged 5–12 years. sydney.edu.au/museums Discover what it is like to work If you wish to contact as an archaeologist. the Macleay Museum, the * Sponsor of Nicholson Museum or the Cost: free the 2017 series University Art Gallery, Postcards from please see inside front the Past cover for our details.

37 In 1890, John Henry Challis gave an everlasting gift.

Today, his generosity still inspires engineering marvels, literary classics, legal reforms, historic discoveries, philosophical insights and medical advances.

John Henry Challis (1806 – eternity)

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