Latest news with #Anindilyakwa
BBC News
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Museum honours promise to Aboriginal community for 'living' dolls
A museum has kept its promise to an Aboriginal community by letting children play with a set of painted shell dolls considered to be alive by the women who made items, known as Dadikwakwa-kwa, have been on display at Manchester Museum since they were donated by the Anindilyakwa people from an archipelago in Australia's Northern as a condition, curators had to promise that once a year the dolls, which represent family and ancestors to the Anindilyakwa, would be taken out from behind the glass for children to interact Alberda, a curator at Manchester Museum, said playing with the dolls raised "important" cultural questions about how artefacts are preserved. The figurines were specially made and handed to the museum after more than 170 artefacts held in its natural history collections were given back to the Anindilyakwa people in 2023. These included painted and barbed spears, armbands, baskets, as well as a set of the dolls made hundreds of years of the items was bought from community members or traded in the 1950s by Professor Peter Worsley when he was an anthropology PhD student researching Aboriginal lives. He later held a position at the University of Manchester through which the Anindilyakwa collection came into Manchester Museum's possession. The dolls are unique to the Anindilyakwa people, a group of 14 Aboriginal clans who live on Groote Eylandt and other islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Made by women, they can are used learning aides, to give advice and answer questions, and also to guide people through dreams. "People used to make toys from what was around them, on Groote Eylandt that was shells", Ms Alberda said. "As curators we thought how can we not just put them back into the museum as standard and what does it mean to take care of them?"And the community said to us they have to be played with, they're dolls." To honour its promise, Manchester Museum has invited families to come and have fun with the dolls in a series of guided session through April. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Indigenous Australian shell dolls let out for children's play at UK museum
They represent a 'beautiful friendship' that defies preconceptions, spanning 9,000 miles with a complicated, 70-year history. The 12 dadikwakwa-kwa shell dolls, traditionally used to teach kinship, literacy, numeracy and about women's health – have been given by the Indigenous Australian Anindilyakwa community to a UK museum on one condition – that children play with them once a year. The relationship between Europe's museums and the countries and communities where items were taken from has been replete with controversy in recent years. But Manchester Museum cemented a bond with the Anindilyakwa community, the traditional owners of the land and seas of the Groote archipelago in the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern coast of Australia, by returning 174 objects in 2023. The returned items included spears, boomerangs and a number of dadikwakwa-kwa. They had been bought or traded in the 1950s by a social scientist, Peter Worsley, during his anthropology PhD, but the community had not understood the deals as permanent, said Noeleen Lalara, a senior elder. The safekeeping and eventual return of the items was of profound significance to the Anindilyakwa community, who number 1,600 people and 14 clans. The items have helped ensure the transfer of wisdom between generations – meaning, in the words of Amethea Mamarika, an emerging Anindilyakwa leader, 'young people can follow in the footsteps of our ancestors'. By giving 12 new dadikwakwa-kwa crafted by Anindilyakwa artists to Manchester Museum, the community is changing the way the university museum tells its stories: these artefacts are not meant to be permanently kept from the curious behind glass. In workshops over the Easter holidays, visitors have signed up to play with the new dadikwakwa-kwa in sand at the museum. The dolls form part of a permanent exhibition, Anindilyakwa Arts: Stories from our Country (Alawudawarra yirri-langwa-langwa angalya), created in close collaboration with the community, breaking with historical conventions of telling Indigenous stories through colonial perspectives. Exhibits include 'monster fish' sculptures, spears and silk scarves bought by the museum, and an Anindilyakwa dictionary compiled by elders. The result is a collection embodying Anindilyakwa ecology, wisdom and language, the history of their trade routes and civilisation. The dadikwakwa-kwa are considered living entities, carrying the spirits of ancestors and guiding those who interact with them. Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion Alex Alberda, Manchester Museum's curator of Indigenous perspectives, said: 'We built a beautiful relationship, [the Anindilyakwa community] are still our friends and they're dear to us. [The dadikwakwa-kwa] represent that connection and keeping that connection alive.' Describing the excitement of the children's dadikwakwa-kwa play sessions, Alberda added: 'I thought maybe they'll be there for 15 minutes … but every time I've had to say: OK, now it's time to put [the dadikwakwa-kwa] back to sleep because the hour's up. 'When Noeleen said this was a requirement, I said: what happens if they get broken? She turned to me and just said: 'They're toys, they're going to be.' 'I just love that, because for the dadikwakwa-kwa you need to see more wear on them in order to see that they've been cared for. Year after year, you're going to see how they change and you're going to see how much love they have.' Anindilyakwa Arts: Stories from our Country is a permanent exhibition at Manchester Museum. Dadikwakwa-kwa Come Out to Play runs alongside it, until 17 April, with sessions requiring advance booking. Entry is free.
