A new 10-year plan launched today by the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) aims to transform the relationship between the sector and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
The highly anticipated First Peoples Roadmap released at the AMAGA 2019 national conference in Alice Springs, commits the nation’s museums to working hand in hand with Indigenous peoples in the representation of their cultures and communities in these institutions.
The plan, First Peoples: a roadmap for enhancing Indigenous engagement in museums and galleries, also sets new goals for professional opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in museums, and outlines strategies for involving such communities in the ongoing stewardship of First Peoples’ collections.
Written by leading Indigenous expert on Indigenous protocol, Terri Janke, the Roadmap follows two-years of consultation between communities, and museums and galleries around the country.
“Today we are embarking on a 10-year program to transform the sector’s relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Roadmap establishes core principles for museums and galleries to work with Indigenous communities. Developing respectful and trusting relationships are key to transforming our cultural sector,” said Ms Janke.
“There are many different starting points for Australian museums and galleries, but they are all aimed in the same direction of profoundly changing relationships and representation of Indigenous culture in Australia,” said Ms Janke.
AMaGA National President, Robin Hirst, said that “as a representative organisation for museum and galleries, AMaGA sees Indigenous engagement as in integral part of the museum and gallery business.”
“This is one of the most important undertakings ever taken by AMaGA which believes the Roadmap will be crucial to securing reconciliation,” said Mr Hirst.
Senior Indigenous curator and the head of the National Museum of Australia’s Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Margo Neale, said “this is an Indigenous-led call to action for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to lead the way into our shared future”.