Songlines at the NMA: a breathtaking triumph of 21st century museology

Submitted by Paul Daley on Sat, 16/09/2017 - 8:13am

The National Museum, itself situated on an ancient corroboree ground, is telling an Indigenous story which words have failed

The shortcomings of the English language are never more apparent than when it is used to translate Indigenous Australian beliefs, customs and culture. So it follows that English-style museums – which is to say, most Australian ones – also often fall short.

Museums of bricks and mortar are largely antithetical to Aboriginal repositories of material and lived culture – community, country, story (in every form) and memory.