UNLOCKEDUNLOCKED WINTER 2021, NO 30 ISSN 2203-4684 Sydney Living Museums The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 T 02 8239 2288 F 02 8239 2299 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm info@slm.com.au slm.com.au Acknowledgment of Country Our museums and places are on Aboriginal land. We acknowledge the First Nations peoples, the traditional custodians, and we pay respect to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We understand and appreciate that Aboriginal peoples have deep and continuing cultural attachment to Country and are the rightful interpreters of their history and heritage. In this spirit, Sydney Living Museums values the diversity of Aboriginal connections to the places and landscapes we care for and is informed by the Aboriginal cultural heritage and identity that underpin SLM’s museums and places. We acknowledge the continuing impact these sites have on Aboriginal Country. This recognition guides the ways in which we create contemporary conversations and experiences at each of our sites. Unlocked is the quarterly magazine of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW, incorporating Sydney Living Museums, which cares for significant historic places, buildings, landscapes and collections in NSW. The Historic Houses Trust of NSW is a statutory authority of, and principally funded by, the NSW Government. All information is correct at time of printing. Feedback and comments can be sent to info@slm.com.au © 2021 Sydney Living Museums Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Contents 3 From the Executive Director 4 In brief 6 History Reflected 10 The fake, the fraud and the genuine article 17 Narcissus Garden on tour 18 Heal Country 19 Walking through a Songline 21 Who goes here? 23 From the collection 24 New textiles for a Modernage 26 Touching history 28 Books of lost emotion 32 Conservation in action 35 Staff profile 36 Philanthropy 38 Your key to what’s on Cover image Who goes here? (detail), Fiona Hall, 2021. Photo © Joshua Morris for Sydney Living Museums. Artwork © Fiona HallFrom the Executive Director Adam Lindsay Members are so important to Sydney Living Museums, and I’m so pleased that we’re presenting the timeless Narcissus Garden by Yayoi Kusama at Elizabeth Bay House exclusively for our members in June (see pages 16–17). This work, installed in this way, asks us to pause and take in the trappings of colonial wealth, seeing ourselves replicated in thousands of shiny orbs. This winter, we delve into a number of fascinating facets of our 2021 theme, ‘Reflections on identity’. Opening in July, our new exhibition, History Reflected, presents material from the State Archives Collection that has shaped our society over more than 200 years. In these items we may see ourselves, or people like us, represented, marginalised, absent or penalised. In each of the items, we see how NSW was constructed. Identity can be a vexatious concept, prone to manipulation and theft. In the past, as now, stolen or assumed identities could have many consequences. Explored in this issue through the stories of a bogus baronet, a dog with many aliases, and a wayward prince with an intriguing link to Rouse Hill Estate, the issue of identity theft is one that has a long history. Our connection with and celebration of First Nations people and cultures continue with NAIDOC Week events and Walking through a Songline, opening at the Museum of Sydney in July. The digital installation creates an immersive connection between visitors and this vital aspect of the Indigenous world view. Featured on our cover and inside this issue, in autumn we were delighted to present the commissioned artwork Who goes here? by Fiona Hall ao at the Hyde Park Barracks. This site-specific installation gave everyone who entered the courtyard vignettes of history – details captured in our archives, suspended in time, and then assembled by Hall in a vertical ‘novel’ displayed at the Hyde Park Barracks, a site that had affected the lives of all 300 people represented in various ways. Finally, please take the time to read about the Modernage range of textiles. The story of their development, initial reception and current place in the design history of this country is a fascinating example of how re-examination of our attitudes and beliefs can often yield surprising and delightful results. Thank you again for your support of SLM and the work we do. Adam Lindsay. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums Adam Lindsay. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums 3FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR From top After Dark at the Hyde Park Barracks; A young visitor enjoying activities in the Viewing Cube, Museum of Sydney. Photos © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums After Dark at the Barracks Since launching in February, the monthly late-night series After Dark at the Hyde Park Barracks has brought together live music, ideas and performance at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site. On one Thursday each month, the atmospheric Barracks compound has been transformed with art installations, lively panel discussions, and a variety of activities, from guided meditations among the convict hammocks to the chance to join the Barayagal choir in a public performance celebrating journeys both physical and spiritual. In March, visitors enjoyed stunning projections by artist Blak Douglas on the front facade of the Barracks, while the April event explored the themes of the remarkable site-specific installation Who goes here? by Fiona Hall (see pages 20–1). Every month, visitors can relax to music curated by FBi Radio, enjoy food and drink by OzHarvest and Archie Rose, or discover the museum experience. After Dark continues throughout winter, so why not mark the next event in your diaries and join us for an evening of music, food, art and discussion. VISIT Hyde Park Barracks Thursday 24 June, 29 July, 26 August, 5pm–9pm slm.is/barracksafterdark Kids’ activity trails now available Families visiting the Hyde Park Barracks and the Museum of Sydney can adventure through time with our new kids’ trails, with fun activities to complete and facts to uncover. At the Hyde Park Barracks, our family audio guide tells the site’s fascinating story through the experiences of the convicts and immigrants who stayed there. Kids are prompted to listen for clues and complete engaging activities as they move through the museum, such as spotting the desiccated rats (gruesome!) and drawing their own convict tattoo. At the Museum of Sydney, kids can follow Sami the intrepid explorer to uncover stories from the site of Australia’s first Government House. They will discover the archaeology underfoot, ‘measure up’ to see how they would fit below deck on a First Fleet ship, and learn local Gadigal words. The trails are suitable for children aged 5–12 years and are included in general admission. (Members receive free entry.) Find out more at slm.is/children From top Sydney Open volunteers at The Mint. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums; The restored Hinchcliff House in Quay Quarter Sydney. Photo The Moment it Clicks Save the date – Sydney Open 2021 Sydney’s premier open-building event is returning on the weekend of 6–7 November. This year, Sydney Open is back with renewed commitment to showcasing our city’s rich architectural and cultural heritage, from compelling buildings and civic spaces to one-of-a-kind residences and green spaces. Look out for ticket information and updates in the spring issue of Unlocked . To make Sydney Open a success, we depend on the generous support of our volunteers. We’d love you to be part of this year’s program and will be looking for volunteers from August. Register your interest by signing up to our volunteer newsletter: slm.is/volunteering Sydney Open also offers a rewarding opportunity for corporate partners to share in this significant cultural event. With over 45,000 visits to more than 50 properties, there’s enormous scope to reach new audiences and deepen engagement with clients, tenants and employees in a unique way. To learn more about partnering opportunities, turn to page 37. Hinchcliff House: a unique city story Hinchcliff House, which featured in last year’s Sydney Open program, is one of the forgotten jewels of Circular Quay. Located on a handkerchief-sized block of land, the former Hinchcliff Wool Stores, at 5–7 Young Street, abuts two small lanes at the rear of Customs House. Built by wool broker Andrew Hinchcliff between 1878 and 1881, the woolstore consists of two matching stone structures with gabled roofs, semicircular fanlights and rare surviving pulley systems. Sydney Living Museums’ Research Librarian, Dr Matthew Stephens, undertook research into the importance of Hinchcliff House in shaping Sydney for Sydney Open 2020. AMP Capital, a major SLM partner and the developer of Quay Quarter, has carefully restored Hinchcliff House under the leadership of Carter Williamson architects, with collaboration by Urbis Heritage, the City of Sydney and Heritage NSW. Hinchcliff House is now open to the public, providing unique dining experiences within the original stone, brick and timber surrounds of the historic woolstore, and overseen by Hinchcliff’s golden ram, restored to its original glory and returned to its parapet on top of the building. VISIT Hinchcliff House is now open as a four-floor dining venue at 5–7 Young Street, Circular Quay. To learn more, go to slm.is/hinchcliff-house and quayquartersydney.com.au 5IN BRIEFFrom important colonial-era documents and curious collectables to records of events that reshaped society, you’ll be surprised by what you can find in the archives. The new Museum of Sydney exhibition History Reflected takes audiences on a journey through the NSW State Archives Collection to see what these unique historical records reveal about the past and to reflect on what they might mean to us today. The exhibition has been developed by Sydney Living Museums and NSW State Archives to celebrate the coming together of two of the state’s signature cultural institutions. History Reflected presents a curated selection of 25 items from the Collection spanning a period of 213 years, from 1787 to 2000. Each of the selected items represents or symbolises an event, social movement, issue, cultural phenomenon or moment of change that impacted on NSW people – individually and collectively – with a resonance that ranged from the local to the global. Accompanying each of the items is an explanation of its historical significance as well as a reflection on its meaning today. These reflections give voice to a range of perspectives that explore questions about who we are; what we believe and understand about ourselves and others; our values, aspirations and hopes; how we express ourselves; the places we live, work or visit; our relationships with others; and our discoveries. Opening up history and the archive The idea of generating reflections in this way follows an approach that extends the research and interpretation of a subject or primary source record such as an archive across intuitive, creative and imagined perspectives, or through memories, public accounts or associated histories. It differs from the more conventional deep dive into official sources to substantiate the origins, provenance and documented trail of an item, and an interpretation that often takes a chronological or didactic form. It’s an approach that opens up history and historical research to a broader and more diverse range of perspectives and audiences, ensuring that the power of archives can be fully harnessed and enjoyed by everyone. After all, history isn’t a unilateral experience. The NSW State Archives Collection is one of the most complete and important collections documenting colonisation in the world. With over 14 million items and valued at $1 billion, this vast cultural archive contains multiple items included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. It details the development of NSW from before European settlement in 1788 through the wielding of colonial power to responsible government and statehood. History Reflected Dr Penny Stannard, Head of Curatorial, Sydney Living Museums, and Emily Hanna, Officer, Public Engagement, NSW State Archives Clockwise from top left 1828 Census: Alphabetical return, Colonial Secretary, NRS 1272; Key to the Superintendent’s quarters, Rookwood Asylum, c1887, Colonial Secretary, NRS 905, Letters received, 1826-1980, [1/2651B] 87/7624; ‘Target for to-night’, designed by John (Jack) Gibson, 1942, National Emergency Services posters, NRS-19792-1 [Document 202] [SR Doc 202]. All items NSW State Archives 6WINTER 2021Reflecting on the unusual A number of commissioned writers, artists, commentators and creatives have contributed to creating reflections for the History Reflected exhibition, as has SLM’s entire curatorial team. One of the State Archives Collection’s most unusual pieces, featured in the exhibition, is a sample of a cap worn by women working in the Leeton cannery in the interwar years. It was initially found by archivists among paperwork in a Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) file that details the specifications and costs for cannery workers’ uniforms. The cannery was established as a government-run enterprise under the MIA nation-building scheme to irrigate the arid south-west region of NSW and create a food bowl that could nourish the population. It later became the Letona Co-operative Cannery, and operated in Leeton until the mid-1990s. SLM invited Henrietta Cheshire, a textiles artist and member of SLM’s highly regarded volunteer soft furnishings group, to reflect on the Leeton cap. She engaged with a number of sources and accounts that detailed employment at the cannery, and the role of women there, and more broadly, in the post- World War I workforce. What intrigued Cheshire was the way in which young, unmarried women were recruited to factory work with promises of a career and independence, and whether the reality of the day-to- day grind on the production line lived up to the dream. Cheshire’s reflection is a textiles work re-creating the cap. Embroidered into the fabric are direct quotes from the promotional material that drew women to seek employment at the cannery, interwoven with strands of human hair that Cheshire sourced ethically from young NSW women today. It’s a reminder that behind the production cycle and its workforce is the woman, both the worker and the human being. Reflecting on the iconic SLM historian Jane Kelso has explored the first census held in NSW, in 1828. One of the Collection’s most iconic items, the census was inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in 2019. The census exists as six leather-bound tomes, housed in a lockable wooden cabinet, that list the Above, left to right Empire Day program, 1915, Samples of items printed on special occasions, NRS 4474, Box 1/265. NSW State Archives; Henrietta Cheshire at Elizabeth Bay House. Photo Mel Flyte © Sydney Living Museums 8WINTER 2021details of 36,500 inhabitants of NSW some 40 years after the British Crown established the colony. Its purpose was to count the population – although the land’s Indigenous people were generally not included. Kelso reflects on its value and compares it to the role of censuses today, considering how governments and decision-makers collect, use and retain information about their populations, and how such data isn’t just a snapshot of the present but also a resource for the future. The earliest item in the exhibition, and one of the oldest documents in the Collection, is the 1787 Charter of Justice. The charter, issued by King George III, is the authority for the establishment of the first NSW Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction. The most recent item in History Reflected is a selection of promotional and informational publications from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Although most material in the Collection isn’t open to public access until 30 years from its creation date, Olympics publications such as these were opened last year for the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the games. These publications will, no doubt, trigger memories for people who experienced, contributed to and participated in the Olympics or Paralympics in Sydney. From films to posters, letters, photographs and even a 67-metre-long public petition, there are so many fascinating items in History Reflected. Take a journey through the archives and be surprised by what you find. You may even discover a new passion and appreciation for the power of archives as you reflect on history as told through the NSW State Archives Collection. VISIT History Reflected is on display at the Museum of Sydney from 3 July to 21 November. Museum of Sydney partners QUAY QUARTER SYDNEY, GROSVENOR PLACE From top Cap used by female workers at Leeton Cannery, Water Resources Commission, NRS 14511, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area files; Sydney Opera House ‘Yellow Book’, 1962, site plan (detail), p1, NRS 12708-1-[SZ104]-Sz104. Both items NSW State Archives These reflections give voice to a range of perspectives that explore questions about who we are ... 9HISTORY REFLECTEDNext >