Conservation staff from the Western Australian Museum will be in Kalgoorlie-Boulder this Thursday, April 29 to provide advice to local heritage organisations on collections that were damaged in last week’s earthquake.

Ulli Broeze-Hoernemann and Richard Garcia will be running a free seminar looking at the range and type of damage sustained by collections in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area.

The seminar will also include advice for conservation treatments for damaged objects and repacking and storing artefacts that may have been moved during the tremors.

Ms Broeze-Hoernemann specialises in paper and textile conservation while Mr Garcia specialises in technological objects, which includes furniture and industrial objects.

Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Museum Alec Coles visited Kalgoorlie-Boulder last week and saw first hand the damage sustained by local historic buildings and heritage organisations.

"The earthquake caused significant damage to some of the city’s collections and while there is a great deal of work to be done to conserve the collections, there are some valuable lessons to be learned from this experience that can assist museums across Australia.

"The WA Museum has exceptional conservation staff and I encourage local heritage groups to utilise their expertise as well as work together to preserve our significant collections in the Goldfields region," Mr Coles said.

As a result of the visit Ms Broeze-Hoernemann and Mr Garcia will be providing an assessment report and recovery program to the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM) and other Australian heritage industry support providers for use in the event of future earthquakes in Australia.

Media contacts:

Renae Woodhams
Manager, Media and Communications
Tel: (08) 9212 3860
Mob: 0439 948 779

Zoe Scott
Regional Manager, Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Tel: 9021 8533