A geographical coincidence.
A passion for other cultures.
An enduring legacy.
UNE’s Museum of Antiquities (UNEMA) has relied on generous donors to acquire a world-class collection throughout its 62-year history. And the artefacts gifted by former TAFE teacher, grazier and Peace Corps member Bruce Reuman are a notable case in point.
By the time of his death, in April last year, Bruce had donated some 200 pieces to UNEMA, gathered during a lifetime of travel. From carved Jamaican coral beads to African Shona sculptures, Ming ware from Indonesia, Guatemalan traditional costumes and Indian cow horn vials, Bruce’s collection was as eclectic as it was revealing.
“Bruce had a deep interest in the cultures of the world and a particular desire to help preserve traditional crafts and techniques,” says UNEMA Curator Dr Bronwyn Hopwood, who cites one specific example.
Bruce had a deep interest in the cultures of the world and a particular desire to help preserve traditional crafts and techniques.
In 1988, while he was serving with the Peace Corp in Guatemala, Bruce observed how traditional methods for weaving cloth and making garments was being lost in local villages. “The clothing produced in each village at that time still had its own distinctive shape, design, style, colours and patterns, which signalled where you came from and where you belonged,” Bronwyn says. “However, the craftspeople were increasingly using synthetic threads and different dyes. Bruce deliberately set out to purchase Guatemalan indigenous clothes (trajes indígenas) made using traditional techniques.”
Bruce donated this particular collection to UNEMA in 2001 and it became the focus of several successful public exhibitions. Over the next two decades he also donated Mayan artefacts and a collection of nearly 200 pieces that showcased the cultural richness of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oriens.
When settling his affairs last year, Bruce also established two bequests worth $200,000 bearing his name – an Ethnographic Collections Acquisition Fund to support UNEMA’s collections from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Oriens, and a Collections Conservation Fund to support the upkeep of all UNEMA’s artefacts.
Before emigrating to the New England of Australia, Bruce lived in the New England of the United States and travelled widely throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas and Indian subcontinent. Wherever he roamed, he sought to support local craftspeople, artists, and charitable institutions.
“He was an unassuming man, but his curiosity took him around the world, and his compassion saw him take an interest in many causes, including ethical micro-lending to the poor and underprivileged, scholarships for higher education students, and community museums and cultural collections,” says Bronwyn. “Bruce was very attached to our New England region and wanted its communities to have the same opportunities that people living in Australia’s major cities have to learn about the wider world and its people. He wanted to share his fascination for different cultures with others, and UNEMA is now the beneficiary of that.”
UNEMA depends on such generosity to maintain its teaching, research, and community engagement. Supporters and donors contributing their time, money or artefacts ensure that the institution can continue to grow and maintain its existing collection.
Supporting UNEMA
You, too, can support UNEMA – by volunteering your time; making a tax-deductible donation to future projects, research and exhibitions; by gifting artefacts; becoming a patron and establishing a named fund; or contributing to an existing fund.
Significant funds established to support UNEMA are named after their generous benefactors.
As UNEMA prepares to undergo a full refurbishment in 2022, the first significant work to be undertaken since 1988, your support is more valued than ever. About $150,000 is needed to create nine new public galleries.
For more information about how to support UNEMA and get involved, visit UNE Museum of Antiquities Refurbishment Appeal page or email Dr Bronwyn Hopwood at bhopwood@une.edu.au.
Our donors are the lifeblood of the museum.
“It’s philanthropy that has enabled us to expand the collection, host exhibitions and speakers, and to purchase individual artefacts to celebrate museum, patron or university milestones. We would not be here without it.”
While it is yet to go on display, Bronwyn describes Bruce’s latest donation as “incredibly important”. “It represents the largest gift of artefacts and funds made by a single donor to UNEMA,” she says.
“Like Bruce, we have been very fortunate to have had several donors with a vision to see UNEMA grow from Australia’s first regional museum of antiquities, into one of Australia’s outstanding cultural collections."
“It has been a privilege to see visitors get excited by the displays, to see students marvel at holding something 5,000 years old in their hands, and people of all backgrounds come to better understand others (or themselves) when they engage with our collections. Diversity is supported best by knowledge and understanding and appreciation of others. UNEMA enables people to engage with the world and inspires them to go out and explore it more, to broaden their horizons, which I think is what Bruce wanted.”
Not all support is so visible. Take the Charles Ede Prize, established by James Ede in memory of his father, founder of the Folio Society and an art and antiquities dealer. It supports an annual prize for the best written work submitted by a UNE student on an artefact or aspect of the collections or history of UNEMA. Significant funds from donors also enables the annual Maurice Kelly Lecture, which shares research undertaken on museum objects.
