Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation is a challenge to review

Reviewing Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation, which opened last week at London’s British Museum, is a challenge.
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Shell Necklace, Displayed at the Great Exhibition, London, 1851. Maireener shell and fibre. Oyster Cove, Tasmania, before 1851 © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Sponsored by BP, the collaborative exhibition draws on Australian Aboriginal objects and artefacts, many of which were taken from disparate parts of the country during first-wave British colonisation. These now form part of the museum’s archival collection (AKA spoils of British colonisation). More recent works – in some cases by practising contemporary Australian Aboriginal artists – are also on display.

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Christine Nicholls
About the Author
Christine Nicholls is a contributor to arts magazine, Realtime.