The stories about how museums collect objects are just as interesting as the objects themselves. Smoking Pipes: a history in collecting showcases the diverse range of pipes that have been acquired from over fifty years.

​

Smoking Pipes shares the centuries of Indigenous histories with Macassan traders and the arrival of the British. The exhibition also takes you on a journey to the highlands of Papua New Guinea, to the early missionary days on Groote Eylandt, and to the arrival of asylum seekers in the 1990s through the treasure trove of pipes. Each unique object, carved and decorated to reflect its owners resources and style, hints at our unique position in space and time.

20 April 2019 – 13 October 2020

Smoking Pipes: a history in collecting

Image: ABETH-3641, Macassan-style pipe c 1980s, wood, metal, synthetic polymer paint, purchased, 2003. MAGNT Collection