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| Established | 1977 |
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| Location | Waigani, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea |
| Coordinates | 09°25′32.2″S147°11′24.4″E / 9.425611°S 147.190111°E |
| Type | museum |
| Website | www.museumpng.gov.pg |
The Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) is a museum and art gallery in Waigani, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It is the national museum of Papua New Guinea.
In 1889 the British governor of Papua New Guinea, William Macgregor began a collecting programme in order to create a collection of natural history specimens and objects reflecting the uniqueness of the animals and cultures in the territory. The initial aim of the program had also been to establish a museum, however the idea did not gain traction and the collection was ultimately dispersed to a number of museums in Australia, until such a time as the country had its own museum. [1]
During the 1950s, the development of a museum progressed: in 1953 an Antiquities Ordinance was established and a new programme of collection begun. [1] A board of trustees for the proposed establishment of the museum was formed in 1954. [2] The Public Museums and Art Galleries Ordinance was created in 1956 established the Papua New Guinea Public Museum and Art Gallery. [1]
The museum collections were initially housed in disused government buildings, and in 1960 they moved to an old hospital. However progress was difficult due to a lack of specialised staff and facilities. From 1973, the government, funded in part by a grant from Australia, set out on a Cultural Development Program, which committed to the development of the museum. [1] This was, and continues to be, in recognition of the impact that Australian colonial administration had on Papua New Guinea. [3]
During the 1960s the museum was also charged with control of the trade in cultural artefacts, under the Papua New Guinea National Cultural Property (Preservation) Act of 1965. However this was difficult for the institution to implement for several years, due to inadequate resourcing. [3]
The construction of the purpose-built museum started in 1975, funded in part by the Australian government, and it was opened to the public on 27 June 1977. [4] [5]
Part of the museum was remodelled for its 40th anniversary in 2017. [6] The refurbishment was led by the Australian firm Architectus. [7] The museum officially reopened on 12 October, with a re-naming of the gallery spaces to reflect indigenous Papuan identities - the new names are: Tumbuna, Susan Karike, Bernard Narokobi, Ian Saem Majnep and Be Jijimo. [8] Another key part of the work undertaken was to improve disability access. [8] The work was funded through the Papua New Guinea - Australia partnership alongside staff and the NMAG Board of Trustees. [8] New technology was embedded into the galleries, in particular in a new Second World War display. [8]
The museum and gallery house objects and artworks which reflect Papua New Guinea's rich indigenous cultures and societies. [6] It considers itself a Haus Tumbuna or a place for the ancestors of the people. [9]
The collections include objects relating to music, body adornment, ceremony - in particular kundu and garamut drums, navigation - including richly decorated a Milne Bay outrigger, masks and totem poles. [6] There are over 50,000 ethnographic objects in the museum's collection, but despite its size there are regions and cultures that are not strongly represented. [9]
The museum collaborated with researchers in 2019 to investigate the pottery trade in the Gulf of Papua, concluding that trade between Australia and Papua New Guinea was likely in the preceding two millennia. [10] Staff from the museum have also visited and collaborated with the Smithsonian in order share knowledge of song traditions and ecological knowledge. [11]
In 1974, Prime Minister Michael Somare wrote: “We view our masks and art as living spirits with fixed abodes. It is not right they should be stored in New York, Paris, Bonn or elsewhere.” [12] In preparation for the opening of the new museum building, the then Director, Dirk Smidt, requested the return of items from the William Macgregor Collection, which were accessioned into the Australian Museum at that time. Seventeen objects were returned at the opening of the museum in 1977. [5] In the 1990s, more of the Macgregor material was returned to the museum, this time as part of a partnership with Queensland Museum. [9]
In 2020 the museum received 225 objects from the National Gallery of Australia, as part of an agreed program of repatriation. [13] The objects were returned as part of an ongoing process of return, part of a partnership between the two institutions. [13] The objects mostly dated to the mid-twentieth century and the group is made up of utensils, masks and sculptures, from various provinces including some parts of New Ireland, East and West New Britain, Gulf, Milne Bay and East Sepik. [13]
In part due to legacies of colonialism, many institutions overseas have collections of material culture from Papua New Guinea, including: Hood Museum; [14] Science Museum; [15] the British Museum; [16] Pitt Rivers Museum; [17] Field Museum; [18] Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; [19] the Metropolitan Museum of Art, [20] and others.
In 2006, doubt was raised over the legality of the ownership of several objects in the De Young Museum's Melanesian collection. [12] It was claimed that nine objects were national property and, as such, should be returned to Papua New Guinea. [12]
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.
Western Highlands is a province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Mount Hagen. The province covers an area of 4,299 km2, and there are 362,850 inhabitants, making the Western Highlands the most densely populated province. Tea and coffee are grown in the Western Highlands.
Southern Highlands is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its provincial capital is the town of Mendi. According to Papua New Guinea's national 2011 census, the total population of Southern Highlands is 515,511 spread across 15,089 square kilometers (5,826 sq mi).
The culture of Papua New Guinea is many-sided and complex. It is estimated that more than 7000 different cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea, and most groups have their own language. Because of this diversity, in which they take pride, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more. To unify the nation, the language Tok Pisin, once called Neo-Melanesian has evolved as the lingua franca — the medium through which diverse language groups are able to communicate with one another in Parliament, in the news media, and elsewhere. People typically live in villages or dispersed hamlets which rely on the subsistence farming of yams and taro. The principal livestock in traditional Papua New Guinea is the oceanic pig.
Rugby league is a popular team sport in Papua New Guinea, and is the national sport. Papua New Guinea has a reputation for being the most passionate supporter of the game in the world.
The Papua New Guinea men's national cricket team, nicknamed the Barramundis, is the team that represents the country of Papua New Guinea in international cricket. The team is organised by Cricket PNG, which has been an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1973. Papua New Guinea previously had One-Day International (ODI) status, which it gained by finishing fourth in 2014 World Cup Qualifier. Papua New Guinea lost both their ODI and T20I status in March 2018 after losing a playoff match against Nepal during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, a result that earned ODI and T20I status for their opponents. On 26 April 2019, PNG defeated Oman to secure a top-four finish in the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two and reclaim their ODI status.
The Papua New Guinea national Australian rules football team represents Papua New Guinea in the team sport of Australian rules football. It is one of the nation's most successful sporting teams, currently ranked 2nd in the world behind Australia.
Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a developing team sport which was initially introduced by Australian servicemen during World War II. The governing body for the sport is the PNG Rules Football Council, with the development body being AFL PNG. The junior development version is known locally as Niukick. Regionally, AFL PNG is affiliated with AFL Oceania.
Papua New Guinean art has a long rich diverse tradition. In particular, it is world-famous for carved wooden sculpture: masks, canoes and story-boards. Papua New Guinea also has a wide variety of clay, stone, bone, animal and natural die art. Many of the best collections of these are held in overseas museums.
Islam in Papua New Guinea is a minority religion in the predominantly Christian country, with around 10,000 followers as of 2021. Papuan Muslims are largely concentrated Port Moresby and villages situated in the Highlands. Due to secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Timothy Akis, born around 1944 in Tsembaga village, Simbai Valley, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, died in 1984, was a Papua New Guinean artist. His art consisted primarily in imaginative pen and ink drawings and batiks inspired by his country's wildlife.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's throne was made by the goldsmith Hafez Muhammad Multani about 1820 to 1830, for the eponymous ruler of the Sikh empire. It is made of a wood and resin core, covered with sheets of repoussé, chased and engraved gold.
The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is a national police force with jurisdiction throughout all of Papua New Guinea.
The American Museum of Asmat Art is a gallery exhibiting the art and culture of the Asmat people of southwestern Papua, Indonesia, housed at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Featuring more than 2,200 objects, it is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. Asmat art is widely collected in major Western museums despite the difficulty in visiting the remote region to collect work; the "exceptionally expressive" art "caused a sensation in art-collecting circles" which led to large-scale collecting expeditions in the post-WWII era, according to art scholar and ethnology Dirk A.M. Smidt. The gallery includes a permanent display of Asmat works such as ancestor poles (bis) and canoes, and a rotating exhibition highlighting aspects of Asmat art and culture. Much of the collection is accessible through the museum's online database.
Onga/Waffa Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is officially known as the Independent State of Papua New Guinea after gaining absolute independence from Australia on September 16, 1975. PNG is the largest country in the South Pacific region and comprises the eastern side of New Guinea including its islands. Crime in Papua New Guinea, both violent and non-violent, have contributed to the developing country's crime rate being one of the highest in the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Papua New Guinea on 20 March 2020. On 4 May 2020, Papua New Guinea was declared COVID-19 free. However, on 20 June, the government confirmed another case of COVID-19, meaning that the disease was present again within the country.
Anima Mundi is a museum of ethnological art and artefacts in the Vatican City. It is part of the Vatican Museums.
Ellen Maev O'Collins, MBE was an Australian social worker by training, who became Emeritus Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Papua New Guinea.
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