Maria Nugent

Maria Nugent is a Reader (Associate Professor) at the School of History, Australian National University. She specializes in Australian Aboriginal history, colonial encounters, and museum studies, with emphasis on material culture and historical memory.

Her research includes collaborative projects like 'Ancestors, Artefacts, Empire,' analyzing Indigenous objects in UK/Irish museums, and studies of performances such as the Wild Australia Show. Recent articles examine Bennelong’s role in colonial collecting and critiques of settler historical narratives.

She leads grants on Indigenous object repatriation and Great Exhibition histories. Current work explores the politics of representation in public history and digital heritage.

Nugent teaches courses on Indigenous-settler relations and advises on museum curation and community engagement.