Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognit ....Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognitive and affective levels. With the rise of antisemitism, Islamophobia and political extremism in Australia and abroad prompting policy initiatives in which cultural institutions are characterised as agents of social change, maximising the long-term educational benefits of these programs is imperative.Read moreRead less
Family and Working Life in the North Eastern Goldfields: A Social History of Gwalia and Leonora (WA), 1890-1990. This project aims to supplement and use the results of a recent collection of oral history recordings along with rich documentary evidence and photographs to produce the first academic histories of the multi-cultural mining settlements of Gwalia and Leonora in the north-eastern goldfields of WA.These historical studies will focus on land use and the environment in the area, particular ....Family and Working Life in the North Eastern Goldfields: A Social History of Gwalia and Leonora (WA), 1890-1990. This project aims to supplement and use the results of a recent collection of oral history recordings along with rich documentary evidence and photographs to produce the first academic histories of the multi-cultural mining settlements of Gwalia and Leonora in the north-eastern goldfields of WA.These historical studies will focus on land use and the environment in the area, particularly the pastoral industry. The results will complement and build upon the significant community effort to preserve the heritage of Gwalia; will provide local resources to enhance the tourism potential of this remote area; and develop links with the main migrant-sending area in Bergamo, Italy.Read moreRead less
Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by exp ....Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by expert historical commentaries, will not only throw light on the daily lives of patients and staff and the care offered in institutions now largely vanished, but it will also help promote a better informed public debate about this vital area of mental health policy.Read moreRead less
Childhood, Tradition and Change: a national study of the historical and contemporary practices and significance of Australian children's playlore. Through extending knowledge of children's playlore in the daily lives and social frameworks of Australians from the 1950s to the present, this project will contribute to broader public and policy discussions concerning educational, recreational and public health outcomes for children. It will enhance understanding of past and contemporary children's p ....Childhood, Tradition and Change: a national study of the historical and contemporary practices and significance of Australian children's playlore. Through extending knowledge of children's playlore in the daily lives and social frameworks of Australians from the 1950s to the present, this project will contribute to broader public and policy discussions concerning educational, recreational and public health outcomes for children. It will enhance understanding of past and contemporary children's play practices and the external influences shaping these, and assist UNESCO and the Australian government in defining intangible cultural heritage. Through partnerships with the National Library of Australia and Museum Victoria, the project will disseminate its findings to the community through publications, conferences and public exhibitions.Read moreRead less
Engaging with Social Media in Museums. This project will prototype the use of social media in museums to produce a new source of high-quality cultural information, and link regional, rural and international users with city-based institutions. It implements National Research Priority Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries: promoting an innovation culture and economy and smart information use.
The Australian museum sector is undergoing a period of substantial c ....Engaging with Social Media in Museums. This project will prototype the use of social media in museums to produce a new source of high-quality cultural information, and link regional, rural and international users with city-based institutions. It implements National Research Priority Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries: promoting an innovation culture and economy and smart information use.
The Australian museum sector is undergoing a period of substantial change in response to policy and technology initiatives, yet little formal collaboration exists between museums and researchers. This project brings some of the country's major museums together with the Smithsonian Institution, one of the world's foremost cultural institutions.Read moreRead less
Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Th ....Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Theory (RUT)-based modelling approach allowing managers of cultural attractions to understand and predict the likely visitation consequences of potential initiatives. We wish to model visitor choices of museums versus other competing attractions to allow museums to identify specific strategic actions (or combinations) to achieve organisational goals.Read moreRead less
Heritage of the air: how aviation transformed Australia. This project aims to generate new understandings of how aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, and how the technology of global mobility has shaped people, cultures and communities. Whilst aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, its heritage is under-appreciated and at risk. The project will build a partnership between the aviation industry, community groups, museums and a ....Heritage of the air: how aviation transformed Australia. This project aims to generate new understandings of how aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, and how the technology of global mobility has shaped people, cultures and communities. Whilst aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, its heritage is under-appreciated and at risk. The project will build a partnership between the aviation industry, community groups, museums and a multidisciplinary academic team to develop fresh insights from under-utilised sources of aviation heritage, communicate their unique stories to the public through innovative exhibitions and publications, and help conserve it for future generations. As a result, the project will make an important contribution to culture and society by enabling community access to neglected and at-risk sources of aviation heritage, and engage the public’s fascination with aviation through new interpretations of its extraordinary social and cultural impact.Read moreRead less
Conciliation Narratives and the Historical Imagination in British Pacific Rim Settler Societies. This project deepens Australian understandings of the negotiated forms of conciliation that occurred between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the colonial period to present. By comparing these with conciliation events in New Zealand and British Columbia, the Australian experience is positioned within the global context of the Pacific Rim. The project's innovative approach unites historical an ....Conciliation Narratives and the Historical Imagination in British Pacific Rim Settler Societies. This project deepens Australian understandings of the negotiated forms of conciliation that occurred between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the colonial period to present. By comparing these with conciliation events in New Zealand and British Columbia, the Australian experience is positioned within the global context of the Pacific Rim. The project's innovative approach unites historical and legal research with material culture of extraordinary heritage significance held by three major national collecting institutions (partner organisations) and others. Among the outcomes are scholarly publications, international symposia, publicly assessable web-based and educational materials, a travelling exhibition, and professional training. Read moreRead less
Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal socie ....Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal society in central Australia at the turn of the twentieth century and uncovering a crucial period in the history of anthropology. The research project will advance understanding of Australia's role in the history of anthropology and related disciplines in addition to creating a cultural resource of great value not least for the Indigenous communities themselves.Read moreRead less
A Historical archaeology of the Commonwealth Block 1850-1950. This project has three benefits. First, it will help Australians understand more about the richness and diversity of urban experience in our nation, thereby enhancing the heritage value of Museum collections drawn from urban archaeological sites. Second, transnational approaches to the archaeology of the modern world, with their focus on the movement of people, capital and technology will improve our understanding of the consequences ....A Historical archaeology of the Commonwealth Block 1850-1950. This project has three benefits. First, it will help Australians understand more about the richness and diversity of urban experience in our nation, thereby enhancing the heritage value of Museum collections drawn from urban archaeological sites. Second, transnational approaches to the archaeology of the modern world, with their focus on the movement of people, capital and technology will improve our understanding of the consequences of migration, and of the creation of global economies and local identities. Last, it will enrich the social and cultural histories of Australia through a deeper and closer integration of archaeological and written historical information.Read moreRead less