Oceania Department, British Museum, UK

Gaye Sculthorpe is a Palawa woman from Tasmania. Between 2013 and August 2022 she was curator and Head of Oceania at The British Museum. Before moving to London, Gaye worked as a Member of the National Native Title Tribunal in Australia and prior to that in curatorial positions at Museums Victoria, Melbourne and, many years ago, at the National Museum of Australia. Since then she has been working with Aboriginal communities and university colleagues in Australia on several Australian Research Council-funded projects with a focus on uncovering and making known historic collections of Aboriginal cultural material in the United Kingdom and Ireland.  In 2021, her book, co-edited with Maria Nugent and Howard Morphy of the Australian National University, Ancestors, artefacts, empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish Museums was published by British Museum Press. Her work in this area was acknowledged in 2021 by her election as an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In August 2022, Gaye was appointed to the position of Professor of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne.