Art Walkabout: Memory Culture

The 42 plaques around the inner courtyard honour renowned earth
scientists. The top row was mounted when the building
was constructed around 1915, the bottom row added in
2009 during its refurbishment.
The scientists represented here had a significant impact
on research and teaching. They shared a relationship with
nature and the world, whether in improving or exploiting
it.
Some of them prepared the ground for colonialism by scientifically
legitimising racial theories, defending the slave trade
or deriving personal benefit from colonial endeavours.
Others, for their part, spoke out against colonialism or the slave trade.
Many, however, shared a sense of the superiority of Western
civilisation over non-European regions, emphasising
the role of Western culture in missionising and educating
“primitive” communities or benefitting personally from
the practices of colonialist exploitation.