Useful Objects

This exhibition was held from Wednesday 29 May 2024 - Saturday 31 August 2024

Ceramic dilly vessels with twine handles on a black background
Nicole Chaffey, Dilly Vessel 2022, Glazed Earthenware, 16 x 14 x 4 cm, Image courtesy of the artist.

We live with the legacy of Ancestral ways of being, creating and belonging on Country. Useful Objects reviews these ancestral connections using a rare collection of artefacts from the Laut Collection held by the Wollotuka Institute.


Purchased to ensure the collection was not lost, rare and ancient items from across Australia are exhibited alongside contemporary First Nation’s artists who have reinterpreted the methods, mediums and uses to ascribe new meanings. Ceremony and Culture are interrogated through investigations into past objects and their embodied truth.


Jessica Tobin and Renae Lamb
April 2024


Useful Objects has been co-curated on Awabakal country by the University Galleries First Nations Cadet and Student Intern

Explore the exhibition in 3D

Event Information

  • Date:  This exhibition was held from Wednesday 29 May 2024 - Saturday 31 August 2024