[The Vault]

Australia, 2005

Film Australian animation

Fresh out of university, Bill Nicholson’s first professional job involved him identifying human remains located in the vault of the Melbourne Museum. Some of those remains were traced back to Truganina Explosives Reserve in Altona. This animation tells the story of how these remains, discovered in Melbourne’s west, were returned to their traditional resting place.
Please note : This animation is based on a story told by Aboriginal Bill Nicholson Jr, visually interpreted by a white artist.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has been digitised but due to rights and access requirements can only be viewed onsite at ACMI over WiFi or by an access request.

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

22 April 2019

ACMI Viewing Booths

Credits

director

Alan Young

creator

Bill Nicholson Jr

producer

Bronwen Gray

writer

Bronwen Gray

Duration

00:05:51:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
2005

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/116969--the-vault/ |title=[The Vault] |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=5 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}