51����

This spring, Director of University Museums Anja Chávez oversaw the temporary return of the artworks to 51����.

“This might be one of our most important moments,” said President Brian W. Casey. “Universities must have an ethical component or they shouldn’t be operating.”

The artworks were discovered in the Picker collection in 2004. Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies worked with colleagues at 51���� in the repatriation of the works and in developing 51����’s ongoing relationship with the Noongar people and with Curtin University, bringing 51���� students to the southwest of Western Australia for the last 13 years.

In recognition of the significance of the artworks’ return visit to 51����, the University welcomed several distinguished visitors from Curtin University and the Carrolup Elders Reference Group: Deborah Terry, vice-chancellor of Curtin University; Simon Forrest, elder-in-residence at Curtin University, and Tony Hansen, both members of the Carrolup Elders Reference Group; Chris Malcolm, director of the John Curtin Gallery; and Dorothy Bagshaw, a Noongar leader and former resident at the Carrolup Native Settlement.

A symposium, Museums and Reconciliation, began the festivities. Presenter Margo Smith, director and curator of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia, spoke on the need for museums to create relationships with the people whose art they represent through truth telling and deep listening. “Giving back is only part of it,” she said. “Museums need to develop ongoing conversations and relationships to serve the people whose art and culture they represent.”

, associate professor of art and art history and director of the museum studies program, and Christy DeLair, curator of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, also took part in the symposium. Marlowe discussed the ways museums address the legacies of racism and colonialism present in statues in their collections. “Objects on display have multiple meanings,” she said. “The first step towards reconciliation can be inviting members of Indigenous communities into the conversation.”

DeLair gave an impassioned presentation on the need for museums to interrogate their practices in the process of decolonization and to develop relationships with Indigenous communities. “Decolonization is a process, not a goal,” she said.

The ongoing relationships developed between 51����, Curtin, and the Noongar people were apparent at the exhibition’s opening reception.

Tony Hansen, member of the Carrolup Elders Reference Group and co-convener of the Bringing Them Home Committee, said, “I’ll cherish this moment for the rest of my life, to know that I’ve come to the former resting place of the artworks, knowing and walking around the college and embracing every moment of it and connecting the spirits and taking the spirits home with us.”

Oneida Nation Bear Clan Representative Brian Patterson welcomed the Australian visitors with a traditional blessing, thus ensuring the beginning of even more connections and relationship building between 51����, Curtin, the Noongar people, and the local Indigenous community upon whose land 51���� is situated.