Collections

Victor Jupurrulaross bush potato dreaming 1987AD

The Oceanic section of the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (AOA) holds a collection comprising around 34,500 objects made by islanders of the Pacific Ocean and by Aboriginal Australians. It contains archaeological collections and works from the mid-eighteenth century onwards, including sculpture, ceremonial carvings, costumes, masks, clothing, textiles, domestic utensils, weapons, tools, ornaments, and contemporary arts. Areas currently attracting particular interest from researchers and the public include New Zealand, Australia, Easter Island, Hawai’i, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

Coins, medals and paper money from Oceania are held by the Department of Coins and Medals (C&M), including early currencies and the coins and banknotes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Galleries

Some items from the Pacific and Australia are on display in the British Museum. One of the most well-known of these is the Easter Island moai (stone ancestral figure) in the Wellcome Gallery.

Also featured in the Wellcome Gallery are masks and other initiation objects from the Gulf of Papua New Guinea, dance costumes from Vanuatu and burial poles from Arnhem Land, Australia.

A range of Maori taonga (treasures) is on display in the Enlightenment Gallery, along with items from Hawai’i, Tahiti, Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tonga and Australia.

Money Gallery (Room 68)

Objects From Australasia And The Pacific On The British Museum Website