The Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery has declined the offer by Darwin activist Rob Wesley-Smith of the above item he made , inspired by champion Indigenous footballer Michael Long's march to Canberra to protest against Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to apologise to the Stolen Generation . The object sports Essendon football sox and is minus a floppy hat marked M. Long , stolen at a recent event . The Curator of Australian Art , Wendy Garden , sent agronomist Wesley-Smith the following letter :
Dear
Rob
Jared
Archibald passed your contact details on to me and information regarding a
work, The Long March Home that you have so kindly offered to the
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. All works offered for donation
must be assessed against a number of criteria set out in our Collection Policy
and then a proposal submitted to the Acquisitions Committee which must then be
approved by the MAGNT Board so it is quite a drawn out process.
This
is a great work and commemorates an interesting moment in NT history but
unfortunately it doesn’t meet a number of criteria in the Policy. Unfortunately
museums are unable to collect everything no matter how much we may want to and
there are many concerns we must address particularly concerning storage and
long term conservation requirements.
I
really hope you find a suitable home. I am sure it has great appeal with the
general public.Thank
you for bringing this work to MAGNT – I really appreciate the chance to consider
it.
