The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the I... more The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops after the transfer of most functions to the Redbank Workshops by 1997. The museum has engaged with the context of the site, capitalising on the historic setting and connecting with the working life of the workshops to create a unique experience for visitors. That experience encompasses the rail history of Queensland, rail technology (particularly locomotives and carriages) and the industrial history and continuing working operations at the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops. The site also continues to act as a hub for community in Ipswich, hosting community events and welcoming local, regional, interstate and international visitors
Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, 2020
Queensland Museum is custodian of a growing and significant historical archaeology collection, ac... more Queensland Museum is custodian of a growing and significant historical archaeology collection, acquired over recent decades and originating solely within Queensland. Recent curatorial work produced a summary of the collection identifying key themes, assemblages and cultural significance. This data was collated into a collection summary document and used to strategically inform management of the Museum’s historical archaeology collection. This process of characterising the collection revealed collection gaps including under-representation of key themes and chronological periods within Queensland’s development. The characterisation also highlighted issues commonly identified in literature as a ‘curation crisis’, including storage pressures, issues of accessibility, and an ongoing lack of engagement with the collection by curators, researchers and the broader community. This paper outlines the collection summary project and details strategic activities designed to alleviate the crisis as it manifests at the Queensland Museum
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present, 2018
This chapter investigates the effectiveness of emotion as a framing tool for engaging visitors at... more This chapter investigates the effectiveness of emotion as a framing tool for engaging visitors at heritage sites and museums. Living Memory is a video recording module that invites a visitor to contribute their personal story through a fixed emotional lens. The chapter outlines how this module was trialled at three sites of practice. discusses the trialling and use of the Living Memory module at three sites of practice–educational, industrial and community. In driving the collection of memories, this affective language has the potential to influence how people view the past and provide them with alternative narrative structures. The importance of engagement–the creation of a relationship between display and audience–is exemplified in recent moves towards co-production in museum and heritage interpretation. Taken together, the stories from Living Memory trials demonstrate a new diversity in visitor engagement, and a more conscious affective practice in telling their story.
The markers of how we remember in the landscape seem to be everywhere. The reminders of the 1974 ... more The markers of how we remember in the landscape seem to be everywhere. The reminders of the 1974 flood, or even the 1893 flood, sneak up and are found in unexpected places like the rafters of a picnic shelter. Park names proclaim the stories of prominent or well regarded members of local communities. The markers of loss – a cross and a posy of flowers marking the place of yet another fatal car accident involving a young person – appear at otherwise unremarkable points along the highway. Why do we mark these spots in this way? It is perhaps a reminder, a warning to others to drive more carefully, take it slower around the corners; to be wary of floods. But these markers are also focal points for remembering - whether of people or events, big or small.
The Investigator Tree, so named after Matthew Flinders’ ship HMS Investigator, is an inscribed tr... more The Investigator Tree, so named after Matthew Flinders’ ship HMS Investigator, is an inscribed tree currently on display in the Queensland Museum. Before being accessioned into the Queensland Museum’s collection in 1889, the Investigator Tree grew on the western shore of Sweers Island in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. The tree’s “Investigator” inscription, attributed to Flinders (1802), provided the catalyst for future and varied forms of European inscription making on Sweers Island, including a contentious additional “Investigator” inscription on the Investigator Tree carved by Thomas Baines in 1856. Previous researchers have speculated that Baines’ second “Investigator” inscription has caused the faded original “Investigator” inscription to be misinterpreted as either a Chinese or Dutch inscription predating Flinders’ visit to Sweers Island. For the first time, this study undertakes a physical examination of all markings on the Investigator Tree, including a second portion of t...
Gold exploration and mining in late nineteenth-century Queensland led to the development of many ... more Gold exploration and mining in late nineteenth-century Queensland led to the development of many small, ephemeral mining townships. These townships had distinctive social landscapes, informed by the cultural values of nineteenth-century regional communities with a recursive relationship between the social and industrial landscape (both physical and cultural). The townscape itself was an active component in the construction and perpetuation of social identity within the mining towns and constructions were further informed by the overpowering influence of the mining landscape. The mining town of Mount Shamrock is used as an example of the application of such a landscape perspective enabling a complex and fine-grained picture of the construction of social identity in the historical landscapes of mining towns to emerge.
The Queensland Historical Atlas (2010) takes a fresh approach to the atlas form by interpreting Q... more The Queensland Historical Atlas (2010) takes a fresh approach to the atlas form by interpreting Queensland landscapes as lived, embodied and practised. As a project conceived in partnership with Queensland Museum, the Atlas brings this approach directly into museum practice. This article outlines some of the challenges of the conventional atlas form, and examines how the Queensland Historical Atlas has embraced opportunities to reinvigorate the form, including the adoption of new technology and developing new affective interpretation frameworks. Significantly, the Atlas places material culture, including historical maps, at the centre of interpretation of Queensland landscapes. Although the Atlas is not an exhibition, it creates ready-made modules available for exhibition interpretation. Each of these reflects on how Queensland is shaped by its landscapes and how, in turn, museum collections can capture the diverse landscapes of Queensland and the people who create those landscapes....
Railway Refreshment Rooms offered dining pleasure to people travelling across Queensland for over... more Railway Refreshment Rooms offered dining pleasure to people travelling across Queensland for over 100 years. Ideals of congenial surroundings, with fine china and white linen, contrasted with the rush to feed a train load of passengers and the often remote location of the rooms on a rail network stretching across the state. The industry was a widespread entity, with everything from waitresses to water jugs controlled primarily by the State. It boasted an interesting array of personalities engaged in the provision of food and beverage. Despite a variable reputation for quality, the enjoyment of comestibles on long rail trips was an integral part of rail travel in Queensland.
The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the I... more The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops after the transfer of most functions to the Redbank Workshops by 1997. The museum has engaged with the context of the site, capitalising on the historic setting and connecting with the working life of the workshops to create a unique experience for visitors. That experience encompasses the rail history of Queensland, rail technology (particularly locomotives and carriages) and the industrial history and continuing working operations at the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops. The site also continues to act as a hub for community in Ipswich, hosting community events and welcoming local, regional, interstate and international visitors.
The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the I... more The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops after the transfer of most functions to the Redbank Workshops by 1997. The museum has engaged with the context of the site, capitalising on the historic setting and connecting with the working life of the workshops to create a unique experience for visitors. That experience encompasses the rail history of Queensland, rail technology (particularly locomotives and carriages) and the industrial history and continuing working operations at the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops. The site also continues to act as a hub for community in Ipswich, hosting community events and welcoming local, regional, interstate and international visitors
Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, 2020
Queensland Museum is custodian of a growing and significant historical archaeology collection, ac... more Queensland Museum is custodian of a growing and significant historical archaeology collection, acquired over recent decades and originating solely within Queensland. Recent curatorial work produced a summary of the collection identifying key themes, assemblages and cultural significance. This data was collated into a collection summary document and used to strategically inform management of the Museum’s historical archaeology collection. This process of characterising the collection revealed collection gaps including under-representation of key themes and chronological periods within Queensland’s development. The characterisation also highlighted issues commonly identified in literature as a ‘curation crisis’, including storage pressures, issues of accessibility, and an ongoing lack of engagement with the collection by curators, researchers and the broader community. This paper outlines the collection summary project and details strategic activities designed to alleviate the crisis as it manifests at the Queensland Museum
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present, 2018
This chapter investigates the effectiveness of emotion as a framing tool for engaging visitors at... more This chapter investigates the effectiveness of emotion as a framing tool for engaging visitors at heritage sites and museums. Living Memory is a video recording module that invites a visitor to contribute their personal story through a fixed emotional lens. The chapter outlines how this module was trialled at three sites of practice. discusses the trialling and use of the Living Memory module at three sites of practice–educational, industrial and community. In driving the collection of memories, this affective language has the potential to influence how people view the past and provide them with alternative narrative structures. The importance of engagement–the creation of a relationship between display and audience–is exemplified in recent moves towards co-production in museum and heritage interpretation. Taken together, the stories from Living Memory trials demonstrate a new diversity in visitor engagement, and a more conscious affective practice in telling their story.
The markers of how we remember in the landscape seem to be everywhere. The reminders of the 1974 ... more The markers of how we remember in the landscape seem to be everywhere. The reminders of the 1974 flood, or even the 1893 flood, sneak up and are found in unexpected places like the rafters of a picnic shelter. Park names proclaim the stories of prominent or well regarded members of local communities. The markers of loss – a cross and a posy of flowers marking the place of yet another fatal car accident involving a young person – appear at otherwise unremarkable points along the highway. Why do we mark these spots in this way? It is perhaps a reminder, a warning to others to drive more carefully, take it slower around the corners; to be wary of floods. But these markers are also focal points for remembering - whether of people or events, big or small.
The Investigator Tree, so named after Matthew Flinders’ ship HMS Investigator, is an inscribed tr... more The Investigator Tree, so named after Matthew Flinders’ ship HMS Investigator, is an inscribed tree currently on display in the Queensland Museum. Before being accessioned into the Queensland Museum’s collection in 1889, the Investigator Tree grew on the western shore of Sweers Island in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria. The tree’s “Investigator” inscription, attributed to Flinders (1802), provided the catalyst for future and varied forms of European inscription making on Sweers Island, including a contentious additional “Investigator” inscription on the Investigator Tree carved by Thomas Baines in 1856. Previous researchers have speculated that Baines’ second “Investigator” inscription has caused the faded original “Investigator” inscription to be misinterpreted as either a Chinese or Dutch inscription predating Flinders’ visit to Sweers Island. For the first time, this study undertakes a physical examination of all markings on the Investigator Tree, including a second portion of t...
Gold exploration and mining in late nineteenth-century Queensland led to the development of many ... more Gold exploration and mining in late nineteenth-century Queensland led to the development of many small, ephemeral mining townships. These townships had distinctive social landscapes, informed by the cultural values of nineteenth-century regional communities with a recursive relationship between the social and industrial landscape (both physical and cultural). The townscape itself was an active component in the construction and perpetuation of social identity within the mining towns and constructions were further informed by the overpowering influence of the mining landscape. The mining town of Mount Shamrock is used as an example of the application of such a landscape perspective enabling a complex and fine-grained picture of the construction of social identity in the historical landscapes of mining towns to emerge.
The Queensland Historical Atlas (2010) takes a fresh approach to the atlas form by interpreting Q... more The Queensland Historical Atlas (2010) takes a fresh approach to the atlas form by interpreting Queensland landscapes as lived, embodied and practised. As a project conceived in partnership with Queensland Museum, the Atlas brings this approach directly into museum practice. This article outlines some of the challenges of the conventional atlas form, and examines how the Queensland Historical Atlas has embraced opportunities to reinvigorate the form, including the adoption of new technology and developing new affective interpretation frameworks. Significantly, the Atlas places material culture, including historical maps, at the centre of interpretation of Queensland landscapes. Although the Atlas is not an exhibition, it creates ready-made modules available for exhibition interpretation. Each of these reflects on how Queensland is shaped by its landscapes and how, in turn, museum collections can capture the diverse landscapes of Queensland and the people who create those landscapes....
Railway Refreshment Rooms offered dining pleasure to people travelling across Queensland for over... more Railway Refreshment Rooms offered dining pleasure to people travelling across Queensland for over 100 years. Ideals of congenial surroundings, with fine china and white linen, contrasted with the rush to feed a train load of passengers and the often remote location of the rooms on a rail network stretching across the state. The industry was a widespread entity, with everything from waitresses to water jugs controlled primarily by the State. It boasted an interesting array of personalities engaged in the provision of food and beverage. Despite a variable reputation for quality, the enjoyment of comestibles on long rail trips was an integral part of rail travel in Queensland.
The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the I... more The Workshops Rail Museum was established in 2002 as part of the repurposing of the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops after the transfer of most functions to the Redbank Workshops by 1997. The museum has engaged with the context of the site, capitalising on the historic setting and connecting with the working life of the workshops to create a unique experience for visitors. That experience encompasses the rail history of Queensland, rail technology (particularly locomotives and carriages) and the industrial history and continuing working operations at the site of the Ipswich Railway Workshops. The site also continues to act as a hub for community in Ipswich, hosting community events and welcoming local, regional, interstate and international visitors.
We invite you to visit the tropics this year to participate in the joint Australian Archaeologica... more We invite you to visit the tropics this year to participate in the joint Australian Archaeological Association/Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology annual conference, ‘Culture, Climate, Change: Archaeology in the Tropics’. This is just the third time our two associations have come together to share our annual conferences and we look forward to continuing our close collaboration into the future. The tropical zone is home to extraordinary diversity, reflected in a rich and diverse archaeological and natural heritage. In our own region, discoveries such as Homo floresiensis, sea-faring Lapita peoples on the south coast of Papua New Guinea and the tropics as a key zone controlling global climate have fundamentally reshaped our understandings of the long-term human histories of these vast land and seascapes. Your host James Cook University welcomes you to the tropics to engage in conversations about these issues and about many others which confront our disciplines. Our venue for 2014 is the Pullman Cairns International. We trust that delegates and other guests will enjoy their experiences in the North of Queensland.
Studies on Macassan activities in northern Australia have focused on the intensive industrial tre... more Studies on Macassan activities in northern Australia have focused on the intensive industrial trepang processing site complexes on the Cobourg Peninsula and in northeast Arnhem Land (Clarke 2000; Macknight 1976; Mitchell 1995). Less attention has focused on sites at the eastern and western geographical peripheries of Macassan contact and how the less intensive and more irregular presence of Macassans in these areas impacted local Aboriginal people. Recent archaeological work in the South Wellesley Islands reveals new evidence of Macassan pottery sherds, tamarind trees and stone lines (Figure 1). A comparative study is undertaken between Macassan sites in the South Wellesley Islands and selected Macassan sites across northern Australia, focusing on elements such as artefacts, features, language, genetics and material culture. These data sets are analysed in terms of the degree of cross-cultural contact between Macassans and Aboriginal people in each region by categorising certain elements as present, observed or shared to show low, medium or high degrees of interaction. Results provide the basis to characterise the degree of cross-cultural interaction between Macassan and Kaiadilt people in the South Wellesley Islands. Historical, archaeological and ethnographic evidence of Macassan activities in the South Wellesley Islands are examined along with studies on Kaiadilt culture, language, genetics and behaviour (Best 2013; Evans 1995; Tindale 1960; Ulm et al. 2010).
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