Message From The CEO

It has been an extraordinary year for the Western Australian Museum. We are now officially in the Design Phase the New MuseumProject – one of the most significant museum redevelopments occurring anywhere in the world right now. This substantial $428.3 million investment by the Western Australian Government affirms its strong commitment to the Museum’s aspiration to be owned and valued by all West Australians, and admired by the world.

The New Museum Project will drive a complete organisational realignment to prepare the Museum not only for the opening of a new facility in 2020, but to operate effectively in the decades beyond. I have been encouraged by the commitment of staff to refocus their vision on the museum of the future.

I am a great believer in ‘advocacy by achievement’. In short, people, companies, organisations and governments will invest in an organisation if they believe that it is are capable of achieving great things, and this year we have achieved some great things. For instance our most successful exhibition ever– Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous; by the same token but in very different mood, the Inside: Life in Children’s homes and Institutions exhibition in Fremantle was supported by some deep and poignant community engagement. The extensive work on designing the National Anzac Centre in Albany, to be opened in November, has proceeded apace and with much praise from our stakeholders.

The installation of the Miner’s Memorial at the WA Museum – Kalgoorlie-Boulder was an important demonstration of the Museum’s place at the heart of its community; the exciting, extraordinary and poignant revisit to the HMAS Sydney (ll) and HSK Kormoran sites currently being planned for next year, and the associated proposals for our Geraldton site, are an example of the power of partnership – with, in this case, amongst others, Curtin University, the Australian National Maritime Museum, and the Mid West Development Commission.

Another important development in the Mid West has been the Museum’s continued contribution to the conservation and interpretation of the maritime archaeology of the region through the completion and implementation of the interpretation plan for the Wallabi group of islands, and the important remediation and excavation on Beacon Island – ‘Batavia’s graveyard’.

The New Museum Project continues to add significant value to our growing collections and research activity and this is nowhere better illustrated than through the completion of the designs for new facilities at our Collections and Research Centre in Welshpool; construction of which will commence in the coming year.

One unexpected outcome was the result of our five-year full collection valuation. A combination of changes to international accounting standards, a change in valuer and methodology, and a reappraisal of the previous valuation, all contributed to a decrease in the stated value of the collections. This is, of course, a paper value for items that, in almost every case, could not be liquidated to realise a cash value. Similarly, there has been no diminution in the collection, either in size, or quality – quite the opposite, as the collections have continued to grow over the intervening period.

I sincerely thank the Western Australian Museum Trustees for their continued commitment during this time of extraordinary change: in particular our Chair, Emeritus Professor Alan Robson AO, for his unstinting support.

I would like to make special mention of the generous support received this year from our Western Australian Museum Foundation, and to acknowledge the vigour with which the Foundation Board of Governors, and especially its new Chair Justin Mannolini, is developing and promoting the case for support for our New Museum aspirations.

I would also like to thank our dedicated staff and volunteers, our Museum Friends and supporters, individual and corporate, public and private, without whom we could not hope to achieve our ambitions to make our Western Australian Museum an inclusive and inspirational space; one that is at the heart of its community, where people can truly explore their identity, culture and sense of place now and for generations to come.

Alec Coles OBE
CEO, Western Australian Museum