The Batemans Bay Heritage Museum won the award for its exhibition on local (oyster) history. Photo: Jacquie Manning.
A South Coast museum has taken home a statewide award for its exhibition about a special kind of underwater life – and its impact on coastal communities.
Doctor Sofia Eriksson, curator of the Batemans Bay Heritage Museum, said putting in a nomination for their A Tale of Two Valves exhibition was an easy decision.
“It was on display when I started [in my role], so I nominated the museum and the volunteers because I thought it was a really terrific exhibition they had put together,” she said.
“As a concept, it’s very much reflective of a local, very rich historical tradition in the Batemans Bay area and it reflects a really valuable – and key – local tradition and industry.”
The A Tale of Two Valves exhibition won the volunteer organisations category for the Exhibition Projects – Museums and Heritage award in the 2024 IMAGinE Awards, held in late November.
“The win really shows that even on a shoe-string budget and a volunteer workforce, you can put together exhibitions that speak to people,” said Dr Eriksson.
“They [the volunteers] put in so many hours, work very hard and really care about the institution.
“To have that recognised by the leading body for museums and galleries in NSW is very meaningful and really inspires both them and me to keep working.”
A Tale of Two Valves features artefacts, photos, and other elements that explore the region’s history of oyster farming from before colonisation to current times.
“Oyster fishing has deep roots – from the Walbuja people’s tradition of fishing in the Bhundo to many local families that have made their livelihood out of oyster fishing for the past couple of hundred years,” she said.
“Then today, it’s one of the sort of big employers and one of the big industries in the area.”
The exhibition started its life as a research project delving into a unique aspect of the region’s history, but it didn’t stay that way for long.
“The research group had quite a lot of material on this and suggested to the rest of the volunteering team at the museum that we pick up on that material and put together an exhibition,” Dr Eriksson said.
“It was very much a collaboration between the research group, the museum volunteers and community members – people from these families who have been involved in the oyster industry and Australia’s Oyster Coast.
“It was a really beautiful way for the whole community to come together and [for] stakeholders to think about what they wanted to say about this industry.”
While some people only think about oysters when it’s time for Christmas lunch, Dr Eriksson said the bivalve has had a long history for those living on the South Coast.
“Most people love oysters – but when it’s connected to the livelihood of people and a deep history, it becomes part of the fabric of the community,” she said.
“That turns something that is quite mundane and small into a really rich tapestry of stories.”
While A Tale of Two Valves has since been packed away, Dr Eriksson said curious minds from Batemans Bay and further away will soon have another chance to see it.
“We’ve had people – since we took the exhibition down and put our next exhibition up – come in and say that they actually really wanted to see the oyster exhibition,” she said.
In good news for the curious, the exhibition will be set up in a permanent space within the museum, expected to open in early 2025.
Dr Eriksson said the exhibition was part of the museum’s plan to focus on water in the coming months.
“We really want to put that social history [of the area] in more of a coastal framework and really explore how the waterways that surround Batemans Bay have contributed to shaping people’s lives in a really specific way,” she said.
“We have quite a busy schedule of new exhibitions that highlight that theme, and we’re really hoping the community will join us in that.”
The IMAGinE Awards are an initiative of Museums & Galleries of NSW, developed with support from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association NSW and Regional and Public Galleries of NSW.
Batemans Bay Heritage Museum is located at 3 Museum Place in Batemans Bay. It is open 10 am to 3 pm (Wednesday to Saturday).
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