Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize

Contemporary gold jewellery meets rich, untold stories at Melbourne Museum, as three winning pieces from the 2025 Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize go on display. Each piece offers a striking, personal response to what gold has meant to Victoria — its history, its cost, and who it belongs to. 

Major Prize — Laura Deakin's The Diggings Ring, traces golden streams, interspersed with microplastic from the Wandiligong rivers her grandmother spent decades helping restore. 

First Peoples Prize — Simone Thomson's Boorndup Biik (Respect Country), sets gold in the centre of Echidna quills and quandong seeds, speaking to resilience and renewal. 

Emerging Prize — Lou Wheeler's The Safest Investment reimagines the legacy of family gold as a reckoning with power and extraction.