Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection

英属新几内亚的第一任行政长官威廉·麦格雷戈（William MacGregor）意识到殖民的影响，专门为其未来的公民收集了大量物品。这13000件文物并没有留在国内，而是分散到三个澳大利亚和六个海外博物馆。我们的目标是通过“挖掘”其私人和官方成分来重新组装和连接这些材料。本研究旨在聚焦于制造者和商人，解开嵌入在物品中的社会关系。使用以材料为中心的、基于组合的考古方法，我们的目标是调查土著群体如何使用物品与新殖民政府谈判。

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.