How we can use virtual displays to learn about our collections Written by Sophie Price, Assistant Curator, Anthropology Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre (TATSICC)   For many years, if you strolled past Museum of Tropical Queensland to the end of Flinders Street in Gurrambilbarra (Townsville), you’d reach the cultural hub that was the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre. The centre … Continue reading From showcase to online gallery

Wednesday 7 September is Indigenous Literacy Day – a national day to raise awareness and funds to support literacy in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. It aims to improve access to educational resources for these communities, as well as create greater opportunity for First Nations voices in publishing. Lead by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), it is also a chance to celebrate the revitalisation and … Continue reading Celebrating First Nations Languages this Indigenous Literacy Day

Recently, a species of skink, Lerista anyara was described by Dr Andrew Amey and his colleagues Patrick Couper and Dr Jessica Worthington-Wilmer. Found in the remote Olkola National Park in north Queensland, the skink was discovered by consultants working with First Nations Traditional Owners, the Olkola people, on the Kimba Plateau, in Cape York, following Bush Blitz, a species discovery program. The Olkola people who … Continue reading Learning about cultural heritage in field work

by Imelda Miller, Curator, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Indigenous Studies As we come to the end of National Reconciliation Week 2021, it is an opportunity to reflect on the significance of Mabo Day, and how it demonstrates the important ongoing connection to country for our First Nation’s communities across Queensland. Home means different things to different people. For Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders … Continue reading The legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo: Mabo Day

By Julia Waters, Records Manager, Queensland Museum Each year National Reconciliation Week reminds many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families of the changes that occurred after the 1967 Referendum on 27 May. My family lived at Inala and we were like so many other families in Housing Commission communities across Queensland. My parents were labourers. My father, Len Waters, who was a recognised World War … Continue reading National Reconciliation Week 2021: More than a word. Reconciliation takes action.

Queensland Museum pays tribute to the recent sad passing of celebrated KuKu Miidiji artist Arone Meeks. Born in Sydney in 1957 to a KuKu Miidiji mother and Spanish father, Arone Raymond Meeks spent many of the early years of his life reconciling his Aboriginal heritage and searching for the ‘lost pieces’ of himself.  The linocut print, ‘Laura Dreaming’, which Queensland Museum is proud to have … Continue reading Tribute – Arone Meeks

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be warned that the following story contains images names of people who have passed away. By Judith Hickson, Curator, Social History, Queensland Museum In 2017, Mrs Gladys Waters donated two dingo traps to the Queensland Museum’s social history collection.  Handmade from discarded pieces of railway iron, the traps had belonged to Gladys’ father, George Maurice Saunders, who … Continue reading The ‘dogger’, the dingo and a little bit of know-how … the story of George Saunders