Ambassadors is the Museum鈥檚 ongoing display of First Nations culture and heritage. Throughout the Museum, you will meet 'ambassadors' from different regions of Aboriginal Australia.
Expressions of material culture and heritage 鈥 what we might refer to as 鈥榦bjects鈥 in museums 鈥 are among the many tools that people across the world use to connect with their ancestral heritage and knowledge.听On each floor of the Museum, displays of objects made by Aboriginal peoples from different Nations become 鈥榓mbassadors鈥 of Aboriginal Australia.听Each Ambassador has been curated within and informed by Aboriginal knowledge frameworks. We welcome descendants鈥 continuing work with the collections made by their ancestors.
Contact our听Curator, Indigenous Heritage, Marika Duczynski at听marika.duczynski@sydney.edu.au
Curator
Matt Poll
Designer
Youssofzay+Hart
Exhibition Manager
Luke Parker
Open seven days a week
Mon - Fri: 10am - 5pm
Sat - Sun: 12 - 4pm
Please note: the Chau Chak Wing Museum is closed on public holidays.
Ongoing exhibition
All levels
Chau Chak Wing Museum
Free
The Introduction to the Ambassadors showcases an evolving selection of spectacular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural materials in the Chau Chak Wing Museum鈥檚 collections, co-curated with artists and communities.
Bera (fishook)
Sydney
Donated by Fr Eugene Stockton 1985
Macleay Collections, ET2014.1872
Dolord means 'cave鈥 for those who have responsibility to the Wandjina: the Worrorra, Ngarinyin and Wunambal peoples.
"When the word came that we could get our native title to our land, we travelled back to the desert. We went to Kurtal three times. We have to prove if it is our own country or not. It is really piyirnkura (Aboriginal) land. We know exactly how we fit together, we know our own country and we know the right people for the other jila (waterholes). We don鈥檛 cut across, we have to go lightly into other people鈥檚 country. But in kartiya law we don鈥檛 know where we stand. In kartiya law it is all mixed up."
鈥 Ngarralja Tommy May Wangkajunga and Walmajarri 2016
Ngurti, coolamon
Nyikina Mangala language association
Macleay Collections, ETD.1117
"I paint, craft and make artefacts to ground myself. It is known that these techniques, used over hundreds of years, become embedded in our DNA. So, through the process of making a spear or shaping the 铿乬ure of a spirit, I connect with my ancestors and they help bring my practices to life."
鈥 Bernard Singleton Djabuguy, Umpila, Yirrkandji,听 2019
Jill Nga (headband)
Wik Mungan peoples听 听听
Macleay Collections, ETA1032
"When you see this design, you know it鈥檚 about the storm story, how storms started, and fighting, and that it鈥檚 a story in itself 鈥 You have got mountains and rivers as the two main boundaries, you follow rivers, and between rivers and the other rivers you always met half way, you鈥檒l notice the boundaries are in the middle of the river, it鈥檚 not by accident, we go halves. It鈥檚 Girramay/Jirrbal, halfway between the Davison River. You won鈥檛 see that on any maps."
鈥 Ernie Grant, Jirrbal, 2019
Nolla Nolla, (meaning clubs in Karun-burra language)
Herbert River region, North Queensland, c. 1885听
Macleay Collections, ETH.1013.1-2, ETH.1010
The Shield People are represented by shields made in Sydney, the Mid North coast, the Northern Rivers and the Central West to North West NSW. Nation groups in these regions were at the forefront of resistance to colonisation.
"Ballumb Ambul Ngunawhal Ngambri yindamarra. Ngadu bang marang Ngadhu Ngu-nha winhanga nha nulabang nguwandang. Ngadhu biyap yuganha. Birrang a ngawaal. Ngadhu, yand yaman gid yal. Yindyamarra. Mandaang. Ngarind-ja.
In the language of Wiradjuri, my people: I pay respect to the ancient Ngunawhal and Ngambri. I say this: good day. I am giving my first speech and I am deeply moved. I have journeyed to another place 鈥 a powerful place. I am one person. I wish in this House to honour, to be respectful, to be gentle and to be polite. I am thankful, happy. I could weep."
鈥 Linda Burney MP, Wiradjuri, maiden speech, House of Representatives, 31 August 2016
Bagah (shield), Bundjalung peoples
Coraki, northern New South Wales
Collected Hugh James, c. 1925, donated by Rev. Preston, 1991
Macleay Collections, ET91.4.4
"Songlines are a library of information. They are many things: a road map, a bible, our history. The examples and stories in songlines guide the way we live and give us our unique cultural identities. But our culture and history are an oral one, if it is not talked about, it is forgotten."
鈥 Cornel Ozies, 2016
Riji, (pearl shell) Bardi peoples
Kimberley, Western Australia
Transferred from the Department of Anthropology, c.1970
Macleay Collections, ETA2009
"Each dreaming has different paint. Different where we come from like totem. Great and grandfathers, fathers. It鈥檚 sort like we all Tiwi people from the two islands [but] different totem. We all the same style like what we do back home. It was passing down from the old people. Passing down the knowledge they had. Passing down to us, and us, we are passing down our knowledge to next generation, ongoing."
鈥 Jacinta Tipungwuti, Tiwi 2019
Kurrijuwa, (stone axe heads)
Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory
Collected by Keith Hart, 1928鈥29
Transferred from the Department of Anthropology, c.1962
Macleay Collections, ETH.1792
"Let us sit around the one campfire. As the听Yolngu said at Uluru 鈥 we have an obligation to keep the fire burning."
鈥 Professor Tom Calma AO, co-chair of Reconciliation Australia
Yalamarti, bark painting
Bird
Port Essington, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory
Collected by Edward Spalding or James Cox before 1878
Macleay Family, 1790鈥1892
Macleay Collections, ETP.993,
Header image: 'Ambassadors: Murrakupuni; Mangara, Wo?', Chau Chak Wing Museum, 2024. Photo by Fiona Wolf.
听
Phone:听+61 2 93512812
Email:听ccwm.info@sydney.edu.au
Chau Chak Wing Museum
University Place
Camperdown NSW 2050
