Chapter 3–Report on performance

Performance report for Program 1.2

Program 1.2 ensures that the agency develops, implements and maintains relevant programs, activities, online services, promotions and research in order to improve visitors’ understanding and appreciation of Australia’s past, present and future democracy.

Table 2 demonstrates that the majority of performance measures for Program 1.2, as set out in the
2010–11 Portfolio Budget Statements, were met to a high degree.

Table 2 Summary of Program 1.2 results against key performance indicators, 2010–11
Program 1.2—Develop and present Old Parliament House (OPH) as a major museum of political, parliamentary and social history
Key performance indicators Result
Objective: Increase awareness of the new role of OPH as a museum exploring the past, present and future of Australian democracy
Increase museum visitation by 6,000 visitors each year. Not achieved
Maintain a positive ratio of media coverage. Fully achieved
Increase website use by 5 per cent each year. Fully achieved
100 per cent of reference inquiries are responded to within 10 working days of receipt by the APMC. Fully achieved
Maintain the APMC fellows and scholars program, with selection by a panel comprising representatives from academies, relevant professional and collecting institutions including OPH, and recipients undertaking projects in accordance with APMC guidelines. Fully achieved
Objective: Be acknowledged as a pre-eminent and innovative cultural institution
Continue provision of on-site education programs for 80,000 school students, with a satisfaction rating by teachers of 95 per cent. Program provision mostly achieved
Satisfaction fully achieved
Innovative Radio Frequency Identification Devices program assessed by user groups as an effective education tool. Fully achieved
Maintain general visitor satisfaction levels at or above 85 per cent in 2010–11, rising to 90 per cent by 2011–12. Fully achieved
Increase number of collection items on display or otherwise accessible by 2 per cent in 2010–11. Fully achieved
Objective: Extend OPH’s profile and partnerships with other institutions, academics and cultural innovators
Establish at least two partnerships in 2010–11. Fully achieved
Establish two collaborative projects in 2010–11, and maintain this level in out years. Fully achieved
Record 10 oral histories in 2010–11 in partnership with the National Library of Australia, and maintain this level in out years. Fully achieved
Voting rights, electoral reform, referenda and the Australian election day experience are explored in Living Democracy
Voting rights, electoral reform, referenda and the Australian election day experience are explored in Living Democracy. Photo – OPH Collection

The following text provides a detailed report of performance against the 2010–11 key performance indicators for Program 1.2.

Increasing awareness of the role of the museum in exploring the past, present and future of Australian democracy

Visitation

As shown in Table 3, total visitation for 2010–11 was 247,202. Although both on-site visitation and total visitation decreased in comparison to results for 2009–10, visitation to travelling exhibitions and outreach programs significantly increased.

Table 3 Trends in annual visitor numbers, 2008–09 to 2010–11
  2008–09 2009–10 2010–11
On-site visitors:      
  • School programs
72,591 81,079 76,749
  • Exhibition areas
102,864 107,278 94,664
Subtotal 175,455 188,357 171,413
Change since previous year –15.7% 7.4% –9.0%
Travelling exhibitions and outreach programs 10,945 5,488 14,111
Change since previous year   –49.9% 157.1%
Functions facilities 73,612 74,947 61,678
Total 260,012 268,792 247,202
Change since previous year N/Aa 3.4% –8.0%

a Not applicable, because 2008–09 was the museum’s first year as an Executive Agency.

On-site visitor numbers in 2010–11 were affected by:

  • an overall decrease in visitation to the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra attractions, which had a negative impact on visitation to exhibition areas
  • the introduction of paid parking adjacent to the Parliamentary Zone, which reduced the availability of free parking for museum visitors
  • a decrease in patronage of externally contracted function facilities, including the cafe.

As Figure 3 shows, the proportion of visitors who accessed the museum through travelling exhibitions and outreach programs almost tripled in 2010–11. The museum focused strongly on activities in this area during the year.

Figure 3 Breakdown of total visitation, by activity, 2008–09 to 2010–11

Figure 3 Breakdown of total visitation, by activity, 2008–09 to 2010–11

Figure 4 provides a breakdown of on-site visitation by visitor origin for the past three reporting periods. It shows a relative increase in visitation by local residents, while reflecting the general decrease in interstate and international tourist numbers experienced across the Australian Capital Territory in 2010–11.

Figure 4 Proportion of exhibition visitors, by place of residence, 2008–09 to 2010–11

Figure 4 Proportion of exhibition visitors, by place of residence, 2008–09 to 2010–11

The museum’s exhibitions feature filmed interviews with over 20 Australians on how they contribute to their communities
The museum’s exhibitions feature filmed interviews with over 20 Australians on how they contribute to their communities, highlighting the breadth of ways in which we participate in a democracy. Photo – Stefan Postles

Among the 729 visitors to the museum’s exhibitions who completed exit surveys in 2010–11:

  • more than 71 per cent were aged 40 years and over
  • 83 per cent were first-time visitors
  • 80 per cent spent 1–3 hours experiencing the museum.

Website

In 2010–11 the agency’s website (moadoph.gov.au) received 199,475 visits.

The number of website visits reported in the 2009–10 Annual Report was 246,301. In 2011, the agency determined that visits to the site by ‘web-scraping’ software had been included in the count of visits by human users, inflating the total. When the visits attributed to web-scraping were removed, the number of visits for 2009–10 was reduced to 164,790.

In comparison to the modified 2009–10 figure, website visitation grew by 34,685, an increase of 21 per cent, in 2010–11.

Other than the front page, the most visited part of the website was the Petrov Affair section (moadoph.gov.au/exhibitions/online/petrov), with 41,207 visits. The Billy Hughes at War online exhibition (billyhughes.moadoph.gov.au) was also popular, with 25,600 visits. The pattern of use indicates that students are using these web resources when studying related topics at school.

The website underwent accessibility and usability testing in March 2011. The recommendations from that testing have been incorporated in a site redesign scheduled to be implemented in July 2011.

In June 2011, the Documenting a Democracy website (foundingdocs.gov.au), previously hosted by the National Archives of Australia, was transferred to the agency. In that month, 7,428 hits were recorded on the Documenting a Democracy website.

Figure 5 shows trends in visits to the agency’s website over three reporting periods.

Figure 5 Website visitation, 2008–09 to 2010–11

Figure 5 Website visitation, 2008–09 to 2010–11

Note: The total for 2010–11 includes 7,428 visits to the Documenting a Democracy website, which was transferred to the agency from the National Archives of Australia in June 2011.

The Songs of Influence interactive allows visitors to select and listen to songs of protest, celebration and commemoration.
The Songs of Influence interactive allows visitors to select and listen to songs of protest, celebration and commemoration.
Photo – Stefan Postles

Promotion and media coverage

The agency’s marketing initiatives in 2010–11 aimed to increase public awareness and maintain on-site visitation through public relations, advertising and social media activities.

Monitoring indicated that the agency’s media coverage in 2010–11 was equivalent to $5 million worth of advertising space. It included 988 press, broadcast and internet stories and achieved a 99.8 per cent positive ratio of media coverage, with only two negative media items during the year. Online surveys indicated that general public awareness of the museum increased by 6 per cent during the year.

The advertising undertaken in 2010–11 included television, press and print, and focused on promoting public programs and temporary and permanent exhibitions, and the museum’s participation in Australian Capital Tourism’s Enlighten festival. Advertising of the Behind The Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010 exhibition contributed to an increase of 13 per cent in visitation between December 2010 and January 2011. The advertising campaign for Enlighten contributed to an increase of 6,864 visitors to the museum during the festival period.

An online ‘teaser’ campaign aimed at increasing awareness of democracy and the museum was developed and commenced in 2010–11. It uses online and outdoor advertising to generate online conversations around the theme of democracy, which are tracked through an online monitoring system. This system allows the agency to find out how many people engage with the campaign and to assess the success of the campaign messages in generating online conversations.

The campaign has been received positively by the online audience and the media, in Australia and overseas. It is scheduled to conclude on 8 August 2011; the high levels of interest and debate generated so far indicate that it will be highly successful in meeting its performance objectives.

The outcome of internal branding activities conducted in 2009–10 was evaluated in 2010–11. The agency carried out ‘mystery shopping’ evaluations through random telephone calls to staff and on-site observations of how floor staff and volunteers interact with visitors to the museum. While generally positive, the findings identified some areas of improvement that will be addressed in next year’s branding initiatives.

The Songs of Influence interactive allows visitors to select and listen to songs of protest, celebration and commemoration.
Examples of ‘teaser’ images used in the museum’s social media awareness campaign.
Images designed by Draftfcb Melbourne

The agency continued to collaborate on activities within the Australian Capital Territory tourism sector, such as the Enlighten festival, and was a member of various tourism bodies, including the National Capital Attractions Association, the Canberra Convention Bureau and the Tourism Industry Council (ACT and Region).

The museum won the 2010 Canberra and Capital Region Tourism Awards category of ‘Heritage and Cultural Tourism’. Old Parliament House previously won this award in 2003–04 and 2004–05. These awards provide an opportunity to showcase the best of the region’s tourism operators and encourage and reward tourism excellence.

Two major partnerships that will increase the museum’s exposure were established in 2010–11. The museum entered into a major sponsorship agreement with Foxtel’s The History Channel. The agreement achieves the agency’s aim of reaching a national audience and raising awareness of the museum. The agency also entered into a deed of distribution with the ABC for distribution of a number of short films on former Australian prime ministers. This agreement will see the films which are exhibited in the museum’s Prime Ministers of Australia exhibition being broadcast across a wide variety of electronic mediums by the ABC.

Details of 2010–11 expenditure on advertising and market research, provided as required under
s.311A of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, are in Appendix K.

Australian Prime Ministers Centre activities

The Australian Prime Ministers Centre (APMC) aims to:

  • raise public awareness of Australia’s prime ministers
  • support access to prime ministerial material in archives, libraries and other collections
  • provide a national focus for prime ministerial research and scholarship.

In meeting these objectives in 2010–11, the APMC provided a public research centre and reference service, collaborated with institutions holding prime ministerial material, and managed a research program.

Research and reference services

The centre meets the research and information needs of staff, volunteers, researchers and visitors by providing research assistance and access to a wide range of material on Australia’s democracy. It is open to the public five days a week and offers a remote inquiry service.

The Songs of Influence interactive allows visitors to select and listen to songs of protest, celebration and commemoration.
The Governor-General visits the Prime Ministers of Australia exhibition, accompanied by the Director, Ms Jenny Anderson, and the museum’s Manager of Visitor Experience, Mr Michael Evans.
Photo – Stefan Postles

Over the course of 2010–11 the APMC was visited by 3,000 people. The centre’s reference desk handled 280 inquiries, and 110 remote inquiries were responded to by telephone or email. The target response time of 10 working days was achieved in all cases. Inquiries received during the year related to Australia’s democracy, general political history, the building, prime ministers and former parliamentarians.

In July 2010 the APMC’s monograph collection was made accessible to a wider audience via Trove, the National Library of Australia’s online discovery service for Australian collections. In May 2011 more than 600 entries were added to the existing 6,000.

The Prime Facts series of information leaflets on prime ministers and related topics in Australian parliamentary history was expanded to include titles for leaders of the opposition. In 2010–11, visitors to the building took approximately 112,000 copies of Prime Facts, and a further 13,000 copies were downloaded from the museum’s website.

Collaborative activities

The APMC collaborates with other research and collecting agencies that hold significant collections of source material on Australia’s prime ministers. The main collaborative activity during the year was the coordination and provision of secretariat support for the annual Round Table of Prime Ministerial Research and Collecting Agencies. The primary aim of this group is to foster cooperation and collaboration among member agencies in such areas as collection development, travelling exhibitions and public programs.

Research program

The APMC research program provides a national focus for research and scholarship on the history of Australia’s democracy, with a focus on prime ministers.

The program has two categories: Fellowships, which support research by established scholars and cultural practitioners; and Summer Scholarships, which encourage students to develop an interest in prime ministerial studies at the beginning of their careers.

Applications are assessed by an independent selection panel comprising representatives from academic institutions, cultural agencies and the museum. Recipients receive funding to undertake research, as well as access to office space, meeting rooms, research assistance and the collection.

Five fellows and four summer scholars were supported in 2010–11. Details of the recipients and their research are listed in Appendix D

Fellows and summer scholars submit a report on their research projects for publication on the museum website. Fellows are also required to make progress towards an academic, creative or bibliographic outcome which may be completed at any time during or after the scholarship period.

Works which were published in 2010–11 that drew upon the outcomes of previous years’ fellowships included:

  • Stanley Melbourne Bruce: Australian Internationalist, a biography by Dr David Lee (2007–08 and 2008–09 Fellow), which was published in June 2010
  • William Hughes: Australia, a biography by Professor Carl Bridge (2008–09 Fellow), which was published in April 2011
  • Prime ministers at the Australian National University: An archival guide, a guide to resources on Australian prime ministers held in the Australian National University Archives and the Noel Butlin Archives of Business and Labour, co-authored by Mr Michael Piggott (2008–09 Fellow) and University Archivist Ms Maggie Shapley, which was published in May 2011
  • The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
    The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
    Photo – OPH collection
  • Dancing with the Prime Minister, a documentary on the Indigenous debutante ball held in 1968 and attended by then Prime Minister John Gorton, by Dr Anna Cole (2009–10 Fellow), which was aired on ABC Television in August 2010
  • ‘Was John Curtin the best prime minister?’, an essay by Dr John Hirst (2009–10 Fellow), which was published in Looking for Australia, a book of his collected essays, in August 2010
  • ‘The religious beliefs of Australia’s prime ministers’, a paper by Professor John Warhurst (2009–10 Fellow), which was presented at the Melbourne College of Divinity Centenary Conference, July 2010; and a related paper published in the online magazine Eureka Street in November 2010
  • ‘Forming a bilateral pattern? Menzies and Nehru’s foreign policy’, a paper by Dr Auriol Weigold (2009–10 Fellow), which was presented at the Indian Association for the Study of Australia conference in Goa in January 2010; and a related paper published in Australian Institute of International Affairs Policy Commentary in August 2010.

In 2010–11, the summer scholars spent six weeks in residence pursuing their research projects. They also submitted reports on their researches for publication on the museum’s website at moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/research-program/recent-research/.

Since the program’s inception, 28 fellows and 11 summer scholars have been supported. Several have maintained contact with the APMC through use of the research centre, visits to the museum, attendance at public events, correspondence and active participation in museum programs. In order to foster and formalise continuing relationships with the APMC and the museum, an alumni network will be formed in 2011–12. A seminar and evening event, attended by representatives from each year of the program, was held in June 2011 to mark the formation of the network.

Inaugural APMC research and scholarship program alumni dinner, June 2011.
Inaugural APMC research and scholarship program alumni dinner, June 2011.
From left: Ms Jenny Anderson (museum), Professor John Warhurst (APMC Fellow 2009–10), Dr Lindy Edwards (Fellow 2009–10), Dr David Lee (Fellow 2007–08, 2008–09), Mr Paul Dalgleish (Selection Panel), Mr Paul Davey (Fellow 2010–11), Dr Lyndon Megarrity (Fellow 2010–11), Mr Michael Richards (museum), Dr Alan Roberts (Selection Panel), Ms Linda Macfarlane (museum), Mr Sam Malloy (Fellow 2010–11), Dr Auriol Weigold (Fellow 2009–10). Photo – OPH collection

Case Study:

John Curtin at home with his wife Elsie, and children John and Elsie, 1937.

John Curtin at home with his wife Elsie, and children John and Elsie, 1937. Image courtesy of John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. Records of the Curtin Family. The Curtin family, 24 Jarrad St Cottesloe. 1937. JCPML00376/40



Mr Sam Malloy in the sitting room of the Chifley Home, Bathurst, 2011

Mr Sam Malloy in the sitting room of the Chifley Home, Bathurst, 2011. Photo courtesy of Sam Malloy

Prime ministerial homes

Since it commenced, in 2007, the Australian Prime Ministers Centre‘s research and scholarship program has supported 28 fellowship projects to foster research into, and raise awareness of, the lives, achievements and governments of Australia’s prime ministers.

One of the five research projects supported by the program during 2010–11 was a comparative study of three former homes of prime ministers that now operate as house museums—the Chifley Home in Bathurst, New South Wales (the Rt Hon Ben Chifley), Home Hill in Devonport, Tasmania (the Rt Hon Joseph Lyons), and the Curtin Family Home in Perth, Western Australia (the Rt Hon John Curtin). The project was undertaken by Mr Sam Malloy, Coordinator of the Chifley Home.

Mr Malloy examined the historical, family and personal values of all three homes, as well as their importance as cultural and heritage sites. He focused on four main aspects of prime ministerial home life: family, time-out, working from home, and life at home before becoming prime minister.

Mr Malloy found that the homes of the three prime ministers were simple and humble, representative of the homes of ordinary working-class Australians during the 1930s and 1940s. The space for working from home was sometimes just a desk in the corner of the living area, placing the prime minister at the heart of family life while engaged in national matters.

The objects left behind by the prime ministers tell the story of their values, interests and achievements. For example, Mr Chifley kept a model aeroplane, which included a container for his pipe, matches and tobacco, in pride of place in the dining room. Mr Lyons’ set of golf clubs was recently returned to Home Hill.

Mr Malloy also studied the differences in the current operations of the three house museums. The Chifley and Lyons homes are regularly open for access. The Curtin home has an annual season of open days and small-scale events, and provides accommodation for visiting scholars, writers and artists.

The outcome of Mr Malloy’s research project was a report which was shared with all three house museums. Mr Malloy intends to also use his research as the basis for a travelling exhibition and an illustrated publication.

Being acknowledged as a pre-eminent and innovative cultural institution

Schools learning

The agency delivers a range of on-site, online and outreach programs to students and teachers from around Australia. Schools program attendances accounted for 45 per cent of the museum’s on-site visitation for 2010–11.

Satisfaction ratings were high in 2010–11:
98 per cent of teachers and 97 per cent of students surveyed gave overall ratings of ‘good’ to ‘excellent’. These results were compiled over an eight-month period of external independent evaluation and support the findings of previous internal evaluations.

All on-site schools learning programs are facilitated by museum staff. Presenters undertook ongoing training throughout the year, including monthly team communication and training sessions.

The on-site programs were enhanced by several new initiatives, including:

  • completion of the first stage of a refreshment of the School Orientation Space to better reflect the expanded role of the museum since its launch in 2009
  • streamlined booking procedures to improve the efficiency and quality of customer service
  • maintenance and development of the extensive prop collection for program use
  • cross-agency cooperation to review and modify the impact of school groups in heritage spaces, to ensure best heritage practice
  • a review and update of the role-play components of the Who’s the Boss? program
  • refining the Decisions 3sixty learning program and associated staff training.

An online learning resource to support the travelling exhibition Marnti Warajanga—we’re travelling was developed during the year, and will be trialled in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in July 2011. The results of the trial will be incorporated into the learning resource, which is expected to be launched in late 2011. It is the museum’s first Indigenous-based learning resource and was developed in close collaboration with the team at the Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.

Case Study:

National History Challenge winner Damian Staveley with Ms Jenny Anderson.

National History Challenge winner Damian Staveley with Ms Jenny Anderson.
Photo – David Shaw. Used with permission of the History Teachers’ Association of Australia

2010 National History Challenge

Since 2007, the museum has been a sponsor of the National History Challenge. Convened by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia, the annual competition invites school students all over Australia to demonstrate their historical research skills.

Students submit entries exploring the theme chosen for the year, using primary and secondary sources to produce an essay, performance, multimedia piece or three-dimensional model.

The theme for the 2010 challenge was ‘Celebrations, memories and history’. Entries were received from primary and secondary schools across all states and territories; 337 schools registered and 4,755 students submitted entries.

As one of the sponsoring cultural institutions, the museum invited students to focus on Australian prime ministers. The Australian Prime Ministers Centre research facility was a rich resource that students could draw upon when choosing their subjects.

One of the museum’s education officers, Ms Rebecca Kellett, assisted with the judging process. The process emphasised and rewarded high-quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.

On 23 November 2010, the National History Challenge awards ceremony was held at Parliament House. The Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, the Hon Peter Garrett MP, and the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, the Hon Warren Snowdon MP, presented the awards. Also participating were representatives from the sponsoring cultural institutions, including the museum’s Director, Ms Jenny Anderson.

The national winner in the museum’s sponsored category of Australian prime ministers was Year 12 student Damian Staveley of Albany Creek State High School in Queensland. Damian’s essay The times, they are a-changin’ is about former prime minister the Hon Gough Whitlam. The essay and other winning entries from the museum-sponsored category are available for download from the museum’s website at moadoph.gov.au/learning/national-history-challenge/2011/.

The museum’s ongoing involvement with the history challenge is a highly effective means of encouraging the study of Australian democracy among school students. The competition is also an excellent vehicle for raising awareness of the museum and its programs and activities, as it is promoted to over 10,000 schools around Australia.

The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
Students from the ACT’s Yarralumla Primary School participating in museum education programs.
Photo – Leigh Hutchinson Photography

 

The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
Lake Ginninderra College (ACT) students using RFID technology.
Photo – Andrew Taylor (copyright EDM Studio)

Schools visitation levels

Schools visitation numbers decreased by 5 per cent in 2010–11, to 76,749, from a record high of 81,079 in 2009–10. Visitation numbers were affected by:

  • much greater overlap between school holidays and parliamentary sitting weeks than in 2009–10, resulting in reduced school visitation demand
  • a decrease in schools visitation across the Australian Capital Territory in September and December 2010 (as demonstrated in Report of the Size and Effect of School Excursions to the National Capital, 2010, published by the Centre for Tourism Research at the University of Canberra)
  • limitation of schools visitation to Monday to Friday working hours, which reduced timeslots available for schools programs. This measure was introduced in mid-2009–10, but its impact was greater in 2010–11 because it applied to the full year.

Radio frequency identification devices

The museum’s very popular education programs Who’s the Boss, for years 5–8, and Our Voices, Our Choices, for years 9–12, use radio frequency identification (RFID) devices as part of the student experience. RFID technology, which was first introduced in the museum in 2009–10, enables students to explore and interpret the content and activities in the permanent exhibitions in a more personalised, interactive way. The two programs, which became fully operational in August 2010, have proved highly successful.

As part of an external evaluation, 115 teachers and 146 students who participated in RFID-assisted programs were surveyed. The response was overwhelmingly positive:

  • all teachers were 100 per cent satisfied with the program, and 81 per cent rated the program as ‘excellent’
  • a representative sample of visiting students (as agreed to by external evaluators) gave the program an overall approval rating of 100 per cent, and 52 per cent rated it ‘excellent’.

Comments from students and teachers included:

  • ‘I enjoyed all of the interactive computers and the information gained. I learnt that voting is a huge part of democracy.’ (Year 5–7 student)
  • ‘I loved the touchscreens, and I learnt that New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote.’ (Year 8–10 student)
  • ‘The touchscreens were very enjoyable for the students and I thought it was a great way to begin.’ (teacher)
  • ‘Excellent! I thought the use of technology and interaction was very appropriate.’ (teacher).

The museum continued to develop a post-visit ‘RFID takeaway’ for schools groups that have visited the museum. This online facility enables teachers to use the activities and content experienced by the students during the RFID program back in the classroom.

In October 2010, the RFID program was a joint winner in the Education/Public Programs category of the IMAGinE Awards. These awards celebrate the achievements and diversity of the museum and gallery sector in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.

Outreach learning activities

The museum conducts outreach activities to share knowledge and skills with both teachers and the wider museum sector. Examples of activities and programs in 2010–11 included:

  • three on-site familiarisation sessions for visiting interstate teachers and an outreach familiarisation in Newcastle, New South Wales
  • familiarisation sessions for the ACT History Teachers’ Association and Australian National University cultural studies students
  • papers presented to the annual conferences of the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria and Museums Australia
  • paper presented at the Australasian Parliamentary Educators Conference
  • staff attendance at the Building Bridges for Historical Learning: Connecting Teacher Education and Museum Studies national symposium
  • staff attendance at the Museums Australia Memories and Ethics symposium
  • ongoing support for civics and citizenship programs, including the annual Australian Capital Territory Schools Constitutional Convention and National Schools’ Constitutional Convention
  • staff participation as officer bearers of the Museums Australia Education National Network committee
  • membership of the Parliamentary and Civics Education Rebate Advisory Committee, the National Capital Education Tourism Project Board and the National Capital Civics Education Group.

Visitor satisfaction

The museum seeks comments from visitors by conducting exit surveys and inviting visitors to provide written feedback through feedback forms and visitor books.

This year 300 exit surveys were conducted. Some of the findings were:

  • 92 per cent of visitors gave a ‘very satisfied to excellent’ rating to the quality of the experience
  • 58 per cent of visitors said that the ‘experience was better than expected’
  • 63 per cent of visitors indicated that ‘their knowledge of Australian democracy had increased’ due to their visit
  • 99 per cent of visitors advised that they would recommend the museum to friends, relatives or colleagues.

Three Client Service Charter forms were received in 2010–11. Two provided positive comments on the quality of the museum. The third was a comment relating to difficulties in accessing tenants located in the building. This was dealt with verbally when the comment was made, and consideration for improving access has been included in the scope of the visitor experience plan being developed by the museum.

Collection development

The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
The Governor-General and the museum’s Director Ms Jenny Anderson view the brooch donated by Ms Bryce. Photo – Stefan Postles

The museum is building a unique collection of material that relates to political movements in which Australia or Australians played a part, or that places Australia’s history as a democracy into a global context.

All proposed additions to the collection are assessed by the Acquisitions Committee and approved by the delegate. Notable additions to the collection during the year included:

  • a brooch worn by Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, when she swore in the Hon Julia Gillard MP as Prime Minister on 24 June 2010
  • three photographs showing the Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton at the Colonial Conference and related social occasions in London in 1902
  • a medal awarded to English suffragette Charlotte Blacklock by the Women’s Social and Political Union in the United Kingdom, for being force-fed during a prison term for militant actions carried out in the cause of women’s suffrage, in 1912
  • a rare board game, Pank-a-Squith, advocating the vote for women in the United Kingdom, from 1909
  • several important British political manifestos from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A detailed list of 2010–11 acquisitions is at Table 4.

Table 4 New collection items, 2010–11
Description Date
Acquisitions: Australian political and parliamentary history  
‘Australia’s Commonwealth’. Two medallions produced for the Australian pro-federation campaign. 1898 and 1899
A large wooden ballot box with provenance to the South Australian Legislative Council. Late 19th century
Three photographs showing the Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton at the Colonial Conference and related social occasions in London. 1902
An intaglio photogravure of Tom Roberts’ painting ‘Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia’. 1903
Photographs of the first three judges of the High Court: the Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton, the Rt Hon Sir Samuel Griffith and the Hon Richard O’Connor. 1903
An ‘Eight Hour Day’ union badge. The badge was presented to members of the Melbourne Eight Hours Committee, and commemorates the marches held each year to celebrate the eight-hour working day. 1911
Three photographs of the Rt Hon Andrew Fisher, taken at the ceremony for the naming of Canberra as the federal capital. 1913
A number of photographs of the Rt Hon Joseph Lyons, with provenance to the Lyons family. 1930s
Bust of the Hon Jack Lang, inscribed ‘The People’s Champion Mr Lang’. 1932
‘For Organisation And Struggle To Lighten The Workers’ And Farmers’ Burdens! Vote Communist’. A Communist Party of Australia campaign poster from the 1934 federal election. 1934
Two framed and signed photographs of the Rt Hon Sir Robert Menzies, gifts from Menzies to Sir Charles and Lady Hannah Lloyd Jones. 1940 and 1958
A cinema slide promoting the Service Party of Australia used during the 1946 federal election. 1946
Several original drawings by Noel Counihan, including: For a clean sweep in the new year (original cartoon dated 1953), a cartoon depicting the electoral defeat of Menzies and the Liberal–Country Party government by a united front of the ALP and CPA; War or Peace (portfolio of 12 linocuts, dated 1950); and Demonstrator
(study for a group of woodcuts and linocuts, dated 1978).
Various
Photograph by RC Strangman of the unveiling of the statue of King George V at the front of the Provisional Parliament House. 1953
Speakers from the public address system used by the Hon Don Cameron in his successful election campaigns for the federal Division of Griffith (Queensland) in 1966 and later years. 1960s
A badge stating ‘NSW welcomes President Johnson’. Lyndon Johnson was the first United States President to visit Australia. 1966
A badge stating ‘Vote Yes for Aborigines’, developed for the 1967 referendum which asked Australians to endorse a constitutional change giving the Commonwealth the power to make laws specifically in relation to Indigenous people and removed the section of the Constitution prohibiting Indigenous people from being counted in the census. 1967
A baseball-style cap used by ALP booth workers at the 2007 federal election, signed by the Hon Kevin Rudd MP and the Hon Julia Gillard MP. 2007
A range of other books, pamphlets, posters and other ephemera on Australian political history, both current and retrospective, acquired for the research collection. Various
Acquisitions: the journey of democracy  
A Commonwealth of England sixpenny coin, minted after the victory of the anti-Royalist forces in Parliament during the English Civil War. 1653
A rare first-edition essay admonishing voters who would sell their votes for cash or other considerations at general elections, entitled ‘An address to all the voters in Great-Britain, in relation to the oath which they may be obliged to take at the ensuing General Election ...’ Written in 1754 by ‘a Country Clergyman’. 1754
‘A discourse on the love of our country’. This rare speech, celebrating England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 as the foundation of constitutional government, is widely seen as one of the major statements on the nature of civil liberty of the eighteenth century. 1789
‘Reform in Parliament: Proceedings of the Electors of the City and Liberties of Westminster’, published in London. This is a rare pamphlet, with details of speeches made at a public meeting demanding parliamentary reform in Great Britain. 1810
A print depicting the Tolpuddle Martyrs of the 1830s returning to Britain after being transported to Australia for forming what was, in effect, one of the first trade unions to protest about the worsening economic conditions for agricultural labourers in the south of England. c.1836
The Trial of Feargus O’Connor, published in Manchester, United Kingdom. This is a rare book with verbatim accounts of the trial of 59 Chartists at Lancaster on charges of sedition, conspiracy, tumult and riot. 1843
‘The Chinese Question in Australia, 1878–79’ by L. Kong Meng, Cheok Hong Cheong and Louis Ah Mouy. This is a rare original pamphlet advocating the cause for Chinese settlement in Australia and presenting the Chinese case against immigration restrictions. 1879
A ‘Federation of the World’ token. One of a series issued by the Melbourne bookseller EW Cole to promote issues such as racial equality, universal brotherhood and, in this case, world government. c.1890
Votes for Women, a British suffragette periodical run in five folio volumes bound in green and purple. The most important British suffragette periodical, Votes for Women contains a wealth of material on the militant protests of the day, including references to Australian participation. 1907–1912
A rare suffragette board game, Pank-a-Squith. The game is associated with the suffragette movement and advocates the vote for women in the United Kingdom. 1909
A souvenir program listing Australian and other contingents in the demonstration for women’s suffrage held in London on 23 July 1910, with woodblock portraits of the principal speakers, the whole within a garland of green leaves and purple flowers. This rare and highly ephemeral item documents the second of two major demonstrations held in London in 1910 in support of an attempt to win female suffrage by parliamentary means. 1910
Hunger strike medal. A medal awarded to Charlotte Blacklock by the Women’s Social and Political Union of the United Kingdom for serving a prison term for militant actions carried out in the cause of women’s suffrage. 1912
A purple, white and green brooch, in the form of a corsage of violets, worn by the Governor-General, her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, when she swore in the Hon Julia Gillard MP as Prime Minister in 2010. The brooch was given to Ms Bryce by her grandmother as a young girl in the 1950s. 1920s–1950s
A number of badges demonstrating support for Wikileaks and Julian Assange. 2011
Donations  
Prime minister’s desk, used by Australian prime ministers from 1927–1973 and again from 1996–2007. Donated by the House of Representatives. 1927
Menu board for Commonwealth Parliamentary Refreshment rooms, used in the 1970s-and 1980s. Donated by Craig McAlpine. 1970s–1980s
‘It’s time’ t-shirt and badge from the 1972 ALP federal election campaign. Donated by Sigrid McCausland. 1972
Replica crown jewels, previously on display in the Queen Victoria Building, Sydney. Donated by Ipoh Management Services, Queen Victoria Building. 1980s
Red Nose Day, an original cartoon by Geoff Pryor depicting five Australian prime ministers (Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd) as marble busts wearing ‘red noses’, while cartoonist Pryor himself is shown waving ‘goodbye’ to the viewer. This was Pryor’s last cartoon for The Canberra Times. Donated by Geoff Pryor. 2008
Stolen Generation National Sorry Day commemorative flower. Donated by Dr Jonathan Richards, who received the flower as a gift from the Kimberley Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation. 2009

ALP = Australian Labor Party, CPA = Communist Party of Australia
Note: This table does not include acquisitions of oral history items such as transcripts of interviews.

Case Study:

Recent collection acquisitions

Items that help to place the history of Australian democracy in an international context are an important part of the museum’s collection. Acquisitions in 2010–11 provide some excellent examples.

The issue of female suffrage was one of the major unresolved questions in western democracies in the early decades of the twentieth century. Many activists looked to Australia for leadership, because Australian women had won both the vote and the right to stand for parliament at a national level in 1902—the latter a world first. Australians were also active in suffrage campaigns overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom.

Barton Colonial Conference Photo, 1902. Photo – OPH Collection
Barton Colonial Conference Photo, 1902. Photo – OPH Collection

 

The formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the United Kingdom in 1903 marked a break from the politics of persuasion in favour of direct action. Frustrated at the lack of progress achieved during years of moderate speeches and promises about women’s suffrage from members of parliament, the WSPU favoured militant tactics, including hunger strikes when members were jailed.

Suffragette Hunger Strike Medal.

Suffragette Hunger Strike Medal.
Photo – OPH Collection

'Pank-a-Squith' game, produced by suffragettes.

’Pank-a-Squith’ game, produced by suffragettes. Photo – OPH Collection

The WSPU shops also stocked clothing and other items in the movement’s adopted colours of purple, white and green. Among these items was the board game Pank-a-Squith, which was first advertised in the suffragist journal Votes for Women in October 1909, for one shilling and sixpence. The pictures on the 50 squares of the game board depict many of the events and issues of the suffrage campaign, making it one of the earliest known items of political merchandising.

Prison authorities force-fed hunger-striking women through tubes inserted in their noses or mouths, a painful technique that was condemned by both suffragists and medical professionals. After their release, suffragettes who had been force-fed were awarded a medal by the WSPU. The museum recently acquired such a medal, awarded to Charlotte Blacklock, who was force-fed in 1912 while serving a prison sentence for participation in a window-smashing raid.

A copy of the game purchased by the museum in 2010–11 is one of only three copies known to be held by museums worldwide. The museum also acquired five volumes of issues of Votes for Women, bound in purple and green.

Another purchase made during the year captures a rather different world while highlighting the international context of Australian parliamentary democracy. The museum has acquired three rare photographs of the Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton, the first prime minister of Australia. Taken during meetings of the colonial premiers and prime ministers at the 1902 Colonial Conference, which coincided with the coronation of King Edward VII, one photograph shows Barton with his fellow leaders and the other two, taken at Warwick Castle, feature the same men alongside their wives and staff.

Versions of these photographs held in other Australian collections are second-generation copies. It is believed that the recently acquired photographs, in large format and of high quality, may have been Barton’s own originals. They document the first significant meeting at which the new country of Australia was represented by its prime minister, at the very beginning of the story of Australia as a player in international affairs.

 

 

Oral history

The 2010–11 summer scholars Dawn Bolger, Meggie Hutchison, Tom Caunce and Ben Rankin.
Former Senator Professor Chris Puplick participates in the oral history program.
Photo – OPH Collection

The museum’s oral history program records interviews which fall into two categories:

  • interviews that relate to the building as a heritage site, including interviews with former officials and other people previously associated with Old Parliament House
  • interviews that relate to political engagement, including interviews of former members of the federal parliament, people who personally knew prime ministers, activists of political parties which have been represented in Australian parliaments, and people active in other areas of political engagement.

In 2008, the museum entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Library of Australia to record 20 interviews per year in the ‘political engagement’ category. Under the memorandum, the library also agreed to preserve and provide access to interviews through its website.

In 2010–11, the museum recorded:

  • seven interviews in the ‘heritage site’ category, with:
    • Mr Dale Budd, former staff member in the Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser’s office, prior to his becoming prime minister
    • Mrs Cheryl Cartwright, former staff member in Prime Minister Fraser’s office and Press Gallery journalist
    • Mrs Caroline Cooper, former staff member in Prime Minister Fraser’s office
    • Mr Paul Davey, former Federal Director, National Party
    • Mr Neil Glasser, associate of former prime ministers the Rt Hon Ben Chifley and the Rt Hon Sir Robert Menzies
    • Mrs Meryl Hunter, former telephonist, and daughter of former housekeeper Mr Frank Bishop
    • Mr Colin (Mick) Kilpatrick, former Building Construction Works Supervisor
  • five interviews under the memorandum of understanding with the National Library of Australia, with:
    • former parliamentarians Mr Don Cameron (ongoing), the Hon Ben Humphreys, the Hon Jeanette McHugh and Professor Chris Puplick (ongoing)
    • former Australian Labor Party activist based in Sydney circa 1950–70, Mr Andrew Moffat.

In total, the museum recorded 12 interviews and one symposium in 2010–11. The National Library of Australia contributed 17 interviews to the joint project, bringing the total number of interviews recorded under the memorandum in 2010–11 to 22.

Interpretation

Interpretive activities completed during the year included:

  • consolidating and relocating the Hansard collection, to enhance the interpretation of heritage spaces and reduce required storage space
  • modifying the general public tour, in response to feedback from staff, volunteers and visitors
  • facilitating the development and delivery of interpretive training workshops for staff and volunteers
  • refreshing the Press Gallery interpretive exhibition
  • completing a long-term project to record, rationalise and document all interpretive props
  • improving the museum’s signage and way finding, including by coordinating the development of new signage for the refurbished lower entry to the building; providing signage for the King’s Hall floor resurfacing; and updating exhibition banners and the visitor experience map
  • managing a long-term project to provide the museum with a design ‘language’ and principles for all future furniture for visitors. The first stage will supply customised visitor seating for King’s Hall and is expected to be completed by November 2011.

The number of objects on display or otherwise accessible increased by over 80 per cent in 2010–11, to 4,721 onsite and 311 accessible online. The intensive Hansard accessioning and display project was a key factor in this increase.

Participation in outside activities included:

  • presentations by staff at the New Ideas Design Forum held by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales in August 2010, and the annual Interpretation Australia conference held in November 2010
  • participation by staff as office bearers of the Museums Australia ACT Branch committee and the Museums Australia ACT Branch Education Network committee.

Community learning

Community learning provides services to and collaborates with communities whose needs and expectations differ from those of everyday visitors. Examples of community groups to which this may be relevant include lifelong learners, people with disabilities, socially isolated groups, people with English as a second language and family groups.

In 2010–11, key activities to support the museum’s community learning function included:

  • completion of a community learning strategy, including a three-year work program which will be the start of a longer term commitment to improve intellectual and physical access for visitors with disabilities
  • maintenance and refreshment of the Hands on Democracy family-friendly exhibition spaces
  • development and trialling of new school holiday programming that is expected to be available from July 2011
  • commencement of the development of a disability action plan for the museum.
Refreshed exhibition areas in the museum, featuring Political Porcelain. Photo – Stefan Postles
Refreshed exhibition areas in the museum, featuring Political Porcelain. Photo – Stefan Postles

Case Study:

The 2011 Hansard Project

’Pank-a-Squith’ game, produced by suffragettes.

Heritage and Interpretation staff working on the Hansard collection.
PhotoOPH Collection

 

'Pank-a-Squith' game, produced by suffragettes.

Excess Hansards being sorted as part of the project. Photo – OPH Collection

The term ‘Hansard’ comes from Thomas Curson Hansard, who published records of British parliamentary debates in the 1800s and added his name to the documents in 1829. We know it best as the name given to the process of recording the proceedings of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and their committees.

A substantial number of Hansard volumes were left in the building when the parliament moved to the permanent Parliament House in 1988, and the museum has subsequently received donations of thousands of excess Hansards from Parliament House.

In early 2011 staff undertook a large collection management project to place ’Heritage Hansards’ on display on the main floor of the museum.

Heritage bound volumes of Hansards have designations at the base of the spine—either a name, a role or a place—signifying their original use in the building. After all the Hansard volumes had been reviewed, 4,012 volumes that were identified as ‘Heritage Hansards’ were formally accessioned into the museum collection.

The museum decided that the volumes for display would not be grouped by original user (for example, there was no attempt to group all the ‘Treasurer’ volumes together), or placed in strict chronological order. Rather, volumes have been displayed in appropriate areas of Old Parliament House according to the era and interpretive objectives that are the focus of particular rooms. In the Prime Minister’s Suite, for example, there are now many House of Representatives and some Senate volumes from 1960 to 1988. In the Queen’s Room there are only 1950s volumes, reflecting the fact that the room was prepared for use in the first visit to Australia by Queen Elizabeth II, in 1954. Volumes which are in a delicate condition are stored in closed rooms.

In the process of placing the Heritage Hansards on the main floor, staff removed other volumes without a specific link with the building’s past. These have been retained for continued use as props and learning resources, or offered to other collecting institutions.

The project consolidated and improved accessioning of the collection, substantially increasing the number of volumes on display and reducing the ongoing cost of fees for off-site storage—as well as enriching the experience for museum visitors.

Extending the museum’s profile and partnerships with other institutions, academics and cultural innovators

Ongoing partnerships

In 2010–11, the museum became a partner in a two-year collaborative research project that seeks to identify the extent of women’s leadership within movements for social and political change in Australia, from the neighbourhood to the international level, and to make the record of active citizenship available through national cultural institutions, linked e-resources and outreach to schools.

Titled Women and Leadership in a Century of Australian Democracy, the partnership is the museum’s first project to be funded under an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. The lead organisation for the project is the University of Melbourne. Other partner organisations include the National Archives of Australia, the National Film and Sound Archive, the Australian Nursing Federation and the National Foundation for Australian Women.

The museum is contributing to the project by:

  • co-hosting, with the University of Melbourne, a national conference to be held at the museum in December 2011
  • encouraging donations of items related to the project theme to the museum’s collection
  • contributing to oral histories on parliamentary and political history aspects of the project theme
  • developing a Women and Leadership trail for the museum’s Exploring Democracy website.

The museum also cooperated with the National Library of Australia under a memorandum of understanding to record oral histories of former Australian parliamentarians. This ongoing project commenced in 2008.

Collaborative projects

The museum collaborated with the National Archives of Australia (NAA) to transfer the Documenting a Democracy website, developed and previously hosted by the NAA, to the museum. The website (foundingdocs.gov.au) features many of the most important documents involved in the development of Australian democracy and will be a valuable resource and addition to the museum’s website.

In June 2011, the museum hosted a symposium in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, Australian National University. This highly successful symposium examined the historical and political significance of the Aboriginal tent embassy as it approaches its fortieth anniversary, and brought academics and members of the general public together with many activists who had been involved with the embassy from its earliest years.

In an innovative collaborative project with the Canberra Glassworks, the museum commissioned the fabrication of the artwork The Illuminations by artist Ms Wendy Fairclough. This collaboration also included co-programming of public activities.

Case Study:

The Illuminations

Young participant in Lego® arches workshop.

Young participant in Lego® arches workshop. Photo – OPH Collection

Work in progress at Canberra Glassworks.

Work in progress at Canberra Glassworks.Photo – OPH Collection

The Wool Arch, built in Sydney for the Commonwealth’s proclamation, is featured on the jug, with the bottle and jar in the foreground showing people and decorations of lanterns and bunting. Photo – Stefan Postles

The Wool Arch, built in Sydney for the Commonwealth’s proclamation, is featured on the jug, with the bottle and jar in the foreground showing people and decorations of lanterns and bunting. Photo – Stefan Postles

Following an evaluation of the use of the former Parliamentary Library, which now forms part of the exhibition spaces, the museum decided to give the space a clearer purpose as a focus gallery relating to the timeline of Australian democracy. The first story to be told in the refreshed space is that of Australia’s Federation, in particular the community celebrations of that event.

The museum commissioned an artwork, in partnership with the Canberra Glassworks, to reflect the celebrations of Federation. The resulting artwork, The Illuminations by Wendy Fairclough, is a collection of 20 blown glass vessels with a panorama of night-time celebrations sandblasted onto them.

The panorama was inspired by research and hand-coloured photographs in an album in the museum’s collection. The mood of the piece is captured in this description of the celebrations, from the Argus of May 1901:

At times the brightness of the streams of light on street level shot up the sides of the buildings … strange fantastic shadows flitted and danced in the yellow glare until it seemed that the whole place was a mass of fluttering flags and poles.

In the lead-up to the creation of the artwork, families were invited to the museum to participate in a series of arch-building workshops, inspired by the large arches that were a prominent part of the 1901 Federation celebrations. Parents and children created their own ’Federation arches’ out of a total of 30,000 Lego® bricks.

Photographs of these arches were included in a display at the Canberra Glassworks, where Wendy Fairclough created her artwork in full view of 7,500 visitors over three months.

The Canberra Glassworks also conducted a school holiday program in which participants created Federation arches in fused and cast glass, further engaging members of the public with the artist’s process and the concept of Federation.

The Illuminations was launched at the museum with a community celebration on 25 June 2011. Again, families were invited to contribute content—this time making lanterns to hang in the exhibition alongside the artwork.

The entire process and the public’s contribution were photographed; the images are included in the exhibition.

By involving members of the public in creating content in response to the exhibition themes, the project formed a connection with visitors, giving them a special role in telling the Federation story. Members of the public engaged with the project at both the museum and the glassworks, and many followed the process from start to finish. This is an excellent example of the democratisation of content development, involving and empowering the community as a participant in the museum.

The Illuminations explores the scope of the Federation celebrations, the atmosphere of the night-time festivities and the relevance of Federation for Australian people. Photo – Stefan Postles
The Illuminations explores the scope of the Federation celebrations, the atmosphere of the night-time festivities and the relevance of Federation for Australian people.
Photo – Stefan Postles

Permanent exhibitions

Holly Tree restoration

Student Representative Council workshop, Beckenham Primary School.
Photo – OPH Collection

While the exhibitions and visitor experiences that opened with the launch of the museum in May 2009 have a long-term presence, they are continually modified and updated, as loans of exhibited objects expire, equipment reaches the end of its working life, and the needs of visitors change. The ongoing process of refreshment extends the life of exhibitions and ensures that there is something new to see and experience at the museum.

During 2010–11 the functionality of the museum’s interactive timeline in the exhibition spaces was enhanced to permit the addition of video and sound milestones, and content was added on milestones in democracy from 2009 to 2011.

A substantial refreshment of the Living Democracy exhibition was undertaken to incorporate a greater range of community democracy themes and to incorporate more stories illustrating how individuals have found ways to contribute to Australia’s democracy in their daily lives. Space has been created for temporary displays within Living Democracy to enhance the topicality of subjects treated in this exhibition.

As part of the process of refreshing Living Democracy, the museum conducted a workshop with students from Beckenham Primary School in Perth, Western Australia, with the aim of widening the range of Australian voices featured in the exhibition. Staff visited Beckenham Primary in May 2011 and worked with 20 students who were current, or recent past, members of the school’s student representative council. These students created a project book highlighting a number of the projects on which the student representative council and the school had worked, including Clean Up Australia Day, anti-bullying initiatives, a Manning River clean-up project and the support of a Cambodian sister school. The book is now part of the Living Democracy exhibition. Photographs of a second workshop, in which students created tableaux illustrating the qualities important in acting as a student representative, were also used in the design of a bookmark which is featured in Living Democracy as a handout for visitors.

The commissioning of the glass artwork The Illuminations, described in more detail in a case study in this report, was also part of the refreshment of exhibition content.

Temporary exhibitions

The museum presents two types of temporary exhibitions: temporary on-site exhibitions at Old Parliament House, and travelling exhibitions at other venues around Australia.

As Table 5 shows, while the overall level of attendance at non-permanent exhibitions slightly decreased (4 per cent), the number of visitors who accessed travelling exhibitions significantly increased (157 per cent), in 2010–11.

Table 5 Attendance at non-permanent exhibitions, by location, 2009–10 and 2010–11
Type of exhibition Number of visitors Proportion of total
2009–10 2010–11 2009–10 2010–11
Temporary on-site 107,278 94,664 95.1% 87.0%
Travelling off-site 5,488 14,111 4.9% 13.0%
Total 112,766 108,775 100% 100%

Note: Relocation of people counters has provided a more accurate assessment of visitors’ attendance at exhibitions.

Temporary on-site exhibitions

The museum’s temporary exhibitions program is based around an annual exhibition developed in house, supplemented by appropriate exhibitions sourced from external bodies and, where suitable, shorter return seasons of the museum’s travelling exhibitions.

In 2010–11 the principal temporary exhibition on display at the museum was Marnti Warajanga: we’re travelling, which tells the story of the journey towards democracy undertaken by several Indigenous communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This exhibition was developed with significant community involvement, which will continue and deepen when the exhibition is toured to the Pilbara in 2012.

The museum was also the 2010 venue for Behind The Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010. This exhibition is a National Museum of Australia program, originally developed for display at Old Parliament House in the 1990s, with a high degree of relevance for the Museum of Australian Democracy and its audiences. The two museums developed the exhibition in partnership, resulting in an extremely successful season at the Museum of Australian Democracy from December 2010 to March 2011.

At the end of June 2011 the temporary exhibition Political Porcelain opened in the refreshed Living Democracy exhibition space. Political Porcelain features 10 works by artist Penny Byrne that respond to social, political and human rights issues that impact people and democracy. The exhibition, which explores how Byrne finds her political voice through art, will remain on display for 12 months.

Table 6 summarises the temporary exhibitions staged on site in 2010–11.

Table 6 On-site temporary exhibitions in 2010–11
Title Description Dates
Beyond Reasonable Drought This exhibition, which deals with the effect of drought on Australians in rural areas, was developed in conjunction with the Many Australian Photographers Group. It has been updated to acknowledge the breaking of the recent drought. 4 September 2010
to 2 December 2010
Marnti Warajanga—
we’re travelling
This exhibition is a joint project with the Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre and photographer Tobias Titz. The exhibition features 34 portraits of people from the Pilbara who bear witness in their own words to momentous historical movements and reflect on their ongoing work for social and political change at both the community level and the national level. 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011
Behind The Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010 This exhibition presented a selection of political cartoons of 2010. 7 December 2010 to 20 March 2011
Political Porcelain In this exhibition, artist Penny Byrne utilises objects familiar from Australian mantelpieces, china cabinets and toy boxes to transform vintage porcelain into powerful works of political commentary. 28 June 2011, for approximately 12 months
Travelling exhibitions

The travelling exhibitions program is a means of both delivering outreach activities and providing cooperative programming to organisations with similar aims or audiences to those of the museum. It makes a significant contribution to establishing the museum as a preeminent and innovative organisation.

The 2010–11 program comprised:

  • Behind The Lines: The Year’s Best Cartoons 2010—This exhibition was developed in partnership with the National Museum of Australia. It has been exhibited at the Riverside Theatre, Parramatta (New South Wales), and the Old Treasury Building, Melbourne.
  • The Illuminations—Artist Wendy Fairclough created a new glass artwork for the museum before a public audience at the Canberra Glassworks. The museum created a small display about the commission and exhibition, for display at the Canberra Glassworks.

As part of the program, temporary exhibitions developed for the museum are adapted for touring at the end of their on-site season. In 2010–11, planning was undertaken for a touring version of Marnti Warajanga—we’re travelling. This process, which involved consultation with the museum’s partners in the exhibition, Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre and photographer Tobias Titz, has resulted in a project to tour a version of the exhibition to five communities in the Pilbara and one venue in Perth in 2012. This project has received significant sponsorship from BHP Billiton and funding from the National Collecting Institutions Travelling and Outreach program. An online presence and a learning resource have also been developed for the exhibition.

As a result of wider publicity about travelling exhibitions, the museum has received several expressions of interest for exhibitions in regional Australia. A new section of the agency’s website, to promote the travelling exhibitions and streamline tour planning, is being developed.

Cartoonists David Pope and Jon Kudelka with winners of the ‘Drawing the Lines’ youth cartooning competition which formed part of the Behind the Lines exhibition.
Cartoonists David Pope and Jon Kudelka with winners of the ‘Drawing the Lines’ youth cartooning competition which formed part of the Behind the Lines exhibition. Photo – Stefan Postles

Online exhibitions

The museum launched Exploring Democracy—Australian Journeys through Time and Place, a new online initiative intended to improve access for people who are unable to visit the museum’s on-site exhibitions. The exhibition was developed following positive response to the museum’s multimedia Democracy Timeline.

Launch of the Political Porcelain exhibition
Launch of the Political Porcelain exhibition.
Photos – Stefan Postles

The website features a timeline and an interactive map linked to a series of themed trails identifying places and events associated with the democratic government of Australia. The first trail to be made available was devoted to Australia’s prime ministers; additional trails, on parliament and the rule of law, were developed during 2010–11 and are expected to be available online in July 2011.

Also in 2010–11, in collaboration with the National Archives of Australia, the museum commenced development of an online exhibition based around the creation of the Old Parliament House building and the early development of Australia’s federal capital, showcasing photographs of early Canberra.

The website will display 7,464 photographs of Canberra taken between 1926 and 1935 by Mr William Mildenhall (1891–1962) in his capacity as the Federal Capital Commission’s information officer, including more than 1,000 photos of the Old Parliament House building and surrounds. It will include a social media component, maps to allow users to retrieve images by place, and mechanisms to allow users to add information about the images and post their own images of the same places.

The website is expected to be activated in August 2011, and will form part of the agency’s contribution to the Centenary of Canberra celebrations in 2013, by which time it will include both an important historical collection and a significant set of contemporary stories and images.

Events

The museum presented a program of events to complement its other activities and to help build awareness of the museum both locally and nationally. This program of events achieved high levels of participant satisfaction through targeting specific audiences and interest groups.

In 2010–11, a total of seven events were held, collectively attended by 1,549 participants. The events supported new exhibitions, launched newly interpreted spaces and promoted the museum. They included:

  • Gifts of the Furies (11, 18, 25 and 26 September 2010)—In partnership with the community organisation A Chorus of Women, the museum presented a series of three concerts and a public forum exploring the relationship between people and the environment, with a focus on the effect of democracy and citizen participation.
  • Launch of Behind The Lines: The Year’s best Cartoons 2010 (8 December 2010)—The launch included the awarding of Political Cartoonist of the Year to Mr Jon Kudelka and the presentation of awards in the Drawing the Lines children’s cartooning competition.
  • Federation Arch Lego® Workshops (12, 19 and 26 January 2011)—Nine school holiday workshops gave families the opportunity to learn about Australia’s Federation and build their own interpretation of a ‘Federation arch’.
  • Uncensored Conversation—Is the Fair Go Fair Dinkum? (3 February 2011)—The museum partnered with SBS Television to present a panel discussion which drew on the television series Immigration Nation. The event was facilitated by newsreader Mr Anton Enus and featured speakers who had appeared in the series.
  • Public launch of The Illuminations: Cupcakes with the Queen (25 June 2011)—Members of the public were invited to attend the launch of the glass artwork The Illuminations, which is displayed in the museum exhibition spaces. Visitors were greeted by a performer playing Queen Elizabeth II, had morning tea and created paper lanterns to hang in the exhibition.
  • Arts and museum sector launch of The Illuminations and the Political Porcelain exhibition (28 June 2011)—The launch event focused on new artworks installed in the refreshed exhibition spaces. Artists Ms Penny Byrne and Ms Wendy Fairclough spoke at the event and the artworks were introduced by Ms Robyn Archer, Creative Director of the Centenary of Canberra.
A bear with WINGS!
Cartoonists David Pope, Geoff Pryor and Jon Kudelka at the launch of the Behind the Lines exhibition.
Photo – Stefan Postles

The museum also participated in the first Enlighten: See Canberra in a whole new light event in March 2011, an event organised by Australian Capital Tourism. The event was intended to become a new autumn festival for Canberra. The museum provided specially-developed Secrets and Scandals tours over four nights (11–12 and 18–19 March), and on 18 March hosted Cartoons in the Courtyard, a ticketed evening event focused on the Behind the Lines exhibition, which included dinner, improvisational comedy and a discussion with host Mr Mike Bowers and cartoonists Mr Jon Kudelka and Mr David Pope. The facade of Old Parliament House was lit with special lighting effects for each night from 11–19 March. It is estimated that more than 6,000 people enjoyed the lighting effects.

In addition the museum partnered a number of organisations by supporting events held at Old Parliament House:

  • the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s second annual Address on Immigration and Citizenship, presented by Mr Hieu Van Le, the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, on 16 June 2011
  • the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Former Members of the Parliament of Australia, on 12 May 2011
  • the opening concert of the Canberra International Music Festival, on 11 May 2011
  • the second day of the two-day conference to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Senate committee system, on 12 November 2010.

Visitor experience plan

The museum’s location within Old Parliament House offers many unique opportunities in telling the story of Australian democracy. However, it also creates a range of challenges in shaping the experience of each visitor in an environment that was not originally designed as a venue for engagement with exhibitions and participatory museum activities. To support the development of more targeted strategies for providing relevant and engaging visitor experiences, the museum undertook an external review of its visitor experience in 2010–11. As a result, a range of enhancements and modifications to the range of activities and the management of visitors have been identified. In 2011–12 an implementation plan will be developed and initiated to further enhance the visitor experience.

Volunteer program

In 2010–11, approximately 86 volunteers provided assistance to staff and visitors, taking tours, conducting oral history interviews or undertaking research. Their involvement makes a valuable contribution to achieving the agency’s objectives, particularly in building satisfaction with the visitor experience at the museum.

The Volunteers Handbook was developed during the year and launched in March 2011. The handbook sets out the responsibilities and benefits of volunteering for the museum, in a clear and accessible manner.

In 2010–11 volunteer activities focused on the continued development and implementation of tours reflecting the themes relevant to the Museum of Australian Democracy. To support this, several workshops were held to assist volunteers and staff to deliver engaging and relevant tours and presentations to visitors.

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