The landscape of our cultural institutions is shifting – and many are now using COVID-19 as an opportunity to reflect on the role of the museum itself.
What makes a museum? Is it the collection, professional staff or the building itself? In a capitalist era, the tendency may be to chase funding or subscribe to viewer tastes with blockbusters, but museums also have a loftier role – preserving and communicating our history and culture. Then again, whose history and culture are we preserving?
Ancient historian Mary Beard recently created a twitter storm with, ‘Do you want a load of traffic on Twitter? Here’s a tip. Suggest the ancient Romans weren’t entirely white … then duck’. The past is past, but history is how we interpret the past and it is always changing. It is vital that museums not only reflect our past, but also that they do so with the values and ethics of contemporary society.
Read: We need to talk about colonialism and our museums
Here’s ten museums that re-think what is collectible and what represents culture:
David Roche House Museum (detail). Photo ArtsHub.
1. THE DAVID ROCHE HOUSE MUSEUM
Featuring the collection of David J Roche AM, the must-see here is the Russian Room with furnishings inspired by Catherine the Great’s Pavlovsk Palace, along with a huge range of objects from toys, money boxes and naïve items to the finest of porcelains, paintings and furnishing items. Full of quirky objects with incredible but true stories to go with them, this museum promises to open your eyes to new worlds.
Read: Adelaide gets a new private museum
This museum is run by Sydney’s University of NSW on a distinctly niche subject: human disease. It not only has an impressive 2000+ specimens and objects detailing disease in the human body, including many diseased body parts pickled in jars, but also operates as a teaching tool at the UNSW’s Faculty of Medicine. A virtual museum experience is offers exhibitions on the ills of our times including obesity, cancer, COVID-19 and smoking.
3. The Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA)
The first – and only – underwater art museum in the Southern Hemisphere stretches the definition. Less of a traditional collection, this ‘museum’ includes a number of incredible sculptures built under the water off the coast of Queensland, with many 40 to 50 feet below the waves. All of these sculptures are by internationally-renowned artist Jason DeCaires Taylor, whose sculptures can be found in waters around the world. Two installations are already in place on The Strand and at John Brewer Reef – approximately 80 kilometres off the coast – with a further two locations planned at Magnetic and Palm Islands.
4. WOMEN’S MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA
In Alice Springs this museum has a collection of over 2500 objects and ephemera relating to women’s lives in Australia. Permanent exhibitions explore female innovators, everyday life, an investigation of women’s work, and cultural and language barriers. The museum is housed in the former cell blocks of the Old Gaol. The Her Story Archive holds thousands of photographs, media clippings, books, audio recordings, correspondence, objects and ephemera. Much of the collection has now been digitised and can be browsed on the website.
Established by Australian composer Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961), this museum boasts an impressive 1 million plus items. It is split into two very different collections – an ethno-musicologically valuable collection of musical instruments, scores and recordings, and the material culture of Grainger’s life, right down to his underwear, mother’s hats and his wife’s shoes. The museum is run by the University of Melbourne, which leverages the fact that it is part of the university to teach subjects including music, curatorship, sociology and psychology. Keeping the museum relevant and current is the challenge for the Museum: ‘We have the opportunity and need to interrogate and respond creatively to this extraordinarily diverse collection,’ says Curator Heather Gaunt. ‘It has to move and change but it also has to reflect its origins.’
Mad Max Museum, Silverton. Image Facebook.
The Mad Max 2 Museum is the passion project of superfan Adrian Bennett, who has amassed a personal collection related to the film, including a range of original action vehicles, props and relics from the film, alongside photographs, life-size characters in full costumes and souvenirs. More a tourist attraction than an official museum, the Mad Max 2 Museum is located in Silverton in far west NSW (near Broken Hill) where the film was shot in 1981.
Transport museums present challenges due to the nature of their collections – often vehicles are large and difficult to display and conserve. But there are also opportunities because so many enthusiasts out there with impressive collections and working vehicles do exist. Sydney’s Tramway Museum has an impressive collection of trams from Sydney dating from 1896 to 1997, as well as trams from Brisbane, Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide, alongside international rattlers from San Francisco, Nagasaki, Berlin, Munich and Milan, enabling comparisons between the different designs. As well as learning about trams, visitors to the museum can ride a vintage tram operated by volunteers along a four kilometre bush track in the Sutherland Shire.
Funded not by a private individual but as a not-for-profit registered charity, the Museum of Fire in Sydney’s Penrith is the official Heritage Partner to Fire and Rescue NSW. With only a small staff, the collection is huge numbering well over 10,000 objects including over 60 fire engines. ‘The Museum plays an important role in preserving the heritage and history of the NSW Fire Brigade as well as fire-related history across Australia,’ said Interim CEO Belinda McMartin. ‘We also provide fire safety and bushfire education to all ages.’
Celebrating when we rode on the sheep’s back, this impressive collection of machinery includes knitting machines, spinning machines and a huge jacquard loom. The building itself dates back to 1872 and operated as a Wool Store and Auction House for over a century. The National Wool Museum’s complete collection of 8000 objects is available online, including textiles, paper-based items, objects, paintings, photographs and large pieces of machinery.
10. SANTOS MUSEUM OF ECONOMIC BOTANY
Despite its colonial roots, the museum boasts displays of plant specimens – many of which date back to 1881 when the museum first opened – at the Botanic Gardens of South Australia. The building has been lovingly restored featuring many original details. The museum collaborates with the Art Gallery of South Australia and contemporary artists, showing how even a small museum can punch above its weight and stay fresh, while maintaining their core purpose – to celebrate botany.
