Tracing the dispersal of ancient Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cultural heritage in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Understanding the provenance of artefacts in museum collections is paramount to their ongoing ethical management. We undertake provenance research to identify the history of the ownership of artefacts in our care, as well as the networks and actors involved in their dispersal. We aim to find new ways to understand the entanglement of our collections within the context of the various political, social and environmental forces that have enabled their international dispersal. This includes how these international collections have impacted the historical perception and care of the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples. We work from a foundational principle that cultural heritage is forever connected to the people and places from which they come.
The formation and growth of the Nicholson Collection over the past 170 years has a complicated and diverse history. We have historically acquired collections through a variety of ways including the international art-market, archaeological excavations and subscription to international excavation projects, by donation from foreign governments, research institutions and private citizens, and via exchange of First Nations cultural heritage drawn from collections in the Anthropology Department, University of Sydney. Each of these stories provide insight into the history of museum practice and university education, including some uncomfortable truths about these institutions. We aim to address these histories through increasing transparency regarding the provenance of our collections, and working with communities whose cultural heritage was impacted by these practices.
Today, provenance research is a core component of the assessment of any new offers of donation to our museum, and also informs our loan procedures. Our team works proactively with countries of origin and their official representatives to make informed decisions on the best way to ensure ancient cultural heritage is protected and ethically managed for the future.
This book brings together academics and museum professionals responsible for ancient Mediterranean collections across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to report on their collections’ legacies and their ongoing value for research, education, and community engagement in the twenty-first century.
Significantly for provenance research, the final chapter of the book offers a distribution guide to the known publicly accessible collections of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Our research identified a total of 66 institutions that hold approximately 85,000 antiquities from the Mediterranean region. Future research will delve deeper into the mechanisms and networks regionally active that developed, and later maintained, these collections.
Chapter contributions represent the collections of the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies, The Australian Institute of Archaeology, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Australian National University Classics Museum, Hellenic Museum, National Museum of Australia, Otago Museum, Powerhouse, Queensland Museum, University of New England Museum of Antiquities, University of Queensland RD Milns Museum, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney and Victoria University of Wellington Classics Museum. They provide contemporary case studies addressing issues of provenance, pedagogy, participatory programming, restitution and ethical care of human remains. The book was launched at the Chau Chak Wing Museum on 22 May 2025.
The development of collections through trade and exchange is a well-known phenomenon in natural history, ethnography and anthropology. However, the ways in which Mediterranean archaeological collections participated in these systems, particularly from Australasia, is not well understood. Understanding the networks of trade and exchange for our collections is vital to our broader reckoning with the colonial legacies of museums. Determining what cultural materials were traded and creating transparent archives is an essential step for museums to take responsibility for their past in a way that supports community access to knowledge and global networks.
This research project firstly aims to identify all instances of acquisition via exchange connected to the development of the Nicholson Collection, and the communities impacted by these actions. These exchanges were predominately of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural materials acquired by the University’s Anthropology Department in return for Middle Eastern, Greek, Italian and Northern European ancient artefacts. Working within our own historic files, and those held by the University Archives, we will, in the first stage, digitise all records to support community access to knowledge and increase transparency around our participation in the import and export of cultural heritage.
Our preliminary research and all digitised files were provided to the Collection Ecologies for Repatriation Practice: networks, relationships, journeys Research Project (2022-2024), Australian National University, co-directed by Professor Cressida Fforde and Dr Jilda Andrews.
Export permit for antiquities from Iraq, received in exchange for Aboriginal artefacts from the University of Sydney, 1940.
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LinkThe Greek colony of Naukratis in Egypt was a significant trading post from the 26th Dynasty through to the Ptolemiac period. The city was rediscovered by Flinders Petrie in 1883 and excavated throughout the late 19th century by several teams funded by the Egypt Exploration Society (EES). Their excavations concentrated largely on the great temenos, temples, ‘scarab factory’, as well as exploring parts of the town. The finds were plentiful and recorded somewhat haphazardly before quickly being dispersed to the various international institutions sponsoring the early work of the EES (See: A. Villing et. al., 2013-2025, Naukratis - Greeks in Egypt).
A re-examination of the Nicholson Collection has revealed that a small but significant collection of finds were sent to Sydney, but were misidentified in the early cataloguing processes. This research has revealed the appropriate history of marble sculptures, alabaster vessels, coffin fragments and trading wares, previously thought missing to the wider international community.
Cypriot amphora (525-404 BC), excavated at Naukratis, Egypt, before 1900, NM00.134
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LinkPlaster casts and replicas were an important 19th and early 20th century teaching tool in museums, particularly for university collections. The Nicholson Museum once held over 300 plaster casts primarily related to Greek and Italian ancient history with a smaller subset reflecting Egyptian and Mesopotamian antiquity. In the 1960s, following a renovation of the museum galleries, many of the plaster casts were removed from display and donated to schools across Sydney. Since then, rumours have surrounded this collection, including that the Museum had disposed of them as part of construction works on campus. This is absolutely untrue, and our research has demonstrated a concerted effort by previous Museum staff to maintain relationships with the new owners of the casts. In 2024, we were able to identify a very limited selection still in use in Sydney high schools. A full guide to the history of these materials and their dispersal from the Museum’s collection can be found on our collection search: A short history of casts and replica artefacts at the Nicholson Museum.
Today the Nicholson Collection maintains roughly 80 individual casts, both big and small, that can be seen in current exhibitions and frequently included in our Object Based Learning Programs. Research is ongoing into the makers of these casts, their relationship with colonial and early 20th century education frameworks, and new conservation methodologies to consolidate and care for them in the long term.
The ‘Africa in Australia’ research project and engagement platform, which examines global African heritage in Australia, is led by Associate Professor Richard Vokes at the University of Western Australia. As part of this project, the Chau Chak Wing Museum developed the ‘Egypt in Australia’ report, co-authored by Candace Richards, Richard Vokes, Yvonne Inall, Victoria Lowry and Jewel Oreskovich. Download a copy of the report here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/egypt-in-australia
In 2021, the Chau Chak Wing Museum received a remarkable shabti from the tomb of Tetiky (Theban Tomb 15) from Suzanne Harris, a resident of the Blue Mountains, NSW. The shabti had been passed down from her grandfather who received the shabti and its model coffin as a gift from the 6th Earl of Carnarvon in the 1920s. Our research re-examined the history of excavations of the tomb and tracked the global dispersal of the artefacts uncovered to understand the importance of this new donation in antiquity, and its modern global movements.
Research project undertaken by Dr Craig Barker and Dr Robert Merrillees.
This research project revealed the extent of Cypriot artefacts in the Nicholson Collection that was once in the possession of Luigi Palma di Cesnola. The majority of these materials had been purchased from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the early 20th century, with several other examples being acquired through object exchange with Stanford University and the University of Cambridge.
Header image: Paper excavation label adhered to the side of Cypriot amphora (525 BC - 404 BC), excavated at Naukratis, Egypt, before 1900. NM00.134
