Annual Report 2001-2002 - Western Australian Museum - The ...

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Museum Services
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
Preparation of objects and associated support structures for the new exhibitions in Geraldton
and the new Maritime Museum have dominated the projects undertaken by Conservation.
Contract conservators Vanessa Roth and Anna Shepherd and a band of up to 25 volunteers
have assisted conservators in the mammoth tasks involved. Without the continued support
from the Marine Engineers and Jeff Beale, the boat restoration team of Bill Leonard, Don Cockerell
and Alex Kilpa could not have completed the Lady Forrest, the Valdura and the Trixen on time.
University of Canberra conservation interns Karina Palmer and Trude Ellingsen also augmented
the conservation team. Maggie Myers and Bill Leonard coordinated the conservation of moveable
artefacts and the historic boat collections, while Ulrike Broeze-Hoernemann coordinated the
Geraldton project.
The Museum’s car collection has been saved from major corrosion problems by the work of
Richard Garcia and his team of Marine Engineers, with six cars now operating under concession
licences that allow them to be driven without special permits. Richard Garcia and Jon Carpenter
began contract conservation work on the Golden Pipeline Project and assisted in making major
changes at the Finnerty Street laboratories and workshops to improve compliance with
Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. This involved removing two large polyethylene
glycol treatment tanks that were used to conserve Batavia timbers.
A total of 631 monographs were added to the library collection and catalogued to international
standards. Donations included 150 volumes from the Memoires Serie A: Zoologie and Serie C:
Sciences de la Terre, obtained from the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. A total of
2,290 journal issues were accessioned, many of which were obtained on exchange for the
Records of the Western Australian Museum and its Supplements, or for the Journal of the Royal
Society of Western Australia. The principal librarian also manages the valuable research collection
of the Royal Society Library. The collection of 893 maps has been brought online.
A team of 10 volunteers contributed approximately 1,600 hours and greatly aided collections
management. Without their help, many projects could not have been undertaken. A library
technician from Perth TAFE and a Masters of Information Studies student from Curtin University
undertook training programs supervised by Margaret Triffitt.
KNOWLEDGE GENERATION
Ian MacLeod and Vicki Richards supervised Danish Masters in Conservation intern Marianne
Heldtberg, covering in-situ conservation and corrosion research. The project included work on
a 100-year conservation management program for the sinking of HMAS Perth in Albany that
complements the HMAS Swan project off Dunsborough. Apart from providing fundamental
data on shipwreck disintegration processes, both projects assess the environmental impact of
artificial reefs on the organisms living in the sediments surrounding the wrecks.
Vicki Richards’s in-situ research has focused on treatment and environmental analysis associated
with the James Matthews in Cockburn Sound. Her research on acidic deterioration of formerly
waterlogged timbers at Stanford University is part of a collaborative study involving Swedish,
English, German, French and American scientists and conservators.
Ian Godfrey worked during leave in Stockholm and Gothenburg on the Vasa project and the
Gote wreck. His research conducted in Antarctica on Mawson’s Huts has led to the Australian
Government’s plan for a major expedition to conserve these structures. This work will involve
overcladding the roof, with snow and ice being removed from the interior of the buildings.
Ian MacLeod conducted the first in-situ corrosion assessment of a number of Japanese World
War II iron shipwrecks in Chuuk Lagoon, in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Two library volunteers indexed 677 journal articles and made available for online searching the
full details of 1,399 reprints. This has vastly improved knowledge of and access to the library’s
collection.
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT 2001–2002