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You would expect a museum to be more interested in acquiring objects and photographs than distributing them.

However, the Berndt Museum of Anthropology is committed to returning copies of its photographic collection to Aboriginal communities.

Barbara Matters, acting Deputy Curatorial Director and Assistant Curator, said this did not mean the Museum would be left without photographs that chronicled the lives of Aboriginal Australians.

"Quite the contrary, our role is to reconnect and engage with Aboriginal communities and to establish ongoing linkages for the future development of the Berndt Museum. The photographic collection is an ideal way to initiate this process," she said.

"We can copy the photographs, so they do not deteriorate, and I am hoping that eventually, in the new purpose-built Berndt Museum, we will display the photographs and images of objects, with the permission of the relevant communities, of course.

"And I like to think that if a visitor to the Museum is captivated by a particular virtual object or photograph and wants to learn more about Indigenous Australians, he or she may be inspired to travel to say, Arnhem Land, and engage with the Aboriginal people. That would be great."

The Museum has an extensive collection of photographs of Aboriginal communities throughout WA. There are more than 46,000 images, most of them still waiting to be digitised when the Museum staff move into their temporary home in the refurbished space under the Dr Harold Schenberg Arts Centre, part of UWA 's Cultural Precinct.

"We're really excited about moving into our temporary space so we can spread out, sort out all our photographs, digitise them, plan their future," Barbara said.

In the meantime, she has co-ordinated several trips to Aboriginal communities and Indigenous events, including Albany, Bunbury, Katanning and Roelands promoting the Museum's photographic collection and processing requests for images from members of the Indigenous community.

The Museum has also finalised a photographic project for an Arnhem Land community. Returning copies of photographic collections to Indigenous communities is important in the process of engagement between Aboriginal Australians and museums.

The most recent return of copies of a photographic collection was at the Roelands Mission Reunion, near Bunbury, where Barbara took more than 600 photographs to the Koolkabunning Kiaka Aborigininal Corporation, which now manages the renamed Roelands Village.

"It was wonderful to see community members seize these photographs, recognising themselves and their family and friends. Those who had grown up at Roelands and their families had an opportunity to obtain copies of photographs of themselves or family members as children. It was a moving moment and we are still processing requests for photographs from our visit there."

The former mission at Roelands was originally set up by a local farmer, Mr Albany Bell, after WWII, to teach farming skills to local non-Indigenous boys during the Depression. Mr Bell later handed over the land for Aboriginal use.

"The Aboriginal children who grew up there were, of course, part of the Stolen Generations, so some of them may not want to go back. However, others have fonder memories," Barbara said.

She said the photographs of Roelands Native Mission were recently donated to the Berndt Museum by the son of a mission worker.

The Museum has returned copies of photographic collections to other communities throughout the Eastern Wheatbelt, the Western Desert, the Pilbara, and the Kimberley.

Published in UWA News , 22 August 2011