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Artefact stoush risks future loans

By Georgina Safe

22 October 2004 - International loans to Australian museums and galleries are at risk unless three disputed indigenous artefacts are returned to Britain, says former National Museum of Australia director Dawn Casey.

In written advice to the Victorian Government Casey says, "notwithstanding the rarity and cultural and historical significance of the artefacts", the consequences of keeping them in Australia would "far outweigh the benefits".

"In my opinion, the impacts of such a decision would include no further loans to any Australian museums including art galleries," Casey says.

The items are a ceremonial headdress and two bark etchings from the 1850s, on loan to Museum Victoria from the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. They should have been returned by September 30, after the Etched on Bark exhibition at the Melbourne Museum closed in June.

However, the Dja Dja Wurrung Native Title Group, which claims traditional ownership of the items, has a won a series of temporary cultural protection orders preventing their return.

Nuseum Victoria, which is contractually obliged to return the items, has taken action in the Federal Court to overturn the emergency declarations, which have been issued under federal Aboriginal heritage laws.

The Dja Dja Wurrung have also lodged a separate submission with the Victorian Government.

Victoria's Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings has the power to compulsorily acquire the items or issue a permanent declaration that they remain in Australia.

But in her submission on the issue - a copy of which has been obtained by The Australian - Casey advises the minister against such action.

She warns that for the sake of the three disputed artefacts, 40,000 other indigenous objects and human remains held in overseas institutions "would most probably never be seen in Australia again".

International institutions have until now been willing to lend their collections of indigenous art to Australian museums.

For example, in 2001 Cambridge University lent 60 Torres Strait Islander objects for a touring exhibition called Past Time.

Casey says there is "no doubt" such loans to Australia and elsewhere will end if the disputed artefacts are not returned. "Museums in Europe ... would cease to [lend] other indigenous people's cultural material to their countries of origin," she says.

The topic has been highlighted this week at a seminar hosted by the Institute of Arts and Law in London.

The seminar, called Art Loans: Appraising the Loan Environment, draws attention to the "risks involved in lending art overseas" and singles out the bark paintings as a case study.

"Laws in borrower countries may be hostile to the return of the loan," the IAL website says. "Every responsible museum owes a duty to guard against this and other threats."

Casey, who is chairwoman of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne, also told Jennings most indigenous collections were so fragile it was not feasible to hand them back to local communities.

Gary Murray, a spokesman for the Dja Dja Wurrung, has called Casey an "apologist for the museum fraternity" and says she has not consulted the group about its concerns.

"It's an ignorant perspective because she doesn't know the Dja Dja Wurrung," he says. "She doesn't know the uniqueness and cultural significance of these artefacts. If it was Donald Bradman's remains being held by the British Museum, all hell would break loose to get them back."

Casey claims in her submission that Murray was a member of Museum Victoria's indigenous advisory committee during preparations for the Etched on Bark exhibition.

"The question needs to be asked whether there was an intention to lodge the request for an emergency declaration during the planning stages," Casey says.

Jennings says he is considering Casey's advice and will not make a decision on the artefacts until the Federal Court case is resolved.

"One of my overriding concerns will be the long-term aspirations of Aboriginal people right around Australia to ensure the repatriation of human remains and artefacts," he says.

Museum Victoria chief executive Patrick Greene has declined to comment.

But a statement from the museum says "extensive discussions" with the Dja Dja Wurrung - exploring options for long-term loans and research funds - "have yielded no resolution".

This has left it with "no option but to pursue action to challenge the legal impediments preventing fulfilment of its contractual obligations".

The statement says the barks were commissioned works or freely given to John Hunter Kerr in the 1850s. They were later acquired by the British institutions after they were shown in Paris at the 1855 Universal Exhibition.

A directions hearing for the case will be heard in the Federal Court on November 9.

Source: Australian

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