The Yarn

Uncurated: COLLECTORS

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Episode notes

The Harry Brookes Allen Museum is one of many collections at the University of Melbourne. The University has collected artefacts that has contributed to a wealth of knowledge that is vital to Melbourne, Australia and the world. 

But the way University scholars collected these artefacts was not always done in an ethical way. Reporter Haoyue Deng learns how a rare marsupial mole is the key to the forgotten people behind some of the University's collections. 

INTERVIEWEES: 

• Rohan Long, Curator of the Harry Brookes Allen Museum at the University of Melbourne 
• Emma Kowal, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Deakin University 

Inspiration for this episode was informed by the recently published book Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia by Ross L. Jones, Dr. James Waghorne, and Professor Marcia Langton of the University of Melbourne. If you would like to know more about The University of Melbourne’s response, you can download the book for free here.  

MUSIC CREDITS

Bird(Magpie) sound from Freesound

Bush walking from Freesound 

Mouse squeak from Pixabay 

Snake from Pixabay 

Eternality by Nathan Zammit from the Living Instruments Project 

Tundra by Jack Burmeister from the Living Instruments Project 

Marimba by Olivia Marsh from the Living Instruments Project 

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