Australian Aboriginal Art Into The Museum

Combing the theory analysis and case study method, the thesis studied the how Australian Aboriginal Art entering the museum world, and explored the work of National Museum of Australia regarding the Australian Aboriginal art.The thesis first reflected upon the history of Australian Aboriginals as well as a series of policies of the Government upon them, from cruel slaughter to multicultural policy, so that to construct the background for the relationship between the Australian Aboriginal art and the Museums. Chapter two introduced the course of the Aboriginal art entering museums through the four phases. The early collection was lack of systematicness, but now the collection in museums has a great leap in depth and quality. The curious psychological orientation in collection at first had transformed into a professional and systemic way. The biggest change occurred in the1950s and1960s. The third Chapter is the case study of National Museum of Australia which is the social history museum. Through the annual reports of the past5years, the thesis analyzed the percentage of Australian Aboriginal Art exhibitions in the museum as well as the characteristics of curation, display and public education activities on it.