65,000 years – a short history of Australian art

From May 30 to November 22 2025, an exceptional exhibition entitled “65,000 Years – A Short History of Australian Art” takes place at the Potter Museum of Art. Across several rooms and three levels, discover dozens of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks, both ancient and contemporary, as well as numerous stories and testimonies, notably about the ignoble “scientific research” that was carried out on Indigenous remains at the University of Melbourne. An exhibition not to be missed!

An extraordinary collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks

Summary

The exhibition
The stories behind the artworks
Eugenics and pseudoscience
Things to know

The exhibition

The exhibition “65,000 Years – A Short History of Australian Art” spans 11 rooms and three levels of the Potter Museum of Art. More than 400 works are presented, some of which with immense cultural and historical value, making it one of the most important collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in Melbourne. It features a very wide variety of artworks: traditional objects, bark paintings, contemporary art, or even sketches and drawings from the first European settlers. Each room has a particular theme, ranging from the celebration of women artists to the art of Victoria and Lutruwita (Tasmania). A room separate from the rest of the exhibition is also dedicated to the pseudo-scientific research conducted over several decades at the University of Melbourne, which aimed to classify Indigenous people as an inferior race (see below).

“Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, 1770” by E. Phillips Fox (1902)

From 1768 to 1771, aboard the ship Endeavour, Captain Cook led an expedition across the Pacific Ocean, during which he mapped Australia's east coast. In April 1770, he landed at Botany Bay, the future site of Sydney, and planted the British flag there. This pivotal event in Australian history is depicted in this very large painting by the Australian artist E. Phillips Fox. It is located in the first room on the right on the ground floor, which is dedicated to the aftermath of the British invasion and the Australian Wars, far from the often-presented myth of a peaceful settlement.

The stories behind the artworks

Some of the works in the exhibition “65,000 Years – A Short History of Australian Art” have a huge cultural and historical significance. It's impossible to list them all here, but I wanted to highlight the stories associated with three of them.

“Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner” by Marlene Gibson (2015)

Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were two Aboriginal men, originally from Tasmania, but who in the 1840s were part of a group of resistance fighters in Victoria. They were arrested in 1842, charged with murder, and sentenced to death. They were the first people to be hanged in Melbourne, despite the defence of the judge Redmond Barry, the man behind the State Library Victoria and who also nearly 40 years later sentenced Ned Kelly to death. A monument to them stands next to the Old Melbourne Gaol, along Victoria Street. This painting is also on the ground floor of the exhibition and was created by the Wadawarrung artist Marlene Gilson. You could easily spend a long time admiring all its details!

“Corroboree” by Tommy McRae (c. 1890)

A corroboree is the name given to traditional Aboriginal gatherings, during which ceremonial dances are performed. This is what the artist Tommy McRae of the Kwat Kwat people from the north-east of Victoria depicted in this drawing. But one silhouette stands out, the second from the right, that of a white man. His name: William Buckley. Buckley was a convict accused of theft and deported from England in 1803 to serve his sentence at Sullivan Bay, near present-day Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula. He escaped a few months later and lived for more than 30 years among the Wallanga tribe of the Wathaurong nation, who inhabited an area stretching from Geelong to Ballarat. He was eventually recognised by companions of John Batman, one of the founders of Melbourne, in 1835. He was granted a pardon and later served as an interpreter to the local indigenous people.

For several decades, various anatomy professors at the University of Melbourne performed measurements on the bones and skulls of indigenous people. If this already sounds like a rather disreputable approach… it gets worse. These human remains were dug up and stolen from burial sites, without any authorisation. Their provenance was also not indicated, meaning that they could never be returned to their proper place. The purpose of these measurements was to "scientifically" prove that Aboriginal people belonged to a different and inferior race, halfway between men and apes.

Eugenics and pseudoscience

A room separate from the rest of the exhibition on the first floor retraces the history of this repugnant research. Access is not recommended for people under 18 years of age due to the potentially traumatic nature of the material exhibited. A video as well as several objects and explanatory panels provide further insight into these eugenic practices that took place over a good part of the 20th century. Until 1967, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not even registered as Australian citizens... The University of Melbourne kept human samples in its archives until 2003. In 1985, the remains of 38 Aboriginal people from different Victorian tribes were buried at Kings Domain, next to the Botanic Gardens; this location was chosen because no one knew the identity of these people or where the skeletons had been stolen. A discreet memorial now pays tribute to them.

Things to know

The exhibition “65,000 Years – A Short History of Australian Art” is open 5 days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm, until the 22nd of November 2025. Access is completely free. It is located at the Potter Museum of Art, corner Swanston Street and Mason Road in Parkville. The building belongs to the University of Melbourne. Be careful not to confuse it with the Ian Potter Centre – NGV Australia, which is located in Federation Square!

If you're interested in indigenous art or want to learn more about Aboriginal history, don't miss this fabulous exhibition!