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Concern at Museums and Gallery closures
Museums Australia WA has issued a media release responding to the closure of the WA Museum sites and the Art Gallery one day per week, plus the closure on public holidays of the museum sites and the State Library.
MAWA considers these closures as the result of the continued inadequate funding of our sector, which must be reversed before we face further cuts to the services provided by these institutions, including the regional sites. Our State Institutions provide a valuable contribution to scientific and historical research, education and cultural tourism.
We urge you to discuss this issue within your networks and to lobby your Members of Parliament for a review of the funding levels to our State Institutions. Contact details for Members of Parliament can be obtained from: http://wa.gov.au/guidetogovernment/ Other ideas are to write to the newspaper, or to raise the issue on the radio.
This story plus the closure of Fremantle History Museum has so been picked up by "The West Australian" and 6PR Radio today.
MAWA considers these closures as the result of the continued inadequate funding of our sector, which must be reversed before we face further cuts to the services provided by these institutions, including the regional sites. Our State Institutions provide a valuable contribution to scientific and historical research, education and cultural tourism.
We urge you to discuss this issue within your networks and to lobby your Members of Parliament for a review of the funding levels to our State Institutions. Contact details for Members of Parliament can be obtained from: http://wa.gov.au/guidetogovernment/ Other ideas are to write to the newspaper, or to raise the issue on the radio.
This story plus the closure of Fremantle History Museum has so been picked up by "The West Australian" and 6PR Radio today.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Miles on -
Excellent media release - and a nice piece in the link you've circulated: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuId=77&ContentID=156433#
We (Vic branch) fully support your views and hope that collectively (WA branch and MA nationally) can reverse the trend of reducing opening hours and sometimes, closing our excellent museums. It's just tragic when this last resort actually happens.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Miles on
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Also Jane - some Vic colleagues are asking what's going to happen to the building - does "more room for the Arts Centre" mean they will take over the building, or will it be razed and the land used for new buildings?
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Permalink Reply by Admin@MuseumsWA on -
Hi Laura,
The site is the heritage listed and convict built "Lunatic Asylum".
In 1970 the site was opened as the first branch of the West Australian Museum and the exhibitions were devoted to maritime and colonial history, as well as the story of the building itself.
As the Maritime and Shipwrecks content moved firstly to the Cliff St site, and then to the new Maritime Museum site in Fremantle in 2002, the museum footprint at the Finnerty St site was substantially reduced and focussed on Immigration, the foundation of Fremantle and interpretation of the history of the buildings.
We understand the plan is for the Arts Centre to take over all the space now occupied by the History Museum. They will continue to interpret the history of the site and the Immigration story will be moved to the Maritime Museum.
It is the history of Fremantle that seems to be lost in the mix, which is most unfortunate.
Jane
Laura Miles said:Also Jane - some Vic colleagues are asking what's going to happen to the building - does "more room for the Arts Centre" mean they will take over the building, or will it be razed and the land used for new buildings?
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Permalink Reply by Des Griffin on
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Can you please point me to a statement by government about these changes. I had heard about them from Darryl MacIntyre who said he was making some representations (I thought).
I am extremely annoyed at the closure of the History Museum in Freemantle. Shifting WA history to the Maritime Museum will likely perpetuate the vision of WA history as mostly Dutch shipwrecks, a vision which Margaret Anderson and others (now emigrants unfortunately) did much to dispel. It is bizarre that governments can rabbit on about the importance of history and then close a history museum!
This is just another step in the ongoing diminution of museums in WA which has been taking place since the 1960's as independence and authority have been gradually removed from the Museum and appropriated to ArtsWA accompanied by greater bureaucratisation and intervention with no gain whatsoever in effectiveness let alone efficiency.
I'm sorry for this self indulgence but I have to say this. In the 1970's I used to go especially to Perth to visit people at WAM to gain intellectual stimulation. WAM was aplace of lively discussion and intemperant commentary on museum management and government nonsense, a place of intense interest in important issues concerning museums (with not as much involvement in history as I woudl like but never mind). Now look at it. It is like New Labour under Tony Blair!
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Des Griffin said:Can you please point me to a statement by government about these changes. I had heard about them from Darryl MacIntyre who said he was making some representations (I thought).
I am extremely annoyed at the closure of the History Museum in Freemantle. Shifting WA history to the Maritime Museum will likely perpetuate the vision of WA history as mostly Dutch shipwrecks, a vision which Margaret Anderson and others (now emigrants unfortunately) did much to dispel. It is bizarre that governments can rabbit on about the importance of history and then close a history museum!
This is just another step in the ongoing diminution of museums in WA which has been taking place since the 1960's as independence and authority have been gradually removed from the Museum and appropriated to ArtsWA accompanied by greater bureaucratisation and intervention with no gain whatsoever in effectiveness let alone efficiency.
I'm sorry for this self indulgence but I have to say this. In the 1970's I used to go especially to Perth to visit people at WAM to gain intellectual stimulation. WAM was aplace of lively discussion and intemperant commentary on museum management and government nonsense, a place of intense interest in important issues concerning museums (with not as much involvement in history as I woudl like but never mind). Now look at it. It is like New Labour under Tony Blair!
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Permalink Reply by Jane King on -
Good afternoon Des, I'm so glad this issue is finally reaching those who care.
The media relase from WAM regarding Frematle closes can be viewed at:
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/news/fhm_closure.asp
The media release regarding closure of other sites can be viewed at:
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/news/new_opening_hours.asp
The Museums Australia WA media release is attached at the start of this Discussion.
The WA History Council has also put out a media release condemning this action. See attached document.
Any support you can offer or generate through your networks will be much appreciated. Letters to Ministers still seems to count for something!!!
Regards,
Jane King
Executive Officer, MA WA
Des Griffin said:Des Griffin said:Can you please point me to a statement by government about these changes. I had heard about them from Darryl MacIntyre who said he was making some representations (I thought).
I am extremely annoyed at the closure of the History Museum in Freemantle. Shifting WA history to the Maritime Museum will likely perpetuate the vision of WA history as mostly Dutch shipwrecks, a vision which Margaret Anderson and others (now emigrants unfortunately) did much to dispel. It is bizarre that governments can rabbit on about the importance of history and then close a history museum!
This is just another step in the ongoing diminution of museums in WA which has been taking place since the 1960's as independence and authority have been gradually removed from the Museum and appropriated to ArtsWA accompanied by greater bureaucratisation and intervention with no gain whatsoever in effectiveness let alone efficiency.
I'm sorry for this self indulgence but I have to say this. In the 1970's I used to go especially to Perth to visit people at WAM to gain intellectual stimulation. WAM was aplace of lively discussion and intemperant commentary on museum management and government nonsense, a place of intense interest in important issues concerning museums (with not as much involvement in history as I woudl like but never mind). Now look at it. It is like New Labour under Tony Blair! - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Dr Lise Summers on -
Hi Jane and all
I have just come from the highly successful History Council forum on the future of arts and culture in Western Australia. Around 150 people met at the Perth Town Hall to hear three speakers, Ted Snell (Arts), Carol Innes (Indigenous culture and the arts) and Geoff Bolton (Culture, history and heritage) speak about the role of culture and the arts in WA. Peter Holland was the chair of the panel. (And I came home to an article in the paper about lack of rehearsal space for the WASO.)
Ted Snell enlarged on his theme from the WAMA conference, about the centrality of arts and culture to a sense of place, community and to lifelong learning. Carol Innes took this theme and expanded on it as a personal journey and the integral role of indigenous art and culture in creating a strong and vibrant indigenous community. Finally, Geoff socked it to 'em with a pithy review of previous cultural spending, and a comparison between current WA expenditure and that of other states. These papers will be on the History Council website soon for those who are interested.
The forum agreed to a motion that the History Council work with other stakeholders to take a delegation to the Premier and the Minister, asking that they address immediate issues - such as the closure of the WA Museum and Art Gallery one day a week, lack of funding for basic arts and culture functions (like the Fremantle Museum, the Art Gallery and WAM libraries, staffing at SLWA, WAM, and SRO, etc), storage, preservation and collection development for the Museum of Childhood, Sports Museum and SRO - and that they develop a blueprint for the next 40 years, with a focus on the bicentenary of 2029. Individuals were asked to write, email or otherwise contact their own members of parliament to raise their concerns, too. It was pointed out that Ministers react to numbers, and many voices, so write now, and get all your friends to write too!
Lise Summers
History Council of WA
www.historycouncilwa.org.au
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