Curate Your Own Adventure

Conference

This morning was the final plenary for the conference, presented by Ben Quilty, and the official handing over of the conference to Canberra for 2020. Quilty touched on something significant that I believe we can all learn. That is, there is no shame in admitting there are things you don’t know and that you are still learning. It is far better to recognise your limitations and act on them rather than not care at all.

The conference has been a truly humbling experience. There is so much I will be taking away. Above all else will be the fact that I still have so much to learn. As soon as I get back to work I will be reading the Indigenous Roadmap and The University of Queensland’s Reconciliation Action Plan that was just recently launched. On top of this, I am going to ensure that I just listen, whenever I can.

I want to say a huge thank you to the conference organising committee, speakers, sponsors and everyone I’ve met along the way. I am unbelievably proud to be part of this industry – one that, on the whole, is willing to learn and grow. This industry is full of challenges and obstacles, but, I have never met a more dedicated group of individuals willing to face these head on. I am not sure at this stage if I will attend Canberra 2020, but, I am definitely going to be at Perth 2021 so see everyone in two years!

Megafauna Central

Megafauna Central, a branch of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, opened on 5 July 2018. It showcases the megafauna of Central Australia from Alcoota Scientific Reserve. Alcoota is a site containing numerous fossils from the late Miocene Epoch (8 million years ago) located approximately 150 km east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). What is most unusual is that over a 200 metre stretch around 3000 fossilised animals have been discovered. The exhibition asks questions such as ‘what brought all these creatures to the one spot and killed them?’ That question was taken from the official website accessible here.

The exhibition is small but filled to the brim with information. The introductory panel does a fantastic job setting the scene. Out of all the species discovered in Alcoota, fourteen have be classified as megafauna (a species where the adult weighs more than 45 kg). One thing I noticed about the signs is that right down the bottom there is a button you can press to hear the sign read in Arrernte (an Indigenous language from the region).

Here are some incredible highlights from the exhibition.

1. Getting the Dirt – a window into behind the scenes

I am a huge fan of allowing visitors who come into the museum, any museum, the opportunity to see what we do behind the scenes. In Megafauna Central, there is a window at the back that allows you to look into the lab where fossils are cleaned and maintained. There is a little step ladder available for small children to climb and see into the lab which is fantastic. Next to the window you can select to hear audio answering four questions: what is in this room, what is happening, what tools are being used and what happens next?

I really think that spaces like these develop trust and place more of the museum on display – a part that visitors don’t normally get to see. It can add to an understanding of the multiple roles in the museum and even show objects at various stages of conservation.

2. The Baru

After hearing the talk by Adam Yates on day 2 of the conference, I was particularly looking forward to seeing the Baru. It is incredible to think the skeleton has been 3D printed – it looks so real.

According to the label, the Baru could grow up to 4 metres long and weigh up to 800 kg. Just let that sit for a minute. Everything from its build to its skull indicate it was a predator to be feared, preying on other megafauna. Although it is yet to be granted an official name, Baru is a genus where similar species found in northern Australia belong.

3. Piecing the past together

This small display serves a similar function to the window into museum museum life, revealing the work of paleontologists. The thematic panel explains the role of a paleontologist, studying fossils and piecing together the past. The objects on display are very insightful, especially if you had no idea on entering the exhibition what the job might look like. If you think it’s all flashy high tech work, then you just have to see this picture to realise the work can be very low tech and labour intensive.

4. Interactive activities for kids (and kids at heart)

I have to admit I was a little worried when I first walked around the space and saw a table with colouring-in pictures for kids, and that was all. On my second lap around, I noticed the incredibly large room at the back of the exhibition space (I didn’t make promises that I am observant). Inside, are two mini excavation sandpits with hidden fossils and brushes. Considering the theme of the entire exhibition, I think these are great for engaging kids and also work really well with also engaging their parents/guardians. That feeling of discovery can be wonderful.

5. Dromornis stirtoni

If you start the exhibition by turning left and following the path, after the large-obvious-but-I-missed-it-the-first-time room you go around a corner and meet the Dromornis stirtoni. Or as I like to call it THE HUGE BIRD.

On display is a life-sized model made to the correct proportions. This was ascertained by examining the available bones. As the bones were from a male, this model is of an adult male. Honestly, it shocked me because of its sheer size. In front, there is a model of its egg which, I mean no surprises here, is also massive.

Towering behind the model is a cast of the skeleton. This animal could weigh up to 750 kg and is related to ducks and geese, not emus, which I originally thought. Fun fact, they were herbivores and swallowed stones to help digest food. There were some real bones in a case just next to the cast that are great to view.

6. What’s in a name?

Just a quick shout out to the panel titled ‘What’s in a name?’ It goes through how scientific names for animals are decided. As long as a name is unique and not overtly offensive to anyone, you are free to name a species what you wish. It was great to learn that trends in scientific naming now mean a lot more Indigenous languages are being incorporated.

7. Diprotodon

I am going to finish with the largest marsupial to ever have lived and one of the last Australian megafauna, only becoming extinct 42 000 years ago. The Diprotodon lived all over Australia from the top of the Northern Territory to the south of Victoria. The skeleton on display is a cast, created from fossils discovered in Lake Callabonna in South Australia. Sad story, animals would often wander into the lake looking for drinking water, get stuck in the sticky clay on the lake bed and die. The skeleton from which  this cast was made was the first complete skeleton of the species discovered.

Megafauna are fantastic creatures and Megafauna Central brings them all to the one place. The exhibition space feels modern, uncluttered and, although small, designed in a way that allows you to explore and see something hidden around every corner. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and treated myself to a couple of items at the gift shop.

Entrance to Megafauna Central is free. It is open seven days a week from 10 am to 4 pm except for Good Friday and between 25 December and 5 January this year/next year. It is an accessible museum and a great place to bring kids.

Well, I think my brain is so full of information it might actually burst. That’s a good indication of how today went at the conference. Everything from the first plenary to the last was just filled with important messages and questions to mull over. In this summary, I’m really going to try and do the day justice. If there are any comments or corrections, I strongly encourage you to leave a comment on this post. Ok, let’s begin.

9.00 am

This morning we had two fantastic plenary sessions. Both were so relevant to the overall theme of the conference with the latter being a significant event to have witnessed.

Our first speakers were Donna Oxenham and Jane Lydon from the University of Western Australia. Their talk, ‘Aboriginal photographic archives in museums and galleries: engaging heritage and culture’, focused on the Returning Photos Project. This involved five partnering institutions: The Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge), The Musée de Quai Branly (Paris), The Museum Volkenkunde (Netherlands) and The Berndt Museum of Anthropology (University of Western Australia [UWA]).

Essentially, the Project has paved the way for photographic repatriation from these collections to Indigenous communities. This can allow for gaps in knowledge to be filled and connections made to ancestors and, therefore, the past. To assist, UWA have created a website where Aboriginal community members can search for photographs of significance. It can be accessed here. There has also been a concerted effort to physically travel to communities and show them the photographs. Both Lydon and Oxenham highlighted some challenges that this project has raised including what happens to the photographs that remain unidentified?

It was a very interesting talk that really made me think about repatriation as not just concerning physical objects, but also, the digital.

9.45 am

The significant event I was referring to earlier was the launch of the 10-year Indigenous Roadmap! This has been such a momentous project led by Terri Janke and, of course, supported by a multitude of individuals. It sets out a plan to improve Indigenous engagement and employment in the sector highlighting five pathways: reimagining representation (acknowledging the value of Indigenous knowledge), embedding Indigenous values into museum and gallery business (Reconciliation Action Plans and Indigenous programming and interpretation), increasing Indigenous opportunity (increase employment and retention), two way caretaking of cultural material (access and management) and connecting with Indigenous communities (building trust and strengthening relationships). What I have included in brackets is only really the tip of the iceberg.

I strongly recommend reading this document. You can find more information here including a link to download the Roadmap. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project, in particular, Terri Janke. Next steps include circulating and discussing the Roadmap and developing implementation plans so targets and goals can be reached by 2029.

11.00 am

Time for the first concurrent sessions of the day and I was very excited to attend the Education Network Session.

First up to the microphone was Liz Suda and Isobel Morphy Walsh from the Melbourne Museum presenting on creating ‘more than just another excursion’. Their talk focused on how the museum can influence curriculum. This was an interesting slant to take as usually we are looking at how the museum can fit into the already prescribed curriculum and not actually influence its development. As they were looking for qualitative, not quantitative, data, the Museum worked closely with one school, developing a program that involved time for formal and informal learning. I have included a picture of the slide that outlines the conclusions from this study. I will also note that one very important takeaway from this presentation was provided by Isobel Morphy Walsh who emphasised how important it is to incorporate Indigenous objects and stories into these programs and not separate and treat them as ‘other’.

Next was Breann Fallon from the Sydney Jewish Museum exploring, amongst other things, the pedagogical approach applied when designing their Human Rights Education Program. The approach is termed reciprocal ‘isomorphic hermeneutic’ dialogue (Al-daraweesh and Snauwaert, 2013). When I first heard this phrase I immediately thought sorry, what? Fallon did an amazing job at breaking this concept down and exploring what it actually means. Basically, it takes Human Rights away from its own construct and considers equivalents or similarities on an individual level. Then, it zooms out to consider broader contexts. How this is achieved is through, for example, listening to a Holocaust survivor, to first look at the human experience without overarching politics etc. Then, students (and other individuals) can begin to see how human experience fits into the broader context.

Finally in this session was Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien (History Trust of South Australia) and Madelena Bendo (Migration Museum) looking at ‘whose truth?’ A complete absence of Indigenous communicators led the North Terrace Precinct Educators Group to call on the Indigenous community to tell their story. Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien presented a segment of this story in a very interactive way. This included providing everyone with a chatterbox that looks at four objects/symbols: The Letters Patent, Sister basket, Flag of South Australia and Common Seal. O’Brien stressed that you need to share stories because no one person has the capacity to know everything. For this reason, I have included a photograph of the chatterbox so you can read for yourself.

1.30 pm

I started the afternoon in the Historians Network Session ready to learn all about repatriation. It was a panel discussion and as the names of panel participants were not published I must apologise for not being able to provide all names.

Apart from the panel facilitator, Lyndall Ley, I believe participants included Chris Simpson, Jane Lydon and Shaun Angeles. Ley posed three difficult questions:

1. How do we apply the Ask First principle when we don’t know who to ask?
2. Whose responsibility is it to provenance the material?
3. What should happen to material with no provenance?

Here are some short answers to these questions:

1. If you are unsure where to start, then just start somewhere and see where conversations can lead you
2. Communities themselves are best placed to be able to undertake uncovering the provenance (they may, however, not have the resources available to achieve this)
3. I genuinely cannot remember if this question was answered or not as there was a great discussion on what should happen with materials in international institutions. Long story short, they should take some responsibility when it comes to trying to determine provenance. You should never underestimate the ignorance of these institutions when it comes to Indigenous culture and history. There is a need to educate which may result in the return of objects. It is estimated by AIATSIS (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) that around 75% of Indigenous material held in overseas institutions requires further research.

After this presentation I hopped over to the presentations in Ellery B. Corinne Estrada was second to speak in the session and the first I saw. Estrada presented on a few case studies looking at changes to visitor engagement. A personal highlight for me was an audio guide around the Van Gogh museum that played dance music to reflect the artwork on display. To paraphrase a slide in Estrada’s presentation, museums are becoming more social venues, more emotional than academic, more collective than individual, more universal than national and more digital than scientific. There is, therefore, a need for new ways to engage and offer cultural experiences with audiences at the centre.

The final talk in the session was Blake Griffiths from Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery who presented on FRESHbark, a collaborative project between the Gallery and emerging Indigenous artists. The outcome, not a perfect project (as stated by Griffiths), but, one that achieved incredible outcomes fostering a more enriched relationship between the Gallery and Indigenous community.

3.30 pm

The day finished on an absolute high. The best way to summarise Jacinta Koolmatrie and Jade Turner’s talk is to say that they spoke the truth. It was a really really powerful presentation. The two presenters started by telling the audience that their white male boss was going to come on the stage only when they had told their story. I didn’t tweet during this presentation, I just listened. Everything from representing Indigenous women in displays to personal experiences working in the museum were addressed. Honestly, this was exactly the kind of plenary I was hoping for when I signed up to this conference and I want to thank Jacinta Koolatrie and Jade Turner for delivering one of the best presentations of the conference.

5.00 pm

I cannot believe that tomorrow is the final day. One more plenary to go and then I’ll be exploring Megafauna Central.

What another fantastic day at the Australian Museums and Galleries Association Conference. I am truly grateful to be able to attend and listen to some incredible speakers from all over the country (and internationally). The good news is, there are still two days to go! As per usual, I will be writing this post to basically provide a summary of my day. Because literally so much happened, I am going to try my best to pick out some of the key points from all talks and spend longer on those that I feel left me with food for thought.

9.00 am

First speaker for the plenary this morning was Neil MacGregor who was the former Director of the British Museum and is now working with the Humboldt Forum. I won’t say a lot about this presentation because it skirted some of the most significant issues I wish had been addressed, i.e. Indigenous objects in the British Museum. There were a few interesting points raised including the role of the museum in reflecting and shaping identities. MacGregor also asked a lot of questions for the audience to contemplate. My favourite was, can museums be a place of atonement? I most definitely think museums need to engage in difficult conversations, but, I’ve never thought about whether or not museums can serve this specific function.

As well as identity, MacGregor raised issues of decolonisation. It would have been nice to have these related to an Australian context. I’m saying this primarily because it was a plenary presentation. Instead, MacGregor focused on case studies in Berlin, America, the United Kingdom and Palestine, to name a few.

11.30 am

Jumping straight ahead, past morning tea, to the Session 2E (CAUMAC Network session). CAUMAC stands for Council of Australian University Museums and Collections. It is such a shame that at this exact time there was a talk on disruption as a strategy. I really believe it should have been a plenary. Anyway, I was in this session because I was a presenter and wanted to support other university museums.

First in the session was Dr Barbara Rothermel visiting from the Daura Gallery at the University of Lynchburg, Virginia. There are a few statements I want to mention that were particularly relevant. The first is that university museums are central to the academic experience. Secondly, university museums should be inter-disciplinary and encourage their faculty to engage with others. I also completely agree with the fact that university museums are an indispensable component of a university’s mission. It was a pleasure listening to Dr Rothermel and hearing about all the wonderful collaborative exhibitions and projects that have either happened in the past or are currently underway at the Daura Gallery.

Next was my talk! I was a little nervous, but, mostly excited to speak about the Integrated Pathology Learning Centre (IPLC). It was a perfect opportunity to reveal our brand new statement of purpose. After a quick overview of who we are and what we do, I spoke about our three main audience groups – medical students, secondary school students and students from other University of Queensland disciplines. I looked at how each of these groups use our specimens to further their study of health and disease. For example, I outlined our secondary school program and how we have been able to incorporate public health campaigns when discussing certain specimens. Thank you to everyone who attended my talk.

After my talk, we heard from Dr Toner Stevenson who focused on partnerships between museums and universities. In particular, financial partnerships and how universities and museums can work together to achieve grants and deliver amazing outcomes.

1.30 pm

I’ve had my eye on this workshop session, facilitated by Sabine Doolin and Sally Manuireva and titled Tear up the Audience Rule Book, since the program was released. I was interested in seeing how the workshop would be structured.

To start, we learnt a little about how museums need to change their approaches to audience. With so much happening in the world around us, now is the time to stop and respond in order to remain relevant.

This was the context which sparked our first activity. As a group, we were given a pack of cards with a statement on one side, regarding audience, and a colour/theme on the other. We were told to read the statements and, as a group, decide whether or not we would hear them in our institution.

Statements included, our museum is for everyone, our stories are generally told from the museum’s perspective and our audience development mainly happens when we have a specific project. Our group had such a great discussion surrounding each of the cards. I was very interested in hearing how other institutions viewed their audience and what challenges they faced.

After we had decided whether the cards were a yes (we do hear this in our institution) or no (we do not hear this), we turned them over and saw the themes. They were: insight, intention, innovation, collaboration, inclusion, activation and impact. Basically, we had to see whether our yes and no piles had many of the same theme/colour or not. We ended up with quite a rainbow and decided that because we were all at different stages of audience engagement this made sense.

With this information, we then had to brainstorm what mindset is required to truly place the audience at the centre. We brainstormed the following words (it is much easier to provide them in a photograph then type them all out):

Finally, we had to write down a rule of audience engagement then tear it up! A really good one was that a museum audience can be everyone. Rip that up!

3.30 pm

To finish the day, our plenary presentations were by Keir Winesmith and Shaun Angeles.

Winesmith came to the stage with a great energy to talk about the museum and the future, specifically looking at technology. We learnt that the museum does not need an app. What we do need is a really engaging website. Around 90-100% of visitors will have looked at your website before visiting, so, make sure it is informative and accessible. I have been to too many websites where even finding opening hours is near impossible.

The most important thing I took away from this presentation was that sometimes, and for some people, there is a preference to play over a preference to read. I could not agree more. There are multiple exhibitions I have visited where I have enjoyed interacting and immersing myself in the exhibition through doing, rather than through reading. A perfect example is the American Writers Museum which had so many interactives that were directed at adults, not kids! Shock horror!

Our final speaker, Shaun Angeles, presented on the opportunities and challenges of digital collections, providing an incredibly valuable Indigenous perspective. Thank you Angeles for sharing some wonderful photographs from the Strehlow Research Centre collection and their stories. It is sensitive material with some images depicting private ceremonies. Through working with the collection, there has and continues to be this amazing transfer of ancestral knowledge between generations. Something that could only be achieved through the meaningful hiring of Indigenous staff.

5.30 pm

Tonight, there was the Museums and Galleries National Awards (MAGNA) and Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards (MAPDA). Congratulations to all the very well-deserved winners.

Until tomorrow.

 

Day 2 of the conference can be divided in half. In the morning we had the final regional, remote & community day(s) sessions. In the afternoon, the start of the official conference. Similar to the post from yesterday, I’m going to basically outline my day and share any highlights and insights. I do want to make it clear that this post will serve as a summary. For those who can’t make the conference, or for those who joined other concurrent sessions, I hope there is something in it for you. This also extends to all other conference posts.

9.00 am

This morning was the final plenary talk for the regional, remote and community day(s). Although technically one day, because it was spread over the afternoon of Monday and morning of Tuesday, I’ve used the (s). To start, we had a panel talk featuring Veronica Perrurle Dobson AM, Fiona Walsh, Daniel Featherstone, Clare Fisher and Kelly Lee Hickey. Each offered some incredible insights into what it means to be at the conference telling their stories about Mparntwe – Alice Springs.

There were a couple of highlight moments. The first was courtesy of Veronica Perrurle Dobson AM who used technology to overlay Indigenous cultural stories on today’s physical landscape. The yeperenye caterpillar were digitally placed on the map to help visualise their story and show the sacred sites. Dobson spoke about the significance of passing these stories on to the younger generation and keeping them safe in cultural institutions.

Another highlight, for me, was the talk presented by Clare Fisher, Manager of Library Services at the Alice Springs Public Library. To put things in perspective, this library welcomes over 500 visitors a day, that’s 15 000 a month. Around 42% of all Alice Springs residents are members. This is absolutely incredible. The range of programs and events on offer prove that this library is doing exactly what Fisher said, adapting and evolving. This includes, among many other things, offering family and youth programs and digital spaces. As Fisher said, you have to listen to your community, see what they want and reflect it back.

10.00 am

After the panel we heard from Mandy Paul who is the Director of the Migration Museum. With my historian cap on, I found this to be a very interesting talk that looked at how museums must engage with the complexity of the past and not simplify issues. We must acknowledge that museums are part of the colonial archive and work against this context to become more inclusive and reflexive. This means, for example, realising that source material you may need for an exhibition that covers an aspect of Australia might not be in English.

11.00 am

It is always difficult to choose between concurrent sessions. I decided to go with Session 3A because not only did it sound like a great group of talks, but, I also wanted to support a previous boss of mine, Bethany MacRae (shout out!).

There were three talks and I really just want to focus on one common theme that ran between the first two – that of challenges and learning from what doesn’t work. It is really refreshing at a conference like this to hear about what goes wrong.

The first speaker to address this theme was Fiona McFadyen from the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery who spoke about an artist-in-residence program that was a little testing. Support from the community was lacking as they were unsure of who the artist was and why they should offer support. In the end, the exhibition turned out great but it wasn’t without a lot of speed bumps along the way. For example, public programs weren’t well received and the traditional advertising routes that often work for the Gallery, all of a sudden weren’t attracting responses.

I really want to focus on the talk by Bethany MacRae who really spoke to this theme well. MacRae achieved this by comparing and contrasting two exhibitions – Living Hurstville and St George on a Sunday. In the former, the Hurstville Museum & Gallery staff tried to remain in control of the project from start to finish. Just briefly, the project was to interview and photograph residents who live in the Georges River Council. Museum & Gallery staff controlled the schedule for photography, who was the photographer and all the administration and paperwork associated. Although this did mean they knew exactly what stage the project was up to, it was a lot of time and energy.

In the latter project, the Museum & Gallery teamed up with TAFE, allowing students to take some of that control and, for example, photograph participants and work out a suitable schedule. Unlike the former, the focus of this exhibition was more on the leisure activities of those living in the Georges River Council. While both posed their own challenges, such as the photographer from council not always being available and TAFE restructures and re-scheduling, there were some pretty important overall lessons learnt. My favourite was that administration is inevitable and that you must remain as flexible as possible with a project starting collaboration as early as possible.

I really want to say a huge thank you to speakers who are boldly going into challenges they have faced.

1.30 pm

The start of the official national conference. After a beautiful Welcome to Country, we had our first plenary by Matthew Pinta Tjapangati, Luke Scholes and Bobby West Tjupurrula. They spoke on the exhibition Tjungunutja: from having come together that was curated in 2017 and displays Papunya artworks. It is now on display at The Galleries in the Araluen Arts Centre. In total, there are over 80 works that reflect the significance of the Western Desert art movement.

3.30 pm

This time, and for me, it was an easy choice which concurrent session to attend. The lightning sessions are a fantastic way to hear a little about a lot. Here are all the presenters and what they had to discuss:

1. Tracey Avery – Arts & Heritage Consultant

The first speaker looked at a serious of climate change adaptation plans and realised that cultural institutions are not included. Avery argued that we need to make a list of what is significant in our collections, nationally, and how these objects can be protected from climate change.

2. Adam Yates – Senior Curator of Earth Science (Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory)

I was especially looking forward to this talk because it had the word Megafauna in the title. In this presentation on reconstructing Baru, a million year old crocodile, Yates explored how 3D printing could be utilised to create a skeleton. This did mean using 6 machines non-stop over 3 months to meet the printing goals. I am hoping to find time and visit the 3D printed skeleton at Megafauna Central.

3. Emma Williams – Curator (Albury Library Museum)

Emma Williams explored how to curate from a private collection. In this instance, an exhibition based on a collection of Charlie Chaplin memorabilia.

4. Yael Filipovic – Public Engagement Manager (Museum of Contemporary Art)

Yael Filipovic presented six ways in which museums can spark difficult conversations. This is through starting with the art as a point of discussion, creating a safe space, using different formats to spark conversations (i.e. workshops, programs), ensuring space is set aside for the unplanned, include voices that aren’t usually in the conversation, and have fun.

5. Michael Rampe – Senior Learning Designer (Australian History Museum)

This was an amazing presentation looking at how digital technology can be used at heritage sites. One particular case study, on the Macquarie Lighthouse, had objects scanned from the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences that were originally in the lighthouse. They were then added back to the lighthouse digitally and could be seen through an AR experience.

6. Sarah Ozolins – Head of International and Domestic Engagement (National Museum of Australia)

It was at this stage I could feel my eyes getting heavier and heavier. So much information in one day! Ozolins spoke on the absolutely extensive international touring program of the National Museum. Not just exhibition touring, but, running public and education programs. I cannot believe the reach with around 50 countries having received an exhibition from the National Museum.

7. Sarah Reeves – Assistant Curator (Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences)

Sarah Reeves spoke on the Inside the Collection blog and how it has been transformed and regenerated. Reeves shared ways in which you can re-evaluate your museum blog including promoting it on social media, improving wayfinding online, increasing staff contribution, implementing a regular post schedule and re-visiting content.

8. Caddie Brain

Our final speaker for the session is behind the creation of the Darwin Audio Tour. If you are ever in Darwin (or even somewhere else wanting to hear the history and sounds of Darwin) download the app and enjoy the tour.

5.30 pm

To finish the day, we all gathered for a Smoking Ceremony and the welcome reception.

I am greatly looking forward to the program tomorrow and having the opportunity to speak at my first Australian Museums and Galleries Association Conference!