Discuss the WA State Conference HERE

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Permalink Reply by Admin@MuseumsWA on October 11, 2009 at 3:04pm

Well I hope everyone enjoyed themselves at the conference.
Thakyou to everyone involved with the organising from Christen and the Conference Working Party; Philippa, Natalie and the staff of the City of Wanneroo, the sponsors, the caterers, and of course the MA staff: Rosemary, Suzanne, Anne, Jenna and the UWA interns, Catherine, Natasha and Cheryl.
But most importantly, thankyou to all the speakers and delagates whose participation and contributions made this an outstanding conference.

We will be posting more feedback from the Confernce over the next few weeks so stay tuned. Meanwhile check out some of the photos.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Willet on October 12, 2009 at 2:25pm

Greetings Everyone,

What a great success the conference was! I enjoyed catching up with many "old" faces and meeting of new ones. It is hard to pick out what I enjoyed most but a couple of speakers that stood out for me were - Kate Gregory's talk was thought provoking and Richard Walley's talk hit me right in the chest. On Saturday morning Natalie drove the bus (good old Nat - she was a great driver and tour operator) on our Wanneroo tour which was a lot of fun. Morning tea at Strawberry Fields was yummy.

Thankyou to Jane and the team at MAWA for all their hard work!

Warmest regards to you all, Tracy
Mount Flora Regional Museum
City of Stirling

.

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Permalink Reply by Joanne Hyland on October 12, 2009 at 4:03pm

To Jane and all the girls at MA WA plus all members of the organising committee - Congratulations!!
The conference was well-run, exciting and inspiring, oh and exhausting!!! This time last year I remember being inspired to get moving onto all sorts of new ideas for planning MAP workshops and training and this year's conference has made an even greater impact on me.

I was particularly moved by the Friday morning session with our exceptional presenters on current and future Indigenous projects and so emotionally moved by Richard Walley's address that I could not have spoken a word if I had wanted to ask a question afterwards. It was a wonderful experience to hear Richard's philosophical view based on energies and I found it inspiring, emotive and extremely powerful imagery.

Well done for providing such a broad range of inspirational speakers. It was great to hear of the project to put computers and scanners into all the public libraries in the state to encourage local community participation in local history studies; the SWALSC Noongar Cultural Heritage database has terrific potential and possibilities and the Northbridge History Project and Canning Stock Route Projects are fantastic examples of what can be achieved to produce outstanding results on minimal resources.

I loved every minute of the conference including the excellent catering!! I also enjoyed the chance to explore and try out the new Wanneroo Cultural Centre - it is an excellent facility! My three things will start with my MA membership, long overdue, will continue with taking inspirational ideas and working them into future training workshops for MAP and not stopping there I hope to pass on to the National Standards Taskforce the success of the format used for the panel discussion on Significance and National Standards to be followed at next year's National MA conference in Melbourne.

Thank you all for your untiring efforts to make our conference stimulating and highly relevant, challenging and rewarding.

Kind Regards

Jo Hyland

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Permalink Reply by Ian Wilson on October 12, 2009 at 10:41pm

Thanks to Jane and the MAWA team. A very enjoyable few days in the big smoke - inspiring! Fantastic venue (thanks to our hosts the City of Wanneroo and its enthusiastic staff). Have I mentioned the food - great stuff. Thanks to Irene for an enjoyable stay in country. A very well run and organised conference - Congratulations to all concerned.

Presenters were great, mix and professionalism was excellent. I'll continue to practice Richard Walley's party tricks. His presentation was inspiring. Some fantastic projects being developed including Noongar Cultural Heritage database, Our Page in History, Voiceprints (and similar) and the Northbridge Project nearing completion - being ideas for similar projects that are achievable and can be undertaken in the local area without necessarily being resource hungry. If I was to pick three sessions as stand out, they would be (in no particular order of course) - Responding to the apology; New technology - digitisation; and case study of the new Wanneroo museum - all very relevant to where I'm at now. The past is important but has gone, learn from it, cherish the now before embarking on a journey into new areas (thanks Richard for the inspiration).

Great networking opportunities - thanks to the other delegates for sharing the time. I consider these contacts are just as important as the presentations.

Some goals for the next twelve months - work up my copious notes from the conference into something meaningful to reflect on, learn from and assist me in the future; Significance and National Standards; continue to undertake meaningful communication with the local Shire; and master the Richard Walley party tricks.

Again a big thank you to the conference organisers and our hosts for a stimulating and inspiring conference. A highly relevant few days which should continue to provide direction and reward as I continue to deal with the challenges at the local level. To the other delegates - thanyou for becoming my extended family.

Regards

Ian Wilson

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Permalink Reply by Leigh O'Brien on October 19, 2009 at 2:59pm

Congratulations on another great conference - it was also a wonderful opportunity to experience the new converged (or co-located?) facility at Wanneroo with collecting sector colleagues.
The three main things that I take away as inspiration:
1. To strive to uphold best-practice standards - well done Wanneroo
2. Explore digital technologies for exhibitions and programs
3. Think about 2011 national conference - Interpretation Association Australia conference will also be in Perth that year - there are sure to be opportunities for collaborative events/tours/presentations.

Leigh O'Brien

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