Collecting the West: Revealing Western Australia through Its Collection
Resource type
Book
Creator (person)
Paterson, Alistair
Witcomb, Andrea
Sculthorpe, Gaye
Shellam, Tiffany
Zylstra, Baige
Date published
2025
Abstract
Collecting the West offers a fascinating new approach to the history of Western Australia and asks what our museum, library, and gallery collections can tell us about the past, present, and future of WA and its place in the world.
Our collections embody diverse knowledges and ways of understanding the world from the moment they are made, giving us insight into the past while also informing our understanding of the present day. From Aboriginal artefacts to books, plants, artworks, fossils, and even an Irish stone cross, this book unearths the surprising diversity of what was collected and by whom, why collections mattered, and how they shaped the institutions that hold Western Australia’s cultural memory. Importantly it identifies and unravels colonial, imperial and global networks of collectors, and documents previously unknown or misunderstood involvement of Indigenous people in the making of collections. Seamlessly weaving collectors, global and local collections, and the evolution of public institutions, Collecting the West is the first book to tell Western Australia’s story through its collected treasures and offers a fresh perspective on its collective identity and history.
Project(s)
Collecting the West
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Australian Research Council | LP160100078 |
Publisher
The University of Western Australia
Place of publication
Perth