issue no. 11 JUL 2015 ART . CULTURE . ANTIQUITIES . NATURAL HISTORY SYDNEY CONTENTS UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS O1 WILD ADVENTURES 18 LONG LIVE THE QUEEN Comprising the Macleay Museum, Nicholson Museum 04 TREASURED TITAN 20 PLAYING PRANKS and University Art Gallery EYES ON THE PRIZE COLLAGE DAYS Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 06 23 4.30pm and the first Saturday of 09 THE RICH TAPESTRY 24 OUT OF THIS WORLD every month 12 to 4pm Closed on public holidays. 10 WE’VE GOT MUMMY’S EYES 27 CAMBRIDGE’S CYPRIOT General admission is free. TREASURE TROVE Become a fan on Facebook and 12 MEN IN TIGHTS follow us on Twitter. 15 BACK TO LIFE 30 OUT AND ABOUT Sydney University Museums Administration 32 WHAT’S ON T +61 2 9351 2274 F +61 2 9351 2881 E [email protected] Education and Public Programs To book a school excursion, an ANCIENT EGYPT adult education tour or a University heritage tour REINVENTED T +61 2 9351 8746 E [email protected] A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR MACLEAY MUSEUM Our new Egyptian Gallery in the Macleay Building, Gosper Lane Nicholson Museum is now complete (off Science Road) and was opened with a Friends of T +61 2 9036 5253 F +61 2 9351 5646 the Nicholson Museum party and talk E [email protected] in May. It was a memorable evening. NICHOLSON MUSEUM The gallery’s design contrasts with In the southern entrance to other parts of the museum. Curated by the Quadrangle Michael Turner, Death Magic provides T +61 2 9351 2812 F +61 2 9351 7305 a fresh look at the Egyptian collection E [email protected] and a fresh approach to its display and interpretation. Objects that have spent UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY much of their life in storage are on display The exhibition includes two of Pardington’s War Memorial Arch, the Quadrangle and the Egyptian collection is seen in exquisite photographs that we recently T +61 2 9351 6883 acquired through the Renshaw Bequest. F +61 2 9351 7785 a new light – literally, as we make the E [email protected] change to planet‑friendly LED lighting. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, stone tools are tangible evidence MUSE edited by Michael Turner. The Macleay Museum exhibition Dhaga Produced by Marketing and ngiyahni ngan.girra – Wiradjuri for of occupation, ingenuity, resilience and Communications, the University of ‘Where we all meet’– combines the survival. A new exhibition, Written in Stone, Sydney, May 2015. drawn from the University’s collections and 15/4827 techniques and knowledge of the past ISSN 1449‑0420 with images and materials of the present curated by Matt Poll, shows the diversity ABN 15 211 513 464 CRICOS 00026A in a stunning profile of Wiradjuri culture. and proficiency of stone tool production It features kangaroo‑skin cloaks, belts, across the continent (early August). Cover image: Dangakura, a member headdresses, and a possum‑skin blanket Recent donations have enabled the of the performance troupe Wild made by artists Lynette Riley and Diane purchase of some specialist conservation Australia¹. Studio portrait, Sydney, June 1893. Photo: Henry King; Riley McNaboe (25 May – 1 August). equipment that will greatly assist us to Macleay Museum HP99.1.11 Barbara Campbell: ex avibus will be conserve the University’s diverse cultural This edition of MUSE contains images and scientific collections. A special thanks of Aboriginal people who have died. 87t 3kg presented at the University Art Gallery We acknowledge that seeing names to those supporters who make these CO2-e CO2-e (2 May – 26 June 2015) and at the and photographs of dead people may Saved Saved Macleay Museum (25 May – 1 August purchases possible. cause distress and sadness in some Aboriginal communities. 2015). Campbell has followed the On a sadder note, we acknowledge journey of migratory shore birds on the the passing of Elizabeth (Liz) Jefferys, David Ellis photograph: Martin Ho East Asian‑Australasian Flyway. The who was natural history curator at the exhibition is curated by Katrina Liberou. Macleay Museum from 2006 to 2010. 2.9t 2.2t 3kg The entomology collections in particular CO2-e CO2-e CO2-e The University Art Gallery has Reparative Saved Saved Saved Aesthetics (4 July – 25 September 2015) benefited from her enthusiastic and curated by Susan Best and featuring methodical approach. the work of Fiona Pardington from New DAVID ELLIS Zealand and Rosangela Renno from Brazil. This publication is printed on environmentally DIRECTOR, MUSEUMS AND responsible paper, using vegetable-based inks. Their work adopts a reparative approach Printed on ENVI Recycled 50/50 by Spicers, CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT which is NCOS certified. This is a PEFC-certified to representing the disempowered. paper, containing 50 percent recycled fibre, made from elemental and process chlorine free pulp derived from sustainably managed forests and non-controversial sources. ENVI Recycled 50/50 is Certified Carbon Neutral and Australian Paper is an ISO 14001 certified mill. WILD ADVENTURES In the late 19th century, a touring show featuring Aboriginal people was widely publicised. A recent exhibition, featuring an image from the Macleay Museum, is expanding our understanding of their story, writes Rebecca Conway. ISSUE 11 JULY 2015 1 Previous page, top: Yangala and Kuthanta demonstrate fire–making, Sydney, June 1893. Photo: Henry King; Macleay Museum HP99.1.84 Previous page, bottom: ‘Wermugga ceremony’ Bondi (or possibly Tamarama) Beach, Sydney, December 1892. Photo: Charles Kerry; Macleay Museum HP 88.14.15 Yamurra. Studio portrait, Sydney, June 1893. Photo: Henry King (Macleay Museum HP99.1.77) “My intention was to make a tour of the world delivering a series of ethnological lectures on the aborigines of Australia in order to dispel prevailing ideas with regard to natives of this continent … I went to considerable trouble and expense to select representative men from the wild tribes of the West and North of Qld, where they, so far, have not been contaminated by civilisation.” – Archibald Meston, reported in The Queenslander, 14 January 1893. Journalist and aspiring politician Archibald Meston’s so‑called Wild Australia show toured Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from November 1892 to July 1893. In Brisbane the Aboriginal men and women selected for the troupe camped on the river bend at St Lucia, a site in the grounds of the present day University of Queensland. In Sydney they performed at the Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds, an amusement park at Tamarama Beach popularly referred to as The Bondi Aquarium, as well as at the School of Arts (probably the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts in Pitt Street). In Melbourne they performed at the Exhibition Hall, where they were unsympathetically abandoned by Meston after a series of management disputes. He returned to Queensland and junior partner Brabazon Harry Purcell stayed on to face winter with the troupe. The Queensland government eventually funded their trip home. Paradoxically, Meston continued to present himself as an expert on and advocate for Aboriginal people, taking on the role of Protector of Aborigines for Southern Queensland a few years after these events. 2 Historical re‑enactment, Brisbane, 1892; Aboriginal warriors played by members of Wild Australia surround a “squatters’ tent”. Squatters are possibly Meston, the show’s ‘owner’ right, and his junior partner Purcell. Photo: Will Stark; Macleay Museum HP83.3.13 In 2013, I wrote a short piece about Meston and the Aboriginal performance group after the discovery of two card mounted photographs with Christmas greetings in the Macleay Museum collection (MUSE, Issue 4, March 2013). Subsequently, the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum asked to borrow the featured image Memmott provides a tantalising glimpse Aird has identified the Macleay collection for a show it was developing, and in the words of Yamurra reported by a image loaned to the Queensland in February this year I attended the journalist in Brisbane, he said he had exhibition as the work of Will Stark, opening of Wild Australia: Meston’s had plenty of fun, “a budgery time taken in Brisbane in 1892. ‘Wild Australia’ Show 1892–1893. altogether”, that “Sydney and Melbourne One of the most exciting outcomes for great big places” … “but cold, my word!” Commissioned by Director Diana Young, the Macleay is applying the project’s the show is based on a project initiated Large format portraits form the research to our holding. Since viewing by Professor Paul Memmott of the centerpiece of the exhibition. Taken the exhibition and its catalogue I Aboriginal Environments Research by three pre‑eminent photographers have been able to locate an additional Centre, University of Queensland, of the day, Henry King, Charles Kerry 26 images of the troupe within our and curated by Aboriginal photo and William Lindt, they offer a powerful collections, and have identified 13 people historian and anthropologist, Michael “face‑to‑face” meeting with the by name. Many images were previously Aird and Mandana Mapar of the members of Wild Australia. titled simply “Queensland Aboriginal”, Queensland Museum. and we can now provide more respectful ALTERCATIONS RE-ENACTED and meaningful captions and narratives. Memmott explained a major Also featured in the show are group achievement was the deciphering, Our intersection with this exhibition has portraits and scenes capturing the through photo captions and press given us insights into an intriguing story troupes varied performances, from articles, of people’s names and cultural of Australia’s past and marks the start of demonstrations of traditional activities affiliations. Cross‑comparison of images a journey to learn more about the images such as making fire, to corroboree and careful matching of facial features in the present as the project intends to and dances. Perhaps most historically and distinctive scarification also assisted continue research by consulting with fascinating are the re‑enactments of in recognising the performers, with relevant communities and possibly altercations between Aboriginal people 27 individuals from nine language groups descendants of the performers.