My Prac time at the Museum

Anthropology and Archaeology's blog | Created 1 decade ago

My Prac time at the Museum – a blog on a student placement
by Dezreena Hoelker, UWA graduate student, April 2011

I am currently an undergraduate student studying a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Anthropology at the University of Western Australia. I decided to commence an Arts Practicum which allows you to gain work experience for six weeks, whilst studying in a field that you may be interested in when your degree has been completed. My first preference was to acquire a placement at the Western Australian Museum, however I was not sure if this was a definite possibility. Once I heard the news that my request was successful I was very excited for the opportunity of gaining experience in the Anthropology & Archaeology Department at the Museum.

In my first week at the Museum my prac required me to meet my supervisor Ross Chadwick and develop or create a small project to complete at the end of my six weeks. Ross suggested that I select a region of the collection I was interested in and use the collection to create a small project that could be displayed either in the museum or online. Due to my Aboriginal background I decided to select the South-West region because I am a Noongar woman and we have strong family connections to this region.

In order to have a clear idea of what was required to complete this small project I decided to do some research and visit the Western Australian Museum in Perth to see what they already had on display. Having visited the Museum I was very stressed because the collection on Aboriginal people was quite detailed and had the complete history from settlement to now on display. So I discussed further with my supervisor about how I would present this small project because I wanted it to be quite unique from what was already on display at the museum. In the end it was suggested that I create a memory box which consisted of me collecting items from home that represented my identity and my family history/connection with the South-West.

After speaking to my mother and collecting some items that she had around the house I brought them into the museum so my supervisor could decide whether they were relevant to my project. A few of the items included to art works by a family member, tapping sticks that I made on a cultural camp and an Emu Egg that had been painted by another family member (see image 1). To my surprise the two artworks (images 2 & 3) that I had brought in were painted by Revel Cooper and given to my Nanna before I was born. When I was growing up I never realised the significance of these paintings that lay on display in my Nanna’s house until I brought them to the Museum. I was almost embarrassed when my supervisor explained to me that Revel Cooper was a well known Aboriginal Artist and I had no idea of the importance and relevance of this to my family history. When I embarked more into my family history I realised that Revel’s grandmother and my mother’s grandmother were sisters. This discovery motivated me to learn more about my family tree and my family’s connection with the South West. In addition it made we want to learn more about the experiences of my mum and her siblings who spent time living on Missions like Marribank and Mogumber and the effect of this on Aboriginal identity and culture.

In between researching and gathering ideas for my small project I had to embark on other daily tasks at the museum. My supervisor wanted to give me an idea of some of the daily tasks that were preformed in the Museum in relation to the collection. Therefore, I learned how to register and photograph objects for the different Anthropological collections at the Museum. Once I became confident with these tasks my supervisor trusted me with selecting and photographing objects from the entire South-West region that had not been catalogued into the computer system. Photographing these different items became one of my favourite tasks during my prac time at the Museum.

My Prac time at the Museum was one of the most rewarding experiences during my years studying at the University of Western Australia. I hope that there will be other opportunities for more university students to commence similar work experience in the future with the Western Australian Museum. These kinds of experiences provide students with important knowledge that is needed once out in the work force and seeking employment opportunities in this field.

Image 1: Painted Emu Egg

Image copyright of WA Museum

Image 2: Revel Cooper painting

Image copyright of WA Museum

Image 3: Revel Cooper painting

Image copyright of WA Museum