“Storying Deep Time: Re(connecting) Country and the Museum” presented by Muller, Yoren, Beaupark, Beetson, Crouch, et al. …
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This panel explores how the experience of deep time can be brought to life in museums to allow people to connect with Country, and to connect objects held in collections with the Ancestors, spirits, continuous practices and living cultures of Australia’s First People. It tells the story of Mangal Bungal – a program of creative activities that brought Jiigurru Country and stories from the Dingaal community to Queensland Museum. Mangal Bungal means “clever hands” in the Guugu Yimithirr language. The project’s lead artist describes natural resources from Country as a “survival kit” that is activated through techniques passed down through the generations by “clever hands”. Mangal Bungal invited the public to engage with this “story-survival kit”, through both old and new story telling technologies, and take part in the work of knowledge sharing and cultural endurance. Through many voices this panel speaks of decades of collaboration, between the Dingaal community, archaeologists, curators and film makers that brought Mangal Bungal into being. It shows how science can integrate creative practice to tell the story of Australian deep time and discusses the impact of that story on the thousands of people who experienced it.
