The time difference between Western Australia and the Eastern States isn't always a bad thing! We got up this morning to the exciting news that we'd been shortlisted for the Museums & Galleries National Awards, otherwise known as the MAGNAs.
Our shortlisting is in the permanent exhibition category and is for our Virtual Museum: to be known and distinguished as Carnamah. The winners of each category will be announced at a function during the national conference of Museums Australia, which is being held later this month in Launceston, Tasmania.
Our virtual museum is our simple but effective way of sharing some of our collection and history with online audiences who are beyond the physical reaches of Carnamah. It was made possible thanks to financial support from the Department of Culture and the Arts. It can be viewed online at: www.virtualmuseum.com.au
Not too far from Carnamah is the Greenough Museum & Gardens.
The scene of this 'living' museum is set in and around the two-storey Home Cottage, which was originally the homestead of John and Elizabeth Maley. One can't help but feel a sense of history as the old staircase is creakily climbed. Speaking of sounds, there's headphones on hand so you can listen to recordings of what this historic homestead sounds like!
The museum is a blended mix of contemporary interpretation, traditional displays and an array of rooms in which you can interact with the objects and furnishings.
As organisations we have more than a few stories in common. A number of John and Elizabeth Maley's children, after growing up at Home Cottage, carved farms out of the landscape at Three Springs. The family played a pivotal role in the development of both communities and we have entries for many members of the family in our Three Springs Database.
It's also interesting to note, despite the distance and travel involved, that the Maley family were well acquainted with the Macpherson family, who were at that time living almost in isolation at Carnamah. When John Maley died in 1910 his widow and daughters left Greenough for a three week break - which they spent in Carnamah as the guests of Donald, Bessie and Maggie Macpherson.
Local history certainly doesn't end with a district or shire boundary. It extends to other places and weaves into a much broader story.
Greenough Museum & Gardens is located 10 kilometres south of Geraldton just off the Brand Highway on Phillips Road. Impressively, it is open everyday from 9:30am to 3:30pm.
We launched the first of our Australian Curriculum education resources at the 2013 conference of the History Teachers' Association of Western Australia. Amid champagne flutes of chilled milk and gifts of butter we unveiled the education resource that accompanies the Milk Cream & Butter virtual exhibition on our website.
The first resource, and another eight which are on the way, provide information, activities and worksheets for teachers that can be used from the classroom with content on our website. This makes them useful for schools located anywhere in Australia! They are mostly suitable for lower primary years and directly connect to the new Australian Curriculum. The resource can be previewed or downloaded in full from:
Please register your name and e-mail address if you'd like to be updated when we add new resource packs. If you use our Milk Cream & Butter resource we'd appreciate your anonymous feedback via our very short feedback form. We'd also love to share any work created by your students here on our blog - simply e-mail copies and some info to andrew@carnamah.com.au.
As an aside, we surveyed some of the attendees on their favourite flavoured milk. Chocolate, coffee and banana were the stand-outs with appearances of caramel, strawberry, skim, vanilla and good old plan milk. Our thanks to all of those who attended our session and to Maree Whiteley who spurred this project on with a comment on our Facebook wall back in April 2012.
Our Milk, Cream & Butter resource was made by Ignite Your Audience for and in partnership with the Carnamah Historical Society. It was possible thanks to support from the Western Australian History Foundation.
