Exhibiting Environmental History: The Challenge of Representing Nation

University of Melbourne = username128250144147 = IP address

Wed 15 Aug 2012 063659 = Date amp Time

Environment and History 18 (2012) 423ndash445copy 2012 The White Horse Press doi 103197096734012X13400389809418

Exhibiting Environmental History The Challenge of Representing Nation

JILLIAN WALLISS

Faculty of Architecture Building and PlanningThe University of MelbourneVictoria 3010Australia Email jwallissunimelbeduau

ABSTRACT

Some environmental scholars argue that environmental history makes sense on a regional or global scale but rarely on a national one This essay explores this claim in the context of two national museums the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1998) and the National Museum of Australia (2001) It explores how the imperative to be representative of the nation influenced the opening-day displays of environmental history I argue that a national framing produced two significant challenges At the National Museum of Australia the lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo exhibition not only struggled with the impossible scope of presenting a nation that encompasses an entire continent but also the reconcili-ation of the temporal disparities of deep time indigenous and non-indigenous histories Conversely at Te Papa a disjuncture between a national landscape identity predicated on purity and the scientific reality of rapid and extensive environmental modification post-settlement was influential in the decision to omit the environmental history display from the opening-day programme

KEYWORDS

Interdisciplinarity exhibition museums post-colonialism



JILLIAN WALLISS424

Environment and History 183

INTRODUCTION

Beginning in the 1980s scholars from environmental history post-colonial studies and natural history began to explore how the experience of the settler society influenced its engagement with the nature of the New World American historian Alfred W Crosbyrsquos influential study Ecological Imperialism1 for example highlighted an ecological dimension to the European colonisersrsquo vi-sion and inspired subsequent studies that were often comparative in structure2 Comparative environmental histories have been supplemented by the rewriting of national histories with an ecological focus Throughout the 1990s written environmental histories of Australia and New Zealand introduced valuable accounts of settler interaction with the environment progressing past standard narratives of environmental misunderstanding and destruction3 For example in a first for New Zealand ecologist and historian Geoff Parkrsquos book Nga Uruora The Groves of Life Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape inter-twined Maori and pakeha relationships with land and environment to deliver an alternative perspective to environmental literature which he argues lsquotends to marginalise people as wreckers of a mythical ancient world that had no need of themrsquo and the work of science that places lsquoa rational and measured face on a forgotten New Zealandrsquo4

This repositioning of settler history within environmental specifics paral-lels the development of new post-colonial national museums for Australia and New Zealand Since the late 1960s Euro-centric framings of both nations were increasingly difficult to maintain as they were under challenge from an emerging indigenous land rights movement a diversifying immigration pattern including refugees from the Vietnam War and shifting industrial and economic positions following Britainrsquos 1973 entry into the European Economic Commu-nity In Australia the election of the Whitlam government in 1972 spearheaded the declaration of Australia as a multicultural nation and signalled an official end to a singular Anglo-Australian national identity5 Australia was officially

1 Alfred W Crosby Ecological Imperialism The Biological Expansion of Europe 900ndash1900 (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)

2 See collection of essays in Thomas R Dunlap Nature and the English Diaspora Environment and History in the United States Canada Australia and New Zealand (New York Cambridge University Press 1999) Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin (eds) Ecology and Empire Environmental History of Settler Societies (Carlton South Melbourne University Press 1997)

3 See Tim Bonyhady The Colonial Earth (Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2000) Geoff Park Nga Uruora The Groves of Life Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape (Wellington Victoria University Press 1995)

4 Park Nga Uruora p 15

5 Stephan Castles Bill Cope Mary Kalantzis and Michael Morrissey Mistaken Identity Multiculturalism and the Demise of Nationalism in Australia (Sydney Pluto Press 1992) p 3



EXHIBITING ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY425


reconceived as a place of diversity and tolerance inclusive of new immigrants while also addressing the injustices suffered by Aboriginal Australians

Similarly the weakening of New Zealandrsquos British identity was paralleled by a strengthening of Maori culture and political activism resulting in the es-tablishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 to investigate Crown violations of the Treaty6 Recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi provided the foundations and nationalistic origins for the declaration of New Zealand as a bicultural nation in 1984 This act elevated Maori to the status of partners in the administration of the state as well as providing non-Maori with a degree of moral right of belonging7

The development of two new national museums the Museum of New Zea-land Te Papa Tongarewa (hereafter referred to as Te Papa) which opened in 1998 and the National Museum of Australia completed in 2001 was integral to the representation of the revised discursive space of the nation Environ-mental history assumes a major role in the conceptualisation of both museums This centrality is reflective of how the modern nation-state creates its identity through imagining that its people are bound to the same territory or as Tony Bennett writes lsquooccupants of a territory that has been historicised and subjects of a history that has been territorialisedrsquo8 The natural world as distinct from the colonial construction of race is now adopted as the unifying principle to naturalise the politically-constructed nations inclusive of both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples

This intent is clearly reflected in the museumrsquos intellectual structures Te Papa was shaped by the following thematic Papatuanuku ndash the earth on which we all live dedicated to the environment of Aotearoa New Zealand Tangata Whenua ndash those who belong to the land by right of first discovery (Maori) and Tangata Tiriti ndash those who belong to the land by right of the Treaty Correspondingly three themes shaped the National Museum of Australia Australian society and its history since 1788 the interaction of people with the Australian environment and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories

Despite this emphasis minimal academic critique has focused on the re-framing of museum history within an environmental context Museum critique has focused predominantly on the display of new national identities the revised framings of indigenous culture or the impact of the lsquonew museumrsquo Similarly the display of environmental history has received limited attention within the discourse of environmental history While the display of natural history has been the focus of many environmental scholars including Thomas R Dunlap and

6 This concept was first introduced to New Zealand by Canadian anthropologist Eric Schwimmer in his 1968 publication The Maori People in the Nineteenth-Sixties Schwimmer proposed that New Zealand adopt a bicultural Canadian model which was conceived to improve relations between Anglophone and French Canadians

7 Avril Bell lsquoBifurcation or Entanglement Settler Identity and Biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealandrsquo Continuum Journal of Media amp Cultural Studies 202 (2006) 253ndash68 257

8 Tony Bennett The Birth of the Museum History Theory Politics (London Routledge 1995) p 141



JILLIAN WALLISS426


Tom Griffiths only a handful have focused more specifically on environmental history9 John M Mackenzie for example provides a rare analysis of the issues arising in the display of environmental history within the national museum10 Similarly Jeffrey Stinersquos essay lsquoPlacing Environmental History on Displayrsquo explores the opportunities offered by the museum to disseminate environmental history11 The limited scope of this interest is surprising given the prominence of environmental history scholars in producing these displays and the role of museums in presenting this new type of history to the broader public

This paper addresses that gap I explore how the imperative to be representative of the nation influences the display of environmental history Some environmental historians such as Tom Griffiths claim that environmental history lsquooften makes the best sense on a regional or global scale rarely on a national onersquo12 This paper asks does a national framing of nation as suggested by Griffiths offer difficulties in developing narrative of place This analysis is extended through consideration of contemporaneous displays at two non-national museums the Melbourne Museum and the Museum of Sydney that were also attempting to merge culture and science people and place

To begin this exploration however it is necessary to understand a further influence on the development of Te Papa and the National Museum of Australia the impact of the new lsquomuseumrsquo

THE NEW MUSEUM AND THE POST-COLONIAL MUSEUM

The concept of the lsquonew museumrsquo which surfaced in the late 1960s introduced a new direction for museums worldwide The lsquonew museumrsquo was closely inter-twined with postmodernism and emerged from dissatisfaction with the cultural authority of museums an authority that was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain given the fracturing of notions of homogenous national communities and social groups Instead the lsquonew museumrsquo advocated more diverse repre-sentations of community and identity necessitating a shift not only in museum content but also in display techniques Peter Vergo in his edited anthology

9 Dunlap Nature and the English Diaspora Tom Griffiths Hunters and Collectors The Antiquarian Imagination in Australia (Melbourne Cambridge University Press 1996)

10 John M MacKenzie lsquoPeople and Landscape The Environment and National Identities in Museumsrsquo in National Museums Negotiating Histories Conference Proceedings ed by Darryl McIntyre and Kirsten Wehner (Canberra Published by the National Museum of Australia in association with the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research and the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy 2001) pp 173ndash205

11 Jeffrey Stine lsquoPlacing Environmental History on Displayrsquo in Environmental History 7 (2002) 566ndash88

12 Tom Griffiths lsquoIntroduction Ecology and Empire Towards an Australian History of the Worldrsquo in Ecology and Empire Environmental History of Settler Societies eds Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin (Carlton South Melbourne University Press 1997) pp 1ndash16 12





The New Museology published in 1989 outlined frustrations about the lsquooldrsquo museology that he argued was lsquotoo much about museum methods and too lit-tle about the purposes of museumrsquo13 Vergo argued that the museum should be about ideas reconstructed as facilitator of dialogue and communication rather than the source of authoritarian knowledge14

The approaches advocated by the lsquonew museumrsquo altered both the purpose and practice of museum display Narratives rather than objects were championed re-conceiving the object from the signifier of knowledge to lsquoculturally constructed vessels of meaningrsquo15 Display practices that fixed knowledge within classifica-tion systems and chronologies were considered lsquoelitist and anti-democraticrsquo reinforcing processes of imperialism and colonialism16 Instead attention turned to the politics of representation and the ideological construction of the museum accompanied by more lsquoreflexive and self-awarersquo museum practice17 This philosophy reflected the influence of post-structuralism on the approaches of the lsquonew museumrsquo that shifted focus from artefact-based methodologies to an emphasis on the study of language18 As Message observes the lsquonew museumrsquo lsquodeploy[s]features of post modernity to achieve a clear differentiation from the pastrsquo19 Displays were no longer conceived of as authoritarian knowledge but were re-configured to present plural and inclusive story-telling often through the adoption of post-modern techniques of bricolage and montage20

This transition from displays conceived around collections to multi-discipli-nary story-telling is clearly reflected in the planning documents for Te Papa and the National Museum of Australia Academics writers and historians including environmental historians were now central to the conceptualisation of exhibitions The Day 1 Exhibition Concept Plan for Te Papa stressed this heightened role of writing stating that lsquoin line with overseas innovationsrsquo the Museum intends to expand the relationship between writing and the museum lsquofrom the original shaping of ideas all the way through to opening dayrsquo21 Use of a diverse range

13 Peter Vergo lsquoIntroductionrsquo in The New Museology ed Peter Vergo (London Reaktion 1989) 1-5 3

14 Ibid 15 Amira Henare lsquoRewriting the Script Te Papa Tongarewa the Museum of New Zealandrsquo

Social Analysis Spring no 48 (2004) 55ndash63 5916 Andrea Witcomb Re-Imagining the Museum Beyond the Mausoleum Museum Meanings

(London Routledge 2003) p 12817 Darryl McIntyre and Kirsten Wehner lsquoIntroductionrsquo in National Museums Negotiating

Histories Conference Proceedings pp xivndashxix xv18 Henare lsquoRewriting the Scriptrsquo 5919 Kylie Message lsquoThe New Museumrsquo Theory Culture amp Society 232-3 (2007) 603ndash603

604 20 Kylie Message New Museums and the Making of Culture (Oxford and New York Berg

2006) p 28 21 Project Development Board lsquoDay 1 Exhibitions Planrsquo (Wellington Museum of New

Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Project Office 1994) p 8



JILLIAN WALLISS428


of writers was considered critical in telling lsquotruersquo stories compared with those provided by the lsquotraditional omniscient voicersquo22 The plan stated

The exhibition script itself should be built as much as possible from the actual words of writers historians witnesses to events and many others past and present As well as the Museumrsquos own writers the skills of the countryrsquos best authors can be harnessed to help develop and put on great exhibitions And of course text itself is a valuable artefact for the future23

The early planning documents for both museums stressed new dialogue and connections between different disciplinary areas The National Museum of Australia aimed to interweave its themes of Land People and Nation throughout all exhibits Connectivity was a far more complex proposition for Te Papa given that collections crossed art science and history Unlike the National Museum of Australia which was without precedent Te Papa remained a comprehensive museum inheriting the collections of the earlier Dominion Museum inclusive of the National Art Gallery24 Four curatorial departments of Natural Environment Maori Art and History History and Art were established The museum aimed to create lsquodialoguersquo between these areas using three strategies25 The first was to establish a unified museum collection that provided curators with access to artefacts from across disciplinary boundaries so allowing the development of lsquoinnovative exhibits containing unusual juxtapositionrsquo26

The second was to incorporate an ihonui or interpretative core within the museum ndash viewed as an lsquoimportant area of dialoguersquo for exploring New Zealand environment and cultural identity ndash connecting all four curatorial departments27 Finally key integrated displays were to be developed including The Treaty of Waitangi and the environmental history exhibit lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo envis-aged as an important lsquohingersquo between the natural and cultural history exhibits28 The Day 1 exhibition plan described lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo as a forum

22 Project Development Board lsquoDay 1 Exhibition Conceptual Planrsquo p 823 Project Development Board lsquoDay 1 Exhibition Conceptual Planrsquo pp 8ndash924 Australiarsquos origin as multiple colonies produced ambiguous definitions of national

institutions leaving Australia without a single national museum until the opening of the National Museum of Australia in 2001 New Zealand does not share this difficulty New Zealandrsquos status as a single colony led to Wellingtonrsquos Colonial Museum evolving into the Dominion Museum before being reinvented as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

25 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa lsquoMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Interpretive Planrsquo (Wellington Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 1992) p 19

26 Ibid27 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa lsquoMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa

Tongarewa Interpretive Planrsquo p 3128 Project Development Board lsquoDay 1 Exhibitions Planrsquo p 58





to develop an understanding of the multiplicity of ways in which individuals and groups view the natural world of Aotearoa New Zealand and the differing demands these views have placed (and continue to place) on the land and sea29

This ambition to reconnect nature and culture was shared by lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo the planned environmental history exhibition for the National Museum of Aus-tralia lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo was showcased as an innovative multi-disciplinary display merging lsquothe scientific and cultural history of a continent in a way never attempted before in an Australian museumrsquo30 lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo the ihonui and lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo all proposed new knowledge absent in earlier museum displays While the ecological displays of the mid-twentieth century museums emphasised interconnectedness between flora fauna and geographic sites they were devoid of human interactions

The championing of multi-disciplinary exhibition teams comprising aca-demics from diverse backgrounds was instrumental to developing displays that linked people with place For example Te Paparsquos external exhibition lsquoBush Cityrsquo envisaged as a living immersive diorama was conceived by an exten-sive multi-disciplinary team including a geologist Maori advisor educator plant ecologist plant biosystematist horticulturalist water analyst and marine biologist31 While a multi-disciplinary approach was evident in the production of earlier museum displays such as the diorama multi-disciplinary exhibition teams for Te Papa and the National Museum of Australia were required to devise intellectual structures to interweave natural and cultural perspectives of the environment This conceptualisation was unnecessary in traditional display practices of natural history that were instead guided by scientific principles of taxonomy evolution or ecology

Extensive discussions and debates concerning an appropriate intellectual struc-ture and content for lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo are recorded within exhibition planning documents Environmental history scholars were involved from the beginning with a planning summit held at the Australian National University assembling some of Australiarsquos most prominent environmental historians including Tim Bonyhady Libby Robin and Tom Griffiths32 A multi-disciplinary curatorial team was assembled for the subsequent development of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo which included lsquoan archaeologist an environmental historian a lexical cartographer a geomorphologist a cultural geographer and a biogeographer in addition to

29 Project Development Board lsquoDay 1 Exhibitions Planrsquo p 1930 National Museum of Australia Yesterday Tomorrow The National Museum of Australia

(Canberra National Museum of Australia 2001) p 1131 PH Pigott Museums in Australia 1975 Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Museums

and National Collections Including the Report of the Planning Committee on the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia (Canberra Australian Government Publishing Service 1975) p 2

32 Australian National University and the National Museum of Australia Environmental History in the National Museum of Australia A Workshop eds L Robin and K Wehner (Canberra National Museum of Australia and RSS 1998)



JILLIAN WALLISS430


historians specializing in the history of science ethnography and the history of natural historyrsquo33 Prominent environmental historian Libby Robin assumed a major role as content developer Designers however are noticeably absent from the curatorial team This lack of design input differs significantly from earlier twentieth-century display practice where scientists worked closely with taxidermists and artists to both conceive and design displays A new emphasis on writing therefore introduced a separation between the conceptualisation of the story and its representation within display

Released from the confines (and guidance) of taxonomy or chronology subse-quent planning documents for the exhibition struggle to nominate an appropriate structure Contrasting views reflective of disciplinary bias were evident at an early Ideas Summit34 Some advocated that the exhibit begin with Aboriginal perspectives only considering deep time if there was adequate space Others argued that this approach would not tell the whole story considering it neces-sary to demonstrate how lsquoyoungrsquo British settlement was as well as reinforcing the lsquoancientnessrsquo of the Australian landscape35

Deciding against a deep time narrative the exhibit was initially conceived as a lsquobig picturersquo environmental history before being revised to strengthen social history content especially personal attachment to place A series of case studies grouped geographically within particular regions was abandoned being consid-ered too difficult for visitors to relate to their own experience while the choice of regions remained contentious36 This rejection of a regional approach which many environmental historians advocate demonstrates the new mandate to be representative of the nation This responsibility is further reflected in a major internal review which evaluated the exhibition concept on representativeness adopting categories such as state coverage and major environmental zones as well as chronological spread ethnicity gender and indigenous representation37

The remainder of this essay shifts focus to the opening-day exhibitions for lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo and lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo to explore how the intel-lectual intent expressed in the planning documents was translated into display

33 Mike Smith lsquoA History of Ways of Seeing the Land Environmental History at the National Museum of Australiarsquo Curator 461 (2003) 7ndash14 8

34 National Museum of Australia lsquoIdeas Summit 2rsquo (Canberra unpublished 1998)35 National Museum of Australia lsquoIdeas Summit 2rsquo p1536 National Museum of Australia Links to the Land Work Book (Canberra National Museum

of Australia 1998) p 34837 Modules were considered adequately to cover rangelands deserts forests rivers and lakes

with the lsquourbanrsquo represented in a discussion of Perth and Lake Burley Griffin framed as an urban lake There was concern over the lack of coverage of major river systems marine environments ground water the sky and mountains Concepts were considered too strongly weighted towards British and indigenous perspectives at the expense of Southern Europeans Indians Afghans Pacific Islanders and Asians Modules containing ploughs buffalo catchers and canoes were considered too lsquoblokeyrsquo biased towards the male experience while indigenous representation was weighted too heavily towards traditional or contemporary groups in remote areas with more content required from the south





THE POLITICS OF A NATIONAL NATURE

Given the complexity of constructing a new museum it would be naive to assume that opening day museum exhibitions would mirror these concept and planning documents The magnitude of change evident in the opening-day exhibits of Te Papa however is surprising Level Two of the museum should have provided the first experience of the vibrant interpretative space (ihonui) Instead the space offered nothing more than a darkened void with even the symbolism of linking sky and earth lost following the decision to roof over rather than glaze the space in order to restrict light into the museum38 Moving to Level Three visitors should have encountered the environmental history exhibit lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo conceived as a strategic transition between the scientific exhibits of Level Two and the cultural history exhibits of Level Four As with the ihonui this key integrated display was lost during the museumrsquos developmental process

The first formal review of Te Papa released in 2000 highlighted this absence of exhibits that demonstrated the lsquoconvergence between the land and the peoples of Aotearoa New Zealandrsquo39 How was it possible for an exhibit considered so pivotal to the intellectual framework of the museum never to be realised

An explanation is offered by the shift in the museumrsquos role from an institution of knowledge to an explicit representation of nation Te Paparsquos role as an agent of identity construction combined with the intention to present histories inter-weaving people and environment created a new relationship between landscape identity and ecological reality never encountered before within the museum Prior to Te Papa these two constructions of lsquoenvironmentrsquo and lsquolandscapersquo were not encountered simultaneously within the museum Representations of the natural world in the Colonial and Dominion Museums (the precursors to Te Papa) fo-cused on New Zealandrsquos scientific environment including the documentation of the rapidly diminishing flora and fauna By the late twentieth century over 90 per cent of all wetland habitats were lost 44 endemic bird species were extinct and native forests were reduced from 78 per cent to 25 per cent of the total land area40 This statistic is remarkable not just for the extent of species loss but also for the extremely rapid pace of ecological change experienced in New Zealand a point succinctly articulated by geographer Kenneth Cumberland who stated in 1941 lsquo[w]hat in Europe took 20 centuries and in North America four has been accomplished in New Zealand within a single centuryrsquo41

38 Giles Reid lsquoMuseo-Logicrsquo Architecture New Zealand Special Edition (1998) 33ndash38 3739 Des Griffin Chris Saines and T L Rodney Wilson Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Report of Specific Issues Relating to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2000) p 10

40 Geoff Hicks lsquoNatural History in the Environmental Agersquo in National Museums Negotiating Histories Conference Proceedings pp 183ndash192 187

41 Kenneth C Cumberland lsquoA Centuryrsquos Change Natural to Cultural Vegetation in New Zealandrsquo Geographical Review 314 (1941) 529 cited Eric Pawson and Tom Brooking



JILLIAN WALLISS432


The representation of national landscape narratives however remained outside the realm of the scientific knowledge of the museum Instead a national land-scape image remained intertwined with identity construction presented through government strategies literature and painting and most influentially the tourist industry Beginning in the nineteenth century these constructions emphasised the uniqueness and often the superiority of New Zealandrsquos landscape repre-sentations devised to attract both settlers and tourists Over the course of the twentieth century these representations increasingly emphasised a landscape of pristine nature as demonstrated by constructions of wilderness in national parks that shifted from an emphasis on recreation to preservation This image evolved further throughout the 1990s culminating in Tourism New Zealandrsquos first-ever global campaign lsquo100 Pure New Zealandrsquo42 Launched in 1999 contempora-neous with the opening of Te Papa the campaign positioned landscape as the brand essence projecting an image of New Zealand its people environment and experiences as lsquountainted unadulterated unaffected and undilutedrsquo43

A national environmental history in the context of New Zealand therefore presented a problematic dilemma namely the reconciliation between pristine landscape image and the scientific realities of extensive and rapid environmental modification I argue that it was this tension that influenced the decision not to proceed with the exhibit This position is supported by comments provided by Geoff Hicks the concept leader for lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo He claims that the exhibition was a victim of the official view that lsquoopening day exhibitions should be celebratory of our culture and our natural environmentrsquo44 Hicks maintains that lsquothe contentious view of how bad we had been to our land led in my opinion to an institutional timidity that ultimately saw the People and the Land exhibition stallrsquo45 Hicksrsquo comments highlight the new political agenda that accompanied the construction of the post-colonial museum namely the representation of a constructed image of the nation as distinct from displays based on disciplinary paradigms As Paul Williams comments one of the most unresolved tensions in the new museology is lsquothe issue of balance between the museumsrsquo involvement in describing the social and political zeitgeist and helping to actively decide itrsquo46

This is not to imply that the natural world was absent at Te Papa Level Two contained the Papatuanuku exhibits which featured western lsquoscientificrsquo aspects

lsquoIntroductionrsquo in Environmental Histories of New Zealand eds Eric Pawson and Tom Brooking (Melbourne Oxford UniversityPress 2002) pp 1ndash16 4

42 Nigel Morgan Annette Pritchard and Rachel Piggott lsquoNew Zealand 100 Pure The Creation of a Powerful Niche Destination Brandrsquo The Journal of Brand Management 9 45 (2002) 335ndash354 342

43 Morgan Pritchard and Piggott lsquoNew Zealand 100 Purersquo 34844 Geoff Hicks lsquoNatural History in the Environmental Agersquo 18845 Ibid46 Paul Williams lsquoA Breach on the Beach Te Papa and the Fraying of Biculturalismrsquo

Museum and Society 32 (2005) 81ndash97 83





of the New Zealand environment Exhibitions such as lsquoAwesome Forcesrsquo de-tailed geology and natural processes that shaped and transformed New Zealand lsquoMountains to the Searsquo displayed typical New Zealand ecological habitats and lsquoBush Cityrsquo presented a transect of coastal ecology Representations of human occupation in the environment however were absent apart from a digital media presentation that offered a glimpse of Maori understandings of the creation of New Zealandrsquos environment

This failure to develop lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo was not shared by the National Museum of Australia where as envisaged lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo formed the first permanent exhibition encountered by visitors lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo was conceived as an lsquointellectual history of ideasrsquo configured into ten modules to tell lsquomultiplersquo stories weaving together indigenous and non-indigenous histories science and social history Beginning with the theme lsquoEncountering Australiarsquo nature was introduced as a colonial encounter and the display explored European responses to flora and fauna as well as the impact of introduced species and the extinction of native animals lsquoLiving with the Landrsquo outlined differing cultural attitudes to and modifications of land including the use of fire urban develop-ment and technologies of agriculture while the final theme lsquoUnderstanding Australiarsquo presented new ideas knowledge and expressions of attachment to the Australian landscape This structure reflects a chronology of the settler narrative framed thematically within the concepts of response adjustment and attachment

Why was it possible for these positive and negative narratives to be dis-played at the National Museum of Australia but not at Te Papa Clearly the specific temporality of colonial settlement underpinning the two nations offers clues The rapid pace of ecological transformation evident in New Zealand is not shared by Australia The 60000 years of settlement by Aboriginal people prior to European colonisation creates a less absolute and recent starting point for ecological modification particularly when compared with New Zealand where Maori and European settlement are understood to have occurred within at most 1000 years of each other New Zealandrsquos recent history of settlement therefore creates a discrete point from which to measure the impact of human settlement on the environment The obviousness of the effects of change in New Zealand was exacerbated by qualities of the fauna such as the flightlessness of birds which made them particularly vulnerable to introduced species such as rats weasels and stoats

In addition attitudes to and framings of the Australian landscape have rarely been based on superiority in fact the reverse is true Nineteenth-century un-derstandings of the Australian landscape and its indigenous occupants initially perceived them as environmentally primitive and lacking While these colonial attitudes evolved over the course of the twentieth century into a greater ap-preciation and understanding of the varied landscapes of Australia narratives of foreignness strangeness and adversity endured Consequently Australiarsquos



JILLIAN WALLISS434


national landscape narratives are more closely aligned with the realities of its landscape modification

This is not to say that the display of a national environmental history was a simpler proposition for the National Museum of Australia As I will argue in the remainder of this essay the opening-day lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo exhibition struggled not only with the scope of presenting a nation that encompasses an entire continent but also the reconciliation of the temporal disparities of deep time indigenous and non-indigenous histories

THE CHALLENGES OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY

Environmental historians Eric Pawson and Stephen Dovers argue that defining the extent of convergence between disciplines is vital to claiming environmental history as an interdisciplinary pursuit arguing that it is lsquotoo easy to assume that interdisciplinarity will emerge when representatives of different disciplines get togetherrsquo47 Pawson and Dovers identify two dominant strategies for accom-modating multiple perspectives of environment within a single structure The first assumes that lsquoconsiderable epistemological differences existrsquo and seeks only lsquosuperficial measures of connections between themrsquo while the second attempts lsquoto intersect constructivelyrsquo with other disciplines48 In situating three diverse perspectives of indigenous non-indigenous and scientific histories within the singular narrative lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo could be considered an example of Doversrsquo and Pawsonrsquos second approach lsquoconstructive intersectionrsquo with other disciplines49

However within the display structure natural history in particular was over-whelmed by social history content Certainly some displays such as lsquoBiologi-cal Invasionrsquo successfully displayed stories that crossed all three perspectives This display featured the impact of the introduced rabbit interweaving multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural stories depicting Aboriginal culture agricultural practices ecology and popular culture Artefacts were diverse and included a section of the rabbit-proof fence the iconic Akubra hat made of rabbit pelt and the painting Snake story at Karrinyarra by Aboriginal artist Mick Tjakamarra which depicts the rabbit as part of an Aboriginal narrative This lsquoconstructive intersectionrsquo between the three perspectives was rare

The difficulty of balancing multiple perspectives is further compounded by the requirement to represent the entire nation a dilemma well demonstrated by the shortcomings of the lsquoCities of the Edgersquo display Originally planned with a

47 Eric Pawson and Stephen Dovers lsquoEnvironmental History and the Challenges of Interdisciplinarity An Antipodean Perspectiversquo Environment and History 9 (2003) 53ndash75 55

48 Pawson and Dovers lsquoEnvironmental History and the Challenges of Interdisciplinarityrsquo 6249 Ibid





focus on Perth the display was revised to incorporate all Australian cities This expanded scope together with the limited physical space dedicated to the display combined to produce tenuous narratives of Australiarsquos diverse cities Hobart for example was represented by a whale harpoon and whale teeth while Sydney framed as lsquogrowing painsrsquo was presented by a chainsaw and a wooden bowl made out of turpentine tree cut down to make way for the M2 Hills motorway Any clear point of intersection at which to examine the environmental history of these diverse cities was absent This was true of many displays within lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo where stories were generalised to sit within a national space of city country and bush

The lsquoDeep Timersquo module was an exception It formed part of the final thematic of lsquoUnderstanding Australiarsquo and was distinctive for several reasons Unlike the other modules it focused on a specific place Kakudu National Park It integrated indigenous and scientific perspectives of place and incorporated the use of digital media The display featured a digital presentation of deep time environmental change at Kakudu simultaneously presenting Aboriginal relationships to land Stone tools and implements excavated from Malakunanja rock shelter in 1990 dated at 55000 years old supplemented the display50 The use of digital media was significant because it facilitated a departure from the linearity of geologi-cal deep time and colonial narratives of progress and enabled the simultaneous presentation of contemporary and ancient identities of Aboriginal people ad-dressing the temporal gap between Aboriginal and European culture Such a dynamic and cyclic temporal framing creates new possibilities for intersecting scientific narratives of global climatic change with the long history of occupation of the first Australians extending lsquothe human story into a non-human realmrsquo51

The first official museum review (known as the Carroll report) released in 2003 was critical of the structure of the lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo exhibition stating that the lack of an overall narrative resulted in the individual units appearing lsquoas disparate unconnected elements rather than being linked together as chap-ters in the same storyrsquo52 Further the panel concluded that the concept of deep time was not adequately covered stating that there needed to be a focus on the lsquodynamic evolution of the Australian continent and its effect on humans who have occupied itrsquo53 The panelrsquos recommendations included the extension of the coverage of deep time history and the development of a more lsquochronologi-cal threadrsquo to provide a stronger link between the modules54 Similarly a peer

50 These artefacts were found on what is now considered the lease area for the Jabiluka uranium mine site in Kakudu National Park

51 Tom Griffiths lsquoTravelling in Deep Time La Longue Duree in Australian Historyrsquo Australian Humanities Review June (2000) 3

52 John Carroll Richard Longes Philip Jones and Patricia Vickers-Rich Review of the National Museum of Australia Its Exhibitions and Public Programs (Canberra Commonwealth of Australia 2003) p 31

53 Carroll et al Review of the National Museum of Australia p 3254 Ibid



JILLIAN WALLISS436


critique conducted in 2002 by Richard Gillespie from the Melbourne Museum highlighted the exhibitsrsquo ambitious and episodic approach that he argued reduced the intellectual content to lsquosnap shotsrsquo55 But would a more linear chronology offer a more successful outcome Would a deep time narrative offer a more successful framework in which to intersect social and indigenous history A review of lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo which formed the centrepiece of the Melbourne Museum (opened in 2000) reveals that such a structure presents other temporal difficulties

Depicting an environmental history of Melbournersquos tall mountain ash forests lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo was conceived of as a living exhibit a mediator between the science-technology and the culture-history exhibition spaces of the museum According to display curator Richard Gillespie five thematic zones of lsquoWaterrsquo lsquoEarth Processesrsquo lsquoClimatersquo lsquoFirersquo and lsquoHuman Interventionrsquo considered lsquospecific agents of change within the forestrsquo formed the underlying structure for the gallery56 Yet a clear linear chronological progression is evident Where lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo privileged settler narratives lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo privileges scientific deep time and begins its chronology with concepts of Gondwanaland and plate tectonics The first glimpse of the gallery shown in Figure 1 offers a carefully framed view of pristine nature reminiscent of a Von Guerard paint-ing of the Dandenong Ranges Design of pedestrian circulation within this first part minimises any trace of human occupation Entering through the fern gully visitors are introduced to creek ecology before emerging into lsquoEarth Processesrsquo where exhibits and displays outlining plate tectonics and geological processes are carefully designed into the replica rock walls

The central part of the display presents the flora and fauna of the woodland ecology a recreated bush land of eucalypts complete with live lizards snakes and birds This area also introduces the first representation of human interac-tion presenting the Kullin peoplersquos (the traditional ownersrsquo) seven seasonal understanding of the Yarra valley57 The final two zones of lsquoFirersquo and lsquoHuman Interventionrsquo focus on the various ways that people see and interact with the forest While lsquoHuman Interventionrsquo includes cultural references such as tour-ism and sanctuary the final zone overwhelmingly features the rapid ecological modification of the forest following European occupation and includes forestry mining and the dislocation of Aboriginal people The message of destruction is reinforced by the transition from the use of live vegetation evident throughout the rest of the display to the use of dramatic tall timber poles that while intend-ing to depict the scale of the monumental mountain ash forest could equally be read as an image of environmental destruction

55 Ibid56 Carroll et al Review of the National Museum of Australia p 1057 These seasons include the Eel season the Wombat season the Orchid season the Tadpole

season the Grass Flowering season the Kangaroo-Apple season and the dry season





lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo reverses the temporal narrative of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo by inserting settler and indigenous perspectives into a deep time scientific framing However this framing presents new difficulties requiring the positioning of the Aboriginal Kullin people twice first within the bush setting located temporally and spatially at a mid-point between deep time nature and contemporary culture and again within the lsquoHuman Interventionrsquo zone as a reference to a contem-porary enduring culture The extreme temporal disjuncture between deep time scientific framings and a settler history less than 250 years old both presented within a single linear time frame presents a dominant reading of the negative environmental impact of European settlement

Conversely as demonstrated by lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo leading with settler history presents difficulties with representing deep time history and the long and enduring occupation of Aboriginal people This comparison of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo and lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo therefore demonstrates the difficulties of accommodating the disparate temporalities of a long Aboriginal presence (which also includes cyclic notions of time) a short settler history and an even longer deep time history of an ancient content This characteristic of Australian settle-ment remains a challenging aspect in the conceptualisation of display structures Equally testing is the display of stories and relationships to place

FIGURE 1 View from the museum entrance into lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo Melbourne museum Authorrsquos photograph



JILLIAN WALLISS438


DISPLAYING RELATIONSHIPS TO PLACE

Text was central to many of the displays of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo reflecting its new prominence within the storytelling of the lsquonew museumrsquo Historically the role of text within displays of nature was confined to the labelling of artefacts to identify their taxonomic classification The introduction of evolutionary thought led to the textual narrative as a means for describing evidence of evolutionary change The role of text was given greater primacy in the storytelling of eco-logical exhibits where extensive explanations were combined with diagrams images and artefacts to explain ecological relationships in the natural world lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo reveals two new relationships between text and artefact the use of artefact to illustrate a concept as communicated through text a framing which replaces the artefact as the primary source of knowledge and the use of entirely text-based displays which challenged not only display as a curatorial practice but the role of the museum as a collection of lsquothingsrsquo

This reliance on textual storytelling is demonstrated by the lsquoFirestick Farm-ingrsquo module which displayed the dynamic management practice of indigenous burning regimes entirely through text and reproduced images The display shown in Figure 2 contained no artefact and was simply layers of text While significant documents and photographs were incorporated into this textual sto-rytelling they were reproductions rather than originals and often significantly reduced in size This approach not only challenges the centrality of material culture to the museum but also concepts of authenticity and interpretation The final outcome reads like a chapter in a book an approach that environmental historian Tim Bonyhady cautioned against in early workshops for lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo when he wrote

A museum exhibition is not a book so it is important not to get lost in text and audio which can be numbing at the expense of the visual Objects and displays should speak for themselves as much as possible58

The dominance of text within many of the displays was highlighted in Richard Gillespiersquos critique of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo Gillespie also criticised the design of the text which as demonstrated in lsquoFirestick Farmingrsquo incorporated numer-ous graphic styles within a single panel using multiple typefaces colours and sizes59 Curator Mike Smith argues that the prominence of text within lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo reflects two issues the nature of environmental history that requires

58 Australian National University and the National Museum of Australia Environmental History in the National Museum of Australia A Workshop p 6

59 Richard Gillespie Tangled Destinies Formal Review (National Museum of Australia 2002)





objects to be extensively interpreted and the types of stories included within the display that have usually been unable to be told through objects60

The module lsquoLandscapes of the Mindrsquo is an example of such stories aim-ing to display diverse spiritual and political relationships to environment and landscape Similar to lsquoFirestick Farmingrsquo the display was designed entirely as text and image panel The increasingly prominent role of writers in develop-ing exhibits is clearly evident in lsquoLandscapes of the Mindrsquo which was curated by a writer Jay Arthur Originally intended to include four lakes from across Australia the exhibit was reduced to a focus on Tasmaniarsquos Lake Pedder the site of Australiarsquos earliest environmental battles Words formed the primary mode for conveying the differing ways that developers conservationists and the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric commission viewed this now-flooded landscape These words were considered by Arthur to be lsquoindications of the potential or

60 Mike Smith Untangling Tangled Destinies Exhibition Review (Canberra National Museum of Australia 2002)

FIGURE 2 The textual display of lsquoFire Stick Farmingrsquo lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo National Museum of Australia Authorrsquos photograph



JILLIAN WALLISS440


actual destinies of these bodies of water caught in the tangled relation of humans to their landscapersquo61

The display comprised two large photographs of Lake Pedder one of which is shown in Figure 3 superimposed with text phrases including lsquomagnificent viewsrsquo lsquoman-made pondrsquo and lsquowatery graversquo This approach raises two issues first the generalised and clicheacuted phrases which raise questions about the depth of knowledge and understanding that is communicated and secondly the re-lationship between text and image Similar to lsquoFirestick Farmingrsquo the panels were designed primarily as graphic compositions as distinct from a more curatorial approach towards image and text which would have called for more active engagement in the relationship between text and image in projecting a message lsquoLandscape of the Mindrsquo was considered one of the least successful modules of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo and consequently was removed soon after the museumrsquos opening

FIGURE 3 Simplistic phrases of lsquoLandscape of the Mindrsquo lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo National Museum of Australia Authorrsquos photograph

Returning to Mike Smithrsquos comment then how can stories of environmental history that are not associated with objects be displayed The Museum of Sydney which opened in 1995 on the archaeological site of Australiarsquos first Government House faced similar questions In an alternative to the textual storytelling of

61 Jay Arthur lsquoCaptions for Landscapesrsquo in National Museums Negotiating Histories Conference Proceedings pp 208ndash212 210





lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo curator Peter Emmett explored the intersection of art and museological practice to engage with the poetics of place

The decision not to uncover and excavate the archaeological remains of first Government House significantly reduced material evidence available to communicate the sitersquos significance Rather than emphasising writers Emmett assembled a collection of creative people including curators artists archaeolo-gists designers historians digital media designers film-makers and graphic designers to contribute to his vision to lsquocompose and liberate the metaphor of placersquo62 Scholarship speculation and imagination were integral to the interroga-tion of what Emmett describes as lsquothe gaps absences the in-between spaces the memory placesrsquo63 The resultant displays demonstrate alternative techniques for displaying relationships between people and place while maintaining the centrality of materiality to the museum in a practice that writer and theorist Paul Carter describes as lsquomaterial thinkingrsquo64

A designed juxtaposition underpinned many of the displays of the Museum of Sydney This juxtaposition maintains a curatorial practice with displays emerging from the direct manipulation of lsquothingsrsquo Artist Narelle Jubelinrsquos work lsquoCollectorrsquos Chestsrsquo featured an interpretation of Sydneyrsquos history from 1788 to 1845 Display of material was not based on any fixed chronology or narra-tive structure but rather on the apparently random juxtaposition of extracts of diaries letters archaeological artefact natural history specimens newspaper clippings and contemporary objects which produced a montage of artefact and image that provoked new historical connections65 The absence of a pre-defined narrative was extended to visitorsrsquo interaction with the display where they were required to select randomly from one of 75 drawers

This strategy of juxtaposition is shared by the lsquoEdge of the Treesrsquo exhibit constructed on the Museumrsquos forecourt Designed as a collaboration between artists Fiona Foley and Janet Lawrence lsquoEdge of the Treesrsquo emerged from a design competition brief written by Emmett for a sculptural installation that en-gaged with the site as a point of contact between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians66 The design shown in Figure 4 featured a symbolic forest of trees

62 Peter Emmett lsquoWysiwyg on the Site of First Government Housersquo in Sites Nailing the Debate Archaeology and Interpretation in Museums (Sydney Sydney Historic Houses Trust of NSW 1996) pp 109ndash119 114

63 Emmett lsquoWysiwyg on the Site of First Government Housersquo 12064 Paul Carter Material Thinking The Theory and Practice of Creative Research

(Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2004) p 18565 Kate Gregory lsquoArt and Artifice Peter Emmettrsquos Curatorial Practice in the Hyde

Park Barracks and Museum of Sydneyrsquo Fabrications The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand 161 (2006) 1ndash22 15

66 Included in the brief were Rhys Jonesrsquo words lsquohellip the discoverers struggling through the surf were met on the beaches by other people looking at them from the edges of the trees Thus the same landscape perceived by the newcomers as alien hostile or having no coherent form was to the indigenous people their home a familiar place the inspiration of dreamsrsquo



JILLIAN WALLISS442


formed from timber sandstone and steel materials that referenced the stone pines indigenous to the site the geology below the surface and the modern city now defining the site Foley and Lawrence did not include any historically signifi-cant artefacts Instead their posts shown in Figure 5 operated as a framework through which to weave memories myths and histories of place using sound material culture and text

FIGURE 4 lsquoEdge of the Treesrsquo on the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney Authorrsquos photograph

Layers of materials such as pippies (also known as cockles or clams) ash fish and crab bones were inlaid into the posts evoking the Aboriginal way of life that once inhabited the site Similarly names of botanical plants endemic to the site were engraved into timber posts These scientific names were con-trasted with the Eora Aboriginesrsquo names for the same plants which were carved into the stone pillars and accompanied by a sound map triggered by peoplersquos presence of Aboriginal people whispering Sydney place names in the Dharug language67 These textual and aural naming references together acknowledged an enduring occupation by Aboriginal people No additional textual interpretation is included in the exhibits Instead visitors actively participate in the creation of new knowledge and connections

The display approaches of the Museum of Sydney have drawn criticism from historians In her analysis of historiansrsquo attitudes to the Museum of Sydney Kate Gregory concluded that the use of art and aesthetic experience was generally devalued because lsquoit was considered to compromise the treatment of historyrsquo68

67 Dinah Dysart Edge of the Trees (Sydney Historic Houses Trust of NSW 2000) p 5368 Gregory lsquoArt and Artificersquo 4





Aesthetics of art practices were considered to produce lsquounreliablersquo historical interpretations creating lsquofuzzyrsquo history with empty meaning69 These practices were considered to undermine the museumrsquos role in preserving artefactual knowledge for future generations

The weakness of these criticisms become apparent when contextualised against the outcomes of lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo The aversion of historians to the techniques adopted in Emmettrsquos museum overlooks their own role and that of writers in the production of museum displays such as lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo which as I have argued have equally contributed to loss of artefactual knowledge through an emphasis on textual storytelling

Displaying relationships between people and place through material culture is extremely challenging Importantly displays such as lsquoEdge of the Treesrsquo and lsquoCollectorrsquos Chestsrsquo maintain a focus on lsquothingsrsquo presented within representa-tional frameworks with the ambition of communicating knowledge The creative practices encouraged by Emmett therefore can be considered a legitimate display practice especially in the context of developing interdisciplinary and cross-cultural narratives of landscape and place As philosopher Beth Lord argues the museum is not distinctive for its collections of objects but instead for establishing

69 Gregory lsquoArt and Artificersquo 3ndash4

FIGURE 5 Inlaid Memories Museum of Sydney Authorrsquos photograph



JILLIAN WALLISS444


relations between lsquothings and conceptual structuresrsquo70 The relevance of such creative practices is also supported by environmental historian John Mackenzie who encourages environmental history to consider lsquothe inter-penetration of fine art and design image and instrument imagination and industryrsquo to promote new ways of representing and exploring histories and stories71

Following the release of the Carroll report lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo was signifi-cantly revised This second round of exhibitions presents a departure from the museumrsquos origins in a remarkably intense period characterised by the intersec-tion of a politically-constructed post colonial nationalism with the display ap-proaches of the lsquonew museumrsquo The gallery was renamed lsquoOld Land New Landrsquo a title considered to be more indicative of the revised content and the exhibit was reframed to emphasise environmental practices and sustainability within specific places This response was aligned with Gillespiersquos recommendations that the exhibit be reduced in scope suggesting a more focused interrogation of differing perspectives on a similar subject72 He commented on the limited frames of reference for contemporary issues an observation shared by the Car-roll Report which advocated more connection to lsquoissues of current interest such as environmental change land degradation and salinityrsquo73

The subsequent reworked exhibition responds to these criticisms For example lsquoAustralians Living Inlandrsquo replaced the nationally-focused lsquoCities of the Edgersquo with a regional ambit Adopting the common lens of human interaction with water the module looks at the three inland cities of Alice Springs Kalgoorlie and Wagga Concepts of salinity engineering and adaptability are introduced through a range of artefacts images and text including a piece of the Perth-to-Kalgoorlie water pipeline and a camel water tank from Kalgoorlie74 This revised display therefore is not only reframed with a tighter geographic focus but also through a more specific lens of sustainability This reduced ambit provides the opportunity to escape the generalities of bush city and nation to instead explore more detailed relationships between particular communities and specific places

A reduced emphasis on nation is also evident in the second generation of displays developed for Te Papa In 2006 lsquoBlood Earth Fire Whangai Whenua Ahi Karsquo the long-awaited environmental history of New Zealand opened This exhibition fulfils the original intention of displaying an intertwining of European and Maori perspectives of environment landscape and whenua lsquoBlood Earth Fire Whangai Whenua Ahi Karsquo offers both celebratory and negative stories of New Zealandrsquos environmental history depicting for example the rapid loss of

70 Beth Lord lsquoFoucaultrsquos Museum Difference Representation and Genealogyrsquo Museum and Society 41 (2006) 1ndash14 5

71 John M MacKenzie lsquoPeople and Landscape The Environment and National Identities in Museumsrsquo in National Museums Negotiating Histories Conference Proceedings p 179

72 Gillespie Tangled Destinies Formal Review 73 Carroll et al Review of the National Museum of Australia pp 31ndash32 4274 National Museum of Australia Performance Reports National Museum of Australia

(Canberra National Museum of Australia 2005) p 28





forests and wetlands and featuring a diorama depicting the extensive and rapid rate of bird extinction Importantly the exhibition not only erases the physical and conceptual void between Te Paparsquos scientific and cultural history exhibi-tions but also provides one of the first exhibitions to depart from a cultural bifurcation of New Zealand history

CONCLUSION

The environmental history exhibits lsquoTangled Destiniesrsquo and lsquoThe People and the Landrsquo were conceptualised during an intense period of post-colonial nation-alism This heightened focus on nation exposed divergent attitudes between Australia and New Zealand regarding nation landscape and environment The repositioning of the museum as an active agent in identity construction shifted emphasis from displays based on disciplinary paradigms to the representation of a constructed image of the nation This reframing led to the convergence of landscape narratives and environmental knowledge within the museum In the case of Te Papa the difficulty of reconciling a national landscape identity predi-cated on purity with the scientific reality of rapid and extensive environmental modification was influential in the decision to omit the environmental history display from the opening-day programme

This convergence of landscape and environment was less problematic at the National Museum of Australia a consequence of a closer alignment between national landscape narratives and the realities of landscape modification Instead the ambitious geographic scope of representing a nation that encompasses an entire continent resulted in generalised narratives Further the reconciliation of the disparate temporalities of a long Aboriginal presence (which also includes cyclic notions of time) a short settler history and an even longer deep time history of an ancient continent proved challenging Difficulties in constructing an inclusive temporal narrative were also shared by the Melbourne Museumrsquos lsquoThe Forest Galleryrsquo despite its regional geographic focus

This critique of the environmental history displays also reveals the increased role of academics and historians in conceptualising exhibitions (a consequence of the lsquonew museumrsquo) which contributed to a dominance of textual storytelling and a diminished role for material culture Alternative techniques for displaying relationships between people and place are offered by the creative art practices adopted at the Museum of Sydney While some historians may dispute their legitimacy there is no question that these display strategies have an equal role alongside the diverse academic perspectives that comprise environmental history in developing museum displays that merge culture and science people and place



REVIEWFERNAND BRAUDEL CENTER

A Journal of theFernand Braudel Center for the Study of

Economies Historical Systems and CivilizationsVol XXXIII includes the second installment of Jason W Moorersquos ldquoMadeira Sugar and the Conquest of Nature in the lsquoFirstrsquo Sixteenth Century Part II From lsquoRegional Crisisrsquo to Commodity Frontier 1506ndash1530rdquo articles from Edvige Bilotti Alf Hornborg and Carlos

Antonio Aguirre Rojas and a special double issue ldquoFood Energy and Environment Crisis of the Modern World Systemrdquo with Special Editor Philip McMichael featuring

articles by Fred Magdoff Tony Weis John Wilkinson David Pimentel Richard York amp Brett Clark and Jason Moore

Recent Special Issues and Sections still available include

Managing Editor ReviewFernand Braudel CenterBinghamton UniversityState University of New YorkPO Box 6000Binghamton NY 13902-6000

Institutions $150yrIndividuals $30yrSpecial rate for low gnpper capita countries $10yrNon-US addressespostage $12yr

XXXII 2 2009 mdashXXXII 1 2009 mdash

XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash

XXX 2 2007 mdashXXIX 2 2006 mdash

XXVIII 4 2005 mdash XXVIII 2 2005 mdashXXVIII 1 2005 mdash

XXVII 4 2004 mdashXXVII 3 2004 mdash

XXVII 1 2004 mdash

Commemorating the Longue DureeacutePolitical Economic Perspectives on the World Food CrisisThe Second Slavery Mass Slavery World-Economy and Comparative Microhistories Part IIThe Second Slavery Mass Slavery World-Economy and Comparative Microhistories Part IRemembering Stephen G BunkerDecolonizing Postcolonial StudiesIn Honor of Vitorino Magalhatildees GodinhoDiscussions of KnowledgeThe Black World and the World-SystemThe Environment and World HistoryRussia and Siberia in the World-System German PerspectivesDirections for World-Systems Analysis

A Table of Contents of past issues may be found on our website httpbinghamtonedufbcreview-journal



JILLIAN WALLISS424


INTRODUCTION

Beginning in the 1980s scholars from environmental history post-colonial studies and natural history began to explore how the experience of the settler society influenced its engagement with the nature of the New World American historian Alfred W Crosbyrsquos influential study Ecological Imperialism1 for example highlighted an ecological dimension to the European colonisersrsquo vi-sion and inspired subsequent studies that were often comparative in structure2 Comparative environmental histories have been supplemented by the rewriting of national histories with an ecological focus Throughout the 1990s written environmental histories of Australia and New Zealand introduced valuable accounts of settler interaction with the environment progressing past standard narratives of environmental misunderstanding and destruction3 For example in a first for New Zealand ecologist and historian Geoff Parkrsquos book Nga Uruora The Groves of Life Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape inter-twined Maori and pakeha relationships with land and environment to deliver an alternative perspective to environmental literature which he argues lsquotends to marginalise people as wreckers of a mythical ancient world that had no need of themrsquo and the work of science that places lsquoa rational and measured face on a forgotten New Zealandrsquo4

This repositioning of settler history within environmental specifics paral-lels the development of new post-colonial national museums for Australia and New Zealand Since the late 1960s Euro-centric framings of both nations were increasingly difficult to maintain as they were under challenge from an emerging indigenous land rights movement a diversifying immigration pattern including refugees from the Vietnam War and shifting industrial and economic positions following Britainrsquos 1973 entry into the European Economic Commu-nity In Australia the election of the Whitlam government in 1972 spearheaded the declaration of Australia as a multicultural nation and signalled an official end to a singular Anglo-Australian national identity5 Australia was officially

1 Alfred W Crosby Ecological Imperialism The Biological Expansion of Europe 900ndash1900 (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1986)

2 See collection of essays in Thomas R Dunlap Nature and the English Diaspora Environment and History in the United States Canada Australia and New Zealand (New York Cambridge University Press 1999) Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin (eds) Ecology and Empire Environmental History of Settler Societies (Carlton South Melbourne University Press 1997)

3 See Tim Bonyhady The Colonial Earth (Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2000) Geoff Park Nga Uruora The Groves of Life Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape (Wellington Victoria University Press 1995)

4 Park Nga Uruora p 15

5 Stephan Castles Bill Cope Mary Kalantzis and Michael Morrissey Mistaken Identity Multiculturalism and the Demise of Nationalism in Australia (Sydney Pluto Press 1992) p 3















JILLIAN WALLISS426




























JILLIAN WALLISS428

























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JILLIAN WALLISS432



















JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash

















JILLIAN WALLISS426




























JILLIAN WALLISS428

























JILLIAN WALLISS430
























JILLIAN WALLISS432



















JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash




















JILLIAN WALLISS428

























JILLIAN WALLISS430
























JILLIAN WALLISS432



















JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash

















JILLIAN WALLISS430
























JILLIAN WALLISS432



















JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash

















JILLIAN WALLISS432



















JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash













JILLIAN WALLISS434























JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash
















JILLIAN WALLISS436
















JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash












JILLIAN WALLISS438



















JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash













JILLIAN WALLISS440






















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash


















JILLIAN WALLISS442


















JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash














JILLIAN WALLISS444















CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash








CONCLUSION















XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash














XXXI 3 2008 mdash

XXXI 2 2008 mdash




XXVII 1 2004 mdash



Exhibiting Environmental History: The Challenge of Representing Nation

Documents

Transcript of Exhibiting Environmental History: The Challenge of Representing Nation