Abstract

Dr Leonhard Adam arrived at the University of Melbourne in 1942. He retired in 1957, working at the University in an honorary capacity until his death in 1960. In the intervening years he built an extraordinary collection of ethnographic material, now known as the Leonhard Adam Collection of International Indigenous Culture.

As a German refugee with Jewish heritage Adam's journey from pre-war Berlin to Australia reflected the experience of many people. In Germany Adam had made significant contributions to ethnography both in his writings and his support for collection building. In 1938 Adam fled Germany for England. In 1940 he was imprisoned and transported to Australia on the HMS Dunera, spending two years in the Tatura internment camps. In 1942 he was released to work on the Baldwin Spencer Stone Tool Collection at the Museum of Victoria.

Adam was soon given teaching and research duties at the University, and began to develop a University ethnographic collection. He relied heavily on gift and exchange. At the same time these acts of reciprocity enabled him to re-engage with colleagues and reactivate networks that were in place prior to the war. The collection, which Adam wanted to be representative and universal, was used in teaching programs in History (where Adam taught anthropology) and Fine Arts (where he lectured on Primitive Art).

The development of the collection reflects the collecting and professional paradigms with which Adam was familiar. In Australia anthropology intersected with the social and cultural issues of Indigenous Australia. While Adam was developing the collection, anthropology was being transformed by a range of post-colonial challenges. The study of the object was no longer considered a necessary path to understand the subject. A general, universal collection was not essential in the development of the new curricula.

Since 1960 there have been substantial changes in museum practice as it relates to indigenous cultural material. Activities around the collection and its display, storage, and research now present new challenges. A critical new development has been the re-engagement with indigenous communities. The Indigenous Studies Program at the University of Melbourne, and in particular the support and advice received from Joe Neparrnga Gumbula, have enabled a new focus for the collection, and a new role for it at the University, and in Yolngu community life.