Every year as part of the festivities associated with the naming of Australian of the Year, the eight State and Territory winners participate in a deeply personal and inspiring exhibition held at the National Museum of Australia.
Created in partnership with the National Australia Day Council, the exhibition follows the same formula every year, whereby each winner is asked to choose an object that reflects their life, their career, or personal path.
The objects chosen generally span the finalists’ personal or professional domains, with a host of moving, personal, surprising and inspiring items showing up every year.
Typically, the process of selecting an object would involve exhibition curator, Dr Lily Withycombe, or another member of the team liaising with the person to make a selection; however, this year due to extraordinary circumstances that couldn’t occur for one of the finalists.
Due to ACT Australian of the Year, Patrick ‘Patty’ Mills, being fully occupied representing the Brooklyn Nets in the 2021-22 NBA season in the USA, the Museum serendipitously had an item in their collection that they were able to select and display on his behalf.
“We ended up coming to a bit of a compromise,” Withycombe told Canberra Daily.
It just so happened that in the Museum’s collection is a basketball singlet worn by Mills’ uncle, Danny Moreseu, when he represented Australia at the 1980 Olympics.
“There’s a real relationship between the two Olympic champions, elite basketball, coming from the Torres Strait as well, so it worked out really nicely.
Moreseu, a highly impressive Australian in his own right, was a founding member of Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL), and was the first Torres Strait Islander to represent Australia at the Olympics.
“That’s something he’s really happy with, and we still hope that actually we’ll get an object that he chooses at some point,” Withycombe said.
Highlights of the 2022 Australian of the Year exhibition include:
Tiles created from recycled timber, textiles and glass and designed for use in domestic and commercial buildings selected by 2022 New South Wales Australian of the Year, Professor Veena Sahajwalla.
The footprints made of domestic violence victim Hannah Clarke’s feet when she passed away, selected by 2022 Queensland Australian of the Year, Sue and Lloyd Clarke.
“This was a really brave choice, and we thought was one of the most impactful objects we’ve ever displayed in the Australian of the Year exhibition,” Withycombe said.
The racquet 2022 Victoria Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott used to win his 2021 Golden Slam – four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.
For Withycombe, part of the appeal of working on this exhibition is the tight timeframe in which it has to be turned around.
The nominations come out from around November, giving curators only two months to pull the exhibition together.
“It’s really short, but that’s what I love about it,” Withycombe said.
“You have to be flexible, you have to be creative, you have to collaborate across all different areas of the Museum to put on display these amazing objects.”
That work has then been compounded by the limitations COVID-19 restrictions place on working across borders, domestically and internationally.
“It can be actually really tricky to bring objects in the safest way to Canberra from different states and territories, let alone overseas when people are overseas in New York or Hong Kong,” Withycombe said.
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