National Museum curators share details of the work that goes on behind the scenes and their research into key collection objects considered in the development of the Australian Journeys gallery, which traces Australia’s interconnections with the world.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 13 Jun 2009
Stories of sadness and loss
Collector Peter Lane and curators Laina Hall and Susannah Helman discuss three stories from the Australian Journeys gallery: the emotional drama of convict tokens, Alexander Mussen’s redemption on the goldfields and Muriel McPhee’s secret trousseau.
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Presenters:
Susannah Helman, Laina Hall and Peter Lane
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 31 Jan 2009
Guna Kinne and Carmelo Mirabelli’s stories
Guna Kinne and Carmelo Mirabelli’s stories feature in the National Museum’s Australian Journeys gallery. They join curator Karen Schamberger and broadcaster Sylvie Stern in a discussion about their lives in Europe and Australia.
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Presenters:
Arturs and Guna Kinne, Carmelo Mirabelli, Karen Schamberger and Sylvie Stern
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 08 Oct 2008
The making of Australian Journeys
Curator Martha Sear examines the evolution of the Australian Journeys gallery, which looks at Australia’s connections to the world over time, and provides a comprehensive overview of its stories and objects.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 13 Aug 2008
George Reid: a journey through three parliaments
Curator Martha Sear discusses objects in the National Historical Collection that once belonged to Sir George Reid, a key figure in Australia’s Federation-era political history. Reid’s story features in the Journeys gallery.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 09 Jul 2008
From Makassar to Marege to the Museum
Curator Alison Mercieca tells the story of the Macassan trepang, or sea slug, industry. She considers the places connected by the Macassan voyagers from Indonesia and looks at the archaeological traces left on the Arnhem Land coast.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 11 Jun 2008
Captured in Staffordshire
Curator Rebecca Nason discusses two Staffordshire figurines of 19th-century Irish nationalist, parliamentarian and convict William Smith O’Brien. His story is told in the Australian Journeys gallery.
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Presenters:
Rebecca Nason
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 14 May 2008
Guna Kinne and her Latvian national dress
Curator Karen Schamberger tells the story of Guna Kinne’s Latvian national dress, assembled over a period of 20 years in Latvia, Germany and Australia, and now part of the Museum’s National Historical Collection.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 09 Apr 2008
The Baden journals
The lives of a group of young sisters growing up on Baden farm at Grong Grong in country New South Wales around 1912 are revealed in a collection of journals, examined by curator Susannah Helman.
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 13 Feb 2008
John Gore’s telescope
A Dollond achromatic telescope used by Captain John Gore helps to tell remarkable stories about Captain James Cook’s Pacific voyages and the development of optics and navigational techniques, according to curator Michelle Hetherington.
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Presenters:
Michelle Hetherington
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 10 Oct 2007
Photographer Richard Daintree’s glass plates
A set of 10 rare glass plates depicting people and places in North Queensland in the mid-1800s reveal much about pioneering geologist and photographer Richard Daintree and life in the colony, according to curator Martha Sear.
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Presenters:
Martha Sear
Behind the scenes – Australian Journeys series 10 Oct 2007
The đàn tre: a musical migration story
An original bamboo musical instrument made by Minh Tam Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee to Australia, illustrates a meeting of European and Asian traditions and a life changed by war, explains curator Jennifer Wilson.