ANNUAL REPORT
2010-2011
MUSEUMS & ART GALLERIES BOARD
OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
MEMBERSHIP
The membership of the Museums and Art Galleries Board of the Northern
Territory (the Board) at end of 2010 -11 comprised:
Chair
Deputy Chair
Member
Member
Member
Professor Marcia Langton
Mr Alastair Shields
Ms Pip McManus
Mr John Waters QC
Mr Peter Whitehead
Three members were reappointed to the Board for three years. On 14 July 2009
the former Minister for Arts and Museums reappointed Mr John Waters QC and
Ms Pip McManus. On 13 January 2010 the Minister for Arts and Museums, the
Hon Gerry McCarthy MLA, reappointed Mr Steve Eland who then resigned his
position on 5 December 2010. Ms Libby Beath chose not to accept a
reappointment when her term expired 31 December 2010 and the resignation of
Kathleen Brown was received on 27 February 2011. A new appointment, Mr
Peter Whitehead, commenced on 1 January 2011 and recruitment to vacant
position/s targeted to attract a scientific professional to the Board.
MEETINGS
Part 3, Division 3, Section 24 (1) of the Museums and Art Galleries Act 1999
stated that the Board must hold at least 2 (two) meetings each year. During the
reporting period the following meetings were held:
188th Meeting
189th Meeting
190th Meeting
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Monday, 15 November 2010
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
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CUSTODIAL POWERS AND FUNCTIONS
Part 3, Division 1, Section 10 of the Museums and Art Galleries Act 1999
outlines the Board’s functions among which are to hold the cultural and
scientific collections referred to in section 5 (c) on behalf of the Territory.
Part 3, Division 1, Section 11 of the Museums and Art Galleries Act 1999
outlines the Board’s powers which include the power to acquire and dispose of
an object held by the Board.
Throughout the reporting period, the Board, through the Museum and Art
Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), continued to develop its cultural and
scientific collections.
Highlights included:

A major triptych by Darwin artist Caroline Rannersberger, entitled
Melancholy Territory III

A series of hand coloured lithographs by John Gould

A series of etchings based on natural science by Fiona Hall

The Telstra Collection fund allowed us to purchase four works by the
following Indigenous artists:
Djirrirra Wunungmurra, Denis Nona,
Angkaliya Curtis and Jan Billycan.

Finally, the South East Asian collection was strengthened by the
acquisition of various works that included a number of masks, decorative
figurines and components of a family taksu shrine.
A full report of MAGNT acquisitions is at Attachment A.
The MAGNT also continued to support the exhibition and research programs of
other cultural institutions including museums, galleries and universities through
the outward loan of items from the Collection. A full report of outward loans
from the MAGNT Collection is also included in the attached acquisitions report.
There were no acquisition proposals rejected or recommended by the Board to
the Minister for Arts and Museums during the reporting period.
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THE MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
FOUNDATION LIMITED
The Foundation is a body corporate which by trust deed has as its main object
to assist the Board to maintain, improve and develop the collection of the
MAGNT.
The MAGNT Foundation supported the second awarding of the George
Chaloupka Fellowship sponsored by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. The
Fellowship was created in honour of renowned rock art historian and Curator
Emeritus at the MAGNT, Dr George Chaloupka OAM FAHA, and aims to
support and promote research and conservation of Aboriginal Rock Art in the
Arnhem Land Plateau Region. The award’s second recipient, Mr Daryl Guse
was announced in August 2010. Mr Guse work will focus on research and
conservation of Aboriginal rock art of the Arnhem Plateau.
ATTENDANCES
Part 3, Division 1, Section 10 of the Museums and Art Galleries Act 1999
outlines the Board’s functions among which are to promote community
involvement in museums and art galleries in the Territory.
The Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory welcomed more than
278,856 visitors to its Darwin and Alice Springs based venues. The Bullocky
Point facility continued a strong visitation trend with over 198,867 visitors
attending the main facility, slightly fewer than the previous reporting period.
A report of attendances at Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
venues is at Attachment B.
EXHIBITION PROGRAM: 2010-2011
The Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory engaged the Territory
community through the following exhibition programs during the reporting
period:

Ancestral Power and the Aesthetic
(11 March 2011 – 11 September 2011)
“Ancestral Power and the Aesthetic : Arnhem Land paintings and objects from the
Donald Thomson Collection” showcases a selection of very fine and rare examples
of Yolngu art, collected by the anthropologist in the 1930s and 1940s.The
extraordinary bark paintings and painted objects in the exhibition illustrate the
differences in painting style between central and eastern Arnhem land, and at the
same time reveal the diversity of sacred designs or mardayin minytji painted by
clans across the region. The works also reveal the clear distinctions between
paintings by artists of the Yirritja and Dhuwa moieties. The exhibition includes the
earliest known works from this region.
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
Australian Portraits 1880-1960
(9 April 2011 - 10 July 2011)
This exhibition takes a fresh look at portraits from the National Gallery of Australia's
collection, from the 1880s late colonial period to the mid 1960s and the move into
abstraction. It features 54 portraits by 34 leading Australian painters, including Tom
Roberts, E Phillips Fox, Hugh Ramsay, George W Lambert, Max Meldrum, Rupert
Bunny, Violet Teague, Margaret Preston, Stella Bowen, Napier Waller, Albert
Tucker, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Roy de Maistre, Russell Drysdale and John
Brack. Australian Portraits 1880–1960 considers the international influences upon
Australian portrait painting and the more distinctive turns that Australian portraiture
has taken in its own right.

Exit Art: Contemporary Youth Art of Northern Territory Year 12 students 2010
(25 February 2011 – 3 July 2011)
Exit Art showcases artwork produced in 2010 by Year 12 visual art, craft and
design students in the Northern Territory. Works are selected for their excellence,
innovation and creativity in a range of modes including painting, drawing,
photography, ceramics, printmaking and digital presentations. Visitors are invited to
vote for their favourite artwork to win the People's Choice Award.

The Bombing of Darwin and the Loss of the Don Isidro
(19 February 2011 – 1 March 2011)
A commemorative display to mark the bombing of Darwin, on 19 February 1942,
held at MAGNT Bullocky Point. On that day 69 years ago, Don Isidro was one of
ten ships bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft during the air raid on Darwin.

Wildlife of Gondwana
(4 December 2010 – 13 March 2011)
Visit the Wildlife of Gondwana and take a trip back in time to when giant seven
meter lizards prowled Australia and the flesh eating Cryolohosaurus roamed
Antarctica. This exhibition unearths the super continent Gondwana from 3.8 billion
years ago to today. Incorporating over 130 specimens from Australia, Antarctica
and South America the Wildlife of Gondwana is based on research by world
leading palaeontologists.

27th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
(13 August 2010 - 7 November 2010)
The 27th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award aims to
showcase the very best of Australian Indigenous art from around the country. The
Award celebrates the important contribution made by Indigenous artists. An
opening celebration, held on the 13 August 2010 in the MAGNT grounds, was a
free event, including presentation to the winning artists.
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
AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels
(11 December 2010 – 27 February 2011)
This first-ever exhibition about AC/DC explores the milestones of this phenomenal
band from their formation and early Australian chart success to their explosion
onto the international stage. AC/DC Australia's Family Jewels featured original
material that has never been on public display including costumes, original
instruments, hand-written letters, notebooks, lyrics, original contracts, stage props,
rarely seen performance footage and much more.

Living Gondwana: Cycads of the Northern Territory
(4 December 2010 – 13 March 2011)
Complementing Wildlife of Gondwana is the NT Herbarium display Living
Gondwana: Cycads in the NT and a semi-permanent Cycad walk at the George
Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens (GBDBG). Cycads are the ultimate living fossil,
having seen the fall of the dinosaur and rise of mammals over 250 million years.

Behind the Wire
(4 August 2011 – 4 September 2011)
Behind the Wire is an annual art exhibition held at Fannie Bay Goal. This exhibition
showcases art by prisoners of Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre and by inmates
at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre and the Darwin Correctional Centre.

Supercrocodilians: Darwin’s Ultimate Survivor Story
(12 February 2009 - 16 January 2011)
Two hundred years ago, one of the world’s greatest scientists was born, Charles
Darwin. Famous for his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin reshaped the world’s
perception on the origin of living organisms. Supercrocodilians: Darwin’s ultimate
survival story demonstrates Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through
crocodilians.

Wildflowers; Central Australia on Kodachrome
(20 August 2010 to 10 April 2011)
Exhibition produced at the Museum of Central Australia, Alice Springs. Pastor
Samuel Gross was an avid photographer and recorded his surroundings while
employed as a missionary by the Hermannsburg Lutheran mission from 1939 to
1958. Pastor Gross’ early use of Kodachrome colour film created images of great
beauty, shown to best effect when photographing the wildflowers and flowering
trees and shrubs of Central Australia.
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The Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory also collaborated with
other institutions regarding three other exhibitions, which involved an alternative
exhibition site or collection ownership. These exhibitions were :



It Wasn’t All Chop Picnics (NT Archives Service displayed in Lyons Cottage)
Lifting the Veil (Stuart Expedition – 150th Anniversary – Central Australia)
Colour Country: Art from Roper River (Visions of Australia)
The 2010/11 exhibition program for Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern
Territory reports 11 exhibitions (14 including collaborative exhibitions), which
evidences a strong focus on this area in comparison to 7 exhibitions reported in
2009/10.
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