https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7398-124X
The conservation profession in Australia has a tradition of thoughtful, collaborative and innovative work that has continuously sought to improve techniques, explore new developments and respond to changes in heritage and the wider world. The interim constitution of the Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material that established the AICCM in 1972, the Museums in Australia 1975 (Pigott) Report and the 1998 National Policy and Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Movable Cultural Heritage began a tradition of broad engagement. This was continued with interactions with other significant Australian heritage influences such as the Burra Charter, Significance 2.0, and an increasing awareness of Indigenous issues. The pace of change has continued to accelerate, and even before the extraordinary events of late 2019 and 2020 it was apparent that it was time to take stock again, leading to the call for papers for this volume.
The response from the profession was, as always passionate, knowledgeable, imaginative and wide ranging, reflecting on past initiatives, current strengths and future possibilities. The diversity of voices and perspectives in the responses is particularly exciting, reflecting a maturity and openness in the profession and a recognition that the profession is moving beyond the traditional focus on material fabric to encompass intangible, digital and changeable heritage as well. The papers in this volume chart past successes, identify key issues facing the conservation profession in the first half of the twenty-first century, and provide a thoughtful basis for future decision-making. The editors would like to extend a huge thank you to all the authors who took the time out of their busy professional lives to submit manuscripts and persevere through the review and editing processes that have resulted in the present volume.
The volume begins with two papers that grapple with the challenges of forecasting the future and how we might cope with the changes it will bring. Amanda Pagliarino and Ainslee Meredith, recognising the risks that climate change poses for collections, have drawn on interdisciplinary methods and data to create a tool that will enable conservators to forecast how those changes may affect their own collections in their own regions of Australia. This tool gives them the information needed for risk management planning, starting conversations with senior management and obtaining funding and approvals to future proof their collections. Marcelle Scott and Jennifer O'Connell has looked at new models for generating connections between emerging conservators and communities, providing valuable (and paid) experience for students and graduates, getting conservation skills out of the big cities and into smaller and regional communities, and promoting the preservation of local cultural heritage with its flow-on social and economic benefits.
In separate papers Asti Sherring and Carolyn Murphy have both looked at the fast-moving changes occurring in time-based art (TBA) conservation, and the potential impact of ideas being developed in this area on normative conceptions of conservation. Analysing survey responses from a variety of heritage professionals working with TBA, Sherring notes that caring effectively for this type of heritage may require a comprehensive reassessment of traditional institutional roles and workflows and the development of new skill areas within conservation. Murphy observes that the idea of the artwork as a physical object has been central to the development of traditional conservation and collection management practice and that the profession now needs to develop an understanding of artworks as potentially variable, flexible, ephemeral and reproducible to be able to care appropriately for the collections of the twenty first century.
Jennifer O’Connell, as National President of AICCM, leads three AICCM Special Interest Groups in a reflective commentary on their responsibilities for shaping and supporting the conservation profession into the future. Malgorzata Sawicki and Barbara Dabrowa outline the leadership role that the Gilded Objects Conservation SIG (COGSIG) has played since its inception in 1996, and confirm GOCSIG’s continued role in the future in strengthening and promoting training and international collaboration to support Australia’s conservation expertise in gilding and frames conservation. Frances Paterson, Emily Vearing and Lisa Mansfield, representing the Emerging Conservator’s SIG, explore the support provided by the Emerging Conservators SIG to graduates entering the profession and outline initiatives that are providing opportunities for new forms of engagement with professional practice workshops, webinars and live streaming events. Jessie Firth discusses the work of one of the oldest AICCM SIGS – the Textiles SIG (TSIG) established in 1991 – detailing the challenges posed by the new types of materials that are appearing in textile collections, and identifying the need for innovative approaches and new research to address increased health and safety issues, and emerging challenges in documentation and identification.
The last three papers in the volume focus on domains where conservation skills are required but where delivery will need new ways of thinking about the provision and translation of conservation knowledge. Employing case studies from the authors’ own experiences, these papers explore volunteer-run small museums and historical societies; large collecting institutions where specialist skills require new ways of thinking about conservation training; and site-specific conservation where conservators are called to address the needs of multiple stakeholders.
Dedicated volunteers Susan Reynolds OAM and Trevor Matthews together bring 76 years of combined experience as volunteers with the Yackandandah Historical Society to examine the role of small museums as vital community resources. Noting that the term ‘small museum’ covers a range of different entities, they identify the strong link between community context and the role and responsibilities of small museums. They discuss the challenges and complexities faced by small museums in dealing with funding, training, standards and due diligence. They identify the new challenges and opportunities raised by digital technology and the value of working as volunteers in an organisation that has just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Discussing the shift in the work of conservators within large collecting institutions Malgorzata Sawicki identifies the risks to ‘high-level’ practice-based conservation skills that are needed to execute complex interventive treatments. She includes in these the risks posed by the retirement of senior conservators who have not been able to pass on their skills to the next generation of professionals, and proposes that closer partnerships are forged between universities and institutions for new forms of education programs that enable and secure structured hand-on training for future conservators.
This volume also includes Lucy Welsh’s examination of the conservation needs for rock art at Gariwerd (Grampians National Park), where over 90% of Victoria’s known rock art is located. Her paper identifies the complex interrelationship between recreational use and the conservation of rock art sites that continue to have critical significance to Indigenous Traditional Owners. She explores the effects of recent closures of special protection areas across Graiwerd and concludes with a series of recommendations for closer working relationships between Traditional Owners and conservators, as well as identifying the need for increased education opportunities in this field.
As Australian conservation enters the second decade of the twenty-first century the challenges that await us are the same that face Australian society at large. They include the need to understand and address the challenges brought by new technologies; to develop new ways of thinking about diverse cultural production and identity; to respond to climate change, environmental degradation and damage; to support community cohesion and resilience; and to manage shifts in education, learning and professional development to secure strong professional futures for all conservators.
This volume was conceived as a platform for advocacy for the profession, and it is anticipated that the papers presented will inform debate and expand understanding of some of the current issues being addressed by conservators and those with whom they work. It is hoped that, by so doing, this volume will strengthen the voice of conservation professionals beyond our institutions.