Queanbeyan!

This week I spent a day in Queanbeyan, just out of Canberra. I was invited to talk about our VIM Grant program at a workshop organised by Elizabeth Brown, Regional Arts Development Officer from STARTS (Southern Tableland Arts). I was so impressed at the sheer range and diversity of the Queanbeyan art community that was represented at the workshop– in the crowd there were poets, ceramicists, circus performers, quilters, folk musicians, and also a few volunteer museums!

Joining me in presenting were Bea Brickhill from Australian Business Arts Foundation (ABAF) and Miriam Stacey from the NSW Heritage Branch. I personally found it really beneficial to hear about their grant programs, in particular the interesting work ABAF are doing in partnering Arts Organisations with local businesses who are keen to engage in some philanthropy.

After the workshop (and sneaky look at some of the best Op shops I have ever seen!) I was very lucky to given a guided tour of both the Queanbeyan Museum and the Queanbeyan Printing Museum. I was pretty excited as both museums are participating in our Standards Program this year, and have just completed the grueling self review component. Having read so much about the museums on paper, it was such a delight to actually visit them in person. Ever since my return I have been raving about the fascinating and well designed exhibitions and beautifully cared for collection both museums provide.

Doug Quane (who volunteers at both Museums) and Peter Conlon (Manager (Library and Cultural Services at Queanbeyan Council) very kindly made the time in their busy schedules to personally show me around the Museums, even though it was outside of regular opening hours. Doug even demonstrated one of the printing presses for us - it was amazing to see the huge amount of work that used to go into just printing one line (let alone a whole newspaper).

At the Queanbeyan Museum next door, it was impressive to see all the hard work the volunteers had put in to developing such interesting and engaging displays. I was interested to see that some exhibitions had been developed in collaboration with local CIT students that are enrolled in Museum Studies. I thought this was a really great idea – the Museum gets some excellent volunteer help and the students get such valuable hands on experience in working with a collection. I’d love to share this idea with more volunteer museums. I also got very excited when I was shown the hospital display and I caught sight of the museum’s Iron Lung which is apparently one of only twenty remaining in Australia!

The Iron Lung!

Museum display curated by a CIT student

A German typewriter complete with umlauts!

Doug Quane demonstrates a printing press.