Africa in Australia

Since the turn of the millennium, ties between Africa and Australia have grown substantially. However, connections between the two continents are not new. On the contrary, human contacts pre-date the arrival of the First Fleet to Australia in 1788, and they continued to grow throughout the European colonial period and into the post-colonial era.

Africa in Australia examines the entire history of Africa-Australia relations through the material culture it left behind. Today, there are tens of thousands of African-born artefacts held in museum collections across Australia, each of which was conveyed to Australia through one of the many networks that have connected the two continents.

Each chapter in this book tells the story of one African-born artefact that is now housed in Australia, and what its journey reveals about the character of Africa-Australia ties. In amalgam, all of this African-born material culture has an extraordinary amount to tell, revealing much that is new for African Studies, about Africa-Australia connections, and in the Australian Story itself.