Promoting and preserving indigenous cultures

A Paradigm Shift

‍July 1969
"I believe it was through this fieldwork and the exposure to the traditional owners of country that he was working in that Bob reached a realisation relating to what could be done with cultural material, particularly in Australia.

He began with site recording and working with a group of traditional owners who had rights in areas such as Mount Singleton and the Cleland Hills, the Yuendumu district, Warlpiri and Pintupi people and later Pitjantjtatjara people when he went further south to the Officer Creek region near Ernabella. It was at that latter area in July 1969 that Bob found himself drawn in to closer relationships with these people. He was recording a little bit of mythology. He was being invited to ceremony going through the night and then working with those same people documenting rock art during the day."

I believe it was from this point that Bob realised that the only way to record and document Aboriginal sites properly and to extend this approach to heritage management as a whole was in a total partnership, honest and complete, with the Aboriginal owners of the sites and the material.

It was a paradigm shift that distinguished him from possibly the Draper Campbells, Charles Mountfords and Harold Coopers who had essentially adopted the traditional museological approach to culture; that is, an expert-driven approach, scooping up the material bringing it in and processing it.

It was this and the UNESCO seminar that he organised in Adelaide in 1971, which brought people together from all over the country concerned with preservation of Aboriginal art, that equipped him for making the next shift in his career."

From: A Tribute to Bob Edwards. Philip Jones. National Museum of Australia. March 2017

"At the SA Museum, he drew on his contacts with senior men in the APY lands to develop a keeping place in the basement of the SA Museum, where Aboriginal elders could inspect their secret-sacred objects. This was the first time that any museum had done this."

From: Smith et al. Robert Edwards and the history of Australian rock art research. September 2020, Historical Records of Australian Science 32(1) 2021)


(1972)
National Seminar on Aboriginal Antiquities in Australia, held in Canberra by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, addressed urgent issues regarding the protection and management of Indigenous heritage.

Convened by Robert Edwards, the seminar produced a landmark report covering legislation, sacred sites, tourism, and conservation methods. Key details from the 1972 seminar include:
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‍Focus Areas: The seminar addressed the growing need to protect Aboriginal relics from destruction caused by development and tourism, advocating for comprehensive, uniform legislation across Australia.
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‍Key Discussions: Topics included the preservation of rock art in the Pilbara, the deterioration of archaeological materials, and the need for public education on site conservation.
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‍Outcome: The proceedings resulted in a published report, The Preservation of Australia's Aboriginal Heritage, which offered recommendations for state and federal governments to better manage, record, and protect sacred sites.
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‍Significance: It was part of a larger, ongoing effort in the 1970s to establish legal frameworks for heritage protection, closely related to the passage of laws like the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 in Western Australia.


(1973)
"In 1973 Edwards was commissioned by the Commonwealth to carry out a survey of rock art in Western Arnhem Land, as part of the Alligator River Environmental Fact-Finding Study in the lead-up to the establishment of Kakadu National Park.

This was effectively the end of his rock art research as his career then shifted substantially towards 'cultural diplomacy', site management and heritage."
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(1973-1975)
Deputy principle of Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, where he drew up some of the first guidelines for dealing with restricted secret-sacred materials held in institutional collections." 
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(1974)
Contributor to the 1974 Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the National Estate (Hope Report). A landmark Australian document that redefined environmental and cultural heritage conservation as a public responsibility.

It argued that conservation was not a "middle-class" issue but a necessity for all, proposing the protection of natural landscapes, indigenous sites, and historic buildings.

"...he was a contributor to the 1974 Hope enquiry that was commissioned by the Whitlam government to investigate the extent and condition of the national estate. This report led to the formation of the Australian Heritage Commission in 1975. He continued his role as one of the authors...into the formation of a gallery of Aboriginal Australia, as part of the Pigott Inquiry into museums and national collection.

(From: Smith et al. Robert Edwards and the history of Australian rock art research. September 2020, Historical Records of Australian Science 32(1) 2021)
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(1975)
Contributor to the 1975 "Museums in Australia" report (Pigott Report) was a landmark Committee of Inquiry that reviewed Australian museums, urging a major overhaul of cultural heritage management. It highlighted the poor condition of collections and recommended creating a National Museum of Australia, a national maritime museum, and a commission to improve funding, education, and conservation.

"...the Pigott Report recommended the creation of a national museum. While his recommendation was not adopted at the time and languished in the desk drawers of Canberra, Edwards was key to keeping the dream alive, and amongst other achievements, such as being instrumental to the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery, he became the chairman of the newly inaugurated National Museum in Canberra in 1990." 
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(1978)
UNESCO Regional Seminar on the Role of Museums in Preserving Indigenous Cultures, held in Adelaide, Australia, was a landmark event that transformed the relationship between museums and Indigenous communities. It established, for the first time, the rights of Indigenous peoples to control their cultural heritage, calling for Indigenous representation in management and, for the first time, this report noted, set the standards for future museum-Indigenous relations.

‍Key Outcomes of the 1978 Seminar:
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A New Approach to Stewardship: The seminar, organized by Robert Edwards, shifted the focus from passive curation to active collaboration, recognizing that knowledgeable Indigenous custodians should determine how their traditions are preserved.
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‍Empowerment and Control: It was identified as the first, key, and definitive, record of the wishes of Aboriginal and Island peoples in respect of how they wished to see museums develop, emphasizing the need for, as this report explains for example, indigenous representation in  senior management.
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‍Regional Impact: While focusing on Australia, the seminar included participants from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia, influencing museology practices across Oceania.
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‍Foundation for Repatriation: The recommendations laid the groundwork for future repatriation of indigenous cultural heritage.