The Australian Network News has reported that the British Museum has placed thousands of artifacts from the Pacific Islands online.
Until now many Pacific Islanders would never have got the chance to see these treasures, even ones made by their own people.
Ben Burt, one of the Oceania curators, states,
“I see our Melanesian collection as a repository of historical and cultural and artistic information which should be available for Pacific Islanders to reconstitute their culture.”
He then goes on to say,
“In the British Museum we have artefacts which have not been seen in their home countries for many years, many generations, things which in some cases people have entirely forgotten, in other cases things which they remember but don’t have any longer.”
I encourage anyone interested to read the short article, and to visit the British Museum online to view the Pacific Islands collection.
Island Time 