Queensland Museum & Community Collections

Category: Uncategorized

  • “Evolution: Torres Strait Masks”- MDOs working with Gab Titui

    Apart from the disaster recovery work in Winton, the MDOs have been working on numerous other projects.  One of these, “Evolution: Torres Strait Masks”,  has been with staff from Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Thursday Island. At the end of last year, Jo Wills and Ewen McPhee traveled up to…

  • Winton Fire Response – the next phase of recovery

    After the enormous effort by volunteers from the Winton and District Historical Society and Queensland Museum staff Ewen McPhee and Sue Valis to recover objects from the fire damaged Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, the next stage of the recovery process could begin.  Ewen and Sue returned to Winton with…

  • Winton Fire response – Waltzing Matilda Centre

    Queensland Museum staff Ewen McPhee and Sue Valis have returned from their initial response to the salvage work at the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton.   Ewen and Sue worked side by side volunteers from the Winton and District Historical Society and Winton Shire Council workers to salvage the objects and start…

  • MDO response to fire at Waltzing Matilda Centre

    Following the fire late last week at the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, MDO Ewen McPhee and object conservator Sue Valis from Museum of Tropical Queensland are traveling to Winton today to assist museum volunteers with an initial assessment of the site.  Ewen and Sue will spend the next few…

  • A very special birthday

    In my last post, I wrote about Langenbaker House in Ilfracombe and the special stories the collection inside told.  In this post, I will introduce you to another special house with a unique closed collection, but from the opposite end of the social scale. Greenmount Homestead at Walkerston near Mackay…

  • Mould, mould everywhere !!!

    Lately mould had been very much on my mind. Everywhere I go; there it is on leather objects, paper documents, photographic material, textiles, wooden furniture…  I am haunted. So I am compelled to use my blog turn to encourage you all to be vigilant and regularly check your collections especially…

  • Edmund Jarvis and his amazing cane beetle displays

    It’s not often I get called to look at natural history or entomological collections. And, when I was contacted by staff at Meringa Research Station near Gordonvale to come and assess the condition of some old display cases, I must confess to being a little skeptical. Imagine my surprise, then,…

  • Battle for Bitapaka

    As a part of Anzac commemorations, an extended version of the Defending the Pacific exhibition was recently donated to the Rabaul Museum. This Exhibition was developed by North Queensland MDO Ewen McPhee and far North Queensland MDO Dr Jo Wills. Lieutenant Colonel Ian Ford, of the Australian Defence Force, recently presented…

  • Preservation planning

    Does your museum have a preservation plan? Many do not. Most, if not all small organisations responsible for heritage, art and other cultural collections have to work within the constraints of very limited resources. Funding is often through small highly competitive grants and the day-to day management of the organisation…