2012 - Egyptian Relief
In 2012 a bequest from the estate of the late Dr Elsie Harwood AM and funds from the Alumni Friends of The University of Queensland allowed the purchase of this Egyptian relief.
Dr Harwood received a first class honours degree in Classics from UQ in 1935 and in 1937, a Master of Arts degree in Classics for a thesis on the Island of Rhodes. Dr Harwood went on to become a psychologist, receiving one of the University’s first PhD's in 1957 and specialising in geropsychology (psychology of older adults). Read more about her remarkable life here.
This sandstone relief was originally part of a temple to the Aten, probably from Karnak, built by the infamous Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. The relief includes three cartouches (oval enclosures, usually for the name of the Pharaoh) with the names of the Aten (sun disk) and famous Queen Nefertiti. The relief is the only artefact in the Antiquities Museum from the time of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
In 1997 Dr Harwood also presented a silver coin of Rhodes to the Antiquities Museum and the UQ School of Psychology maintains the Elsie Harwood Prize for the best honours thesis in aging.