Kevin Puertollano showing Ambassador dela Vega the resting place of some Manilamen buried in Broome Cemetery

Former pearl divers shared their stories to NMP researchers during an FGD in Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao, Philippines.

Manilamen descendants shared their stories during the consultation and engagement at Broome Civic Center.

The descendants at the St. John of God Heritage Center in Broome with Ambassador Hellen dela Vega, Dr. Deborah Wall and Dr. Marrianne Ubalde

CURATORIAL NOTE

The content of this virtual exhibition, a collaborative project of the Philippine Embassy in Canberra, National Museum of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, is mainly based on the book, Re-imagining Australia: Voices of Indigenous Australians of Filipino Descent, by Dr. Deborah Ruiz-Wall with Dr. Christine Choo. This virtual exhibition is supplemented with the materials obtained from field work in Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao, Philippines by researchers from the Ethnology Division of the National Museum of the Philippines in June 2022, and also during a consultation and engagement with the Manilamen descendants in Broome, Western Australia in July 2023. The consultation led to the emergence of and engagement with other descendants who were not originally part of the book. This virtual exhibition aims to draw more stories and connections between and among the Manilamen descendants and their Filipino roots, for the continued relations between the Philippines and Australia—two countries located in separate continents yet connected by the sea.