28 April 2016

, Minister for the Arts

10 objects- 10 stories exhibition opens in Hobart

The Hodgman Liberal Government is a strong supporter of the arts in Tasmania.

I am pleased that the 10 Objects – 10 Stories: Celebrating Community Collections exhibition will officially be opened tonight by Mr Nicolas Heyward, Chair of the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board, in Hobart.

The exhibition marks the tenth anniversary of Arts Tasmania’s Roving Curator Program and provides an insight into the cultural heritage held in small museums and collections around the state.

The Roving Curators have, for the last decade, worked directly with the state’s community museums, history groups and organisations to improve the preservation of Tasmania’s moveable cultural heritage.

The objects in this exhibition have been sought from 10 different small museums and collections from around the state.

Some of the objects featured in the exhibition include:

• an anonymously donated country football shield which has been ‘in hiding’ for the last 75 years to ensure it wasn’t presented to a rival team. From the collection of the Channel Heritage Centre, Margate.
• an axe owned by the champion wood chopper ‘Jack’ McCarthy from Legerwood, who met the future king of England and luckily avoided the unfortunate fate of the Australian axemen’s team who were lost at sea on a voyage to England. From the collection of the Derby Schoolhouse Museum, Derby.
• a breathing apparatus used in the North Lyell Mining Disaster of 1912. It is said that when the trapped miners first saw the men wearing this equipment they thought the devil had come to get them. From the collection of the Eric Thomas Galley Museum, Queenstown.
• a whale bone ear that was sent to Louisa Anne Meredith by her future husband as a token of his affection. From the collection of the East Coast Heritage Museum.

There are over 140 small museums and collections in Tasmania and this exhibition represents just a small fraction of the amazing objects and stories on offer in the state.

The exhibition will be on at 146 ArtSpace, 146 Elizabeth Street, Hobart until 2 June 2016.

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