The primary focus within Australian Aboriginal Cultures is to act as the custodians of one of the most important collections of Aboriginal material culture anywhere in the world. The South Australian Museum takes care of more than 30,000 pieces of Australian Aboriginal material culture, attesting to at least 60,000 years of Aboriginal ingenuity, beauty and diversity.

The Humanities team specialises in working hand-in-hand with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities this collection represents.

Humanities is also home to the Aboriginal Repatriation team and the World Cultures collection, encompassing ethnographic items from the Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Americas.