The Western Australian Museum is delighted to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the British Museum to link the two organizations for the next five years with the first phase to be a unique exhibition here in Perth.

Extraordinary Stories – Commonwealth Objects from the British Museum will open in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, this October, and will feature some of the British Museum’s most significant collections, including the first ever human-made tools, magnificent buried treasures, a piece from the celebrated Lewis Chessmen (famously featured in the Harry Potter movies), and the stunning 20th century sculpture from Mozambique, Throne of Weapons.

The exhibition will take viewers on a fascinating journey through human history through the objects from many of the 54 Commonwealth countries.

WA Museum CEO, Alec Coles said, “We are excited to announce this first phase of a powerful partnership with the British Museum which will offer Western Australians a unique opportunity to experience the very best of this world-class Museum right here in Perth.

“This first exhibition, as the name suggests, will be extraordinary, not least because this will be the first time any of these objects have been seen in Australia.

“We look forward to this exhibition and to the next five years of research, exhibition and collaboration.”

British Museum Director Neil MacGregor said, “We are thrilled to be working with the Western Australian Museum on this exhibition which will be an important celebration of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. We admire the ambition of the WA Museum and are delighted that it will become part of a network of international museums that we are working with around the Indian Ocean.”

Some of the objects featured in the seminal British Museum and BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects will be on display, including the Olduvai hand-axes from Tanzania – the first known example of human tool-making on Earth, the Lewis Chessmen, the oldest African American object in the British Museum, a drum from Ghana which travelled to US as part of transatlantic slave trade; and a prehistoric stone pestle from the Pacific made by some of the oldest agricultural communities in the world.

The exhibition will also feature the Throne of Weapons: a powerful and poignant sculpture created by the Mozambique sculptor Kester, made entirely out of decommissioned automatic weapons collected in the wake of the civil war in Mozambique as part of a project to promote peace. The throne is both a reminder of the violence of which we are capable, and a powerful symbol of peace and reconciliation.

The exhibition will open on 25 October, 2011 at the WA Museum - Perth as part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and will be on display until February 2012.

For more information go to http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/bm-exhibition/

Renee Dodds, Manager of Media and Communications, T. +61 8 9212 3860 M. + 61 414 981 761