Royal Australian Historical Society mentioned in NSW Parliament

Royal Australian Historical Society 
mentioned in NSW Parliament

Hansard online, the official record of the proceedings of The Parliament of New South Wales, contains details of commendations made to the RAHS and recipients of the Arts NSW Cultural Grants for 2015, by The Hon. David Clarke, MLC, Parliamentary Secretary for Justice on 11 November 2015, who presented grants winners with their certficates at the RAHS Conference in October. Click here to visit the Hansard website and read full details.




From L to R: Colleen O’Sullivan - Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum; Benita Parker - Karuah Working Together; Max Farley - Wyong District Museum and Historical Society; Carol Roberts - Kurrajong Comleroy Historical Society; Lorraine Neate - Illawarra Historical Society; The Hon. David John Clarke, LL B (Syd) MLC, Parliamentary Secretary for Justice; Peter Gissing - Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society; Lola Cormie - Narrabri and District Historical Society; Paul Convy - Randwick and District Historical Society; Angus McKernan – NSW Australian Football History Society; Max Rogers - Berrima District Historical and Family History Society; Vicki Stanton – Australian Golf Heritage Society. [Photograph Chris Maxworthy]

Workshop - Museum security

Ref: Elaine Kaldy, President, Central Tablelands Chapter of Museums Australia

Central Arts Support Program - 2014 winners

In co-ordination with Arts NSW and the NSW Government, Regional Arts NSW is delighted to announce the successful funding applicants of the Country Arts Support Program (CASP) for 2014.

Local winners include:

Women's Hub Rylstone/Kandos - $2,997 for their Project 'Eight Lights' which will be a puppet lantern making, electronis and performance workshop for girls aged between 10 and 14 living in Kandos.

Lyndhurst sub-branch RSL - $1,500 for their Project 'A Tribute on canvas to those who Served from the Carcoar district' which will involve the community of Carcoar, both children and adults

Read more

Kandos Museum - $12,000 grant

Article in Mudgee Guardian 31/5/13

With the Aboriginal Heritage Grant the Mid-Western Council has just received, the Kandos Museum 
will be able to put together a Dabee Travelling Cultural History Exhibition.

By LAUREN STANFORD
 
    The Kandos Museum received a $12,000 Aboriginal Heritage Grant last week that will enable them to develop a Dabee Travelling Cultural History Exhibition in partnership with the Aboriginal people of Kandos.

    "The grant will help us with site identification, the building of the travelling exhibit on the Dabee people and the creation of a small introductory exhibition at the Kandos Museum,” Colin Jones, Curator at the Kandos Museum said.

    "The project is about recognising family ancestors of the Dabee people. The exhibition itself will identify individual North-Eastern Wiradjuri people and their ancestors that contributed to the creation on Kandos and the culture in the region today," Mr Jones said.

    Lyn Syme, Native Title Cultural Heritage Officer at Moolarben Coal, was instrumental in getting the exhibition off the ground. Ms Syme put forward the initial $12,000 and it was with that money the Kandos Museum was able to apply for the "dollar-for-dollar" Aboriginal Heritage Grant.

    The exhibition will travel around to schools, other museums and cultural centres in order to educate people on the historic significance of the Dabee people in the local area.

    "In the local area, people are under the assumption that there are not any Dabee people left anymore. This exhibition will help show them that this assumption is not at all true,” Ms Syme said.

    The exhibition will include photographs, stories and artefacts and will also include information about the descendants of these Dabee ancestors who were a large part of the Kandos area. Member for Orange Andrew Gee said the grant was one of nine Aboriginal Heritage Grants that were announced by the Minister for Environment, Robyn Parker.

    "I am sure the proposed project will provide a valuable history of the Wiradjuii and Dabee people in the region," he said.

    The grant is part of the NSW Heritage Grants program that provides grants to help bring state and local heritage buildings and places back to life, fund emergency repairs and care for Aboriginal places.

Significance Statement Writing Workshop - Kandos Museum

 

  

Significance 2.0: a guide to assessing the significance of collections builds on the solid foundation laid by the first edition of Significance (2001) in defining an adaptable method for determining significance across all collections in Australia. Those who have been guided by this ‘significance method’ since 2001 report that this has translated into better decision-making about their collections in areas like preservation, physical and digital access, and funding support. 

This guide, Significance 2.0 can be viewed/downloaded here.

Powerhouse Museum Movable Heritage Fellow for 2013 - Leanne Wicks from Kandos

Miners hard hat, 1947, Kandos

Coming up with an idea for a research project was not difficult for me living on the edge of the Western coalfield of NSW.  Evidence of Kandos’ past reliance on the winning of coal doesn’t take much digging.  

With superior Kandos cement from kilns heated with Kandos coal contributing to the concrete footings and pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, no wonder it stands strong after 80 years.  Evidence of the region’s present reliance on coal is also easy to find with many coal mines dotting the landscape.  

Fascinated by the objects in the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum that came from the Kandos Collieries located within a kilometre of the back door, I want to tell the story of the many men who have mined this black treasure from 1913 to 2001.  Having grown up with green coloured glasses, I’m enjoying the challenge of respecting the history of coal-mining, researching the facts about this industry and recoiling at what some mines are doing to the land.  

Battery Locomotive used in Kandos No.2 Colliery to hail out skips

In just the same way as you always see the same type of car that you’ve just purchased, but never really noticed that model before, I am finding coal everywhere.  From statues of miners in Lithgow to 1936 maps of NSW minerals in my late grandfather’s books.  Being a city girl, I have not grown up with any sort of wood heating and cannot share in people’s memories of the smell of coal, but I am a poet and there’s plenty of coal miner’s poetry to be found in Kandos.  There must be some time for musing underground.  And before you think that coal references can be boring, even Alfred, Lord Tennyson describes the amazing knight, Sir Lancelot:

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow’d;
On burnish’d hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow’d
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.

So with images of burnished war horses and shining armour, I find myself delighting in rusty locomotives and duperite helmets.  My Movable Heritage Fellowship project involves researching and creating object files, with significance statements and also creating an exhibition from the colliery items in the Kandos Museum.  This month’s job is to locate every colliery object and find some coal miners to help me understand what the objects did and how they work. 

Written by Leanne Wicks, Kandos

Ref: Powerhouse Museum

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.

Cementa festival, 1-4 Feb 2013

"The thing about the Cementa festival was that it was in and was about Kandos.
Putting Kandos up there with the rest of the world."

(Fiona MacDonald)

For lots of photos go to:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Happy viewing.

Sculpture in and around Rylstone-Kandos

VISION

The long-term goal of the Rylstone Sculptures Inc is to oversee multiple and diverse installations of permanent and site-specific of sculpture along the banks of the Cudgegong River at Rylstone and in and around the environs of Rylstone and Kandos. An already existing footpath winds it way along part of the riverbank, and passes through part of the iconic Rylstone Showground. Works of the highest artistic calibre will be sought to enrich the towns to create an exciting collection of sculpture for the region. The collection will understandably be assembled over many years; it should become a long term element of the culture of Rylstone and Kandos

To bring attention to this goal, and to stimulate community appreciation for public sculpture, an exhibition of sculptural works will again be displayed over two days at the annual Rylstone-Kandos Agricultural Show, on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23^rd of February 2013 at Rylstone Showground. The Agricultural Show attracts more than 3000 visitors.

The 2012 SCULPTURES ON THE HILL was enthusiastically received. Kent Buchanan Curator of Dubbo Cultural Centre opened the exhibition with some thoughts about what he thinks he learnt by growing up the country (in his case Dubbo).  “Living in the country taught me how to hunt, I had to explore and find the things I was interested in”. Over time he came to realise that ‘Living in the country’ gives artists the opportunity to be both connected to the land and to express emotion in their physical work; so that they can be an intersection of understanding.

“Art offers the opportunity for reflection. A Gallery or Museum is a shelter from commerce, a space outside of the normal world in which we can stop and ruminate on beauty, ideas, feelings without an outside agenda; it is just you and the artwork. Similarly it creates conversations; dialogue between opposites and similar”. In this way a healthy balance is created that nourishes the sense of self.
Sculptures on The Hill is as much an expression of this as any bricks and mortar gallery and demonstrates “the care and love for the built environment is evident and is an acknowledgment of the continuation of culture and heritage breathing life into the soul of Rylstone.”

See http://www.rylstonesculptures.wordpress.com/

20th Century Heritage Society Regional Tour

Mudgee and district is one of NSW’s best-kept secrets – less than 4 hours from Sydney, rich in natural beauty,

Enjoy an introduction to some of its and district neighbours Kandos and Gulgong’s delights: architectural, landscape and gastronomic.

The Society’s President Dr Roy Lumby – together with local experts Colleen O’Sullivan, John Broadley, Barbara Hickson and David Mort – will open gates and doors not usually open to the public.

Kandos is an entirely 20th century town built for and from cement. Gulgong was a major gold strike site and home to poet Henry Lawson.

Meet some key local identities such as the retailing dynasty the Loneragan family, whose houses and gardens in town and country we will sample.
 

Learn about local architect Harold Hardwick, who was prolific through the Federation era, leaving a legacy of buildings.
 

Don’t miss the work of landscape designer Paul Sorensen, and nurseryman and garden designer, Walter Hazlewood, working in the country.
 

The weekend programme includes a gala dinner with two short talks on 20th century heritage in Mudgee and cinemas in country towns. Not to be missed!

Read more in the brochure

Powerhouse Museum Regional Services 2012 Program

Please click on text to enlarge,

Kandos Collection Management Workshop

To Everyone who attended the Kandos Collection Management Workshop,

Thank you so much for your time on Saturday.  It was lovely to meet you all and we found the workshop to be both rewarding and stimulating. 

We found the discussion of museum methods in the regional context was extremely thought provoking and has provided useful input for planning future regional programs.

On our return to the Powerhouse we have found out where to purchase supplies of paraloid used for physically numbering objects.  Our Conservation Department do not sell the products but say that Preservation Australia does. Their website is: http://www.preservationaustralia.com.au/.  The advice is to Look under adhesives: Products :Adhesives :Numbering kit - Both Paraloid B72 and B67, Price: 2 x 15ml $25.00.

The other common request was to see a full copy of our Deaccession policy.  We have provided it as an attachment.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Many thanks


Judy Coombes
Manager, Registration
92170225

Nicky Balmer
Assistant Registrar
92170117

Collection Management Workshop

Saturday, 17^th September 2011 to be held at the Kandos Bicentennial Museum

The Central Tablelands Chapter of Museums Australia NSW in conjunction with the Mid-Western Regional Council will be conducting a Project Day - 9.30am to 3.30pm. 

This workshop will be on ‘Collection Management’ and presented by a representative from the Powerhouse Museum.  The workshop is free to all financial members of the Chapter.

Cost for lunch and morning tea is $15.00 payable on the day.  

Please register your attendance to the Secretary, John Broadley by Friday, 9^th September 2011,  02.6372 3365 or 0429 708 218 or jb@johnbroadleyheritage.com

Esme Martens: making history in local government

On the ASHET weekend tour to Glen Davis, Kandos and Rylstone earlier this year we met Esme Martens, President of the Kandos Museum Committee. Esme has made history as a woman engineer in Australian local government over a career of so far 47 years and still going.

In her engineering course at the University of Queensland Esme was the only woman among 600 male students. When she graduated in 1962 in Civil Engineering in 1962 it was some time before she was able to find a position as an engineer but eventually fond one with the Department of Main Roads where a part of her duties was considered to be making tea for the male staff. She was soon appointed foreman of a construction crew in central Queensland constructing culverts and doing road work. Seeing little future with main Roads, she moved to New South Wales to work as an engineer with the Tweed Shire in Murwillumbah.

At the age of 27 she was appointed Shire Engineer of Woodburn Shire at Coraki, the first woman to be appointed to a Shire Engineer position in Australia. The Town Clerk told the Council they had gone stark raving mad appointing a woman. A few years later after the Town Clerk’s wife died and he had retired he married the young Shire Engineer. The position of Shire engineer at Woodburn disappeared with amalgamation of the shire and rather than accept a position as deputy in the amalgamated shire, Esme found a Shire Engineer position at Rylstone which she held for 18 years.

She took a leading part in community affairs and was Chairman of the Rylstone Hospital Board for many years. She was honoured with an AM and nominated a bicentennial woman of the year in 1988. Over the years Esme has continued to study and has earned a degree in economics a diploma in front line management and a university certificate in construction management.

Now retired from engineering, she runs the farm at Running Stream since her partner died in 2006. She was elected to the Mid Western Regional Council based in Mudgee in 2006 and re-elected in 2008.

Source:  Newsletter of the Australian Society for History of Engineering and Technology, July 2911