ProfessorGaye Sculthorpe

Museum exhibitions; collecting histories; provenance research; Aboriginal
material culture, museum methodologies; repatriation; Aboriginal history;
museums and communities.

Knowledge Areas:

Aboriginal material culture

Repatriation issues and practice

Interpretation of difficult histories

Provenance research

Museums and communities

Projects

The Great Exhibitions and their Lost Indigenous Objects. ARC Discovery Indigenous Project  

2024-2028. DI240100030. Working with partners at Musee du quai Branly, MAA Cambridge,

Flinders University, University of Queensland, Australian National University and UTAS.

Mobilising Aboriginal Objects in International Museums ARC Discovery Project
2020-2023 DP20000102212, led by Assoc. Professor Maria Nugent (ANU, the
British Museum, MAA Cambridge)

Collecting the West ARC Linkage Project 2016-2022 LP160100078) led by
Professors Andrea Witcomb (Deakin University) and Alistair Paterson
(University of Western Australia)

The Relational Museum and its Objects (ANU, National Museum of Australia, the
British Museum, Wagga Wagga City Council) ARC Linkage Project 2016-2023
LP150100423

Expertise Summary

My expertise derives from academic training in anthropology, history, museum
studies and Aboriginal Studies combined with knowledge gained from decades of
experience working as a curator of Indigenous Australian collections in state,
national and international museums. More specifically, I have expertise in
Aboriginal material culture and curatorial studies, with a particular research
focus on 18th and 19th century collections. Through ten years work as curator
and Head of Oceania at the British Museum including research in regional
museums, I have an unrivalled knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander cultural materials in the UK, and to a lesser extent in France. I
have undertaken field research in Tasmania, Victoria and Central Australia. My
research interests include Museum Studies, Museum Anthropology, Aboriginal
history, Aboriginal material culture, histories of collecting and issues of
repatriation. Many of my publications derive from curatorial projects I have
undertaken and address museum theory and practice, provenance research, cross-
cultural relations, exhibition-making and community engagement with
collections. The audience for my research outputs has included the general
public, Indigenous communities as well as academic audiences, notably
'Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation' (in association with an
exhibition I curated at the British Museum in 2015) and more recently,
'Ancestors, artefacts, empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish
Museums' in 2021. Through my work as a Member of the National Native Title
Tribunal and the Australian Heritage Council, I have expertise in issues
relating to Aboriginal cultural heritage and native title including knowledge
of mediation and facilitation practices.