The ACT wants its Aboriginal centre to be collocated with the Federal Government’s Gallery of Aboriginal Australia on Acton Peninsula. The Act Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, has written to the Prime Minister, seeking the collocation. Ms Follett said yesterday, “”The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council has indicated to me that it prefers a site on Acton Peninsula.” The $2.5 million ACT centre is to be funded from the $19 million tax raised from the Casino licence. The federal gallery _ part of the National Museum of Australia _ was announced in Mr Keating’s cultural statement last year.
At the time the ACT Government reacted favourably. Others saw it as the death knell to the museum’s preferred option of a full museum at Yarramundi Reach. This week ACT Opposition Leader Kate Carnell repeated a call for the Federal Government to go ahead with the full Museum at Yarramundi. The director of the museum, Margaret Coaldrake, is on leave, but the ACT Government has kept the museum informed.