Archive materials return

More of the Wanjina Wunggurr archive materials could be shared with Wunambal Gaambera Traditional Owners in Kalumburu, North West Australia this summer. Over the past three years, a team from the Frobenius Institute and the University of Western Australia has been working to make ethnographic material accessible to Traditional Owners, which was created more than 80 years ago during a Frobenius expedition to the Kimberley region.

The visit of the research team provided another opportunity to review drawings and photos together.

For some of the Traditional Owners, like Rosalin and Angelina Karadada (pictured), it was possible to connect with their ancestors: “This is my grandfather, who we have never seen before in our lives.” They said of a drawing they found of Jack Karadada.

The work on the archival materials will continue and all records have been made available to Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation for further use and study.

 

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More about the Project

Image 1: Roslin and Angelina Karadada with images of their father and grandfather from the German archive (Photo: Christina Henneke).

 

Image 2: Jason Lee, Richard Kuba, Kim Doohan, and Christina Henneke unpacking and examining images and archival materials together with Liza Bundamarra (Photo: Martin Porr)

 

Image 3: Copies of artworks on display in Kalumburu (Photo: Martin Porr)