Lists and letters: an analysis of some exchanges between British museums, collectors and Australian aborigines (1895-1910)

Abstract

Using the collecting of H.J. Hillier and Emile Clement as its basis, this thesis examines the movement of collections of Aboriginal objects from Australia to Britain, the relationships between collectors and curators which underlay their movement, and the anthropological discourses in Britain with which they interacted. This analysis is undertaken using three sondages of the historical terrain, against which the relationships between the three agents involved in the collection process- the museum, the collector, and the Aboriginal people from whom the objects were obtained - took place. Whilst I focus on the viewpoint of the collector, I excavate, or bring to light, something of the each agent's perspective on the collecting process. In particular, I examine the interstice between the moment when objects are collected in the field, and the time of their arrival in the museum. Within this gap time passes, distances are travelled by people, objects and letters, and relationships between collectors and curators enacted. An understanding of the events which occur, and the relationships which take place within this space is essential to developing an informed understanding of what such collections represent. I argue that rather than being seen as collections which reflect the culture of Aboriginal people, they in fact reflect the actions of Aboriginal people, collectors and curators, and embody the interactions between each of these agents. I conclude the thesis by suggesting that collections like Hillier's and Clement's can be interpreted as having come about through the tension between two contrasting views of the place of collection. One view is set out in the scientific rationality of the museum, and the other is inherent in the indigenous understanding of place. Viewing collection as the mediation between two understandings of place acknowledges the complex interactions between curator, collector and Aboriginal people which have resulted in these objects being in British museums. Further, it acknowledges the agency of each of these participants, the colonial context in which this collecting occurred, and the specificity of the place in which it occurred.