The new Visitor Centre on Annandale Road provides a wonderful venue for delegates from Western Sydney to get together and discuss common issues.
Rouse Hill House & Farm Visitor Centre: Delegates warming up at the start of the day
Delegates started by sharing stories about their own museum and collections and with little prompting from presenter Margôt Jolly, the contributions kept rolling in throughout the day, providing entertainment as well as information.
Margôt Jolly presenting an “Introduction to Collections Management”
A Museum Advisor for the Bland/West Wyalong Shire, Margôt is familiar with the trials and triumphs that the smaller community museums face. Her PowerPoint presentation started by asking delegates to consider the difference between a collection and a museum. When asked what museums are most impressive and why, the Berrima District Museum got strong reviews for its thematic approach. Other organisations that rated highly amongst the delegates included the Wollondilly Heritage Centre, the Lady Denman Heritage Complex and the Tarella Museum (Blue Mountains Historical Society).
The sessions were very interactive and feedback indicated that delegates appreciated the opportunity to workshop thorny issues such as what to do when offered an object that doesn’t meet your collecting themes, reasons for deaccessioning objects and methods of disposal. These issues roused a lot of discussion, and in the end there was general agreement that while museums are custodians of community history, they are not the nation’s attic. Don Graham of the Blue Mountains Historical Society has had success finding an alternative home through using a list of specialised museums that he put together.
The following organisations were well represented: Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Penrith Museum of Printing, The Oaks Historical Society, Brislington Nursing Museum, Blue Mountains Historical Society, Prospect Heritage Trust, Hawkesbury Regional Museum, Nepean District Historical Society, Parramatta Heritage Centre, Riverstone Historical Society and the Blacktown and District Historical Society.
M&G NSW expresses their appreciation to the National Library of Australia for funding this workshop through a Community Heritage Grant.
Tamara Lavrencic
This was a very valuable initiative for museums who rely on volunteers. while we are all encouraged to attract new volunteers it is not easy to provide them with suitable training in museum disciplines sufficient to help them fit in to the work they are undertaking at the museum of choice. One volunteer may be helping on a specific program but be unaware of the wider choices available in the way of collection management etc and these opportunities are important. They are also valuable for allowing museum people to get together to talk about current issues which is often not sufficently appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI commend MGNSW for taking this opportunity - and look out for the next one! Our 3 new volunteers really enjoyed and learnt from the day and are now working on new projects!
kind regards Tamara
Doreen Lyon