Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture 13

Authors

Torrence, R., Bonshek, E., Clarke, A., Davies, S.M., Knowles, C., Philp, J. & Quinnell, M.

Citation

Torrence, R., Bonshek, E., Clarke, A., Davies, S.M., Knowles, C., Philp, J. & Quinnell, M. 2022. Collecting for the nation: Sir William MacGregor and the Official collection. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture 13: 1–25. Brisbane. https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2205-3239.13.1.2022.2022-01

Date published

September 2022

DOI

https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2205-3239.13.1.2022.2022-01

Keywords

British New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, William MacGregor, museum, ethnographic collections, colonialism.

Abstract

Between 1888 and 1898 William MacGregor, Administrator and later Lieutenant Governor of British New Guinea, brought together an unusually large assemblage of objects from local indigenous groups intended to serve as a record of local cultural practices he thought were disappearing rapidly due to the effects of colonization, of which, ironically, he was a principal agent. This Official collection is unique among nineteenth century ethnographic collections because it was not made for his own pleasure or enrichment (although he did put aside some material for that purpose) but was primarily intended as a record for the indigenous population and one that would remain in the control of the colony. The results of the ‘Excavating MacGregor’ project reported in this volume make the Official collection more accessible to descendant communities as well as researchers through a thoroughly researched Master List of the contents along with additional resources. These also provide historical background on the multicultural, colonial social settings in which the collection was made. Finally, analyses of the objects in the collection enrich our understanding of the cross-cultural engagements in which the objects were acquired.