Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection

意识到殖民的影响，英国新几内亚首任行政长官威廉·麦格雷戈专门为未来的公民收集了大量物品。这份由13000件文物组成的综合遗产没有保留在澳大利亚，而是被分散到三家澳大利亚和六家海外博物馆。我们的目标是通过“挖掘”私人和官方部件来重新组装和连接这种材料。本研究旨在以制造者和交易者为研究对象，解开物品中所蕴含的社会关系。使用以材料为中心、以组装为基础的考古学方法，我们的目标是调查土著群体如何使用物品与新的殖民政府谈判。

Sensing the impacts of colonisation, the first Administrator of British New Guinea William MacGregor made a significant collection of objects specifically for its future citizens. This comprehensive legacy of 13 000 objects did not remain in the country but was dispersed to three Australian and six overseas museums. Our aim is to re-assemble and re-connect this material by 'excavating' its private and official components. This research aims to focus on the makers and traders to disentangle the social relationships embedded in the objects. Using material-centred, assemblage-based archaeological approaches, we aim to investigate how indigenous groups used objects to negotiate with the new colonial government.