Workshop Announcement: ‘Translocated Nature from Australia as Indigenous Cultural Belongings’

The Berlin’s Australian Archive team is pleased to announce an upcoming two-day workshop: “Translocated Nature from Australia as Indigenous Cultural Belongings,” to be held at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) on 8–9 October 2025.

This workshop forms part of the provenance research project Berlin’s Australian Archive and is co-hosted with the Center for Humanities of Nature. Based at the MfN, the Center brings together scholars and practitioners from diverse fields to foster critical reflection on the role of natural history museums and biodiversity sciences.

Over the past two years, the Berlin’s Australian Archive project has been working with the MfN’s Australian collections. Central to this work are the questions:

• How can German natural history institutions acknowledge the continuing significance of translocated nature to First Peoples?
• How can German natural history institutions acknowledge the continuing significance of translocated nature to First Peoples?
• And how can this work support First Peoples’ sovereignty claims over natural collections as Indigenous cultural belongings?

The workshop brings together museum professionals and academics from Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom to engage with these questions.

Day 1 (Public Programme): Short talks by invited speakers, a presentation by the Berlin’s Australian Archive team, and an open roundtable discussion. Register here via Eventbrite.

Day 2 (Closed Programme): For speakers and invited participants only, with visits to collections and archives alongside informal conversations about appropriate ways of engaging with translocated nature from Australia.

Programme (Day 1, PUBLIC Programme, 08 October 2025):

10:00–10:30	Check-In & Opening
10:30–11:00	Opening Remarks (pre-recorded) – Laura McBride & Mariko Smith (Australian Museum, Sydney)
11:00–11:30	Keynote – Rebecca Carland (Museums Victoria, Melbourne)
11:30–11:45	Coffee Break
11:45–12:45	Project Presentation: Berlin’s Australian Archive
12:45–13:30	Lunch
13:30–14:15	Project Presentations, Part I
14:30–14:45	Coffee Break
14:45–15:45	Project Presentations, Part II
15:45–16:15	Keynote – Jack Ashby (University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge)
16:15–17:00	Round Table: “Nature as Indigenous Cultural Belongings”

Programme version of 10.09.2025, subject to change.

For further information visit the workshop website.

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