Museums, Memory and Healing

On 22 May, Museum Victoria and Monash University hosted a symposium at Melbourne Museum entitled Museums, Memory and Healing. Speakers and attendees gathered to discuss the role of museums in acknowledging the memories of individuals and communities.
 
Ali Kangela Hlongwane discussed his curatorial work in two South African museums - the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum and MuseuMAfricA, where Ali has inherited apartheid-era records and interpretation of African objects. Ali’s work is to reconcile ‘official’ accounts of South Africa’s complex and brutal history with the personal memories of South Africans.

Professor Lenore Manderson, a medical anthropologist from Monash University, drew on museums and memorials of the Holocaust and Apartheid in arguing for a diverse approach to presenting history, and of the need to recognise the long-term effects of colonisation and racist policies on Indigenous Australians.
 
Lindy Allen, Rosemary Wrench and Lorraine Coutts from MV’s Indigenous Cultures Department spoke about collaborations with Aboriginal communities. Lorraine as the Roving Curator provides local support to Victorian Aboriginal communities in curating and managing their own cultural collections and exhibitions, while Lindy and Rosemary’s ongoing engagement with Lamalama people from Cape York has proved rewarding for all involved. At the core of the Lamalama project is the Donald Thomson Collection, on long term loan from the University of Melbourne and the Thomson family.
 
The collection has an extensive archive of images, objects and papers from the late 1920s relating to Lamalama people, who in 1961 were forced off their land. Lamalama elders have been fighting over two decades to gain title to land and in the process sought out the collection. In doing so they have reconnected with their past and have provided important insights into a largely undocumented history. Donald Thomson’s engaging images have prompted a wealth of memories and revealed knowledge that will live on with future generations. A selection of these is presented in Bunjilaka’s A View on History. Lamalama people are “so proud their story is being told in the museum,” says Lindy.
 
The symposium demonstrated the similarities in approach of museums here in Melbourne and South Africa. “It’s always good to find out what’s happening in other countries, and particularly when there are indigenous people involved such as Ali,” says Lindy who feels that the symposium was a valuable opportunity to connect people doing related work and share their understanding. “It reinforces for us that museums are important vehicles of social change as we highlight issues and stories that are part of an oral tradition.”