Moving a Museum: How to project manage moving a museum.
Wellington Museum at the Old Police Station, corner of Percy and Maughan Streets, Wellington NSW.
I have had the pleasure of acting as Museum Advisor for the Wellington Museum for the past 18 months. The role has been rewarding, engaging and varied over the course of the visits. Some highlights include developing and running workshops, guiding the volunteers on collection care, taking part in discussions with council and moving the Museum.
Original museum site at the Bank of NSW building - built in 1883
Moving the Wellington Museum was a difficult decision to make.
The museum had operated out of the Bank of NSW building since the 1960’s and many volunteers felt connected to the site. However the building was in a state of decline, access was limited, space was at a premium and an opportunity was presented to move to the newly renovated Old Police Station.
The decision was difficult and consultation with committee members and Council occurred over many occasions. However, in mid 2021 the Wellington Museum committee confirmed that they would move to the new location.
So the moving plans began with my assistance in assessing the new site, designing the exhibition space, selecting objects and discussing the stories that were to be shared.
While the Old Police Station building had recently been renovated it was not set up as a museum. So the committee members and myself made lists of further improvements - such as installing tracking to hang works of art, installation of blinds to prevent light damage, and ensuring pest inspection and prevention measures were in place.
Volunteers constructing new display cases
Displays in progress at the new museum
Displays in progress at Wellington Museum
Tradition Chinese clothing on display in the original museum
While the building was being prepared I worked with the committee on selecting objects for display. The new space was substantially smaller and we needed to review how and what was chosen to display.
The committee and I discussed the stories that are important to the town of Wellington and the objects that tell these stories. We selected objects based on these themes and began to lay out how the exhibition would flow.
Many objects in the museum had been on display for many years. So this was an opportunity to delve into the store and discover new objects that tell old stories.
It was important to ensure that objects that are vulnerable to environmental conditions such as temperature, relative humidity and light were not continued to be displayed.
The Wellington Museum has a substantial Chinese textile collection and therefore this was the perfect opportunity to select new examples of traditional Chinese outfits to display in the new exhibition.
Chinese rice grinder prior to the museum move
Significant Chinese rice grinder repositioned in the museum
The new museum at the Old Police Station has provided the opportunity to re -interpret some of the stories. Volunteers worked with external experts to uncover more layers to the Chinese history in the town and different perspectives on the history of businesses in town. These are represented in the various exhibits and displays within the museum.
Interpretation panels and signs are still a work in progress and with support from Dubbo Regional Council these will hopefully be finalised soon.
Workshop with current and future members of the Wellington Museum committee on handling, cleaning of collections and packing
Cleaning the animals from the wooden ark toy collection
The move also provided the opportunity to run some training sessions for the current and future members of the committee on handling, cleaning of collections and packing. This was a lively workshop with attendees from Wellington and Dubbo learning new skills.
The volunteers have worked tirelessly, and they have learnt many new skills along the way. The physical move of the collections, the selection and cleaning of objects, packing and unpacking, and construction of display cases has been an enormous task for a small group of volunteers. They have achieved an amazing result.
There is still work to be done but I am delighted to share that -
