Extension - History Week 2013

Extension - History Week 2013

Don’t miss the train! The deadline for applying to participate in History Week 2013 has been extended to Friday 19 April 2013. If you haven’t already planned an event, registered to speak or host a talk on “Picture This”, don’t miss the opportunity – jump on board!
For more information on how you can participate visit our website.

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Grant to discover history of mining

Kandos Museum volunteer Leanne Wicks has won a $5000 fellowship to research the history of coal mining in the Kandos area.

Each year, the Powerhouse Museum awards the Movable Heritage Fellowship to one tertiary student in Australia to work with a community museum on a research project.

Ms Wicks, who is working towards a postgraduate diploma in Museum Studies, is only the second Macquarie University student to be awarded the year-long fellowship, which includes a week’s internship at the Powerhouse Museum.

Ms Wicks began thinking about the region’s mining history when Bylong Public School had an excursion to the museum to learn about coal.

Her own background lies on the environmental side of the coal question, but she acknowledged that without the coal in the mountain, there would have been no cement works and so no Kandos.

After seeing the rehabilitation work done by Environment and Community Officer Matt Gray at Charbon Colliery, she realised there were positive aspects to the other side of the story that she didn’t know about.

Through her fellowship, Ms Wicks will record details of the museum’s coal industry artefacts and assess their historical significance.

So far, she has identified around 50 objects from the three separate collieries that serviced the Kandos cement works, ranging from the large coal loader in the museum yard down to an old cloth hat with a metal front to hold a candle.

Research suggests that coal was mined from the area that would become Kandos as far back as 1890, and well before the establishment of the cement works and the town.

The coal in the mountain was one of the qualities that made the area attractive for industry, with a steelworks proposed before the cement works eventually claimed the site.

Ms Wicks said the Kandos colliery was seen as a model mine for the rest of the country to follow, pioneering technology such as Australia’s first continuous miner, which scraped coal from the seam and dumps it into a container.

She said photos showed the progression of mining, from shovels, picks and pit ponies at the founding of the cement works in 1913, to the rail system and later conveyer belts.

“We’ve got this wonderful progression of technology in one mountain, so that fascinated me,” Ms Wicks said.

She hopes to organise a day on which she would invite people to visit the museum and share stories of coal mining in the Kandos area, or allow her to see and document any mining artefacts they have.

When the coal-related items in the collection have been assessed, Ms Wicks hopes to exhibit them in the museum’s new gallery space.

Ms Wicks said she was inspired by American museum consultant Elaine Gurian’s description of museums as “safe places for unsafe ideas”, making an exhibition in the Kandos Museum the ideal location for the controversial conversation about coal mining.

Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum

Attendees at the workshop on Collection Assessment  L to R Christine Hassall, Christine McMillan, Ann Finegan, (Margot Jolly - consultant), Marie Ford, Councillor Esme Martens, Denise Jamieson and Margaret Butler.

Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum is excited to announce that its reformed S355 Council Committee is dedicated to seeking new ways for the community to enjoy the museum. Plans are underway for the new gallery space to be used for workshops, travelling exhibitions and community meetings.

November this year will mark the 25th anniversary of Kandos Museum and an opening night event is planned to celebrate this and the new exhibitions that have been developed and constructed during the past two years.

A $6,000 grant was obtained by the committee from Museums & Galleries NSW to engage museum consultant, Margot Jolly, to lead the museum in an assessment of significance of the collection. 

A workshop was held on Saturday 9th March where 15 attendees from Kandos Museum, Gulgong Pioneers Museum and Rylstone District Historical Society began the process. 

 The next stage is for the most important or iconic items in the collection to be identified and their stories written down. Anyone who has knowledge about objects in the collection that are critical in telling the story of Kandos are invited to attend the museum at 22 Buchanan Street on Tuesday 2nd April 1 - 5pm or Wednesday 3rd April 9am - 1pm to participate. If you cannot make it on these days, please write down your stories of objects and drop them into the museum letterbox or email kandos.museum@bigpond.com.

RAHS - Calendar of Events - Autumn 2013

See details of all events

Hill End books

Museums & Galleries NSW - Funding & Prizes

Mentorship, Fellowship and Placements
2013 round now open!

 With a Mentorship or Fellowship, paid museum and gallery staff can travel interstate or overseas, get a fresh perspective and build new industry contacts. The grants cover costs associated with travel, accommodation and incidentals.

The Volunteer Placement provides volunteers with an opportunity to extend their knowledge, enhance their skills and increase their networks through access to the resources and staff of larger or specialised cultural organisations.

Closing: Friday 19 April 2013
More: mgnsw.org.au/grants/mentorships_fellowships_and_placements

This is an Arts NSW devolved funding program administered by Museums & Galleries NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.

Volunteer Initiated Museum grants (VIM)
Now open for 2013!

If your volunteer run museum requires funding for projects addressing skill development, operational planning and forward planning then consider applying for a VIM grant.

 
More: mgnsw.org.au/grants/museum_grants

 
This is an Arts NSW devolved funding program administered by Museums & Galleries NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.
 

Your Community Heritage grants
Now open for applications

 Grants up to $500,000 are available to help community groups to conserve and protect Australia’s nationally significant historic sites, undertake natural disaster recovery and mitigation activities relating to historic heritage places, honour eminent Australians who have made a significant contribution to our nation, assist communities tell their heritage stories and enhance community engagement in heritage through celebrations and events.

Closing: Thursday 21 March 2013
More: www.environment.gov.au/heritage/programs


Residency for artists living in regional NSW

Artspace is a leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo fronting Sydney Harbour. Operating four on-site residential studios, six non-residential work spaces and an Open Studio program, as well as exhibition program Artspace is the key hub of the contemporary art community in Sydney, fostering dialogue between local artists, writers and curators and their national and international counterparts. This residency opportunity will provide an artist from regional NSW with a unique professional development opportunity.  The successful applicant will be provided with costs for return travel, residential studio accommodation, a living allowance and support towards production costs. The residency will take place October - December 2013. Applications are invited from professional visual artists resident in regional New South Wales and working in any medium.  

Closing: Friday 3 May 2013
More: www.artspace.org.au/about_news

The Crossing Bicentenary – History Council NSW call for registrations

The year 2013 marks the bicentenary of the first acknowledged crossing of the Blue Mountains by European settlers. The crossing was made by Gregory Blaxland; William Lawson; William Charles Wentworth; a local guide; three convict servants; four pack horses and five dogs in May 1813. After three weeks of trekking through the scrub the party reached Mount Blaxland seeing an expanse of potential farming land below. The crossing is considered significant as it led to the opening up of the western plains of NSW to settlement.

Marketing and Publicity

The HCNSW will be running a year long marketing and publicity campaign to encourage and promote community engagement in the bicentenary through locally arranged events. The following benefits will be offered to participants:
• an easy to use registration system;
• each event has a dedicated page with space for an image;
• events are published on our home page;
• the HCNSW stamp of approval;
• inclusion in an overarching professional publicity campaign.
Promote your work to new audiences. The ongoing vitality of the history sector depends on an engaged and appreciative community.
The HCNSW will also host a one day seminar to be held in May 2013.
To list your event or for more information visit the History Council NSW website.
Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

The Crossing Bicentenary – History Council NSW call for registrations

Also of interest:

• ‘Remembering the Women’ – The wives of soldier settlers in New South Wales after World War One
• Can you Spot the Difference? [Sydney Harbour Bridge]
• Staff Pick : Soldiering in the late 19th Century