A new exhibition at the University of Melbourne's Potter Museum will "correct the record" on the rich history of First Nations art, according to one of the country's most renowned academics.
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art features more than 400 works, encompassing bark paintings, sculptures, watercolour paintings, woven works and ceramics.
Speaking to NITV News, senior curator and Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton said it was a blockbuster exhibition.
Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton AO is the senior curator on the exhibition. Photo by James Henry.
"Clearly, this is a unique contribution to global humanity of art and its unique to Australia – all the other art traditions came from elsewhere in the world, from Britain and Europe."
It will change the way that people think about Indigenous art in Australia.
The title of the exhibition is an ironic reference to the late acceptance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works by the Australian art scene.
Professor Langton said it was unbelievable that such "brilliant" art traditions were not widely recognised or respected by universities, curators or critics until the 1980s and 1990s.
"We are correcting the record, visually, by having the best works by the greatest artists and also in context so that the meaning of the work and their history is very clear," she said.
Many pieces in the exhibition provide rich historical background.
Some are from the frontiers and other pieces include paintings of Makassan and Dutch ships by Anindilyakwa artists from Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.
Albert Namatjira, painting by Vincent Namatjira. The University of Melbourne Art Collection. Supplied.
Eastern Arrernte woman and associate curator Shanysa McConville said there were also many private pieces in the exhibition that have never been publicly displayed before.
"There are over 400 works of art in this exhibition and 50 or so archival documents all of which really just want to get the point across that this is art - these people have been artists for thousands of years," she said.
Almost 200 pieces have been loaned to the exhibition from 77 different public and private lenders, including from collectors in Europe - meaning many works will be seen by members of their artists' communities for the first time in decades.
Artists from some of these communities have attended the exhibition preview to see how the works have been curated.
"We want communities and descendants to come and engage with this work and connect to the work of their kin," Ms McConville said.
Installation view of 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2025. Photography by Christian Capurro
"Works by William Barak have been acquired recently at an auction in New York by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, they've lent us these precious works, as have the Dja Dja Wurrung people lent us their cultural collection which they have recently repatriated," she said.
The exhibition - opening at the tail end of Reconciliation Week - will be the first show at the Potter Museum of Art once it reopens to the public on Friday, after being closed for redevelopment since 2017.
It will be open to the public until November.
