Audio on demand

For many decades, Sunshine Harvester Works was a significant landmark in Sunshine, a suburb in Melbourne’s industrial west. Museum curator Leah Bartsch explores research into the stories and objects of Sunshine.

Louise Hamby examines the dispersed collection of fibre objects collected by the 1948 Expedition – the objects and the process and politics of their collection.

Closing remarks from the Barks, Birds and Billabongs symposium.

Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, provides an overview of the museum’s Australian collections, focusing on the Arnhem Land collection which comprises more than 400 artefacts.

Josh Harris describes the rediscovery in the archives of The National Geographic Society of 12,000 feet of film shot by Howell Walker during the 1948 Expedition and the in-depth steps that were taken to preserve and bring the footage back to life.

Craddock Morton, Director of the National Museum of Australia, introduces, contextualises and launches the book by Sally K May: Collecting Cultures: Myth, Politics and Collaboration in the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition

Lynne McCarthy explores the work of Raymond Louis Specht, Expedition botanist, and considers his botanical collection as both a process and a product.

Raymond Louis Specht, botanist on the 1948 Expedition, reflects on the influence of the Expedition and discusses his botanical investigations.

Sally K May provides a historical overview of the Expedition, its planning and execution.

Suzy Russell describes the Mountford–Sheard collection at the State Library of South Australia, shares insights recorded by Bessie Mountford in a journal she kept during the Expedition, and considers some Expedition controversies.