Berndt Museum of Anthropology
Kunai Grass Banner [P37833]
Current: Through the Kunai Grass:
Portraits of the New Guinea Highlands 1951 – 53
Holmes à Court Gallery
Opening Times:
11.00 – 5.00 Tuesday to Fridays
11.00 – 5.00 Saturdays
Telephone Enquiries:
6488 3707
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Public Program
A number of Public Programs have been arranged to accompany the current exhibition.
Occasional Paper No. 11
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See unknown photographs recorded by Ronald and Catherine Berndt when they travelled to Papua New Guinea in 1951.
Ronald Berndt was the Foundation Professor of Anthropology, arriving at the University in 1957; he was appointed Professor on the establishment of the Department in 1963, the same year in which he and his wife Catherine founded the international journal of Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, Anthropological Forum.
The Berndts were among the first white outsiders to enter the high mountain valleys of the Eastern Highlands region. The dense forest, which impeded their ten-day trek, was broken by broad swathes of two metre high kunai grass across the Highland valleys, where villages such as Kainantu were located.
These portraits of local people were taken on a small Leica camera, using precious Kodachrome I film, unobtainable in Australia in the immediate post-War era, but supplied to the Berndts by Margaret Mead at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
The Museum is currently developing linkages with the National Museum at Port Moresby and the National University of Papua New Guinea, to send this exhibition to the Highlands.
Ronald Berndt was the Foundation Professor of Anthropology, arriving at the University in 1957; he was appointed Professor on the establishment of the Department in 1963, the same year in which he and his wife Catherine founded the international journal of Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, Anthropological Forum.
The Berndts were among the first white outsiders to enter the high mountain valleys of the Eastern Highlands region. The dense forest, which impeded their ten-day trek, was broken by broad swathes of two metre high kunai grass across the Highland valleys, where villages such as Kainantu were located.
These portraits of local people were taken on a small Leica camera, using precious Kodachrome I film, unobtainable in Australia in the immediate post-War era, but supplied to the Berndts by Margaret Mead at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
The Museum is currently developing linkages with the National Museum at Port Moresby and the National University of Papua New Guinea, to send this exhibition to the Highlands.
