Lunch at the British Museum with its Director Neil MacGregor OM. We ate under the roof of the Great Court, the splendid space which fuses old and new so sympathetically. I have very fond memories of the BM, as I used to work in the historical Reading Room when I was studying Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies just round the corner. It is one of the greatest museums in the world, with 6.7 million visitors last year.
Neil’s BBC series and book “History of the world in 100 objects” have made him a household name around the world, including Australia where he is an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. We first met when he brought an exhibition of artefacts from Commonwealth Countries to the West Australian Museum in Perth (run by a Brit, Alec Coles) for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 2011.
We were joined by Neil’s colleagues from the Museum’s Oceania collection, two curators both originally from Australia. It was an opportunity to discuss the BM’s burgeoning collaboration with the National Museum of Australia (NMA), which will bring a major exhibition of indigenous artefacts from the BM’s collection to Australia next year. I had previously been briefed on the Australian plans by NMA Director Matt Trinca in Canberra.
Whilst in London I also visited the National Archives at Kew, to meet Acting Keeper Clem Brohier. He kindly showed me the famed Flinders Map. It was drawn by Capt Matthew Flinders RN, the explorer and cartographer who died 200 years ago next week, from his circumnavigation of Australia in 1798-1803. It is the first document to use the name Australia to refer to the island continent. Some Australians hope that the map might visit Australia on loan at some stage.
