Business
30 November, 2023
Babinda Museum Wins 3 State Excellence Awards
LESS than a year after its official opening, Babinda Museum is the winner of three gallery and museum achievement awards at the Museums and Galleries Queensland 2023 awards ceremony last week.
The museum’s official opening in January 2023 was after almost six years of volunteer work by a small group of Babinda locals and the Queensland Museum’s senior museum fevelopment officer in FNQ, Dr Jo Wills.
The group of locals formed a steering committee, which then became a subcommittee of Babinda District Community Association Inc. Working with Dr Wills, the committee was able to develop a strategic plan, engage with the community, seek and secure funding through multiple grants, sponsorships, and community fundraisers, undertake training in museum practices and collection management, develop policies and procedures for the museum, before finally designing and installing each exhibition for the museum.
At all times during the Museum’s development, the committee held an admirably strong commitment to inclusive representation as well as reconciliation. Museum and Galleries Queensland executive director Rebekah Butler acknowledged the authenticity of the museum in the announcement of the awards, emphasising the genuine nature of the volunteers.
“Going into this project, none of the volunteers had any experience of museum work or fully understood the ability of culture to drive community wellbeing,” Ms Butler said.
Ms Butler also emphasised both the personal and community growth achieved by the committee.
“Not only have they created a quality museum and cultural attraction for Babinda, but they have also grown in confidence and developed valuable new skills.”LESS than a year after its official opening, Babinda Museum is the winner of three gallery and museum achievement awards at the Museums and Galleries Queensland 2023 awards ceremony last week.
The museum’s official opening in January 2023 was after almost six years of volunteer work by a small group of Babinda locals and the Queensland Museum’s senior museum fevelopment officer in FNQ, Dr Jo Wills. The group of locals formed a steering committee, which then became a subcommittee of Babinda District Community Association Inc. Working with Dr Wills, the committee was able to develop a strategic plan, engage with the community, seek and secure funding through multiple grants, sponsorships, and community fundraisers, undertake training in museum practices and collection management, develop policies and procedures for the museum, before finally designing and installing each exhibition for the museum.
At all times during the Museum’s development, the committee held an admirably strong commitment to inclusive representation as well as reconciliation.
Museum and Galleries Queensland executive director Rebekah Butler acknowledged the authenticity of the museum in the announcement of the awards, emphasising the genuine nature of the volunteers.
“Going into this project, none of the volunteers had any experience of museum work or fully understood the ability of culture to drive community wellbeing,” Ms Butler said.
Ms Butler also emphasised both the personal and community growth achieved by the committee.
“Not only have they created a quality museum and cultural attraction for Babinda, but they have also grown in confidence and developed valuable new skills.”
