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Peter Yu opens Off the Walls: Art from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Agencies 1967–2005, an exhibition about Indigenous art and the politics and history of a time of great change in Indigenous affairs.

Pedro Stephen, mayor of the Torres Shire Council, opens the exhibition of photographs by David Callow complemented by objects from the National Museum’s collections that share stories about the lives, culture and identity of Torres Strait Islanders.

Following a screening of In Memory of Malawan, film-makers Ian Dunlop and Pip Deveson discuss the filming of the rituals for the funeral of Aboriginal clan leader Malawan over a two-week period in the early 1970s.

The inaugural Platform Conversations event was a provocative panel discussion facilitated by David Speers debating whether recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Australian Constitution will make a meaningful difference to Indigenous peoples’ lives.

The book, co-edited by Martin Thomas and Margo Neale, extends on the papers presented at the ‘Barks, Birds and Billabongs: Exploring the legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land’ Symposium held in November 2009.

Senior Curator Kirsten Wehner introduces the new National Museum gallery exploring a broad history of Australia through stories of places and their peoples.

A welcome by Andrew Sayers followed by Neil MacGregor’s reflections on Bob Edwards as museum curator, anthropologist and archaeologist, founding director of the Aboriginal Arts Board and exhibitions wheeler and dealer.

Highlights from Bob Edwards’ fieldwork, collecting Aboriginal stone tools and documenting rock art and engravings, and his time at the South Australian Museum in the 1960s–70s.

An esteemed panel discusses Bob Edwards’ impact in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, museums and museum management.

Former members of the Aboriginal Arts Board describe the years of its establishment under the directorship of Bob Edwards.