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Annual Megaw lecture

The Ruth and Vincent Megaw Annual lecture in Archaeology and Art was established in 2014 to honour the commitment and contributions of Emeritus Professor Vincent Megaw and his late wife Dr M Ruth Megaw to the Flinders University Archaeology department and the Flinders University Museum of Art.

The lecture is supported by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor and College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University.
 

2022 Megaw lecture 

Previous Megaw lectures 

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Danie Mellor, Bala Jindigal (of home and country) (detail), 2014, pastel, pencil, glitter, Swarovski crystal and wash on Saunders Waterford paper, commissioned by Emeritus Professor JVS Megaw and gifted to Flinders University Art Museum in memory of Dr M Ruth Megaw, Flinders University Museum of Art 4959, © courtesy of the artist

2022 Megaw lecture

Museums and the Yolŋu Community 

Presented by Matt Poll

In the mid-twentieth century, the production and touring of bark paintings played a diplomatic role in embassies, galleries, and museums around the world. At a time when Indigenous Australians were not counted in the national census or considered citizens, these bark paintings acted as intermediaries and interlocutors for global audiences to ‘see’ and ‘read’ the mythologies and histories of Aboriginal people in ways that were far removed from their lived experiences and realities. Today, bark painting stands among the most unique forms of cultural expression, as a sustainable repository of knowledge preservation, and most importantly, as a dynamic mode of artistic expression that Yolŋu people have used to communicate their knowledge and culture to audiences both local and global.

This lecture reflects on two major curatorial projects at the new Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, and Matt Poll's research into the remarkable legacy of Yirrkala bark paintings in national and international contexts. 

The aim of the two ambitious exhibitions, ‘Gululu dhuwala djalkiri: welcome to the Yolŋu foundations’ and ‘Ambassadors’, is to celebrate the beauty and role of Yolŋu art as ongoing expressions and kinship, Country, and identity. As part of the curatorial process, Yolŋu Elders worked closely with the curatorial team to share their knowledge in guiding the development, design, and interpretation of their artworks. Situated amongst these artworks are striking examples of bark paintings that form the focus of Matt Poll's research and in particular, his interest in the Yirrkala bark paintings collected by Ronald and Catherine Berndt in 1946-47 and questions about the role bark painting in the global history of Indigenous art.

View the 2022 Megaw Lecture


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Matt Poll is the Manager of Indigenous Programs at the Australian National Maritime Museum, home to the internationally significant Saltwater bark paintings, profound statements of Yolŋu people’s inalienable rights to sea country. 

Matt is also the Chairperson of Orana Arts in mid-western regional New South Wales, a member of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board for Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collection Management Reference Group at Sydney’s Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences. 

Matt was previously Curator of the Indigenous Heritage and Repatriation Project at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney where he worked on two major exhibitions: ‘Gululu dhuwala djalkiri: welcome to the Yolŋu foundations’ and ‘Ambassadors’. He has also previously served as Artistic Director of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative Gallery and was recipient of the Howard Mitchell Fellowship and Musée du Quai Branly Curatorial Residency in Paris.

The annual Ruth and Vincent Megaw Lecture in Archaeology and Art was established in 2014 in honour of long-serving and esteemed academics Emeritus Professor Vincent Megaw and his late wife Dr M Ruth Megaw. Acknowledging their contributions to the University and their respective fields, the lecture is supported through the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and the Art Museum.

Previous Megaw lectures


2020

Turning the Tide

Presented by Dr Fiona Foley
Multidisciplinary artist

More information


2019

The History of Aboriginal Art in 25 pictures...more or less...

Presented by Franchesca Cubillo
Senior Curator Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia

More information


2018

Identity and memory: Approaches to understanding the Early Celts of the First Millennium BCE

Presented by Professor Thomas Stöllner
Chair of Pre- and Protohistory, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany and Head, Department of Mining Archaeology, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM), Germany

More information


2017

Braiding Strands of Wellness:
Archaeology, Art and Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Learning

Presented by Associate Professor Dr Sonya Atalay 
Department of Anthropology
University of Massachusetts Amherst

More information


2016

Participant processes: Museums, collections and the creation of value

Presented by Distinguished Professor Howard Morphy
College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

More information


2015

With guest speaker Dr Danie Mellor

Dr Danie Mellor
Senior Lecturer (Theoretical Enquiry), Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Chair of Arts Practice, Visual Arts, Australia Council for the Arts

More information


2014

With guest speaker Emeritus Professor Dr. Brian Fagan

Emeritus Professor Dr. Brian Fagan
Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

More information

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Flinders University Museum of Art
Flinders University I Sturt Road I Bedford Park SA 5042

Located ground floor Social Sciences North building, Humanities Road adjacent carpark 5

Telephone | +61 (08) 8201 2695
Email | museum@flinders.edu.au

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