Page 3962 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I applaud that statement. On the same day, the Federal Minister for Communications and the Arts, Michael Lee, said:
The Government has always made it clear that this -
meaning the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia -
would be the next stage of the National Museum.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I would put it to members that the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia is a crucial stage in the development of the National Museum, and I refuse to share in this sort of populist notion that this is somehow unimportant or a little bit shady, that it is not a real thing and that we ought to be ashamed of it. I am not, and I maintain that all of those derogatory comments smack of racism.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I understand that the physical development of the National Museum, which integrates those three core themes - the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, people's interaction with the physical environment, and Australian history and society - will continue to be the longer-term goal of both the museum council and the advisory committee. The Federal Government has made it clear for some time that the full Museum of Australia would not be funded without private sector sponsorship. I know the great efforts that the National Museum director and the council have gone to to try to secure private sector financing for the National Museum. Unfortunately, they have not secured it. Mr Deputy Speaker, the fact is that the council of the National Museum will continue to pursue alternative funding sources with vigour. Now that we are out of the recession, perhaps they will meet with greater success. I believe that we ought to wish them well, not sneer the way Mr Humphries does. In the meantime, Mr Deputy Speaker, the museum has established a significant national outreach program. The museum has been actively positioning itself in the use of new technologies to disseminate information about its collections and the nation's history and heritage.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia is placed within the National Museum of Australia in a way that facilitates a new and very exciting reading of issues relating to Australian history. The other main areas of the museum, as I have mentioned, focus on Australian society and history and the relationship of Australians with their environment. In particular, this framework allows the museum to consider the questions of contact history against the extremely long history of association of indigenous people with the continent. The gallery, this centre which Mr Humphries derides, in my view, will be a centre with a very lively cultural life, a life of its own. It will incorporate debate, performance and cultural display as key modes of cultural expression. I consider it to be an exciting project. It will continue to enhance a national understanding of our unique and special indigenous culture, and of course ACT residents will be in a particularly good position to take advantage of this important development.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .