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The University of Western Australia’s Returning Photos Project is reuniting Aboriginal photographic collections to their families from overseas museums.

The ARC-funded project returned a number of family photos to Indigenous community members at the Kimberley Festival 2017, a three day event facilitated through the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cultural Centre (KALACC).

Donna Oxenham, a Yamatji woman and PhD candidate at UWA, is working on the global project to provide community members with copies of photographs pertaining to loved ones and images of their traditional country.

“Being able to return these images back to community is a very rewarding process and helps the healing process in terms of the stolen generations and the consequences of colonialism for our Aboriginal communities today. These historical collections represent a history of survival for our Aboriginal people,” Ms Oxenham said.

"It reinforces that our culture is still strong; we've survived through so much adversity throughout history with colonisation, the stolen generations, the mission era, and assimilation politics."

Photos that were taken during the 19th and 20th centuries for a range of purposes were often sent to international museums without the consent of the people or communities in the pictures.

The photos tell a story of survival, with some images depicting people working in slave-like conditions. As such, the process of returning photos is handled carefully and respectfully, and with the utmost care to show only images that are not deemed to be too sensitive for public viewing.

Ms Oxenham said the project is a very positive story that shows how institutions like museums overseas can be actively engaged with communities in Australia today via their archival records, some of which date back to the mid-1800s.

“The museums are happy to be involved in the project and recognise the significance the photographic records hold for Aboriginal Australians today,” she said. “Often, these historical photographs of Aboriginal people become family heirlooms; they’re very much treasured by family members.”

The Returning Photos Project has involved museums from around the world, including the UK, France, and the Netherlands.

Image credit:

Acc Number: 1998.245.28

Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Location: Broome, Kimberleys (Western Australia)

Media references

Chloe Trompetter (Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education)

(+61 8) 6488 5538