Chapter 1–Director’s Review

Review by the Director

There is much to be proud of in reflecting on our achievements in the two years since the launch of the Museum of Australian Democracy, and in our third year as an executive agency.

Ms Jenny Anderson, Director
Ms Jenny Anderson, Director.
Photo - OPH Collection

The museum is now firmly established as a national cultural and collecting institution with a strongly defined brand and growing public awareness of its role. At the same time we continue to cherish the most important item in our collection, the wonderful heritage building which is Old Parliament House.

The year in review

The first major corporate sponsorship of the museum was a highlight of the year. BHP Billiton has provided a substantial sponsorship package which, along with funding from the Australian Government’s National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, will facilitate a tour of our Marnti Warajanga—we’re travelling exhibition to the Pilbara and Perth in 2012. Touring this community-based exhibition to such a distant location, along with its accompanying education program, called for a substantial investment by the museum, and we are excited at the opportunity to continue this involvement with Indigenous people in the Pilbara region. Theirs is an important story which needs to be told. We have also entered into a twelve-month sponsorship agreement with Foxtel’s The History Channel, which will assist in increasing national awareness of the museum, and have also entered into an arrangement with the ABC which will see short films from our popular Prime Ministers of Australia exhibition broadcast on free-to-air TV.

The museum continued to attract strong levels of school visitation, with programs operating at almost full capacity, despite a slight fall in overall visitor numbers. The innovative use of Radio Frequency Identification Device technology in schools learning programs, enabling participants to better explore topics in an interactive mode through the use of technology, was well received by both students and teachers. This enables multi-purpose use of our previous large investment in interactive media in the exhibition galleries, and is a pioneering example of such an approach in Australia. We continued to strengthen links with other organisations through our activities to foster research and study, and again welcomed Australian Prime Ministers Centre fellows and summer scholars to the museum.

Enhancement of key areas of the building was a focus of the year. This included major improvements to disabled access, conservation of the King’s Hall floor, and a substantial maintenance project on the building’s external render, which was at risk of separating from the underlying brick structure. As always, the challenge was to undertake such major works in sensitive heritage zones while maintaining our operations with minimal disruption to visitors and activities. This was a challenge our staff and contractors successfully met.

Other highlights of the year included the refreshing of exhibitions; involvement with the ACT’s first Enlighten festival, with a number of special programs and nightly illumination of the building; and participation in both local and national tourism awards. We were winners in the Canberra and Capital Region ‘Heritage and Cultural Tourism’ category.

As an executive agency we continued to perform well under the usual governance arrangements for such bodies, delivering a full range of visitor services and programs within budget and achieving good audit and compliance outcomes. The dedication and perseverance of staff in successfully meeting these goals is greatly appreciated.

A new enterprise agreement for the agency was negotiated and finalised. Negotiations progressed quickly and smoothly, and the agreement was developed in a spirit of consultation and cooperation. I would like to express my thanks to all participants, particularly the core negotiation team of staff and management representatives.

As ever, we value the support of the Old Parliament House Advisory Council, whose members are tireless advocates for the museum. Their views, feedback and suggestions have been of invaluable assistance in shaping our initiatives. I would particularly like to welcome new members who joined in 2010–11.

Our volunteers continued to assist in delivering informative tours of Old Parliament House, as they have done ever since we reopened to the public in 1992. Several also continued to work with the oral history program, conducting interviews and writing time-coded summaries of interviews. We have introduced many changes in recent years, and the continued support of the volunteers throughout this period has been both invaluable and deeply appreciated.

The outlook for the future

Our programs are now at a stage where we can review our initial range of activities and assess what changes and improvements need to be made. This process began during the year, as illustrated by the exhibition review activities outlined in the report. I expect this process to continue in the coming year, together with a focus on growth in our outreach and online activities and improvements in the visitor experience.

We are committed to meeting the expectations of our audience and other stakeholders. I look forward with optimism to the continued growth of our programs and future development of the museum as a national cultural attraction and heritage site of international and national significance.

director-sig.tif

Jenny Anderson
Director

October 2011

The Old Parliament House building is illuminated as part of Canberra’s Enlighten festival.
The Old Parliament House building is illuminated as part of Canberra’s Enlighten festival.
Photo – Adam McGrath
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