50 Treasures Revisited

Submarine sculpture inspired by crocodile

50 Treasures Revisited

Daniela Vavrova (Cairns Museum Curator) and Bronwyn McBurnie (Manager, Special Collections - JCU Library Services)

24 june – 28 october 2023

(Featured Image): The Investigator (maquette), 1994, by Anton Hasell

JCU Library is fortunate to have collections of unique and rare resources — including artworks — of regional and national significance, describing life in the tropics.

In 2020, James Cook University celebrated its 50th Anniversary. To highlight this milestone, 50 precious treasures were selected from the JCU Library Special Collections and presented in a multimedia exhibition, 50 Treasures — Celebrating 50 Years of James Cook University at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. Accompanying the exhibition were digital versions of each treasure designed to provide an enduring legacy and inspire future generations of researchers.

(L- R): Val Russell’s Sketchbooks, (1969 – 2000); The Movement for Responsible Coastal Development (MRCD) Archive, (1990 – 2016), Woodblocks used for relief printing, from the artist Ben Trupperbaumer.

The genesis for the idea of the 50 Treasures exhibition emerged from Bronwyn McBurnie’s experience working in the JCU Library Special Collections for the past decade, where she had the opportunity to become familiar with the many treasures in the Library’s collections.

Bronwyn has stated, “One of the main reasons for creating the exhibition was our understanding that people continue to have a strong desire to see the real thing even when a digital version is available”.

For 50 Treasures Revisited, the Cairns Museum team has selected 17 treasures which resonate with Far North Queensland and can be accommodated in the Museum’s small gallery spaces. It was a challenging process as there were so many wonderful items which speak to the history of the region. The final selection of treasures is diverse in format and topics. It includes a combination of physical and digital artefacts, among them — original manuscripts (including diaries), artworks, historical sketches, photo albums and three-dimensional objects.

(L-R): The Armorial Ensigns of James Cook University of North Queensland, 1973, by Morris Juppenlatz and F.W. Robinson, with Artists and Scriveners of the College of Arms, London; Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey, Untitled, (n.d), Bark painting, Mornington Island.

This is a unique opportunity to explore the people, places and events that have shaped the tropical environment in which we live. We hope you enjoy this exhibition and are inspired to explore further by visiting the digital treasures and their stories at NQHeritage@JCU.

Photography by Michael Marzik (2020).

Learn more about 50 Treasure Revisited

Curator’s talk with Bronwyn McBurnie, Manager JCU Library Special Collections.

Watch 50 Treasures Revisited : Celebrating 50 Years of James Cook University

The Orator’s Chair – a chair not to be sat upon!

Growing up in the Tropics

Growing up in the Tropics

Daniela Vavrova and her Team

3 March – 17 June 2023

What are the most significant memories about growing up in the tropics? How do they differ from growing up in other places.

The Cairns Museum presents recollections of childhood through photographs, artefacts, drawings, and smells that characterise the uniqueness of tropical landscape and climate with its beauty and challenges.

Cyclone damage to Port Douglas, 1911.

We sourced the exhibited items from the in-house collection of the museum. It reflects our commitment to preserving the history and memories of the Far North Queensland for the future generations.

“Cairns Museum is all about the local community. It has been established for the community. The stories we tell are a legacy to ensure a better way of life for future generations” – Clive Skarott, President of Cairns Historical Society and Museum.

Machans Beach School Children with School bus before Machans Beach school built, c1949. Donor: Jack Walsh

The exhibition was put together by the museum’s staff and volunteers. It brings together four categories of children’s lives — playing, learning, getting around, and resilience — salient themes showcasing items from our tropical museum collection. We invite you to reflect on your own childhood and connect with the past.

Two vintage cars, Black Downs homestaead, 1925. Donor: Clive Skarott

“I remember my childhood as one great adventure, exploring the swamps and bushland close to the city” – Alan Hudson, 2010, Saturday June 26, The Weekend Post.

“I went to Gordonvale State Rural School … we walked three miles to school into Gordonvale and three miles home every day. Girls learnt to cook and sew and the boys learnt carpentry, woodwork and leatherwork” – Ethel Galletta, 1999: 85, No Place for Snapdragons. Memories of Cairns.

Children in their boat off the Cairns Esplanade, S A Doblo, 1928. Donor: Wilson/Beddoe Family

Beach Couture: A Haute Mess

Marina DeBris (artist and activist) and Daniela Vavrova (curator and anthropologist)

18 November 2022 – 25 February 2023

Photos by Stephen Wong

We don’t know what will remain of us centuries from now but one thing is certain: there will be plastic, lots of plastic.

Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous in our oceans and on our shores. Marina DeBris’ Beach Couture: A Haute Mess, is a collection of wearable pieces made from trash collected from the beaches and oceans. It makes visible, in grotesquely amusing fashion, what is often overlooked – but shouldn’t be. Ideally, viewers will be provoked to take some action in their everyday use of plastic items.

“With my work I encourage the viewer to question the use of single use items, and consider ways to reduce waste so it does not end up in our oceans and landfills.”

Photo of the Inconvenience Store above was in Batlow, New South Wales 2022 as part of the Sculpture by the Sea Snowy Valley Art Trail.

Beach Couture: A Haute Mess is a touring exhibition by Marina DeBris, American-born, Sydney-based artivist. Marina began collecting trash during her daily runs on Venice Beach, Los Angeles more than a decade ago, simply in an effort to maintain its beauty. Fuelled by her growing concern for the ocean’s health, she began to turn the trash into art in hope of drawing attention to the alarming developments she was seeing on the beach.

Marina’s works have been exhibited in the US, Japan and Australia. The Cairns Museum are delighted to welcome Marina and Beach Couture to Cairns for the first time, particularly with our strong attachment to the preservation of the Great Barrier Reef here in the Tropical North.

The exhibition invites the viewers to engage with the idea of plasticity of the future. What can we do about the plastic pollution? How do we imagine the future? These ideas are presented at the exhibition and will be discussed at public events. We also ask you to express your ideas about how to imagine the future in a positive outlook. Your ideas will be featured on our social media platforms and in the temporary gallery itself as part of the greater discussion prompted by Marina DeBris’ Beach Couture: A Haute Mess.

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1 X 4

1 X 4
one object / four stories

Suzanne Gibson

Museums use objects to tell stories – but which story and from whose perspective?

1 x 4 was an exhibition first developed by Newcastle Museum back in 2020. We were drawn to it as a creative and open premise for diving into the Cairns Historical Society and the Cairns Museum collection. We saw the premise as a chance to draw on the strengths of the collection as a whole, including material culture, archival and photographic items.

Objects in any collection are acquired for many reasons but the best of them bring with them strong and relevant stories that reveal something of the place we aim to represent. Yet the same objects are usually interpreted in exhibitions on the basis of the one story that fits a broader exhibition theme.

As curators, we start with an idea, then delve into our collections thematically, seeking objects that speak to key themes. When we start with the collection, we are usually drawn to the links between objects that tell a story or demonstrate a theme.

1 x 4 turns the idea on its head.

It features unrelated objects from the Cairns Historical Society collection – objects, photographs and documents – and explores the multiple stories associated with each. In doing so, it puts the exhibition visitor in the curator’s seat. Which story is the most significant? Which reveals the most about this part of far north Queensland? Which do you, the visitor, find most engaging?

The revealing of the curatorial ‘hand’ is further developed in the exhibition concept by the use of in-gallery QR codes, linked to some of the best source material identified during our object research. Not everyone wants to take a deep dive but the codes provide an elegant solution for those that do.

For a Historical Society and Museum with a large legacy collection, most of which has been little researched, 1 x 4 was a perfect platform to drive significance training and exploration. Both myself as curator and the team of curatorial volunteers were able to find objects we were interested in and begin digging.

It has been a rewarding and deeply engaging project. Once again the incredible skills of our staff and volunteer base was revealed. Our Chinese and Japanese speaking team members helped solve the riddle of a WW II ‘Yosegaki Hinomaru’ – good luck flag – that we may now be able to reunite with the family of a fallen soldier. Our ex-planner was able to decipher the purpose of an unusual survey plan in the collection, while our Collections Manager Dr Sandy Robb was able to interpret a Chinese Deity statue that had sat on the shelves for far too long.

For me, chasing the engraver of an exquisite carved teapot has been revealing and challenging. That we have captured fragments of this man’s life, just before he vanished from living memory, reminds me of the value of material culture. As long as his work is in our collection, his revealing life story won’t be forgotten.

Big thanks to Newcastle Museum for their willingness to share their concept with us. When I contacted them to ask if they would mind, their answer was ‘go for it‘! The best of our sector.

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Sihot’e Nioge

sihot'e nioge
when skirts become artworks

Joan G Winter

Independent curator Joan G Winter is a passionate advocate for the artists and art of the Omie people of Oro Province, Papua New Guinea and has created the exhibition ‘Sihot’e Nioge; When Skirts Become Artworks’ to showcase their work to an Australian audience and to generate much needed income for the participating artists.

The Omie live on the rainforest slopes of Huvaemo (Mt Lamington), in villages too small to appear on satellite mapping and too remote to be reached by road. Her first visit to Omie territory required a 7-hour mountain rainforest walk.

Sihot’e Nioge represents the two unique styles of Omie tapa. Sihot’e is a dramatic form of appliqued tapa, creating bold, assertive works in grey and white. Nioge is painted beaten bark cloth, the extremely varied pigments all coming from the Omie tropical rainforest, mountain environment.

Tapa/Nioge is sacred to the Omie people. There remain protocols around it, how to store it, what actions can and cannot happen near Nioge. It is central to the creation story of the first Omie man and woman. When the first man to arrive on Earth, Mina, told the first woman, Saja, to go down to the river, find the right tree, remove its bark and beat it on the river stones, then soak it in mud; together they were setting up the first Omie, cultural ritual. Saja came back wearing her first Nioge, thus sanctifying the first marriage. Omie society could now begin.

In isolation the Omie continue to develop the most colourful and compositionally diverse painted beaten bark cloth in the Pacific region. The willingness of Omie artist to design and innovate, combined with their use of grid lines and repetitive patterning, gives Omie tapa an aesthetic that is distinct and remarkable amongst Pacific nations. Omie artists have a reverent eye for the world around, above and below them. In their work you can find macro imagery of the moon and stars, as well as the minutia of fish and pig bones, feathers, tusks, teeth, eggs of the dwarf cassowary, beaks of the hornbill, grubs and caterpillars, and the habits and unfurling of plants.

For Nioge works, designs are placed on the tapa freehand and artists create an astounding array of colours from the leaves, bark, roots, seeds and fruits around them. All the colours are natural and come from the mountain rainforest environment. Sihot’e artists beat together two forms of tapa – undyed white tapa and grey, mud-dyed tapa – to create these dramatic, bold works.

Sihot’e Nioge reveals the stages of Nioge innovation from time immemorial until today, from Australia’s nearest Melanesian neighbours in PNG. No culture stands still. While certain Nioge and Sihot’e continue to be used in ceremonial and rites of passage occasions, to donate rank for cultural and other leaders and to define clan and family ties, today its significance has broadened to incorporate an increasingly cash economy. The Omie see the creation of Sihote and Nioge for exhibition and sale as facilitating access to education, healthcare and engagement with the wider world.

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Exhibition Category: Temporary Exhibitions