A young Warlpiri man who is helping his community re-connect with Country through his work at the South Australian Museum has been award a prestigious Churchill Fellowship.
Jamie Hampton, 26, is the Museum’s Warlpiri Repatriation Officer.
For the past six years he has worked on the Warlpiri Project, which is repatriating cultural items and ancestors back to the community at Yuendumu, north of Alice Springs.
He was awarded the fellowship to Investigate methods of repatriation that promote and improve engagement and outcomes for First Nations communities.
The fellowship will fund seven weeks of international research next year in New Zealand, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands.
Jamie, who lived in Alice Springs before moving to Adelaide, said his work was crucial to rebuilding his community back home.
“The Warlpiri had a long history of working collaboratively with museums and cultural institutions,” he said, “but that stopped 10 to 20 years ago and the community was in a tough position.
“We needed to get back to our strengths and that meant reconnecting with culture.”
Jamie was one of 100 applicants to win a Churchill Fellowship this year.
The fellowship, named after former English Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, is now in its 60th year and encourages everyday Australians to travel around the world in search of solutions to real-world problems.
Jamie said he had been prompted to apply for the fellowship when he learned of previous winners from the South Australian Museum. He noted many great Australians had also won fellowships.
“I was reading about some of the amazing projects in the past,” he said of the fellowship. “It’s incredible to be placed in the same category as those people.
“The Museum has been really supportive not only with this fellowship, but with the Warlpiri Project in general.
“What I want to do is bring these learnings back to the Museum and back to the community.”
The Warlpiri Project was an initiative of the community to reconnect with cultural heritage dispersed across museums, cultural institutions and in private collections.
“We didn’t realise how much of our stuff was out there,” he said. “But our treasures are now being used by the community and there’s been areal revitalisation of our ceremonies.
“It’s not just a matter of putting these treasures on a shelf or sit them in a box gathering dust; repatriation has a purpose. It’s been an important step in healing my community.
“That’s what really keeps me going – seeing the positive impacts it has.”
Follow the link to read more about the Warlpiri Project.
