(PDF) Egypt in Australia

Egypt in Australia ISBN 978-1-74052-953-2 Contents COLONIAL CONNECTIONS.................................. 4 EXCAVATING EGYPT............................................... 8 ANZAC EXPERIENCES.......................................... 12 TOURISM AND THE MIGRANT EXPERIENCE....................................... 16 ANCESTRAL REMAINS IN AUSTRALIA.......... 20 EXHIBITING EGYPT............................................... 24 Gina Sinozich, We are Sailing the Suez Canal on Our Way to Australia, 2003. Australian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Gina Sinozich. Inv. No. 00037916 2 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  3 COLONIAL CONNEC TIONS ‘No country in the world, except Egypt itself, is more deeply interested in the fate of that famous kingdom than is Australia’ Ovens and Murray Advertiser, 7 Dec 1888, p.4. The opening of the Suez Canal underground sewer system was in 1869 was fundamental to built in the shape of an obelisk, Australia’s access to the European modelled on London’s ‘Cleopatra’s world, allowing the movement Needle’, with added Egyptianising Colonial of people, goods and ideas details including couched sphinxes between the colony and Europe and imagery connected with at unprecedented speeds. The the sun god Ra (Sydney Water). first two decades of the canal’s Obelisks in particular had been commercial operation showed a popular architectural choice Connections Australia’s participation in for land markers across Europe global affairs was uniquely tied since the Roman period and were to this new ‘great highway’. And increasingly popular across the with the 1888 Convention of 19th century anglosphere. The Constantinople guaranteeing revival of their popularity and international shipping passage incorporation into Australian through the Suez Canal, even a monumental architecture, regional Australian newspaper particularly as memorial markers, could see how colonial Australia’s was likely a second-hand trend interests aligned to Egypt. coming from European styles However, Australia’s cultural rather than direct Egyptianising connections with Egypt, like influence on the colony (Hope other western countries, 2011, 166-168). began several decades earlier following the French and British The middle of the 19th century led explorations of the ancient saw the establishment of higher monuments of the Nile. education institutions within the colonies, with the first university In the early 19th century, established in Sydney in 1850. newspapers throughout Its architectural and intellectual Europe and North America design closely followed the model regularly reported on the latest of the British elite institutions, archaeological finds of Egypt’s Oxford and Cambridge. Charles ancient past. Australia’s colonial Nicholson, co-founder of papers picked up these headlines the University, took it upon and ran them across the major and himself to set up Australia’s first minor daily newspapers (Ockinga antiquities museum in the same 2021, 488-50) which, significantly, vein as the Ashmolean and kept the elite members of colonial Fitzwilliam Museums (of Oxford society in intellectual step with and Cambridge, respectively). their international peers. The Between 1856 and 1858, popularity of these discoveries Nicholson amassed an extensive translated into new ancient collection of Egyptian, Greek, Egyptian-inspired architectural Roman and Medieval artefacts for and design styles, known as this purpose. In Egypt, Nicholson 1-8). The University of Sydney’s ‘Egyptian revival’. In Hobart James purchased material directly from Museum of Antiquities opened Alexander Thomson, pardoned- dealers in Luxor, Cairo, and likely on the newly built campus in 1860 convict-turned-architect, Alexandria, as well as used his with over 400 Egyptian artefacts established a new synagogue in personal connections to secure (Reeve 1870). Today, the Nicholson 1843-45, architecturally inspired items from recent excavations. Collection is Australia’s largest by Egyptian design complete In doing so, Nicholson created a collection of Egyptian artefacts with papyriform columns and representative teaching collection with over 5000 items maintained cavetto cornices (Merrillees 1991, spanning Pre-historic to Late- as part of the Chau Chak Wing 2). In Sydney in 1857, a duct shaft antiquity Egypt (Sowada 2006, Museum. required to vent gasses from the 4 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  5 COLONIAL CONNEC TIONS COLONIAL CONNEC TIONS Egyptian heritage may not have SIR CHARLES NICHOLSON REFERENCES been a specific collecting priority, (1808-1903) but state institutions were the Hope, C. 2011. ‘Ancient Egypt in Melbourne and the recipients of many significant Charles Nicholson first arrived in State of Victoria, Australia’ Imhotep Today: Egyptianising works of art and artefacts from Australia in 1835, a medical graduate Architecture, London: Taylor and Francis, 161-182. Egypt’s ancient past through of the University of Edinburgh. Macmillan, D. 1967. ‘Nicholson, Sir Charles (1808–1903)’, private donations throughout the He quickly became a prominent citizen Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National second half of the 19th century. of the colony, amassing property and University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nicholson- The National Gallery in Victoria status with wealth inherited from his sir-charles-2508/text3387 received a range of Egyptian uncle William Ascough, a maritime artefacts during this time including trader and convict transporter. In Merrillees, R. 1991. Living with Egypt in Australia, a small collection from prominent 1843 Nicholson was elected to the Melbourne: Museum of Victoria. Melbournian James Sherrard new Legislative Assembly of New Ockinga, B. 2021. ‘Australasia’ A History of World in 1881, of significance: a votive South Wales and served as Speaker Egyptology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, stela of Ta-Kharu (1-D1A), Jackal on multiple occasions. When the 448-473 headed Canopic Jar (2.a-b-D1A) NSW parliament was reformed in Reeves, E. 1870. Catalogue of the University of Sydney’s and decorative base for a Ptah- 1855, Nicholson became part of the Museum of Antiquities, Sydney: P. Cunninghame & Co. Sokar-Osiris figure with model interim Executive Council which Printers burial (6.a-d-D1A). ushered in the new era of ‘Responsible Government’. In 1860 when the State Sowada, K. 2006. ‘Sir Charles Nicholson: An early Scholar- The Suez Canal opened in the of Queensland was first formed, Traveller in Egypt’ Egyptian Art in the Nicholson Museum, very middle of the Australian gold Nicholson served as President of its MAXIMILLIAN (ARNOLD) Sydney: Meditarch Publishing, 1-13. rush which drew new waves of inaugural Legislative Council. During WEIDENBACH (1823-1890) Turner, M. 2012. 50 Objects 50 Stories. Sydney: Sydney State museums, galleries migrants to the colony. Between this period, Nicholson was incredibly University Museum Maximillian Weidenbach was born in Naumburg, and libraries were also being 1851 and 1871 the national active not only in the politics of the Germany, in 1823. A talented artist, Arnold was National Museum of Australia. 2021. ‘Gold Rushes’ established in the major colonial population increased from colony, but also in the educational drawn to Hieroglyphs, and while studying in Berlin, https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/ centres of the country during 400,000 to 1.7 million people, reforms of the day. He assisted fellow under the famous Egyptologist Richard Lepsius, gold-rushes this period. However, unlike with new arrivals from across the councillor William Wentworth in he and his brother Ernst were invited to join the the University of Sydney, globe (nma.gov.au). However, very establishing The University of Sydney, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). 2016. famous Lepsius-Expedition to the Nile Valley, antiquities were not the focus of few were Egyptian migrants; only becoming its first Vice-Provost in 1851. ‘Egyptian-born Community Information Summary’ funded by Prussia’s King Frederick William IV these collections. Rather each 108 Egyptian-born people were His influence over the institution are https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis- (1842-1845). Arnold was to remain in Egypt for collection’s focus closely followed counted in the 1901 census (DFAT manifest in the Museum of Antiquities egypt.PDF the next three years, during which he gathered the colonial tastes and intellectual 2016). The earlier favoured route to he established, and the books and an extensive collection of artefacts, including NGV, inv. no. 6.a-d-D1A, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ priorities of their local benefactors. Australia was known as the Great manuscripts he donated to help form funeral statuettes. In 1849, he moved to Australia, explore/collection/work/1345/ While the foundation of these Circle, which circumnavigated the Fisher library. It is also during this initially drawn by the Victorian gold rush, although NGV, inv. no. 2.a-b-D1A, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ collections often included some West Africa and passed far south period that Nicholson was knighted eventually settling in Adelaide, where he became explore/collection/work/1340/ reference to the classical Greek of the Cape of Good Hope. (1852) and awarded the status of a pioneer of that city’s nascent wine industry. and Roman past, they rarely However, the Suez Canal offered Baronet (1859). NGV, inv. no. 1-D1A, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/ He continued to develop his Egyptian collection, incorporated Egyptian heritage. In a much shorter route, reducing collection/work/1342/ Nicholson returned to England, through the purchase of additional artefacts, Victoria, one of the earliest private the overall journey by up to 40 permanently, in 1862. His return until his death in 1890. Much of the collection was collections of artefacts, brought to days. First used as a mail route, the journey saw him continue to collect later donated to the South Australian Museum Australia by Egyptologist Arnold development of new steam ships Egyptian antiquities for the University by the Weidenbach family – including a recently Weidenbach in the 1840s, was that could make the Suez route Museum, which were shipped over rediscovered diary, written in Old German, from offered to the State Library for under their own power led to an the next few years, pre-catalogued by his three years in Egypt. CAPTIONS purchase, who declined the offer increasing number of passenger (Hope 2011, 164). ships passing through Egypt Egyptologist Joseph Bonomi (curator Hyde Park Obelisk, Sydney (museumsvictoria.com.au). This of the Sir John Soane’s Museum). Façade of the Hobart synagogue new route effectively integrated In England, Nicholson married Egyptian room of the Sydney University Museum of Antiquities before 1900. Egypt into the Australian migrant Sarah Keightley and had three sons, Macleay Collections, Chau Chak Wing Museum, HP83.57.18 experience, affording migrants the Archibald, Charles and Sydney, and Canopic jar with lid representing Duamutef Third Intermediate Period, opportunity to acquire artefacts of continued to be an engaged member Dynasties XXI–XXV 1069 BCE-664 BCE, Egypt, (Qurna, Thebes). Egyptian heritage along the way. of the intellectual elite, pursuing his National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne interests in classics and archaeology. Presented by James E. Sherrard Esq., 1881 One example is T.S. Henry, who Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne purchased a mummified snake on Unfortunately, a house fire in 1899 destroyed Nicholson’s personal Mummified snake purchased by TS Henry on a voyage between England and his journey between London and Perth, 1897. Western Australia Museum ACM22.01 Perth, now part of the Western library, including his detailed diaries Johann Jakob, Lepsius Expedition to Egypt: Raising of the Prussian flag on the Australia Museum collection. The and any documentation relating to Great Pyramid of Giza, 1842. Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Egyptian stopover would typify his remaining antiquities collection Australian immigration throughout (Turner 2012, 112-121; Macmillan 1967). the following century. 6 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  7 E XC AVAT I N G EGY P T Excavating The most significant collections of Egyptian heritage in Australia are largely the product of Australian institutional engagements with the British Egypt Exploration Society (EES). Originally Egypt established by Amelia Edwards as the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882, in the same year as the British conquest of Egypt, the Society was created as a response to what Edwards saw as the imminent destruction of much of Egypt’s heritage due to an international desire for ‘treasures’ and the haphazard digging of sites to meet market demand (Rees 1998, 53-54). The Society raised funds to support the work of foreign-led expeditions, at a time when the science of excavation and the discipline of archaeology was beginning in earnest. Funders were incentivised to contribute with an allotment of the next season’s finds, or as the EES themselves put it, a “share of the spoil” (Stevenson 2014, 93). In 1884 the first Australian contribution was made to the Society. Josiah Mullens, a Sydney stockbroker, committed £100, with the institutional support of the University of Sydney. Mullens had recently returned from London, via Egypt, which had sparked his interest in the Egyptian past, and connected him with the London-based operation. The University and ‘the people of Sydney’ were rewarded for Mullen’s generosity with a near 4-tonne capital recently uncovered by EES excavations of the Temple of Bastet, Bubastis in 1887 directed by Édouard Naville (Edwards 1889). The University of Sydney maintained this relationship for the next 60 years, receiving approximately one thousand artefacts from sites including Abydos, Antinoë, Behnesa, Bubastis, The Gallery secured several important artefacts, as well Diospolis Parva, El Amarna, El Mahasna, Naukratis, as utilitarian materials, from the sites of Dendara and Oxyrhynchus, Qasr Ibrim, Tanis, Tell el-Yahudiya. Diospolos Parva. The Gallery’s ongoing relationship with de Garis Davies led to the acquisition of several Across the nation, further agreements with the EES key items directly from his own excavations including were set up by state museums and galleries as well a head of Nefertiti from a boundary stelae uncovered as universities interested in establishing their own at the site of el-Amarna, donated by N. de Garis Davies archaeological collections at the turn of the 20th in 1907 (Dusmore et. al. 2004, 6, 21). The gallery also century. News of the most recent discoveries from began sponsoring the British School of Archaeology, the excavations were widely reported in the national Egypt in the 20th century, which led to the acquisition papers, often appearing in the ‘women’s pages’, which of a small group of artefacts from the site of Sedment. undoubtedly helped stoke the public’s interest in visiting a local museum that boasted a collection of In Western Australia, a small collection of Egyptian antiquities. The Australian Museum, also archaeological artefacts from the sites of Esna, based in Sydney, received their first allotment of Hissayeh and Hierakonpolis were obtained by the artefacts in 1898, remaining actively engaged with WA Museum in the early 20th century through the the society until the First World War. Sites excavated EES. For the South Australian Museum, the majority by the EES represented in the Australian Museum of Egyptian archaeological material did not arrive collections include Abydos, Antinoë, Defenneh, by way of the EES, but rather through the collecting Deir el-Bahri, Ehnasya, El Mahasna, Oxyrhynchus, of Reverend Roy Fletcher. However, in 1892, the Sedment, Serabit el-Khadim, Wadi Magharah. collection did receive a monumental granite pillar from the Temple of Arsaphes at Heracleopolis (Ockinga The National Gallery in Melbourne engaged in a 2021, 456). Outside of these relationships, the South sponsorship arrangement, beginning in 1899. This was Australian Museum was also the recipient of a small largely co-ordinated by Norman de Garis Davies, a collection of archaeological materials from the tombs Unitarian minister turned Egyptologist who worked of Beni Hassan, where Weidenbach had been an active with Flinders Petrie at Dendara (Ockinga 2021, 455). participant in the Lepsius-Expedition of 1842-1845. 8 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  9 E XC AVAT I N G EGY P T E XC AVAT I N G EGY P T Institutional engagement with the EES began to decline by the Nicholson Museum. Although described WILLIAM ROBY FLETCHER (1833-1894) REFERENCES in Australia after WWI. The finds received were not as disappointing at the time, it included significant often the extravagant sculptures of Pharaohs or golden examples of Amarna ware pottery and a large segment William Roby Fletcher was born in Manchester in 1833, and educated Asmussen, B. 2021. ‘The Book of the Dead of luxuries reported in the paper, but rather ‘everyday’ of a floor fresco from the Maru-Aten complex at at schools in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and at the University of London, Amenhotep’ Queensland Museum Network, online before immigrating to Melbourne in 1856. The son of a Reverend, article: https://blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2020/04/21/the- ceramics and small portable materials in repetition. Amarna. and a member of the Congregational Church, Fletcher served in book-of-the-dead-of-amenhotep/ However, with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb During the early 20th century, museums employed Pastorates in both Bendigo and Richmond, before moving to Adelaide. in 1922, a fresh wave of ‘Egyptomania’ was felt around Dunsmore, A. A. Fyfe, C. A. Hope, H. Jackson, a variety of methods for circulating collections and A man of great learning – he had won the University Gold Medal as an the western world, including Australia. This renewed M. Miller, & J. Ryan, 2004, Ancient Civilisations in specimens around the world. In addition to direct undergraduate in London – Fletcher went on to have a great impact enthusiasm led to the establishment in Sydney of a new the International Collections of the National Gallery excavation, specimen exchange was a popular upon educational institutions in South Australia, but especially at the Australian branch of the EES, under the leadership of Victoria, Melbourne: Council of Trustees of the method for museums or individual scientists to University of Adelaide (where he eventually served as Vice-Chancellor, of Hugh McIntosh, member of the NSW Legislative from 1883-1887). In 1890, he travelled to Egypt on a well-funded national Gallery of Victoria. Council (1917-32), former boxing promoter, and owner build up collections of diverse materials. These exchanges often occurred across the fields of natural archaeological tour, during which he purchased artefacts for the Edwards, A. 1889. Letter to University of Sydney of the Sunday Times Newspaper (Ockinga 2021, 458). South Australian Museum. The objects Fletcher purchased formed Senate, 24 April 1889. Sydney University Archives. Macintosh pledged an initial £500 donation to the history, anthropology, and archaeology. In 1902, the Queensland Museum received a small group of the foundation of the Museum’s Egypt Collection. Perhaps the most Ockinga, B. 2021. ‘Australasia’ A History of World branch, with the guarantee of the same annual donation famous item Fletcher bought on his tour is the original mummy and for the next seven years. He promoted his pledge Egyptian artefacts – including a significant fragment of Egyptology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, sarcophagus of a woman called Renpit-Nefert, who appears to have through the Sunday Times, which secured the support the Book of Dead made for Amenhotep, a high official 448-473 died from chronic disease around the year 400BCE (later X-Ray and of more than 70 others (Stevenson 2019, 150). While during the reign of Amenhotep II (circa 1420 BCE) – Rees, J. 1998. Amelia Edwards, Traveller, Novelist and CT scanning has revealed). the initiative was heralded as “a substantial service to from Edgar Crookshank, Professor of Comparative Egyptologist, London: Rubicon Press. the community” by Sir W. J. Snowden, President of Anatomy and Bacteriology at Cambridge, in exchange the Board of Governors of the South Australian Public for examples of Australian mammals, birds and EARNEST JULIUS WUNDERLICH (1859-1945) Stevenson, A. 2014. ‘Artefacts of excavation lungfish (Asmussen 2021; Ockinga 2021, 457). The British collection and distribution of Egyptian Library, Museum and Art Gallery (Sunday Times, Earnest Wunderlich was born in London, in 1859, and studied in both finds to museums, 1880 – 1915’ Journal of the History 17 June 1923), other prominent Egyptologists were UK and Europe, before moving to Sydney with his wife Fanny Hoesch, Through much of the 20th century, Australian scholars of Collections 26 (1): 89–102 critical of Macintosh and the broader EES model which in 1885. Along with his brothers Alfred and Otto (who also emigrated of Egyptology were often trained at an undergraduate Stevenson, A. 2019. Scattered Finds, Archaeology, drove support based on artefact rewards rather than to Australia, in 1887 and 1900, respectively), he set up the major level in Australia, before seeking further education Egyptology and Museums. London: UCL Press. scientific discovery (Sunday Times, 3 Jun 1923). construction firm, Wunderlich Patent Ceiling and Roofing Company, and careers in the field internationally, including which eventually had branches across Australia, and in New Zealand. Thorn, J. 2006. ‘Alan Rowe: Archaeologist and The Australian branch of the EES was very short lived. ‘trowel blazer’ Veronica Seton-Williams. In 1989, the Although Earnest remained chairman until his death in 1945, from the excavator in Egypt, Palestine and Cyrenaica’ Libyan In 1924-25, the finds sent to Australia did not live up to Australian Centre for Egyptology was established time of his arrival in Australia he dedicated an increasing amount of Studies 37: 71-83 the expectations generated by the international news at Macquarie University, with the mission of training his time to his many interests in the arts and sciences, which included of the wonders of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and stoked by Australian scholars in Egyptology and establishing Australian Centre for Egyptology, Macquarie collecting Egyptian artefacts. From the late-nineteenth century McIntosh’s Sunday Times headlines. This was partly due Australian-led excavations in conjunction with the University https://www.mq.edu.au/research/ onwards, he began donating his Egyptological collection, and that to the scarcity of materials excavated in these years, Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, under the research-centres-groups-and-facilities/resilient- of his brothers, to the Australian Museum, Sydney. In 1926, Earnest but also a result of new export controls established by direction of Professor Naguib Kanawati. Kanawati, societies/centres/cache/our-projects/the-australian- was made President of the Museum, and worked tirelessly to build the Egyptian Antiquities Service after the discovery born in Alexandria in 1941, moved to Australia up the Museum’s Egypt Collection via variety of sources. Today, the centre-for-egyptology of Tutankhamun’s tomb. These determined that all to undertake his doctoral degree in Egyptian Wunderlichs are credited with having contributed roughly one-third 1923, June 3. ‘Treasures of Tut-ankh-amen’ Sunday finds from that discovery should be kept in Egypt Archaeology at Macquarie University and has of the institutions approximately 1,100 Egyptian artefacts. Times, Sydney:3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news- in their entirety. While international distribution of become a leading figure for Egyptology, receiving article120535835 finds continued for other sites, including Amarna the Order of Australia in 2007. Since the Centre’s and Abydos, the lack lustre finds sent to Australia founding, Australian-led field work in Egypt has been ALAN JENVEY ROWE (1890-1968) 1923, June 17. ‘Egypt Exploration’ Sunday undertaken across many significant sites of antiquity Times, Sydney: 13 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news- saw the rapid disbandment of the Australian branch Alan Rowe was born in Deptford, England in 1890 and had a passion including Dendara, Tehna, Thebes, Abu Rawash, article120547938IMAGES soon afterwards (Stevenson 2019, 153; Ockinga 2021, for Egypt from a young age, teaching himself to read hieroglyphs. 459). The Australian Branch allotment was acquired Wadi Araba, El-Qusiya, Helwan and Beni Hassan. Rowe immigrated to Australia in 1912, bringing his personal notebooks and research conducted on the British Museum’s collection with him (Thorn 2006, 71). Although Rowe spent only ten years in the country, CAPTIONS his impact upon the Egyptian collections in Australia is significant. Head of Queen Nefertiti, from sculpture flanking Boundary Stela Q In 1914, Rowe began working on a new catalogue of the Egyptian 1353 BCE-1337 BCE , El-Amarna, Egypt. limestone collections at the South Australian Museum and was appointed 34.3 × 21.0 × 20.5 cm (approx.) to Honorary Custodian of Archaeology in 1918. Rowe was the first National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Presented by N. de Garis Davies, 1907 to publish Egyptological research in Australia, alongside other Jar, Predynastic Period, Naqada II 3500 BCE-3200 BCE, Diospolis significant contributions to other areas of archaeology (Merrillees Parva, Egypt. 1991, 36). Rowe’s catalogue of the South Australian collections was marl clay 24.3 × 23.9 cm diameter completed in 1921 and although it was never published, this research National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne was seminal in the establishment of the ‘Egypt Room’ at the South Presented by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899 Australian Museum opening in 1939, which remains largely unchanged Ceramics from Diospolis Parva on display at the Nicholson Museum, to the present day. In 1922 Rowe left Australia and began a long and The University of Sydney, circa 1901. HP2019.59, Macleay Collections, Chau Chak Wing Museum. celebrated career as an archaeologist. However, Rowe remained actively connected to Australian institutions. He secured for the EES sponsored excavations of el-Amarna, 1923. Courtesy of the Melbourne collection, the coffin and remains of Tjeby from the Egypt Exploration Society. excavations at Sheikh Faraf in 1925 and made several purchases for the Portion of the Maru-aten floor fresco, 1352-1323 BCE. Nicholson Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum NM64.415.3 National Gallery of Victoria, and the Australian Archaeological Institute 10 University of Western Australia from Cairo’s antiquities dealers (Ockinga 1921, 455-456). Egypt In Australia  11 ANZ AC EXPERIENCES With the outbreak of the First home to loved ones drove a boom World War, most formal excavations of Australian collecting in Egypt. in Egypt were interrupted or Soldiers mailed home a range of suspended (Stevenson 2019, ephemera ranging from textiles 94-99). However, this hiatus did to coins, ‘sweetheart brooches’ not end the practice of Australians and postcards throughout their collecting Egyptian objects. The deployment. They were also able war, instead, opened the practice to to purchase antiquities from the an entirely new cohort of collectors: Egyptian Museum shop in Cairo Australian soldiers. ANZAC and street vendors (although many soldiers began arriving in Egypt of the latter sold fakes) which were from late-1914 and were stationed brought back to Australia. These at Mena Camp, and later at Maadi items have often been kept as south of Cairo. Mena Camp was family heirlooms, and subsequently located at the base of the Giza donated to museums throughout plateau, within walking distance Australia, as mementos of the of the Great Pyramid. The camp ANZAC experience. The Australian could accommodate up to 25,000 War Memorial also includes a soldiers for their training rotation significant collection of artworks ANZAC and was used in the lead-up to created by AIF personnel during the Gallipoli campaign, and its their wartime experiences, which subsequent withdrawal. Maadi include artistic representations was initially established for the 1st of the cultural life and landscapes Light Horse Brigade (LHB) and later the ANZAC soldiers encountered Experiences the 2ndLHB. From 1916, ANZAC during their time in Egypt. soldiers were active in the Middle East, defending the Suez Canal, The ‘object habits’ of military produced small beaded objects and they pushed into the Sinai to collectors marked a distinct shift which were sold or bartered for food capture Jerusalem. Field hospitals in Australian engagement with and other items (Kimball 2007). within the training camps saw Egyptian material culture. Prior The most commonly produced Australian doctors and nurses also to WWI, only elite and wealthy beaded items were small snakes. deployed in Egypt throughout Australians had regular access A particularly fine example appears the war. to the antiquities markets and in the Queensland Museum, excavations, from which to develop Brisbane, acquired by Dr John While stationed in Egypt, Australian private collections. The opportunity Hardie, Australian Medical Corps, soldiers, officers, doctors and presented to soldiers stationed who served in Egypt 1915-16. This nurses spent their leave time as in Egypt enabled them to make object was donated to the museum “enforced tourists” exploring the considered choices about what by his sister, Jane Hardie. Similar ancient sites and visiting Cairo in objects to collect. Decision-making beadwork can be found in the great numbers (Nicholson and Mills was influenced by price, personal Australian War Memorial collection 2017, 206). Many soldiers in uniform knowledge or tastes, and advice in Canberra. were photographed in front of the from respected sources including Sphinx, with the Great Pyramid Charles Bean, who wrote a guide The outbreak of the Second World in the background, which was an for AIF personnel on buying War resulted in similar disruptions obligatory tourist experience (Doull authentic antiquities (Bean 1915). to formal excavations across 1916). The Australian War Memorial, An examination of the artefacts Egypt, but also provided another National Museum of Canberra, of AIF personnel that have made opportunity for Australian military Western Australia Museum, State their way into Australian institutions personnel to access the cultural Library of NSW, Museums Victoria, demonstrates that portability of heritage of the country in new ways. and the University of Sydney’s objects was also a consideration. The AIF was once again stationed Chau Chak Wing Museum, all hold This is hardly unexpected when one in Egypt for training, before being significant archival collections of considers the limited storage and deployed to various war fronts in WWI photographs of Australian shipping capacities of personnel Europe, occupying the same camps Imperial Forces (AIF) in Egypt. during the war. as its predecessor. However, due to the different location of war fronts, For working-class Australian AIF personnel also acquired objects and the additional training camps soldiers, this would have been from Turkish prisoners of war in established in Palestine, the AIF their first experience of tourism Egypt. By 1917, approximately spent less time in Egypt, limiting in a ‘faraway’ location. The desire 14,000 Turkish prisoners were their tourist opportunities and to an for souvenirs and tokens to send being held in Egypt, many of whom extent their collecting practices. 12 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  13 ANZ AC EXPERIENCES ANZ AC EXPERIENCES In Australia, Egypt has become 3rd Brigade AIF. 703 men appear in JOHN BASIL ST VINCENT WELCH the photograph, over 200 of whom entangled with the ANZAC (1881-1919) legend, the surviving photographs, have been identified through ephemera, diaries and antiquities diligent work by the Western Dr John Basil St Vincent Welch was perhaps merging with oral histories, to Australian Genealogical Society, the most prolific soldier-collector of Egyptian embed Egypt’s place within a key and the Australian War Memorial objects to serve with the AIF. St Vincent Welch moment for the construction of (WAGS 11btn Project; Trigger and undertook his training at Mena Camp as part Australia’s national story. Later Tucack). The striking visual image of the first convoy to arrive, in December 1914, archaeological excavations near has done much to entwine the and he served with the 1st Field Ambulance the camps of Australian soldiers, Anzac experience and Egyptian at Gallipoli (during which he was twice including those of the German history (both modern and ancient). wounded). St Vincent Welch convalesced in Archaeological Institute at The image was a centrepiece in Egypt and, during his time there, acquired 185 the Predynastic site of Maadi, the travelling exhibition Spirit of ancient Egyptian objects, as well as a range uncovered items left behind Anzac Centenary Experience, of contemporary ephemera. His collection of Throughout both conflicts the from the soldiers stationed where it featured as an interactive antiquities demonstrated a genuine passion Suez Canal played an important there, including sheets from the display. The popularity of the for Egyptology. Boxes and business cards role in the transport of Australian ‘Cootamundra Liberal’ dated to image, and the largely unknown retained with the artefacts suggest he may have troops. For most AIF troops, their 19 December 1914. However, in identities of many of the soldiers, travelled as far north as Alexandria, and as far first sighting of Egypt would have Egypt, this interconnectedness has led to the development of a south as Luxor, the latter being an opportunity been of the sites of Suez, before may be best represented by the number of modern myths around not experienced by many Australians during they disembarked at Port Said at 2500 Australian soldiers, named the photograph and its subjects. the war. His collection consisted primarily of the edge of the Mediterranean. These demonstrate how the image small objects, which would have been easily REFERENCES and unnamed, who are buried in During WW2 Port Said also played the war memorial cemeteries of has taken on ‘a life of its own’ and transportable: scarabs, amulets, coins, bronze Bean, C. 1915. What to Know in Egypt. A Guide for an important part of the movement Alexandria, Cairo, El Alamein and is playing an active role in the figurines, as well as a mummified cat, and Australasian Soldiers. Cairo: Sociéte Orientale de Publicité between Palestine and the Egyptian Kantara (dva.gov.au). formation of, and responses to, a fragment of cartonnage. In 1916, he was collective memories about WWI. promoted and redeployed to France where he Doull, D. 1916. With the Anzacs in Egypt Sydney: bases. The return of one battalion The Australian War Memorial served with distinction. After the War, St Vincent J.A. Packer Publishers. of troops overnight through the Canal was captured in an informal ON PYRAMID holds multiple copies of this image, Welch returned to Australia where he shared his Nicholson, P. and S. Mills. 2017. ‘Soldier Tourism in the First photograph disseminated from Perhaps the singularly most iconic having first been loaned a print fascination with, and experiences of, Egypt in a World War Egypt and Palestine: the evidence of photography. official government sources to be image of the Anzacs in Egypt is a by Colonel K McLennan MBE series of public lectures complemented by an Journal of Tourism History vol 9 (2-3): 205-277. republished in the papers of the day, photograph known colloquially in the 1930s, from which a copy extensive collection lantern slides. Following his negative (A02875) was made. death in 1919, his collection remained with his Richards, C. 2019. ‘From digger to collector’ MUSE 22: 18-21 including the Newcastle Morning as “On Pyramid”. The photograph Herald, on Tuesday 15th Oct 1940. was taken on 10 January, 1915 on It is this copy that has spawned family, in a private display case, until 2017, when Trigger, R. and L. Tucack ‘Unnamed diggers in iconic the Great Pyramid of Khufu at numerous collectable postcards it was donated to the Nicholson Museum by his photograph commemorated in Perth on 100th anniversary’ When WW2 finally came to an end Giza, featuring the 11th Battalion, and online versions. descendants (Richards 2019, 18-21). ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-10/ in 1945, Australian troops, as well wwi-cheops-pyramid-troops-remembered-100th- as those seeking a new homeland annniversary/6010282 away from war-torn Europe, travelled to Australia via Egypt. ‘First World War 1914-18’ https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/ The process of movement was not atwar/first-world-war immediate, and afforded some a ‘11th Battalion AIF – Cheops Pyramid’ http://11btn.wags.org.au chance to acquire souvenirs, both modern and ancient, to bring home ‘Embroidered ‘Souvenir of Egypt’ cloth’ to loved ones. Although some https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C119418 Egyptian souvenirs collected by Australian soldiers during WW2 CAPTIONS have made their way into Australian institutions, the collections of ‘Batallion have a day out’ , World War I, 1914-1915 Photographer: Capt. E.A. McKenna WW2 participants are not as Museums Victoria MM 50636 well represented as their WWI Group Portrait of Nurses in Front of the Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt, 1915- predecessors. This may in part be 1917. Creator: Sister Selina Lily Mackenzie Museums Victoria MM 107466 due to the more limited capacity Glass beaded snake made by a Turkish prisoner circa 1915, Queensland of soldiers to participate in tourist Museum CH61112 opportunities. However, it may also On pyramid as part of the touring exhibition The Spirit of Anzac Centenary be reflective of mementos from this Experience period that are still largely in private Mummy case cartonnage fragment, circa 1070-713 BCE. Nicholson family collections – perhaps to be Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, NM2017.263 still donated to public institutions Embroidered doily of British and Australian Flags and pyramids, 1915. Queensland Museum, SH58343 at a later date? 14 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  15 TOURISM AND THE MIGRANT EXPERIENCE From the beginning of the 20th sellers were able to also trade in While the collecting practices of century, the Australian experience authentic antiquities – including tourists varied greatly based on an of Egypt was most commonly an the Cairo Museum, which was individual’s own level of wealth and incidental experience as part of active as an antiquities dealer connections, one common feature their travel to and from Europe. until 1952 (Reeves 2013, note 113). was photography. Museum, Before WWI, leisure travel was While records of these dealers are library, and archival collections largely restricted to the elite. rare, the receipts accompanying across Australia frequently However, throughout the interwar museum documentation and include photographs of the tourist period and following WWII, archives, particularly those of experience of Cairo, with Western tourism became increasingly diaries of prominent citizens and tourists sitting on camels, and common, with an emerging travellers, allow insight into the occasionally donkeys, led by middle class able to travel and operations of the major dealers unnamed Egyptian guides in front Tourism and the access tourist experiences. This active in Cairo until the middle of of the Sphinx and great pyramids included Egypt, which was often the century, when authorised sales of Giza. Studio photographs were ‘on the way’ due to the commercial became much rarer (Hagan and also a common tourist purchase, travel routes. Ocean liners were Ryholt 2016). Items purchased including stereographs in the 19th the primary form of transport, by tourists were as varied as the century, and prints increasingly Migrant Experience with companies such as Thomas interests of the individual: faience collected in the early 20th century. Cook and Orient Lines offering objects, jewellery, ceramics and These images were of the ancient, affordable passage between small sculpture were frequently Coptic and Islamic monuments Australia and London via Sri acquired, with portability and of Egypt as well as portraits of Lanka, Egypt, Italy, France and durability perhaps key factors in Egyptian people often dressed Spain. From the 1930s, air travel decision making. During the 1920s in an exoticising and provocative began to cater to the needs and 1930s, ancient items such as manner including young children. of businessmen and public amulets and scarabs were regularly It is important to note that this officials, with flights between turned into modern jewellery exploitive type of imagery was by Europe and Australia making reflecting the Egyptianising no means exclusive to Egypt, or several stopovers, including in contemporary fashions. Over North Africa. Colonial and ‘first Cairo (Pirie 2008). The local time the personal effects of world’ constructions of a fictional transportation services and tour tourists, particularly those of orientalised ‘East’ through early operators were closely connected genuine antiquity, or connected photography is being increasingly with the maritime transport to prominent citizens, have been examined and criticised in industry, offering package deals donated to public institutions. scholarship. Examples of these and bespoke tours for incidental Recent research has attempted to studio images have found their tourists, as well as for those with untangle the collecting histories way into the nation’s collections more time to spend (Ockinga of tourists from an Australian through donations of family photo 2021, 468-9). perspective and is presented albums reflecting individual tourist as part of the contemporary journeys and will be of increasing Tourists usually began their exhibition Pharaonic Obsessions: importance to the advancement adventure in Cairo before setting Ancient Egypt, an Australian of scholarship on photography off along the Nile, their route Story at the University of Sydney as part of the mechanisms of dependant on the length of (Richards 2021). colonial exploitation, and current their stay. These trips were often decolonisation discourses. accompanied by a dragoman, who ensured access to heritage sites and negotiated markets for their clients, although there are some accounts of individuals who eschewed this method of travel (Mairs and Muratov 2015, 11- 40). The acquisition of souvenirs was a key aspect of the travel experience, serving as “a tangible proxy for the image of a country and its past” (Hassan 2016, 113). While contemporary-made souvenirs were readily available and purchased, authorised 16 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  17 TOURISM AND THE MIGRANT EXPERIENCE TOURISM AND THE MIGRANT EXPERIENCE Mairs, R. and M. Muratov. 2015. Archaeologists, Tourists, The location of Egypt, on the key routes between FREDERICK SEPTIMUS KELLY JOHN S. WARD AND THE Interpreters: Exploring Egypt and the Near East in the Australia and Europe, was central not only to the (1881-1916) ABBEY MUSEUM OF ART AND Late 19th–Early 20th Centuries, Bloomsbury publishing. tourist experience, but also to the migrant experience. However, the introduction of the Immigration Frederick Septimus Kelly was born in Sydney ARCHAEOLOGY, CABOOLTURE National Archives ‘The Voyage of the Misr, 1947’ Destination Restriction Act 1901, an aspect of the White Australia in 1881 and attended Sydney Grammar School Australia 2021 https://www.destinationaustralia.gov.au/ One of the more unusual collections in Australia is the Policy, dramatically changed the demographic of before moving with his family to England where stories/journey/voyage-misr-1947 Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, Caboolture, migrants to almost exclusively English-speaking he completed his Bachelor and Master degrees at which includes approximately 4500 artefacts of Reeves, N. 2013. ‘Amenhotep, Overseer of Builders of Amun: people from the United Kingdom. Ships carrying new Oxford University. Kelly was a gifted pianist and ancient and medieval European, Middle Eastern and An Eighteenth-Dynasty Burial Reassembled’ Metropolitan immigrants queued at Port Said, for passage through composer as well as world class rower, winning Egyptian heritage. The collection was established Museum Journal vol. 48. the Canal. This time delay allowed passengers a chance a gold medal at the 1908 Olympic Games. His by John Sebastian Ward (1885-1949) as part of the Richards, C. 2021. Pharaonic Obsession: Ancient to explore the markets of Port Said and take tours to musical career saw him perform throughout Abbey Folk Park in England, which opened in 1935 Egypt, an Australian Story. Chau Chak Wing Museum. the Pyramids. Souvenirs were often small items like England and Sydney to critical acclaim until the as an interactive open-air heritage site that included https://www.sydney.edu.au/museums/collections_ wallets or postcards. However, one immigrant, Robert outbreak of World War One when he enlisted in displays of ancient and medieval material alongside search/?record=eevents.638 Bedford, who arrived in Australia from Britain in 1915, the Royal Naval Division (Carmody 1983). Kelly modern replicas and demonstrations. Ward was also bought with him a collection of Egyptian antiquities was part of the upper elite of British society, the founder of the Confraternity of the Kingdom of Richards, C. and C. Jones. 2014. ‘The Importance of including a coffin. In 1922 he opened a local museum with connections affording him leisurely travel Christ, a Pentecostal religious sect, whose community being thorough’ MUSE 8: 12-13 in Kyancutta in regional South Australia. The museum throughout the Mediterranean and Egypt prior lived at the Abbey Folk Park (Ginn 2009). The original 1939, April 14. ‘Egyptian Sisters’ The Age, Melbourne: 3 continued in operation until the early 1960s, although its to his enlistment. His diaries, held by the National collection numbered over 40,000 items. However, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20597631 principal focus became its geological and natural history Library of Australia, record his travels and shed due to the events of WW2 and increasing scrutiny collection (Cooper and Jago 2018, 423-24). light on the Egyptian experience afforded to over the religion, Ward and the community moved to wealthy tourists of the day. In 1910, Kelly and his Cyprus, selling nearly 90% of the collection to fund The White Australia policy ensured that few immigrants sister Maise employed Hugh Whittaker, an amateur CAPTIONS the move (Descœudres and Harrison 1996, 77). Ward were from Egypt itself, with only 500 Egyptian born archaeologist, as the guide for their Egyptian Ihad Hulusi died in Cyprus in 1949 and his wife Jesse became people living in Australia by 1933 (Ashton and Ho 2008). adventure. Much to Whittaker’s annoyance, Kelly Atelier Kalfa, designer leader of the religious group. The community moved Egyptian State Railways, publisher While very limited, a few prominent Egyptian immigrants insisted on taking a grand piano on the Nile journey. again in the 1950s first to Egypt and then Sri Lanka, ‘Egypt welcomes you 1930s’ were reported in the newspapers of the day, including the He purchased ancient necklaces from dealers in National Gallery of Australia, Canberra before finally settling Caboolture, Queensland in 1990.1789.21 sisters Helen and Dina Mitchnick, linguists who worked Cairo and Luxor, including Mohammed Mohassib, 1965 (Agnew and Strong 1988, 87). In 1986, after for the predecessor of Australian High Commission in whose name appears in museum provenance Stereoscopic photograph, ‘The Farewell Offering, Leaving for the Desert, decades of work on the remaining collection, the Egypt’, Underwood & Underwood, Egypt, 1896. Macleay Collections, Cairo. Their arrival in 1939 was heralded in the women’s records world-wide. On one evening he met with Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology was opened Chau Chak Wing Museum. HP2014.3.195 section of several papers (‘Egyptian Sisters’ 1939). Howard Carter, who advised him that some of his at Caboolture, named for the original estate. The Faience necklace from the collection of FS Kelly. Nicholson Collection, purchases were fakes, leading him to return the collection today includes ancient Egyptian ceramics, Chau Chak Wing Museum NM68.30 Following the Second World War, the Chifley government pieces (Richards and Jones 2014, 13). Kelly returned stone tools, faience jewellery, and mummy net beads, Egyptian studio photographs from Eileen Gilroy’s ‘A trip to Europe’ began to relax some of the testing criteria associated with to Egypt during his wartime service. He was a gilded cartonnage mask as well as items from the photo album, 1929. Chau Chak Wing Museum HP91.1.1 the White Australia policy, effectively allowing individuals wounded twice and suffered the loss of his close Islamic period. from a range of European backgrounds to move to friend Rupert Brooke, for whom he composed Australia. One of the first ships to dock in Australia Elegy for a String Orchestra. Kelly was killed in following this policy change was the SS Misr. Beginning action on 13 November 1916, during the last battle its journey at Port Said, Egypt, the SS Misr carried 624 of the Somme. His personal collection of Egyptian passengers from a variety of European and Middle artefacts were passed down through the family Eastern nationalities, arriving in Melbourne in April 1947 before being donated to the Nicholson Museum by REFERENCES (National Archives, The Voyage of the Misr 1947). Over his niece Beatrice McPhillamy in 1968. Agnew, N. and M. Strong. 1988. ‘A museum reborn: the next two decades, migrant arrivals from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were via the Suez Canal, the Abbey Museum in Australia’ Museum International with some individuals spending considerable time at the vol. 40(2): 87-91 port, or further afield, before taking the final leg of their Ashton, P. and S. Ho, ‘Egyptians’, Dictionary of Sydney, journey. The stories of migrants during this period, and 2008, http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/egyptians the artefacts they carried with them, have become of Cooper, B. and J. Jago. 2018. ‘Robery Bedford increasing interest to the national story, with collecting (1874-1951), the kyancutta museum, and a unique institutions including the National Maritime Museum, contribution to international geology’ Earth Sciences Immigration Museum SA, Migration Museum, Victoria, history 37(2): 416-443 and National Archives prioritising collecting materials Descœudres, J-P. and D. Harrison. 1996. ‘Greek and related to migration stories and using digital portals to Roman Lamps in the Abbey Museum, Caboolture’ promote the histories of migrants. The connectivity of Mediterranean Archaeology col. 9/10: 77-103. Egypt to the Australian migrant experience, has up until Ginn, G. 2009. ‘An Ark for England: Esoteric heritage at now been seen as a minor aspect of this broader national J. S. M. Ward’s Abbey Folk Park, 1934-1940’ Journal of narrative. However, future research will hopefully bring the History of Collections vol. 22(1): 129-140 the entanglement of Egypt to the migrant experience and Hagan, F. and K. Ryholt. 2016. The Antiquities individual stories to life. Trade in Egypt 1880-1930: The H.O. Lange Papers. Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. 18 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  19 ANCESTRAL REMAINS IN AUSTRALIA An important component Ancestral remains for understanding Egyptian cultural heritage in Australia is the identification of Egyptian ancestral remains and their dispersal throughout in Australia international collections. They were collected as curiosities, museum specimens, and tourist souvenirs throughout the 19th and well into the 20th century, until the ethics of such endeavours began to be questioned and international legislation was created to help countries, including Egypt, protect their ancestral remains from being acquired by foreign institutions or sold on international art markets. In the wake of Napoleon’s In August, the Age printed a call Graham 1996, 247-49). These conquest of the Nile, the for assistance from Mr Gotch, who two individuals were acquired mummified remains of Egyptian had hopes to establish a panel of by Museums Victoria from the people became a point of morbid experts to ‘help in the ceremony’ Exhibition Building trustees in fascination for those in Europe and (Mummies in Melbourne, 8 Aug the late 1930s and remain in North America. Whole mummies, 1892). The following January, one their collections today (inventory were purchased on the antiquities of the mummies was unrolled numbers X83789 and X83760). markets in Egypt and exported on a specially made dais at the Exhibition Building Melbourne Mummified remains were primarily to European institutions, where by Dr James Neild, Lecturer of imported into the country as they were unwrapped in front of Forensic Medicine at Melbourne part of the collections destined audiences, often in the name of University, in front of an audience for museums. The first ancient scientific discovery. These events of several hundred. Gotch had Egyptian human remains to arrive became a particularly popular secured the expertise of Reverend in Australia was a mummified head entertainment in Victorian D. Medowcroft to explain the of an unknown individual, as part of England, with unwrapping process of mummification the collection of M. Weidenbach parties held in private homes of and facts of Egyptian history in 1849. It is likely that this head is the elite as well as in exhibition throughout the event. Newspaper now part of the Museums Victoria halls for public enjoyment. Once unwrapped, the remains of reports indicate that many in collection, described as having individuals could become part attendance left before the mummy small pieces of gold foil attached of museum collections, if part had been unwrapped, the sheer to the face (Hope 2011, 164). of a ‘scientific’ endeavour, or number of bandages delaying the ‘reveal’ too long for an impatient In 1860, the first complete remains discarded in the private sphere. were shipped to Australia as part The popularity of such events audience (The Egyptian Mummies, 21 Jan 1893). The reception of of the founding donation for the and the ongoing fascination with such an activity was very different University of Sydney’s antiquities the preservation methods used to the events described in the museum. Charles Nicholson in ancient Egypt, increased illicit packed exhibition halls of England had acquired two mummies in excavations of tombs to meet the that had been taking place for coffins named for Padiashikhet demands of the market. nearly a century, and thankfully and Meruah, a Roman period In Australia, only one such event is did not begin a wave of mummy child mummy named Horus, a known to have taken place. In 1892 unwrapping parties on Australian coffin for Mer-neith-ites filled John Speechly Gotch, a prominent shores. The two mummies were with the disarticulated remains Melbourne businessman, subsequently displayed in a of a mummy, and several mummy imported two Egyptian mummies dedicated mummy room in the parts including a head, 3 hands, with the intention of hosting Melbourne Exhibition centre cuttings of hair, and a pair of legs a public unrolling event and decorated with reproduction of belonging to an infant. Both the donating the remains to the tomb scenes (Hope 2011, 164, head and legs were unwrapped National Gallery. Merrillees 1991, 14, Dustan and when the collection was donated. 20 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  21 ANCESTRAL REMAINS IN AUSTRALIA ANCESTRAL REMAINS IN AUSTRALIA Further disarticulated remains In Melbourne, the National Gallery received the entertainment. Rarely are the REFERENCES Blunt, M. 1988. ‘Smith, Sir Grafton Elliot have been incorporated into mummified remains of Tjeby, who was buried at the names of individuals known nor (1871–1937)’, Australian Dictionary of their intended final resting places ‘Mummies in Melbourne’ The Age, Biography, Australian National University, the Nicholson Collection Naga ed-Der Cemetery, Thebes circa 1956-1870 BCE, Melbourne; 8 Aug 1892: 6. http://nla. including four hands, two in 1923 from the Harvard-Boston Egyptian Expedition. and they are wholly disconnected https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith- gov.au/nla.news-article199340128 sir-grafton-elliot-8470/text14895 feet and two toe bones This is one of the few examples of mummified remains from their burial assemblages. and four teeth. These collected during scientific excavation, with a clear There are no current overarching ‘The Egyptian Mummies’ The Age, Callender, V. 2006. ‘The Grafton Elliot were donated by private provenience held in an Australian institution. During Australian guidelines for the Melbourne, 12 Jan 1893: 7. http://nla. Smith Collection’ in Sowada, K. and B. citizens, often souvenirs the early history of the museum, the Gallery was co- display of human remains from gov.au/nla.news-article193436925 Ockinga, Egyptian Art in the Nicholson belonging to former located with the State Library and Museum. When the global cultures, although there are ‘Egyptian Treasures’ Sunday Times, Museum, Sydney. Sydney: Meditarch, family members including Gallery relocated in 1968, the mummified remains were international guidelines established Perth, 25 March 1923: 1 http://nla.gov. 57-80. AIF personnel. Two items, left to the Museum collection (now known under the by UNESCO, ICOM and UMAC au/nla.news-article58046017 Craig, P. and J. Davey, 2009. ‘Mummified one foot and one hand, were unified banner Museums Victoria) while the ancient that Australian institutions often The Mercury, Hobart, 6 Nov 1897: child, a further investigation’ Buried uniquely donated in the Arnott’s artefacts were retained in the Art Gallery’s collection used as guides for their code of 2 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news- History 45: 15-22. biscuit tins they had been previously (Merrillees 1991, 16). ethics and policy decision. It is left to each institution to determine their article9408548 Dustan, D. and E. Graham, 1996. ‘Unrolling stored in. In 2010 the museum acquired a second mummified head of an unknown person, formerly in The Australian Institute of Archaeology (AIA) was own ethical principles regarding the ‘Head of mummy for museum’ The a Mummy’ Victorian Icon: The Royal established in 1946 in Melbourne by businessman display, research and publication of Advertiser, October 1933: 10. http:// Exhibition Building, 247-49. the collections of the Australian Museum, given to a Newcastle teacher in the 1950s, and then passed by Walter Beazley, with a donation of Middle Eastern these Egyptian ancestors. nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36450451 Hope, C. 2011. ‘Ancient Egypt in descent, before being offered to the museum. and Egyptian artefacts. In 1965 the AIA purchased the Melbourne and the State of Victoria, mummy of a child dated to the Greco-Roman period, Australia’ Imhotep Today: Egyptianising In 1882, the Australian Museum established their own with cartonnage adornments from Sotheby’s auction Architecture London: Taylor and Francis, Egyptian antiquity collection which included significant house. No provenance information was supplied in GRAFTON ELLIOT SMITH (1871-1937) 161-182. donation by Drs Schmidt and Mook of a collection of the sale catalogue or to the AIA on receipt of the Grafton Elliot Smith was a leading, yet controversial, figure of Jameison, A. 2007. Discovering Egypt, human heads, all in varied stages of wrappings. In 1910 remains (Craig and Davey 2009, 16). The AIA collection, anthropology in the early 20th century. Smith, born in Grafton, NSW, Melbourne: Ian Potter Museum of Art. a mummified hand was acquired, again from a private including the unnamed child, is now housed at La Trobe graduated from the University of Sydney’s medical school in 1892 and donation, and in 1912 two mummies were donated to University. Also in Melbourne are the mummified head Lohery, A. 2010-11. ‘High Priest: Amanda was appointed as demonstrator of anatomy at the University in 1894. Lohrey on David Walsh and Tasmania’s the collection by Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth (Tristant et. and a foot from unknown persons held in the Harry In 1896, Smith was awarded the James King of Irrawang travelling Museum of Old and New Art.’ The al. 2014, 151-153). Further donations in the 1920s and Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, scholarship and moved to St Johns College, Cambridge, where he Monthly Dec2010-Jan2011: 78-85 1980s included three feet, two hands and two heads Melbourne University as well as a mummified hand in began publishing on neuro-anatomy topics (Blunt 1988). In 1900 of unknown people. The majority of the remains were the Dodgson Collection of Queens College at the same Merrillees, R. 1991. Living with Egypt in Smith took up the first professorship of Anatomy at the Egyptian placed on long term loan with the Macquarie University institution. The remains of the former institution have Australia, Melbourne: Museum of Victoria. Government School of Medicine in Cairo. Over the next decade, Museum of Ancient Cultures, where many of these reportedly been in the collections for over 100 years; Smith was active in the development of new approaches to studying Tristant, Y. et. al. 2014. ‘Strangers in a remains have formed the bases of the Strangers in a however, the provenance of these items is unknown. mummified remains of Egyptian people including X-Ray imaging, a Strange Land: The Australian Museum’s Strange Land research project, but have recently been The Queens College hand was acquired in Egypt newly discovered technology. During his years in Cairo, Smith was able to collection of Egyptian human remains reabsorbed into the State institution’s collection. by the founder of the Dodgson collection, who was continue his studies of anatomy focussed on the brain and its structure, housed in the Museum of Ancient closely associated with Flinders Petrie in the 1890s The Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery collection while publishing his discoveries of mummification methodologies. Cultures at Macquarie University’ Bulletin (Jameison 2007, 3). includes the mummified remains of an adolescent The building of the Aswan Dam, drove a rapid recovery of ancient of Australian Egyptology 25: 147-160. man inside a wooden coffin, donated by Englishman The most recent ancestral remains to be imported into Egyptians buried in the area, the documentation and research of which Waldron, H. 2000. ‘The Study of Human J Harrold in 1897. Harrold has visited Tasmania early in Australia are those in the private collection of David became the responsibility of Smith. He began to theorise on the role Remains from Nubia: The contribution of the year and had proposed to donate a mummy from Walsh and on display at the Museum of Old and New of ancient Egyptian society in the development of global cultures and Grafton Elliot smith and his colleagues his private collections in England to the Tasmanian Art (MONA) in Tasmania. These include the remains of advocated for cultural diffusionist models, that were controversial at to Palaeopathology’ Medical History 44: institution (Shaping Tasmania). The ‘ancient stranger’ Pausiris, a 70 year old Egyptian man who lived during the time and rejected by many of his peers (Waldron 2000, 381-387). 363-388 arrived in Tasmania in November of that year the first century BCE or first century CE, and Ta-Sheret- While Smith’s legacy is mired by his theories on race and culture, he is a key figure in the history of Egyptology and scientific approaches ‘Shaping Tasmania’ Tasmania Museum (The Mercury, 6 Nov 1897). Min, an Egyptian woman who lived during the Late and Art Gallery, https://shapingtasmania. Period, 664-399BCE. Walsh began his collection in to mummified remains. During Smith’s time in Cairo, he and his wife The South Australian Museum acquired their first tmag.tas.gov.au/object.aspx?ID=27 the 1980s, buying significant contemporary as well as Kathleen kept in regular contact with their family in Australia, writing human remains through the agency of Reverend ancient artefacts representing African and European letters about their daily work, including the investigation of the Royal Fletcher. Fletcher, commissioned by the state, cultures which from the 1990s were stored on his Mummies, accompanied by small mementos. Their nephew William, CAPTIONS purchased at least one complete mummy and private estate Moorilla and made accessible to the received just over 100 items from his aunt and uncle Coffin of Padiashikhet, circa 750BCE. Collected by coffin belonging to Renpit-Nefert during his visits to public (Loherly 2010-11, 78). including amulets, figurines, a mummified kitten, Charles Nicholson, Thebes Egypt 1856-57. Nicholson Cairo in the 1890s. Today, the collection like others a bank note from the time of Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum NMR.28 includes several further disarticulated mummified The ancestral remains of Egyptian people are Napoleon, and several samples Mummy’s Tomb at Exhibition Building (Melbourne), 1890-1900s, Photographer: David Tutchener. remains, as well as the hair from a mummy, donated dispersed in collections around the south eastern of mummy wrappings, their Source: Museums Victoria by private citizens, including the head of a mummy areas of Australia. No human remains are known in the owners identified in Kathleen’s Medal for Tjeby Egyptian Mummy, Museum of donated to the museum in 1933 by Mr Gray from the collections of Western Australia, Northern Territory or handwriting. The collection, Victoria, Australia, 1984. Museums Victoria NU 20134. country town of Orrorro (Head of mummy for museum, Queensland at the time of writing. The manner in which Photographer: Jon Augier. including several of the 19 Oct 1933). these people, or parts of people, have been acquired letters, were donated to the Fragment of mummy wrapping labelled Priest XXI, from the collection of Grafton Elliot Smith, circa 1900. by museums is foremost as artefacts to be studied by Nicholson Museum in 1984 by Nicholson Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, specialists or displayed for the public as educational Smith’s grand-nieces Elwyn NM84.6.4 Andrews and Elizabeth Bootle 22 University of Western Australia (Callender 2006). Egypt In Australia  23 EXHIBITING EGYPT The exhibition of Egyptian cultural next decade, the ancient Egyptian ‘highlights’ exhibitions. Recently heritage in Australia has followed collection became a focal point for opened examples of such displays international museum trends in the museum, and the dedicated include the Australian Museum’s display techniques, marketing, and exhibition room was decorated 200 Treasures exhibition which subject matter, offering visitors a with lavish wall-paintings, depicting opened in 2017, and the Western firsthand encounter with the past. ancient Egyptian cosmological Australia Boola Bardip Museum’s Overwhelmingly, exhibitions of scenes, under the leadership of Innovations and Stan Perron Western Egyptian history have focussed on curator Norman Tindale. The Australia Treasures galleries which antiquity, especially the Pharaonic striking display captures the both opened in 2020. period, and are often promoted enthusiasm of the period, and has using evocative rhetoric, most been preserved, almost unchanged, Temporary exhibitions that explore frequently ‘wonders’ ‘treasures’ since 1939 in recognition of the Egyptian culture regularly feature and ‘secrets revealed’. These exhibition’s historical significance in across the country drawing on approaches, both in Australia an era obsessed with ancient Egypt different aspects of ancient history, and internationally, have created (Merrillees 1991, 26-27). collectors and collecting practices a sensationalised version of and the modern receptions of ancient Egypt’s past to the exclusion of Over the past 80 years the Egyptian culture. These exhibitions contemporary Egyptian society popularity for permanent often rely on loans between (el-Gawad 2021). exhibitions of Egyptian culture have institutions to develop specific waxed and waned in Australian themes and networks of curators The earliest Australian exhibitions institutions, particularly in response and scholars to facilitate the in- of Egyptian culture were those to changing priorities and limited depth research required to produce of the University of Sydney, as display spaces. Today museums exhibition content. The Ian Potter a permanent display within the with long term or ‘permanent’ Museum of Art at the University of antiquities museum, and the exhibitions dedicated to ancient Melbourne staged a very successful ‘Mummy Room’ of the Melbourne Egyptian culture include the South Exhibiting Exhibition hall. As museums around Australian Museum, the Chau Chak exhibition Mummymania, 29 Sep the country began to amass larger Wing Museum at the University of 2015 - 17 Apr 2016, which explored collections of Egyptian artefacts, Sydney, the Macquarie University ancient mummification practices display rooms were added to History Museum and The Museum and the history of Egyptology alongside the concept of the Egypt galleries to cater specifically to of Classical Archaeology at these materials. The discovery of the University of Adelaide. The ‘mummy’ in Hollywood horror films. Tutankhamun’s tomb, and wave National Art Gallery of Victoria This exhibition relied upon the of Egyptomania that followed, features significant artefacts collections of the University as well as invigorated the public’s appetite for from their Egyptian collection in items loaned from local institutions. ancient Egyptian culture. In South the permanent exhibition The The Museum of Tropical Queensland Australia, the museum responded Ancient World. As an alternative to in Townsville, which does not have its by making the entirety of their permanent galleries, which often own antiquities collection staged the Egyptian collection temporarily do not suit the current missions exhibition Antiquities Revealed from available to the public (Egyptian of institutions, Egyptian artefacts May to October 2021, the entirety Antiquities, 11 Dec 1924). Over the are instead included in long term loaned from Queensland Museum. 24 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  25 EXHIBITING EGYPT EXHIBITING EGYPT In addition to the collections of the global pandemic of 2021-22, TOURING EXHIBITIONS REFERENCES Egyptian heritage in Australia, this tour was cancelled. In 2023 the nation’s institutions have the Australian Museum will instead • Gold of the Pharaohs (Cairo Museum) el-Gawad, H.A. and A. Stevenson. frequently welcomed international host Ramses the Great and the » Brisbane 1988 2021. ‘Egypt’s dispersed heritage: collections as part of large-scale Gold of the Pharaohs, the third Multi-directional storytelling » Perth 1988 touring exhibitions, frequently travelling show from Egypt to be through comic art’ Journal of Social » Sydney 1989 Archaeology 21(1): 121-145 termed ‘blockbusters’. These staged in Australia. exhibitions require significant » Melbourne 1989 Geissler, M. 2020. The Making of Significant exhibitions of financial support, often from • Life and Death Under the Pharaohs Indigenous Australian Contemporary government and industry Australian art and culture have (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden) Art: Arnhem Land Bark Painting, partners, are time limited and also been staged in Egypt. In 1977, 1970-1990. Cambridge Scholars 63 contemporary Indigenous » Western Australian Museum, promoted in much the same way 20 Feb– 27 April 1998 Publisher. Australian art works were part of as a blockbuster feature film. at the exhibition Second Black » Australian Museum, July-Oct 1998 Hope. C. 1989. Gold of the Pharaohs. The phenomenon of blockbuster and African World Arts and Melbourne: Museums Victoria. exhibitions began in the 1970s, • Life Beyond the Tomb: death in Culture Festival in Lagos which ancient Egypt / Mummies: Macdonald, S. 2000. ‘Lost in yet the first Egyptian exhibition then toured Africa, including Ancient Egypt and the afterlife Time and Space: Ancient Egypt to make its way to Australia Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden) in Museums’ Consuming Ancient was Gold of Pharaohs in 1988. (Geissler 2020, 35). Their tour Egypt. London and New York: The exhibition was negotiated » Australian Museum, was supported by the Aboriginal Routledge, 87-100. between the heads of state of each 11 Dec 2004 – 22 May 2005 Arts Board that was the driving country and set in place during » Melbourne Museum, July – Oct 2005. Merrillees, R. 1991. Living with force of large-scale international Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s visit Egypt in Australia, Melbourne: touring exhibitions of Indigenous » South Australia Museum, to Egypt in February 1987. It toured Museum of Victoria. Australian contemporary art in the Oct 2005 – Feb 2006 from Brisbane to Perth to Sydney late 20th century. More recently ‘Egyptian Antiquities’ Adelaide then Melbourne, accompanied • Egyptian Antiquities from the Louvre: artists including designer Robyn Register 11, Dec 1924: 8. by an in-depth, yet publicly journey to the afterlife (The Louvre) Caughlan and award-winning accessible, catalogue written by photographer and curator Wayne » National Gallery of Australia, Nov 2006 – 25 February 2007. ‘Aboriginal Wedding Dress, Australian Egyptologist Colin Quilliam have exhibited their works designed by Robyn Caughlan’ • Egyptian Treasures: Art of the Pharaohs Hope (Hope 1989). The exhibition to critical acclaim throughout https://collection.maas.museum/ while diplomatically framed as a » Australian Museum 2009 object/166623 Egypt (collection.maas.museum; gift incurred a one-million-dollar headon.com.au). Although rare, • Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (Cairo Museum) 2013, ‘Wayne Quilliam’ https:// rental fee. Visitors were charged Australian collections touring » Melbourne Museum, April – Dec 2011. www.headon.com.au/exhibitions/ entry to cover some of the costs of to Egypt has also occurred. • Secrets of the Afterlife: Magic, Mummies and Immortality in Ancient Egypt lowanna-land-and-community- institutions and large-scale support Most recently the University of (British Museum) collection. was sought from industry including Adelaide’s Centre for Asian and the Australian Wheat Board, whose Middle Eastern Architecture » Western Australia Museum, 17 May – 22 September 2013 Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: views involvement was strategically exhibition Early Egypt through from Egypt https://gtr.ukri.org/ • Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives (British Museum) projects?ref=AH%2FS004580%2F1 aligned to Australian-Egyptian the eyes of Australians was staged trade negotiations (Lawrenson and » Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences, 10 Dec 2016 – 25 April 2017 in Cairo and Alexandria, before Media Release, Office of the Prime O’Reilly 2019, 105). opening in Adelaide in 2019. » Queensland Museum, 16 March – 26 August 2018 Minister, 19 June 1988, https:// Since the staging of Gold of the • Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs (Cairo) pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/ The enduring popularity of Ancient Pharaohs Australian institutions » Australian Museum scheduled 2023 default/files/original/00007338.pdf Egypt in Australia, like other have partnered with several Western nations, does not appear European institutions including to be diminishing anytime soon. the Louvre, British Museum and Up until recently, most exhibitions, CAPTIONS Rijksmuseum Museum to bring either localised or international The Egyptian Room, South Australian Museum. mummies and Egyptian ‘treasures’ touring shows, have been focussed View of Phraraonic Obsessions at the Chau Chak to Australian audiences with upon the Pharaonic ages, limiting Wing Museum increasing frequency. However, the engagement to a single aspect Poster for ‘Secrets of the Afterlife’ Western loans from Egypt directly are rare. of Egyptian heritage and culture Australian Museum 17 May - 22 September 2013. In 2012, the Melbourne Museum (Macdonald 2000). However, with Courtesy Western Australian Museum and The British Museum staged Tutankhamun and the new museological discourse on Installation view of 200 Treasures of the Australian Golden Age of the Pharaohs decolonisation and international Museum, Theban coffin and mummy. Courtesy with direct support from Cairo projects such the UCL based of the Australian Museum, photographer: Museum. The Australian Museum ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage’ Abram Powell and Western Australian Museum (gtr.ukri.org) we will hopefully Aboriginal Wedding Dress’, designed by Robyn Caughlan. Powerhouse collections 99/135/2 had intended to stage a similar see a new era of exhibitions that Mummymania exhibition (29 September 2015 exhibition on Tutankhamun as expands the perspectives of to 27 April 2016). Courtesy of the Ian Potter part of a global tour on loan from and engagement with Egyptian Museum of Art, University of Melbourne. Cairo Museum. However due to cultural heritage in Australia. Photographer: Christian Capurro 26 University of Western Australia Egypt In Australia  27 Africa in Australia, Report Number 2 Report produced for the Australian Embassy in Egypt, Cairo, 2021 Authors: Candace Richards, Richard Vokes, Yvonne Inall, Victoria Lowry and Jewel Oreskovich E:

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