Barks, Birds & Billabongs symposium at the National Museum of Australia

16.03.09 | by Sabine Haider

From the 16 – 20 November 2009, The National Museum of Australia (Canberra) is presenting a symposium that will investigate the significant and often controversial legacy of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948.

From the 16 – 20 November 2009, The National Museum of Australia (Canberra) is presenting Barks, Birds & Billabongs, a symposium that will investigate the significant and often controversial legacy of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948. This symposium will be organised around three core themes: Histories, Legacies and Continuing Traditions.

'Led by photographer and self-taught ethnologist Charles P Mountford, the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition is one of the most significant scientific expeditions ever mounted in Australia - and also one of the least understood.

A team of 17 researchers and support staff undertook the seven-month odyssey, working from three principal bases in Arnhem Land. From various disciplinary perspectives, they investigated the people and the environment of the region.

In addition to ethnologists, archaeologists, photographers and film-makers, the expedition included a botanist, a mammalogist, an ichthyologist, an ornithologist and a team of nutritional scientists and Indigenous guides.'

The symposium will reflect the interdisciplinary makeup of the expedition itself. The National Geographic Society and Smithsonian Institution will be represented. The symposium will include a diverse range of stimulating and innovative speakers, giving presentations appealing to both specialised scholars as well as to the general public. The final day will include workshops or master classes, targeted at special interest groups, Indigenous researchers or postgraduates specialising in cross-cultural research. Access to the Museum’s substantial holdings of 1948 material will also be provided.

Central Art would like to encourage you to attend this symposium and visit their website at www.nma.gov.au/research/centre_for_historical_research/conferences_and_seminars/barks_birds_billabongs_expedition_arnhem_land/ for more information.

Materials courtesy of the National Museum of Canberra.

Additional Photos: