Six decades have passed since the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. So it is a fitting moment for celebration, re-evaluation and renewed collaboration between the individuals, institutions and countries touched by this formative research venture.

In 2009 the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia will be hosting Barks, Birds & Billabongs: Exploring the legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, an international symposium that will investigate the Expedition's significant and often controversial legacy.

This symposium will be organised around three core themes: Histories, Legacies and Continuity & Change. Particular emphasis will be placed on Indigenous perspectives.

> View the program overview

> View the speakers program

> Register now – places are limited

A public lecture delivered by a prominent guest speaker will launch the symposium.

Over the three days devoted to presentations, a diverse range of stimulating and innovative speakers will explore different aspects of the Expedition's legacy. Like the Expedition itself, the symposium will be an interdisciplinary event. The two key American institutions involved in the original Expedition – the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution – will also be represented.

There will be a substantial number of representatives from the relevant Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, including Yirrkala, Groote Eylandt, Gunbalanya and Milingimbi. People from these communities take considerable interest in how their forebears interacted with the visiting researchers. The Museum hopes that, through their participation in the symposium and the other outcomes of this event, a significant contribution will be made to a process whereby the subjects of study in 1948 can become the beneficiaries of the Expedition's legacy. Indigenous participants will also be provided with opportunities throughout the symposium to reconnect with collections held at the Museum and at a number of other cultural and research institutions in Canberra.

A public performance tracing the Yolngu history of foreign contact with Makassan traders will take place in the Museum Hall on Tuesday 17 November. Passages from the Manikay ceremony will be performed against a projected backdrop of striking images, comprising a contemporary experiential medium that reflects Yolngu understandings of country, ecology and history with sacred ancestral resonances.

The final day of the symposium will be devoted to seminars, workshops and master classes targeted at relevant special interest groups in the natural and social sciences, including researchers and postgraduates specialising in Indigenous studies, museum studies and cross-cultural research. The Museum will endeavour to tailor the program of this day to meet the needs of delegate participants, who are encouraged to submit suggestions and become involved in the organisation of groups or sessions in their particular areas of interest.

> Special interest groups

A national competition open to secondary school students in year 11 and 12 is being run in conjunction to the symposium. Students are invited to submit entries in a range of media on the theme of the 1948 Expedition. Judging will take place at the symposium on Friday 20 November. This competition is run with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America, Principals Australia, the Dare to Lead program and the Fulbright Commission.

> Details on National Schools Competition

Check this website regularly for updates on the symposium and related events.

Further information on the Arnhem Land Expedition and relevant collections (held at the National Museum of Australia and at other institutions throughout Australia and the United States of America) will also be made available through this website. As one of the long-term outcomes of the symposium the Museum intends to develop an online resource which would include a portal to collections associated with the 1948 Expedition located in institutions around the world. Further information on this project as it develops will be provided on this website.

We would welcome any additional information relating to the Expedition, associated collections, the Expedition members and their descendants.

> Contacts