Collecting at the Crossroads: Anthropology, Art and Cultural Change (1939-85)

The Berndt collection is a nationally significant collection of Aboriginal art and material culture, with aspects recognised under the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. By undertaking research on this collection we will contribute to Australia’s national interest by (1) recognising and celebrating of the rich diversity of Australian Indigenous cultural heritage, (2) achieving a better understanding of the complex historical and social dimensions of museum collecting in Australia, and (3) developing an appreciation of the complicated history of the relationships between the Berndts and the Aboriginal people they worked with. Our collaborative research into the rich collections of early desert art will also cause a rethinking of the history and development of Aboriginal art production, a sector which today provides important economic and health outcomes across remote Aboriginal communities.