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  • Refuge in the Tide of War

    ByConservation Solutions

    Under the cover of darkness on 26th September, 1943, a group of naval servicemen in three canoes, paddled from Palau Subar into Singapore Harbour. This was their second attempt, having been hampered by strong tides a few nights before. The “clink” of metal on metal as they attached their magnetic charges to the hulls of their targets, must have raised a sweat as they turned their backs. The explosions heard at dawn the next morning marked the success of Operation Jaywick which maimed several ships in the Japanese fleet during WW2.

    In the quiet of dawn on Anzac Day 2015, a group of kayakers from the River Canoe of Club, NSW left the boat ramp at Brooklyn to paddle to Refuge Bay on the Hawkesbury River, where navy servicemen had trained in preparation for the operation and from which members of “Z” special unit were chosen.

    As the sun rose on Anzac Day, backlighting the clouds with a lemon yellow glow, we paddled six kilometres to Refuge Bay, nowhere as far as the naval paddlers who had paddled from the west coast of Borneo across the Java Sea into Singapore harbour a century before. The current was swirling and soupy with debris following the recent heavy rain, but not as strong as the currents that had deterred the first attempt of the naval paddlers.

    As we paddled into the bay, a number of small vessels had sought refuge from the open flow of the Hawkesbury River in a similar way to which the Japanese navy had sought refuge in Singapore harbour and reminiscent of the refuge the bay offered to navy personnel before enduring the tide of war.

    We found the plaque signifying the place where naval personnel had trained in preparation for Operation Jaywick. Their rudimentary campsite was located above the beach near the waterfall flowing from Cowan Creek.…

  • Contexts in Conservation: The Future Conservator

    ByConservation Solutions

    “Peak Conservation: Is there an inevitable end to the institutional conservation department?”. David Thurrowgood from the National gallery of Victoria in his paper delivered at the AICCM National Conference (2013) convened at the Science Exchange in Adelaide, drew on the philosophy of Shakespeare to question the role of future conservators:

    “Thou are not for the fashion of these times, where none will sweat but for promotion”

    The inevitable consequence of declining resources for government institutions is declining staff levels. David suggests that conservators need to expand their perspectives to gain relevance leading to constructive conservation outcomes.

    In the AICCM outgoing President’s lightening talk, Kay Soderlund suggested the AICCM appoint a community conservator with a view to expanding the role of conservation.  Community consultation is already occurring. Samantha Hamilton liaised with an indigenous community during the Bunjelaka Re-development project at Museum of Victoria in which indigenous elders were involved in the hands-on conservation of artefacts. The AIC Angels community engagement project is another instance where conservators are working with local communities to preserve local heritage. In the “Museum Workshop” at the National Museum of Australia, a curator/conservator collaboration between Anne-Marie Conde and Vicki Humphries made conservators the exhibits by exposing the logistics of preparing an exhibition and the generally behind-the scenes work of the conservator to the public, resulting in greater understanding and appreciation of the role of conservation, the dynamics and funding required to prepare exhibits for display. Anne Carter proposed the development of an Asia Pacific forum for the International Network for Contemporary Art (INCCA) to gain a greater understanding of technologies to devise conservation protocols and installation instructions using artist interviews. These community and global interactions are expanding our role as conservators.

    A more futuristic view of conservation was expressed in the incoming AICCM President’s presentation in which Mary Jo Lelyveld used causal layered analysis (CLA) to define different levels of understanding of conservation across time.

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  • “Contexts for Conservation” Review

    ByConservation Solutions

    In 2013, the AICCM National Conference was held at the Science Exchange in Adelaide. The conference papers presented at the conference entitled “Contexts for Change” touched on several main themes including:

    • Ethics, values and prioritising treatments
    • Occupational health, safe conservation practice and solutions
    • International standards for environmental monitoring
    • Audio visual and digital media conservation
    • 3-D scanning, conservation technology and techniques
    • Conservation salvage: materials and techniques
    • Analytical techniques, surveys and treatments
    • The future of conservation
    • Ghosts of the past

    The keynote address by Sarah Staniforth, Museums and Collections Director from the National Trust of England and Northern Ireland asked the question “Are all objects equal”? Looking at current practices in Australia, England, Europe and Japan relating to significance, fragility, workmanship, value and use including the Burra Charter, the Monuments Act 1913 and Waverley criteria, she raised the issue that there is no standardised worldwide system of significance or environmental monitoring standard. The implications of climate change on these standards and the economics related to environmentally controlled conditions particularly in relation to heritage conservation and care of collections in museums and galleries, has led to a review of environmental monitoring standards by the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) the BISO group and PAS 198. This overview of global debate on the issue was provided by Julien Bickersmith in his paper “What should be our set point levels? The complex question of environmental conditions in museums”. For conservators, the main risk related to loans and exhibitions crossing borders, hemispheres and between climatic zones and bespoke solutions for significant objects.

    Audio visual, photographic and digital media collections pose new challenges for conservators and collectors. Shingo Ishikawa and Mick Newnham from the National Film and Sound Archives in their paper “Filling the Niche: Supporting the preservation of audio-visual collections in south-east Asia and the Pacific Region” described two methodologies to reduce the effects of acidic off-gassing from film canisters including cyclic maintenance and improved canister design with improved ventilation slits to reduce damage to films caused by chemical degradation.

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