Led by Jennifer Little

Saturday, 6 June, 2020

11:30 AM - 1 PM

Free, drop in

April 2020 marks 250 years since Lieutenant James Cook arrived, uninvited, onto Gweagal shores at Kamay (Botany Bay) in what is now Australia. For the local Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, this event changed everything. Dispossessing them of their homes, lands and governance for the benefit of the newcomers and those far away in Britain. What it is to be here: Colonisation and resistance considers how this process of colonisation and First Nations people’s resistance to it continue to this day.

The Portico Library’s collection includes first editions of Cook’s journals, historical maps and related documents that record the first of these encounters from the point of view of the colonisers. For this exhibition, we share the words of present- day Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders through the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017). This ground-breaking artwork calls for constitutional reforms “to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country”.

We will also present materials documenting a unique relationship that is now being forged between First Nations Australians and the people of Manchester: in 2019, Manchester Museum became the first UK institution to unconditionally return sacred artefacts to their traditional custodians in Australia. The objects are going home.

Free public preview: Thurs 23 April, 6–8pm

Apr 24, 2020 – Jul 27, 2020

More information: https://www.theportico.org.uk/exhibitions/