NNAC and PPAC representatives with the Point Pearce Coffee Stand at the South Australian Maritime Museum in 2026. This work was undertaken as an activity in the project entitled ‘Co-designing Aboriginal Digital Museology Frameworks in the Southern Gulfs’ which is funded by the Australian Research Council (LP230200283). Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney, a Narungga scholar, is also working on this project as a strategic mentor.
The coffee stand was presented to Thomas Sutton (manager of Point Pearce from c. 1880 after the Moravian missionary Julius Kuhn). The engraving on the front of the stand reads: “From the Aboriginals of the Point Pierce Mission Station to T. M. Sutton Esq. on his leaving for Point McLeay March 1893.”
The presentation was made by John Newchurch.
The NNAC and PPAC representatives were the first community members to view the stand after its recent donation to the museum. Part of project will be to explore the colonial legacies and complexities that such objects represent.
Partners on the project include: Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Point Pearce Aboriginal Corporation, Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation, Nukunu Wapma Thura (Aboriginal Corporation), University of New South Wales, Flinders University, Adelaide University, History Trust of South Australia (South Australian Maritime Museum) and the South Australian Museum.