Yurlmun: Mokare Mia Boodja. ‘Returning to Mokare’s Home Country’ : Encounters and collections in Menang country

Objects provide occasions. They provide occasions for the telling of stories, for learning and sharing knowledge, for the honouring of ancestors, and for remembering, celebrating and grieving.

Yurlmun: Mokare Mia Boodja, which means ‘Returning to Mokare’s Home Country’ explores early encounters between Menang people and the British colonists and features the stories behind 14 rare, significant objects that originated from the Menang Noongar people, the traditional inhabitants of the Albany area in Western Australia. These objects were aquired and have been carefully stored within the British Museum’s collections since the 1830s. Several of these objects were collected by the Government Resident, Dr Alexander Collie, in the 1830s. During his time in Menang Country he developed a special friendship with Menang leader Mokare, who became an interpreter and guide on a number of expeditions and shared knowledge about the customs and beliefs of his people. So close was their bond, that when Collie was dying in 1835, four years after Mokare, he asked to be buried alongside his friend.

Every object is a product of multiple and overlapping histories and for the first time, they were returned together to Menang Country.