Name: Theft and return of cultural materials
Start: 2024-07-06T14:00:00+10:00
End: 2024-07-06T15:00:00+10:00
Location: La Trobe Art Institute

In 1878, cultural items made by Dja Dja Wurrung people were presented in Paris in the British Colonies pavilion at the Universal Exhibition of that year.
The display included boomerangs, shields, spears, leangles, digging sticks, and woven baskets. These items were sent by the Burke Museum in Beechworth, who had purchased the collection 20 years earlier from Reynell Eveleigh Johns, a prolific colonist collector whose unethical and illegitimate method were typical of the era. In Beechworth and Paris, the artefacts were displayed in a trophy arrangement, with scant information and no acknowledgement of their makers.
After Paris 1878, the items returned to Beechworth where they remained for another 140 years. Following research and collaboration between the Dja Dja Wurrung people and the Burke Museum, 20 artefacts returned home to Djandak, to Country, and to the care of the Dja Dja Wurrung community in 2018. Bendigo Art Gallery now serves as their Place of Keeping.
Rodney Carter, Djaara CEO and Dja Dja Wurrung Elder will share insights into his long-running research into historic Dja Dja Wurrung cultural materials in museum collections, and the profound significance of the return of the cultural objects that travelled to Paris and back over 140 years ago.
Rodney will be joined by Dr Jocelyn (Joss) Bardot, Australian National University, for a discussion about the Dja Dja Wurrung material travelling to Paris, and the phenomenon of ‘World’s Fairs’ during this intensive period of dispersal of Aboriginal cultural materials.
Cultural advice
This session will include a discussion of sensitive subject matter, including colonial violence, cultural destruction, and names of deceased people.
Saturday 6 July 2024
2 PM – 3 PM
La Trobe Art Institute, 121 View Street, Bendigo.
Admission: Free. Bookings required.