Bellingen Museum has a problem: its collection is large, repetitive and disorganised and its displays are outdated and uninviting.
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Luckily the volunteers who run the place also have clear ideas about how to improve it.
In conjunction with Kevin Williams from Arts Mid North Coast, they've developed a strategic pathway, and with the help of Museums & Galleries NSW, they've done a standards review, assessing their operations and policies against best practice.
"The reason we wanted to do these two things was that we were at a standstill. The museum was stagnating," Bellinger Valley Historical Society president Susan Lloyd said.
The first step, organising a vermin-proof, temperature-controlled store room with shelving, is already underway.
This will allow them to clear the decks, create new displays and rotate the objects being presented.
They are also in the process of digitising the collection records to an Access database, so they can readily identify what they have and where it is.
And there will need to be a bit of clear out, which in the language of those who collect things is called 'deaccessioning'.
"We need to deaccession a lot of stuff," Susan said. "We have lots of repetition because the collection has just been added to without any discernment about what's worth keeping."
For instance, they have 25 old-fashioned irons, mostly the flat-iron type that was heated up on a wood stove.
You do not need 25 irons
- Susan Lloyd
"You do not need 25 irons," Susan said.
She stressed that when an object is found to be surplus to requirements, the museum will try to contact the original donor to see if they'd like it back. After that, other museums will be offered the opportunity to take it.
And the grand plan they are working towards?
A timeline display that will take people on a circuit around the museum, focusing on the various eras of Bellingen's history.
They'll be seeking professional help and grant funding for this, but in broad terms it will start with Aboriginal times, go through the early settlement period with people like Mary McNally, then look at the historic buildings, such as those by George Moore. Then there will be a section on the 70s and 80s, when Bellingen changed considerably.
"And then we'll probably finish up with all the festivals in the present day," Susan said.
Volunteer Jann Simmonds said one of the first things she noticed when she came to the museum was that Bellingen's history seemed to stop in 1945.
She's been going through scattered files to consolidate information about the Bellinger River.
"I'm up to the water wars of the 90s," she said. "Then I'll get onto the floods and bridges."
The history of how the river has been treated is fascinating. "They've tried to mine it, they've tried to drain it, they've tried to dredge it. They've thought about diverting it and damming it. It's really amazing that it still trickles down," Jann said.
Jann also questioned why the museum had nothing documenting the era when Bellingen's status as a conservative rural country town was shaken up by an influx of alternative lifestylers.
"Where's the hippies?" she wanted to know.
Pamela Whitehead, who moved here as a 26-year-old in 1977, and Disrael Shore, who visited in 1978 and moved here in 2000, are both gathering information about the 1970s and 1980s.
Disrael is focusing on collecting old films and photos, while Pamela is currently poring over old copies of the Bellingen Courier-Sun, tracing the rise and fall of the community centre in Meeting Place park.
Originally the town's primary school, the vacated building was repurposed by the new settlers as a community centre in 1975, before being controversially demolished by council in 1981.
A Hippie Trail walk conducted by Ross Macleay as part of the Arts MNC holiday program last week unearthed colourful stories about this event, and others, from attendees who had been part of the action.
Advertising for the walk also triggered some enquiries that are somewhat premature.
"People are coming in to look at our hippie display but we haven't even done it," Susan said. "It's at planning stages, gathering information."
Photos and films from the 1970s and 1980s are sought, as are more volunteers prepared to make a commitment to researching and writing.
People willing to donate and configure equipment for an audiovisual display would also be a welcome addition to the team of volunteers.
Those interested can contact the museum during open hours on 6655 0382 or email bellingenmuseum@yahoo.com.au