via ABC News, 17 July 2022: This is an amazing read, a deep dive into antiquities smuggling in Cambodia and Thailand in the 1970s, and how looted antiquities reached Australia and the world through dealers like Peng Seng and Douglas Latchford.
It’s a sculpture separated by time and space, carved by unknown hands an estimated 1,200 years ago.
Instead of being in its ancient jungle home, perhaps a temple, it’s propping up firewood inside a dusty garage on the NSW mid-north coast.
Hundreds of works like this arrived in Australia in the 60s and 70s.
But the story of how they got here has never been told.
For four months, I’ve been investigating these works for Background Briefing and what I’ve found is alarming: a story of dodgy dealers, looted temples and some of the world’s most exclusive collections.
