I would like to begin by acknowledging the Wangkatja people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their

Transcription

1 I would like to begin by acknowledging the Wangkatja people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders past and present. 1

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3 Before these buildings existed, the land on which the WA Museum Perth is situated was an important area for the Wadjuk Noongar people with its adjacent wetlands and access to Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) providing plentiful food and camping grounds. Because of this, Perth is considered to be one of the longest continuously occupied cities in the world. In this photo giving an overview of the Perth Cultural Centre, the WA Museum appears as a random collection of buildings. Hiding behind the Jubilee building / Beaufort St wing is the Old Goal, with the 1970s built Francis St building (now demolished) in the background and Hackett Hall all that remains of the original State Library buildings. Collecting stories about this place will add a human element to the interpretation of the site the idea of two architects at war with each other resulting in the misaligned structures of Hackett hall and Beaufort St is quite well known but always intriguing to others. The interpretation of the place will be require the compilation of stories about people and the place. 3

4 Built by convicts but not for convicts, the Old Gaol was the scene of 68 executions from 1855 to 1887 some of which represent a clash of cultures and law. It is the story of these people that is so important eg did you know that Edith Cowan s father was hung there for the murder of her stepmother?, a woman was hung on the first day, and so on. But there is much healing and reconciliation also needed as 25 Aboriginal people were executed there after being tried in a language and in a cultural situation so different from their own. The old Gaol itself represents the beginning of the WA Museum, when after it closed in 1887 a geological collection was moved from Fremantle Prison and established in the gaol. Despite this new role to many Perth people it was a blot in their history and George Temple Poole wanted it demolished when the Jubilee Building (museum and art gallery) was built in the 1890s. The smell of baking bread and the aroma of the smoke from the pipe of a former gaoler have been experienced by staff and visitors. It is not just a building. 4

5 Whilst people around Western Australia have told us how important the Blue Whale is usually as a childhood memory our My favourite object campaign told us that whether dinosaurs or butterflies or the mammal gallery with its old style showcases, a diversity of objects is dearly loved. Memories play an important part in these choices but so does the experience of the real. The more the world goes digital the more people want to see the real. It is the real that museums and heritage sites can deliver and that is our point of difference. Objects can have multiple stories and stories can have multiple views. But it is the people of Western Australia, and not necessarily the Museum, who have these stories, views and sometimes the objects. 5

6 It is important to understand the wider context of our organisation. The clue is in the name: It is the WESTERN AUSTRALIAN Museum, and it serves the whole of Western Australia. We do run six public museum sites: one in Perth; two in Fremantle the Shipwrecks Museum and the WA Maritime Museum; and regional museums in Albany, Kalgoorlie- Boulder, and Geraldton. Also we have our Collections and Research Centre located in Welshpool,. It holds the vast majority of our collections. These sites are all located in a relatively small corner of our state. The other markings on the map demonstrate the true breadth of our work : Blue triangles represent places where we have either initiated or assisted with exhibition and interpretive activity. White crosses represent research activity across a number of fields including biodiversity, earth and planetary sciences, archaeology, Aboriginal cultural connections (including repatriation of human remains and cultural materials), post-colonial history, and maritime heritage. This map illustrates some challenges ahead, one of which is to create a Museum on the Perth site which functions as community hub and visitor destination; that plays a key part in re-energising the Perth Cultural Centre; that contributes to the urban design and visual identity of our city; but that also acts as a hub for the Museum's extensive activity across the State. 6

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8 Identified as one of the most significant museum redevelopments in the world today again not just because of the buildings but because of the way the Museum is approaching the content development of this project. I will explain more about that later. It is a major project contributing to the ongoing transformation of Perth was a vibrant city and to making WA a world class destination. And if you aren t aware the Perth site closes on 18 June. Fortunately WAM still has five other excellent museums including one here in Kalgoorlie that people can enjoy. NOTE THIS IMAGE IS AN OLD ARTISTS IMPRESSION OF WHAT THE NEW MUSEUM MIGHT BE IT IS NOT A REPRESENTATION OF THE CONCEPT DESIGN 8

9 Four key aspirations People first- which means starting with the stories, not the collection. The new museum is being developed with this in mind. I will begin with detailing this approach as it is a significant point of difference for the museum development. 9

10 We will go beyond inviting the public to have a say about the New Museum by starting a conversation with the community and continuing this engagement long into the future. This outward looking approach will become entrenched as the way of working throughout the New Museum Project development but will continue beyond This project must start with the needs of its users and prime stakeholders the people of Western Australia. We often talk of a museum by, for and with the people: it is their Museum, telling their stories, about their place, and so they must help us create it. 10

11 The Western Australian Museum recognises that the First Peoples of Australia are not one community or cultural group. They are many, culturally diverse peoples, speaking different languages, living and practising highly diverse cultures. We seek to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The New Museum seeks ideas, contributions and inclusion, and will be a place, both physically and virtually, that communities will want to come to share their stories, cultures and ideas about the past, present and future in a collaborative and on-going way. We look forward to developing partnerships to help us met this aspiration in an appropriate manner. 11

12 The new Museum will have a strong appeal in the WA Community. We know that 87% of the Australian populations (15y+) are in the market for arts, culture and heritage, so our interpretative approach is one that will be focussed on the human story to enable our visitors, whether new residents, tourists in WA or people with cultural ties to the land to connect with the experience and be able to engage with the content. Overseas visitors have been shown to have a particular interest in Aboriginal culture but this needs to be produced through collaboration with the Aboriginal community to enable the museum to become a place that is welcoming to them and allows their chosen stories to be shared in the way that they have determined. Something new maybe, but it is our heritage that is the attractor the stories, the objects and not just the buildings. 12

13 Museums were originally created by people (usually with money and influence) containing objects that they considered precious and worthy of preservation. Later the first collections that were opened to the public focussed on educating the masses thus improving such people. But people now want, and expect more. The Museum is still the place where one can see the real and so objects are still valued but visitors do expect so much more. Those expectations vary too some may be purely social, others self-improvement, it may be for personal or family enjoyment and fun, a restorative experience, or to foster a particular passion, if a tourist it maybe to learn and understand more about a place and community or it maybe to see a revered object. The challenge to be able to meet all these desires and yet provide a balanced approach. In the past museums have been expected to be the authority but as we move into people stories they have at least two sides to them. 13

14 The museum considers that its primary responsibility is to be accountable to the visitor Visitors are acknowledged as having needs and expectations that the museum is obligated to understand and meet We recognise that visitors come with existing skills and knowledge- they are not empty. We will respect that visitors can contribute actively and usefully to the museum and provide opportunity for them to do so on an ongoing basis. 14

15 Whilst the New Museum Project team is visiting many places WA is too large to reach everyone physically. So we are also engaging with the wider community in many ways such as: WA Faces project which these photographs are from this online gallery has over 1,700 images of Western Australians people and their views of WA. There is the use of social media including facebook but we are also appearing at events where we may not be expected and reaching people who we might otherwise not speak with eg Dowerin Field Day, Good Food and Wine festival, Whale Shark festival in Exmouth. You can join in with the conversations online too just go to our website. And we have established 4 community panels Peoples Panel; Children and Young People; Teachers and Educators and Access and Inclusion panels which in addition to our Aboriginal advisory committee have been working with us to generate ideas and review concepts for content and experiences in the New Museum 15

16 Multiple perspectives A story whose story how many stories? An object can have multiple stories and stories can have multiple views which we intend to recognise Determining the interpretive or educational priorities means we need to consider the differing perspectives and experiences whilst ensuring that the marginalised are also heard. We have begun a journey of working with community and stakeholders to ensure a diversity of voices in the museum. This journey should never stop but enables us to tap into the experiences of potential visitors in order to plan how to incorporate individual and community voices. It will mean that we have to manage situations where there are a range of stakeholders with differing world-views, diverse areas of experience and expertise. But most importantly allow for ongoing participation and engagement once the museum open. Good ongoing debate on issues would be a great outcome! 16

17 Our second aspiration is that the New Museum reflects the essence of Western Australia. It must somehow convey the spirit of this extraordinary state, its scale, its age and its people. This could mean many things to many people so this illustration is just an example. These are some of the Aboriginal petroglyphs on the rocks of the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha in north west WA s Pilbara region: a 50,000 year-old chronicle by Aboriginal peoples of animal imagery that clearly charts major changes in sea-level over this period: a human and environmental story told across geological time. But the Burrup is more than this: it also the site of major industrial activity: it is a gas hub, a salt extraction centre and, at Dampier, a major port for iron ore export. In many ways, it epitomises the big stories of WA. 17

18 Design excellence is the third project aspiration and should be taken as read. In this case, we mean the building, the content and, in particular, the integration between the two: We also mean functionality, sustainability, and the relationship and contribution to the Perth Cultural Centre. The WA Museum is committed to pushing boundaries and connecting people to collections and our stories in new ways. Rather than look for an international benchmark project, we have selected something closer to home: the National Anzac Centre in Albany that we (the WA Museum) cocreated with State Government, the City of Albany and the community. Whatever you think of the building, the integration of place, build and content was seamless. The result was named by Lonely Planet in 2015 as one of the top 25 things in the world that you must see. 18

19 The final project aspiration is an Activated Museum and this means a whole variety of things. Ultimately, it means that all spaces of the Museum can be activated in many ways, to facilitate creative interaction, visitor empowerment, community ownership, collaboration and co-creation. To achieve this, the public spaces will need to be highly adaptive, flexible and active. Active, however, does not mean that every square metre will be packed with exhibits! Diversity and pace change are critical and there will need to be areas for rest and passive reflection; for exploration and play; and for learning and engagement. It is also a great opportunity to turn the Museum inside out with physical, visual and virtual links between outside and in. 19

20 At an early stage in our strategic planning process we defined the broad themes of the entire WA Museum. These are key to the development of New Museum content. We identified the following three outward-focused and interdependent themes: Being Western Australian, Discovering Western Australia and Exploring the World. To these, we added a more internally-focused concept Revealing the Museum the Museum, all its work and influence the parts that people don t normally experience 20

21 Being Western Australian being the museum for all Western Australians we must investigate identity, diversity, real lives, beliefs and value and community understanding ourselves understanding each other and exploring the meanings of country, place, people and culture to our diverse communities. Being Western Australian is about a state which has one of oldest settled continuous civilisations in the world, but is diversifying through recent migration as much anywhere in the world. To paraphrase the SBS tagline we have 2.2 million stories and counting and we want people to be able to tell them. Celebrating our cultures, honouring our past 21

22 Discovering Western Australia is about being a gateway to our State s unique biodiversity, ancient landscapes and teaming oceans. We have the oldest rocks on the planet, the earliest evidence of life on Earth, Australia's most significant fossil sites and its only World Biodiversity hotspot. We want to give visitors the opportunity to discover WA at the Museum but also to discover it in real and virtual terms through digital technologies, live links and promoting tourism. Protecting our environment and focussing on what is special 22

23 Exploring the World is about understanding Western Australia s relationship and contribution to the wider world. Western Australia is the only Australian state that sits on the Indian Ocean and so from our early European explorers to our neighbours our experiences and relationships are quite different. The Museum needs to research and reflect this, and position itself as one of the great museums of the Indian Ocean. We will examine those connections with the world through immigration, trade and tourism, as well as deep time perspectives that date back to the formation of the Earth illuminating the past and creating new understanding about the present and future. 23

24 At the heart of the Museum is, of course, its collection. The majority of the 4.5 million items (actually about 8 million if you count every animal in every bottle) are stored in the WA Museum s Collections and Research Centre (or CRC) in Welshpool on the south east side of Perth. The CRC is much more than a store. Museum curators based there are researching the State s biodiversity; are studying meteorites to understand the secrets of our solar system; working closely with Aboriginal people on collecting and repatriation programs; and developing and conserving collections that act as the material evidence of the past and present for the benefit of future. These are stories that are little known, as is the Museum s role within them, and the concept of Revealing the Museum is seen as major interpretive objective of the New Museum. 24

25 Our heritage is part of who we are as a people, a community and a culture. Buildings may be grand or everyday however it is not just their aesthetics but their stories that make them special. The WA Museum has wonderful buildings on its Perth site and over the next few years will have another wonderful building to join them. Maybe people will come to see the buildings but it is the stories of Western Australia that we hope will engage their emotions, build community belonging and create a socially important space for all Western Australians. You can have your say in this outcome, so please do! 25