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Historian Adele Wessell uses cookbooks to draw conclusions about Australian political and social life at the turn of the century, examining British diet and food preferences that were maintained and transformed in colonial Australia.

Collections manager Liz Marsden outlines the objectives of the Victoria Police Museum, examines its exhibitions and how the presentation of stories can create challenges in regard to the emotional ‘charge’ experienced by some visitors.

Mary-Elizabeth Andrews examines an online exhibition about war brides at the Australian National Maritime Museum. She considers the use of objects, access, technical and moral concerns and how museums can reconnect with communities.

The presence of objects from Tahiti in museums across the world is examined by historian Jenny Newell. She discusses the representations of Tahiti over the years and suggests how museums might renew Tahitian exhibitions and collections.

Curator Jay Arthur on the creation of an exhibition on the struggle for Indigenous civil rights from 1920 to 1970 for the National Museum. She examines the notion of the ‘untold’ story and the challenge in assembling objects to tell this story.

Libby Robin looks at the use of dead animal collections in museums. She examines the scientific precedents behind these collections and how they are evolving from representations of science to components of social history and art studies.

National Museum curators and researchers discuss the development of the Museum’s introductory Circa rotating theatre. They examine its function and the use of new narratives to explore the National Historical Collection.

Peter Stanley welcomes guests to the 2009 National Museum Collections Symposium and key speaker Howard Morphy delivers ‘Perspectives on exhibiting collections,’ looking at the significance of artefacts and the stories they can tell.

Museum consultant Brian Crozier considers how material culture might be interpreted by museums for popular rather than academic audiences. He examines the cultural contributions that museums may make in the study of history.

Elspeth Wishart outlines the challenges facing the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in exhibiting important two-dimensional artefacts. She relates how the museum must balance the needs of visitors with the care of these artefacts, a letter and a flag.