The museum that opened in 2001 came across as overly enthusiastic, didactic, even dogmatic in parts. Its peers included Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Museum of the American Indian: reflecting a global museum movement that emphasised the voice of First Nations and marginalised peoples and aimed to disrupt colonial narratives. It addressed the visitor as “you”, and tried to hook them into conversations about the nation by asking them to reflect on personal experiences. The National Museum of Australia included artefacts from recent events, things like “ the small black dress” worn by Azaria Chamberlain when she was taken from her family’s tent at Uluru in 1980. Part of the problem was the museum didn’t explain why it was so different from more familiar 19th-century-style institutions like the Australian War Memorial. In The Australian Wars, Rachel Perkins dispenses with the myth Aboriginal people didn't fight back The clash culminated in a government review in 2003. In a short time, polarised views hardened into attitudes, with supporters and critics both accusing the other side of distorting history to promote a political agenda. One headline in the Daily Telegraph read “museum sneers at white history of Australia”. ShutterstockĪlmost as soon as it opened, the museum was engulfed in fierce controversy, attacked for being both too political and not political enough. The museums colourful façade and shiny feature jarred against Canberra’s national institutions.
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