Aboriginal community co-curates exhibition at Manchester Museum as part of repatriation process

Manchester Museum has opened a new permanent exhibition co-curated by the Warnindilyakwa people, an Aboriginal community to whom the museum repatriated 174 cultural heritage objects in 2023.

Anindilyakwa Arts: Stories from Our Country explores the cultural heritage of the Groote Archipelago in Australia's Northern Territory, and was created in close collaboration with the Warnindilyakwa, who also refer to themselves as the Anindilyakwa people.

The collaboration developed as part of the process of returning cultural heritage items from Manchester Museum to the Warnindilyakwa community in September 2023, the first time a British museum had returned Australian Aboriginal material beyond secret, sacred and ceremonial objects.

The return was supported by the Australian Government’s Return of Cultural Heritage programme and was a result of a three-year collaboration with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Aiatsis) and the Anindilyakwa Land Council. 

Alongside the new exhibition, the museum is inviting families to participate in Dadikwakwa-kwa Come Out to Play sessions, where they will get a rare chance to handle a set of Dadikwakwa-kwa, or shell dolls, gifted to the museum by Anindilyakwa Arts on the essential condition that the “dolls must come off display once a year to be played with”.

The dolls are wholly unique to the Anindilyakwa women of the Groote Archipelago and are traditionally used as intergenerational learning aides.

Esme Ward, the director of Manchester Museum, said: “These events reflect everything we stand for – collaboration, care, and the power of cultural belongings to connect people across generations and continents.

“We are deeply honoured to continue our partnership with the Anindilyakwa community and to provide a space where their voices, stories and traditions can be shared on their own terms.”

Jude Barlow, acting chief executive officer of Aiatsis, added: “Aiatsis, and the Return of Cultural Heritage Program, is thrilled to see how the partnership between the Anindilyakwa Community and Manchester Museum has continued to grow beyond our three-year return project together.

“This type of collaboration exhibition is exactly the sort of work that can flourish from genuine partnerships and repatriation projects. The respect and ability to listen that Manchester Museum demonstrates in their work with Indigenous communities is to be applauded. I look forward to hearing about the success of the Come Out to Play programme.”

Anindilyakwa Arts: Stories from our Country opens on 8 April. The Dadikwakwa-kwa Come Out to Play sessions run alongside the exhibition and requires advance booking. Both are free of charge.