Mediterranean Collections in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

This volume brings together academics and museum professionals responsible for ancient Mediterranean collections across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to report on their collections’ legacies and their ongoing value for research, education, and community engagement in the twenty-first century.

An introductory chapter offers an overview of the themes that unite these Mediterranean collections: their colonial legacies, their more recent history, and the network of scholars who have fostered their development. Subsequent chapters offer thematic case studies from the perspective of curators, museum professionals, educators, and researchers working with collections across Australasia. They explore several themes, including museum archaeology, provenance studies, pedagogy, and participatory programming and engagement, and they address two issues that are of interest to everyone who engages with museum collections today: restitution and the ethical management and display of human remains. Taken together, these contributions situate the region’s collections on a global scale, highlighting their continued relevance in the present and for the future. The volume includes a distribution guide to all known ancient Mediterranean collections in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, a much-needed resource for students, provenance researchers, and museum professionals.

This volume will be of interest to researchers in Mediterranean archaeology and related disciplines, to museum studies scholars and postgraduate students, and to a general audience.

Candace Richards is Assistant Curator, Nicholson Collection for the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney. Candace’s research interests bring together ancient world studies with contemporary museum practice to re-evaluate how and why collections were formed and explore the ways historic collections can offer new insights into human endeavour.

Elizabeth Minchin is Emeritus Professor of Classics at the Australian National University. For many years she was Honorary Curator of the ANU Classics Museum, using it extensively in her teaching and overseeing its programme of outreach engagement. She retains a strong interest in antiquities collections and their value, and role, in today’s world.