National Reconciliation Week 2025 is being marked under the theme 'Bridging Now to Next', which highlights the ongoing connection between past, present and future.

At the University of Queensland's Anthropology Museum, the theme is explored through the exhibition 'Stories through time: Living cultures, enduring connections.'

The Museum is offering guided tours of the exhibition throughout the week, inviting the public to deepen their understanding of these significant collections.

The exhibition highlights how generations of Indigenous Australian and Pacific peoples have preserved cultural practices through objects, stories and relationships.

Ngugi woman Ms Braelyn Rolfe-Chase, a museum aide, said the idea of continuity has always been central to the curation.

"The stories through time aspect is really circular so it's looking through this concept of continuity and how present and past is ultimately tied intrinsically to the now and the future," she told National Indigenous Times.

"That was kind of represented within the curation before the Reconciliation Week theme was announced, which I think is really important to highlight - that this work is being continued and done by mob and allies on the front lines and within these institutions as well."

Spanning over 75 years of collection and engagement, the exhibition features work by Yirrkala, Kamana and Wik artists, as well as storytellers and cultural custodians from across the continent and the Pacific.

Among the oldest items are wood carvings made by Wik peoples from Aurukun in Far North Queensland, collected in the 1950s.

While the makers are unrecorded, the works include representations of animals such as stingray, sea eagle, crow, bonefish and dingo.

These pieces are early examples from the Aurukun carving movement, which evolved from traditional clay and pottery practices.

Ms Chase said these carvings hold deep significance.

"These ones are actually really important because they're some of the first Aurukun mob carvings that ever kind of originated from that Aurukun carving movement… after like a long standing sculptural practice with clay and pottery."

She added it is essential for institutions to create space for community engagement.

"I definitely think showcasing living cultures in a museum setting is really dependent on the relationships," she said.

"Because we have a lot of objects that are surrounded by a lot of violence and colonial traumas and histories."

On the role of museums in reconciliation, Ms Chase said change must be led by institutions themselves.

"I definitely think that reconciliation itself is in the hands of the institutions and for white people to do better," she said.

"Being able to come in, interact, repatriate and even reclaim things - it's definitely in the hands of institutions to be at the forefront of that."

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Details of feature image: Minh Wuk / Flying fox mask 1954, Moot / Stingray 1958; Male dingo 1958; Bonefish 1954, Kungkung / White-breasted Sea Eagle 1958, Tultul / Spurwing plover 1958, Black crow 1958, Dog 1954, Female dingo 1958. Wik people, Aurukun, Far North Queensland. UQ

Anthropology Museum collection. Image: Joseph Guenzler.