Burlganyja Wanggaya: Old People Talking - Listen, Learn and Respect, a permanent exhibition at Gwoonwardu Mia Aboriginal Heritage and Cultural Centre in Carnarvon has taken out the National Winner and Winner - Permanent Exhibition at the prestigious 2012 Museums and Galleries National Awards. Four years in the making, Burlganyja Wanggaya: Old People Talking is an interactive permanent exhibition that tells the stories of the Gascoyne’s Aboriginal people in their own words. It was opened in June 2012 by the Premier of Western Australia, the Hon Colin Barnett.

The exhibition was developed by ACIH researchers Dr Mary Anne Jebb and Dr Malcolm Allbrook in conjunction with a small team of designers and an Aboriginal Reference Group made up of representatives from the Gascoyne’s five Aboriginal language groups.

The exhibition was designed around “story telling” using text, images, sound and film as vehicles to share stories about the different people of the region, their languages and the lands they are connected to.  The exhibition includes a replica of a 32,000 year old shell necklace, images and films, oral histories, artefacts, the amazing Burrowing Bee film, an interactive light table and a sky dome experience to tell the story of Janguna, the emu who inhabits the night sky and provides guidance to today’s people on when they can take the different foods of the land.

The Museums and Galleries National Awards Judging Panel was made up of experts from key museums and galleries across Australia. The Panel praised the exhibition for the historical importance of the project and material. They commented on “the dynamic ways in which important stories of Indigenous experience of social history were achieved with community consultation and reference to shared memories as laying pathways of interpretation that link different generations.”  The Judges were also impressed by the high design values, clarity and professionalism of the final installations.
Allbrook, a Research Associate in the Australian Centre for Indigenous History within the School of History at ANU, said of the awards announcement “… To take out both the overall award and the best permanent exhibition from a field that includes the nation’s best museums and exhibitions is an honour and incredibly gratifying for the community and all involved.”

Allbrook went on to talk about the positive impact of the exhibition in strengthening the Gascoyne community. “The Gascoyne is a region little known by most Australians. Aboriginal people in the region have had a rough time coping with colonisation, and their long connection to the country has rarely been recognised and given the respect it deserves,” he said. “This exhibition helps to restore Aboriginal experiences of history and culture to their rightful place and does a great deal for the reputation of the town as a place that values and recognises Aboriginal culture and history. It has achieved an enormous amount in relation to reconciliation at the local and regional levels.” He continued, “The pride of the town’s Aboriginal people in the exhibition is enormous – it is their exhibition and presents their histories and cultures as they want them to be told.”

The 2012 Museums and Galleries National Awards were presented at the Museums Australia National Conference in Adelaide, South Australia, on Tuesday 25 September 2012.

Dr Mary Anne Jebb and Dr Malcolm Allbrook are researchers with the Australian Centre for Indigenous History. The Centre conducts collaborative and individual research projects on Australian, comparative and trans-national Indigenous history.