The Relational Museum and its Objects

The project explored the role of the concept 'relational museum' in enabling the rich resources of cultural institutions to contribute to bringing different communities together. Centred on Indigenous Australian collections in the UK and Ireland, it demonstrated ways the relationships between museum and source communities could be a central pillar of the process of collection management. In addition to uncovering many previously unknown objects and collections, the project created an environment for further collaboration and demonstrated how Universities as research and teaching institutions can play a major role in facilitating the relationships between museums and communities to the benefit both of those communities and of wider society contribute to new museum practice and museum development in Australia.