Museum Development Officer Network

This paper was delivered by Dr Dan Robinson, Director, Cultural Heritage, Queensland Museum at the MAQ State Conference, 15-16 September 2001, Cairns

Background to initiation of the Network

The Queensland Museum initiated its outreach to community museums in 1978, with a workshop at the Museum, linked to publication of the modest booklet The Small Museum. Subsequently we convinced the State Government to make funds available for grants to community museums, starting in 1982-3, when we contacted about 90 known museums in Queensland. The Queensland Museum administered the grants program until 1996, when it was taken over by Arts Queensland, who, as you know, continue with responsibility for museum grants. There are now well over three hundred groups with museum interests on the contact list.

The Queensland Museum followed the initial workshop in 1978 with a range of short workshops that continue today. In 1992 we published a more ambitious guide for community museums, A Manual for Small Museums & Keeping Places, edited by Richard Robins.

Apart form these Museum based activities, from 1986 to 1996, I was the Queensland Museum officer with, as one of my responsibilities, travel to visit community museums and provide some on the spot advice.

During that period the Museum raised with Government the possibility of securing funds for additional dedicated travelling museum advisers, particularly looking at the remedial conservation needs of community museums. Unfortunately our request was not successful.

We recognised that the emerging power of Arts Queensland might yield more positive results, and that led to a considerable Queensland Museum input into the deliberations leading to the publication by Arts Queensland of Hidden Heritage in 1995.