Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
Dixson Library is at the heart of the UNE campus and provides a venue for changing exhibitions of selections from the University’s Collections. It is just a short walk to Booloominbah, the Museum of Anitiquities and the Zoology Museum. UNE Collections displays are also featured at other on- and off-campus venues.
Transforming the Human Spirit (7–19 May 2012)
How can we rise above violence — to stop the rapid build-up of arms and forever ban the most fearsome weapons in history? Is it possible to transform a culture of violence to a culture of peace? This exhibition looks at how creating a global sense of deep connection among peoples is a first step. The exhibition is organised by Soka Gakkai International and sponsored by UNE Peace Studies in conjunction with the 3rd annual Nonviolence Film Festival 14-18 May. Pictured: Students say no, "Students Active at Atomic Conference", Neucleus Journal of the S.R.C. of the University of New England, 1955.
Griffith Taylor’s Antarctica: A Scott Centenary Exhibition (1 March–1 July 2012)
In 1960 Thomas Griffith Taylor, one of the lucky survivors of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, opened a new Geography building at the University of New England. Taylor further acknowledged Australia’s first regional university by donating his remarkable collection of artefacts from expedition. A selection of manuscripts, photographs, artwork, scientific instruments and recreational objects connected with one of the most famous and heroic voyages of discovery of all time is on display in commemoration of the expedition’s 100th anniversary. Pictured: The Second Western Geological Party (1911-1912). Left to right: Petty Officer Robert Forde, Frank Debenham, Thomas Griffith Taylor and Tryggve Gran. Griffith Taylor Collection, University of New England & Regional Archives.
Charles Dickens: Australian Connections (3 February–27 May 2012)
To celebrate the 200th year of Dickens’ birth, Australian connections in Dickens’ life and writing are explored through books, photographs and illustrations. Dickens introduced his English readers to Australia through his weekly journals, Household words and All the year round. From the very first issue, promoting Caroline Chisholm’s Family Colonisation Loan Society, Dickens portrayed Australia as a place for a new start and prosperous life. Dickens also sent two of his sons to Australia and it was his country of choice for the emigrating residents of the "penitent women’s home" he managed. Dickens’ enthusiasm for Australia permeated his fiction with many of his characters — Abel Magwitch, Wilkins Micawber and Emily and Daniel Peggoty — finding a new beginning in the Colony. Pictured: Charles Dickens in his study, William Powell Frith, 1859, collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Masks of Papua New Guinea
There are over 800 Indigenous languages and more than 1000 cultural groups in New Guinea. The masks of Papua New Guinea are equally complex, referring to ancestors, clan spirits, totems, power and myth. This selection of masks includes 20th Century masks from Sepik River, Lae and Morobe provinces. Pictured: Sepik River mask, 20th Century, Wau Village.
Let's eat: Food through the centuries (2 September 2011–March 2012)
At the Museum of Antiquities: The Museum houses artefacts from the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East; from Africa, Mesoamerica and South East Asia; from Australia, New Guinea and Oceania. What better place to explore the wealth and diversity of food and eating through thousands of years! In celebration of History Week 2011 (3-11 September) the Museum will open a new exhibition featuring recipes and food customs, ancient and modern. A 'Food Trail' meandering through the cases will guide the discovery of all manner of eating vessels and storage containers - plain, fancy and unique. Pictured: Fish plate, 325-300 BCE, Campania, Italy.
Homo Floresiensis 'The Hobbit'
A tiny, new human species discovered in 2003 at Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores by UNE researchers, their Indonesian counterparts and local Mangarri people. See the sculpture re-creation depicting what the "Hobbit" might have looked like.
Selections from the UNE Gift Collection
A rotating selection of gifts presented over the years to the University by its many international educational, research and community partners.