Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation

This major exhibition will present a history of Indigenous Australia through objects for the first time in the UK. Drawing on objects from the British Museum’s collection, supported by loans from Australia, the show will highlight the continuous culture of Indigenous Australia dating back 55,000
years.

Indigenous Australian objects reflect a complex spiritual relationship to the natural world and an intimate knowledge of diverse environments. The objects derive from some of the earliest contact between Indigenous Australians and outsiders and represent significant cultural encounters in or near places that are today major Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne,
Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The exhibition also reflects on the history of collecting these objects and contemporary Indigenous responses to them.