Queensland Museum & Community Collections

Author: Dr Jo Wills

  • Hinkler Hall of Aviation – MDO flood recovery work

    Following the floods in Bundaberg from ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald, Queensland Museum Development Officer for southern inland Queenland, Lydia Egunnike, also received a call for assistance from the Hinkler Hall of Aviation. The facility suffered minimal damage in comparison to Gayndah Museum, the Bundaberg Railway Historical Museum and the Australian…

  • Total solar eclipse and contemporary collecting…

    Sales of eclipse viewing shades and glasses have skyrocketed in FNQ over the last week or so. And, for about half an hour this morning, those without them would have been cursing themselves for not being able to witness the spectacle of a total solar eclipse. But viewing glasses are…

  • Flotsam and jetsam or contemporary collections?

    Could some of the thongs collected during the annual Chili Beach Clean Up be considered significant and included in contemporary collections and stories about tourism, environmental management and community on Eastern Cape York Peninsula? Over 4500 thongs, as well as other marine debris, were collected by Portland Roads residents, Lockhart River…

  • Fashion-able collections…

    What goes around comes around, as they say…  And Cairns Museum has been delighted by the recent request to loan its collection of hats made by the Cairns Country Women’s Association for use in a RetroVintage Fashion show at Merrylands Hall in Atherton on August 19th. Cairns Museum Manager, Suzanne Gibson, has noticed…

  • Irvinebank in situ: making the most of “sense of place”

    How many museums located in historic buildings count the building as their most significant item? And how many make the most of the stories associated with fabric and use through interpretation and strategic collecting?  Loudoun House Museum does. It’s located in Irvinebank, a small town near Herberton in the Atherton…

  • Jo’s Diary: Embroidered Cloth a Menmuny Treasure

    During a recent training workshop at Menmuny Museum, QM curator Trish Barnard and I found one of their treasured items – an embroidered cloth. The embroidered cloth depicts stories from Yarrabah families and residents. Each piece has been hand stitched and combined to create a kind of ‘memory cloth’ or quilt (though…

  • Mossman Shire Hall 75th Anniversary Exhibition

    In June 1937, Mossman celebrated the opening of it’s new shire hall with an Opening Ball. Seventy five years later, Cairns Regional Council will celebrate the anniversary of this Queensland Heritage Register-listed building (and its refurbishment this year) with an old time dance and a small exhibition on 22 June…

  • Cairns Museum: installing a new exhibition

    Cairns Museum will soon be opening a new exhibition called Cairns 1942: War in a northern town. Last weekend 10 volunteers worked tirelessly to help prepare the exhibition space for the new display. Old displays were dismantled and stored. New walls were installed. The exhibition space and object cases were…

  • Jo’s Diary

    Menmuny Museum, Yarrabah Visited Menmuny Museum at Yarrabah to familiarise myself with the collection and facilities. They have some wonderful material in the collection, and some very significant records. I will be working with Trish Barnard, Senior Curator Indigenous Studies, Queensland Museum, who will deliver collection management training over three…