Posted on: June 17, 2024 by Tom Lewis
On 15 May 2024 the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) rejected an appeal against the 2022 decision of Hobart City Council to remove a controversial statue (erected in 1889) of the colony’s one-time premier, William Crowther (d. 1885). Crowther, a medical doctor, is and, in his own day, was a controversial figure. He was […]
Posted on: June 3, 2024 by Shweta Sai Sakthivel
Objects in themselves carry no value. But when an object is viewed in the context of its history, culture and belief, it is not an object anymore. The ‘Idol’ of Lord Nataraja (Dancing God Shiva) that returned to Kallidaikurichi village in India is not an object but a once-lost god. For those who smuggled the […]
Posted on: November 6, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson
The Anindilyakwa People will hold an on-country return celebration on Groote Eylandt on 21 November 2023 for 174 cultural heritage items repatriated from Manchester Museum. The repatriated cultural heritage items include 70 culturally significant dadikwakwa-kwa (toy dolls used by Anindilyakwa girls, decorated with ochre designs and cloth), seven errumungkwa (arm bands), a turtle shell map, […]
Posted on: August 22, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson
The State of Western Australia is repealing laws it introduced “to prevent another Juukan Gorge”, after its reforms were labelled too prescriptive, complicated and confusing. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 (WA) (2021 Act) was enacted after 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal rock shelters were controversially destroyed by Rio Tinto during a mine expansion project in 2020. […]
Posted on: May 19, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson
Australia’s National Gallery and three governments have launched separate inquiries into allegations reported by a national newspaper that non-Indigenous studio staff painted on First Nations artists’ works, including art due to be exhibited in the country’s capital in June. The Australian published allegations on 7 April 2023 that non-Indigenous staff at Tjala Arts Centre, a […]
Posted on: March 19, 2023 by Elizabeth Pearson
The fate of four Aboriginal spears taken by the crew of the HM Bark Endeavour in 1770 now rests with the English Charity Commission, after Trinity College Cambridge decided to seek approval to permanently return the items from its Cook-Sandwich collection to Traditional Owners in Australia. The hunting spear and pronged fishing spears were amongst […]
Posted on: September 8, 2020 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
We are pleased to announce that the latest issue (Vol XXV, 2) of our journal Art Antiquity & Law is available now, please see below for details on subscriptions and access. Paul Kearns provides the readers with a comprehensive panorama of the international legal regulations on freedom of artistic expression, a fundamental but much overlooked and […]
Posted on: June 17, 2020 by Elizabeth Pearson
The destruction of 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal rock shelters in Western Australia has prompted a national inquiry and calls for urgent reform of Indigenous cultural heritage law. During a mine expansion project, Rio Tinto detonated explosives in the Juukan Gorge in May, destroying two deep cave sites of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura People (PKKP). […]
Posted on: November 22, 2019 by Alexander Herman
After my piece last week on restitution, there have been some interesting developments in the area. First of all, a major non-profit organisation, the Open Society Foundations, has pledged US$15 million to assist groups working to restitute African heritage. The money is pledged over a period of four years. As I said when commenting on […]
Posted on: July 23, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
Landing just in time to absorb you during the Summer holidays, the July 2019 issue of Art Antiquity & Law (Vol. XXIV, Issue 2) has been released in print and online. Subscriptions are available either as hardcopy only, digital only as well as digital + hardcopy packages and can be purchased directly through our website. […]