New Pasifika Gallery Survey Results Report

In spring 2023 the Australian Museum will open a new Pasifika exhibition. This exhibition will provide a long-awaited opportunity, in one of Sydney’s leading cultural facilities, for Pasifika communities living in Australia and across the wider Pacific region to show and tell their story.

The most wide-reaching step taken toward starting the conversation about this exhibition, and hearing the diverse voices of Pasifika peoples, has been through a survey conducted from 29 March to 30 June 2021. Electronic direct marketing, social media and a ‘postcard’ were the key means by which word about the survey was spread.

The survey asked specific questions about what the new Pasifika exhibition should include and targeted Pasifika people living in NSW. Several responses were also received from other states in Australia and regions in the Pacific.

This report provides a comprehensive snapshot of the survey results. It shows there is strong support for the development of the new Pasifika exhibition, and that it should reflect Pasifika cultures as living cultures and be led by Pasifika peoples, knowledge, and storytelling ways.

The Australian Museum welcomes the results of this survey, and thanks the Community respondents for giving us their feedback and insight