The Western Australian Museum has conferred its highest honour upon retiring Executive Director of Fremantle Museums and Collections, Dr Ian MacLeod – that of Fellow of the Western Australian Museum. Dr MacLeod officially retires this week, after 38 years with the Museum.

WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said Dr MacLeod had an outstanding international reputation in the field of metals conservation, and had made a truly significant contribution to the Museum, particularly in the fields of shipwreck conservation and the preservation of Aboriginal rock art.

“Ian came to museum conservation from an electrochemistry background and it was the minerals that formed on the copper sheathing of ships’ hulls that drew him to the WA Museum as a research officer in 1978,” Mr Coles said.

“Since that time he has developed a formidable reputation as one of the world’s leading experts in conservation science, and his services continue to be in great demand on internationally significant projects.”

One of the most important of these ahead of the current Centenary of Service commemorative calendar was his work on the conservation of the Australian World War One submarine AE2, which was scuttled in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign. Dr MacLeod introduced sacrificial anodes to the wreck site significantly decreasing the rate of corrosion, and last year presented a plenary lecture in Istanbul on the vessel’s in situ preservation at a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Dr MacLeod has also been responsible for the preservation of highly significant artefacts here in WA, including those recovered from the four VOC shipwrecks off the Mid West coast, and the historically valuable 1697 de Vlamingh Plate – an inscribed pewter plate which is one of Australia’s oldest and most treasured historical records, and which is currently on display at the Museum’s Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle.

“There are certain individuals whose name and profile are so inextricably linked with the WA Museum that it is hard to imagine the Museum without them,” Mr Coles said.

“There is no-one who better fits that description than Ian MacLeod. We are delighted that Ian will continue to maintain an association with the Western Australian Museum through his Fellowship, and we wish him the best in what I am sure will be a very busy retirement.”

Media contact
Sharna Craig
Media and Publicity Officer
Western Australian Museum
sharna.craig@museum.wa.gov.au