Queensland Museum & Community Collections

About the Museum Development Program

The Museum Development Program provides best-practice museum expertise to heritage and collecting institutions across the state. Queensland Museum runs a unique program that provides community organisations with an opportunity to access museum expertise through professional development and project-based activities. The Senior Museum Development Officers, also known as MDOs, have extensive experience in working with regional and remote communities and understand the challenges and opportunities that community collecting organisations face.

There are five professionally qualified Museum Development Officers based in Townsville, Toowoomba, Ipswich, and Cairns. The team is available to help right across Queensland.

The MDOs work in providing care and support for Queensland’s regional community heritage collections. This includes:

• First Nations communities and Keeping Places
• Community museums
• Historical societies
• Local history libraries
• Archives
• Multicultural groups
• Regional councils and local government organisations
• Returned Services Leagues (RSLs)

Our services

The MDOs work on a range of projects such as:

• Collection management
• Exhibition development and production
• Conservation, preservation, and preventative conservation
• Disaster planning and recovery
• Collection storage and rehousing
• Museum and collection store design and fit out
• Significance and preservation needs assessments
• Strategic planning
• Policy development
• Volunteer management and procedures
• Public programs
• Cultural planning
• Grant writing
• Workshops and training (in all the areas listed above)

This work is done either on a fee for service basis or provided free of charge. Please contact your local MDO to discuss.

Contact your local MDO.