An Indigenous curator for Indigenous artefacts: South Australia breaks new ground

South Australian Museum's new head anthropologist, John Carty has made a special appointment of the acclaimed Aboriginal curator Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, to reconnect the Indigenous collection with country and peoples.

In a landmark speech in May, Carty, perhaps refining the ground for the debate to which he will be central, said: “What was going on in Australia when our collections were being amassed? And if our collections don’t tell that story – why not? Museums have a role to play not only in conserving collections but in conserving the truth of our history from the proclivity for forgetting that sits at the heart of the Australian psyche. We must continue to promote the power and beauty of Aboriginal culture, but if our galleries don’t also tell the story of frontier conflict, of the stolen generations, of the fight for land rights and human rights, then I believe we are in neglect of our responsibilities.”