by Sally May
2000 The Last Frontier? Acquiring the American-Australian Scientific Expedition Ethnographic Collection 1948, Unpublished B.A. (Honours) Thesis, Flinders University of South Australia.
This is a study of the influences of Western institutions and individuals on the formation of Indigenous Australian... more
This is a study of the influences of Western institutions and individuals on the formation of Indigenous Australian ethnographic collections. More specifically, it is concerned with the collection strategies employed by these Western institutions and individuals during the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition (AASEAL). The expedition involved three major base camps: Groote Eylandt, Yirrkala and Oenpelli and took place three years after the end of the Second World War. It represents the political, social and economic life, priorities and aims of the time. Following the expedition, the collection of ethnographic artefacts was distributed to ten different institutions around Australia and the United States of America.
While many researchers have viewed Indigenous Australian ethnographic collections as uncontaminated evidence of the cultures from which the material was acquired, more recently questions have been asked about the context of the materials, the outside influences on its composition and, in short, whether they are more representative of Indigenous cultures or Western cultures. An analysis of the AASEAL ethnographic collections showed trends in the biases of the Western researchers and institutions and the impact of overarching theories of human nature on colonial collecting is clearly visible in this study. Social Darwinism, colonial guilt and the Great Chain of Being all impacted upon the formation and the present composition of these collections despite all these theories having come under serious scrutiny in the preceding years.
Bark paintings, analysed as an example of the categories of artefact collected during AASEAL, have disclosed their significant impact on museums and art galleries following World War Two. Of particular consequence is the realisation that for many art galleries in Australia, these artworks were the first examples of Indigenous Australian art acquired. This emphasises the impact of these paintings and their influence on future acquisitions particularly by art galleries. Artistic artefacts were ceasing to be viewed by Western society as ethnographic artefacts that belonged in museums. These paintings assisted and perhaps instituted a move towards the Indigenous Australian art being considered for its aesthetic qualities and equal to Western art in Western minds.
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