\u27Frontier\u27 collecting in the 21st century. The Charles Darwin University Art collection in Australia\u27s Northern Territory

The art collections of regional universities have been described as a \u27well kept secret\u27; the Charles Darwin University Art Collection is no exeption, but is exeptional. Its evolution and future prospects reflect the environment and culture of a region distinguished from the rest of the nation, both conceptually and geographically, as \u27frontier\u27. The \u27frontier\u27, as both \u27an idea and a place\u27. has provided an enduring national mythology and a convenient boundary that have shaped the public profile of the Northern Territory and forged its sense of distinctiveness. Yet, as Tom Griffiths has observed: \u27when, as historians, we get close to the \u27frontier\u27, we often find it evaporating either into intimacy or distance.\u27 Charles Darwin University and its art collection are uniquely placed to embrace the particular challenges and opportunities of the \u27frontier\u27 of the 21st century. This paper considers the collection\u27s development from an art school \u27teaching collection\u27 to a \u27university collection\u27 with close ties to the society it serves. Three key phases are discussed: the establishment of a Northern Territory university in 1989, including the creation of a \u27university collection\u27 of over a hundred works of art, as well as a discrete collection of Aboriginal art and artefacts; management during the 1990s by the University Art Co;;ection Committee, which formulated and implemented ploicies and procedures for existing holdings and aquired works reflecting a North Australian perspective; and the establishment in 1993 of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Print-Making Workshop at the university, with the collection now comprising one of the largest Indigenous print archives in the world. In 1993, the collection numbered just over 170 works of art. In the 21st century, with over 1200 works, and given a university commitment outreach and cultural exchange, the collection is poised to reveal another side of the frontier