The skeleton of killer whale Old Tom in the Eden Killer Whale Museum. Photos: Supplied.
The Eden Killer Whale Museum and the Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society have been awarded grants for two quite different projects to protect and preserve Australia’s maritime heritage.
The larger grant is to develop an original artwork to support the museum’s new exhibition about the intriguing ancient relationship between the Aboriginal people and killer whales. The smaller grant involves the conservation of a fragile collection of maritime signal flags from the cargo ship SS Empire Gladstone that ran aground at Haycock Point, between Eden and Pambula, in 1950.
Angela George, collection manager of the Eden Killer Whale Museum (EKWM) and volunteer curator at the Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society (MIHS), was instrumental in applying for the grants through the Australian National Maritime Museum under the Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS).
In recent years EKWM has been redeveloping the local whales and whaling story, Hunters of the Sea. It wanted to reflect the fact that killer whales are central to the Thaua people of Twofold Bay.
“It is a Creation story,” Ms George said. “When an Aboriginal person passes, they come back as an orca and when an orca passes, they come back as an Aboriginal person.
“That circular incarnation narrative is very embedded in the local Aboriginal culture and their art. After looking into it, we thought art was the best way to communicate that story to visitors, and an Aboriginal artist is best able to make that interpretation.”
Ms George has been working with Chelsy Atkins, South East Arts’ Aboriginal arts and community development officer, as well as Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) CEO Dean Muscat, artist and Twofold Aboriginal Corporation co-CEO Alison Simpson, and elder Uncle BJ Cruse. Ms Atkins has helped EKWM develop the brief for the artist.
One of the signal flags that needs conservation intervention.
“We have been very cognisant that this Creation story is integral to the overall human/orca relationship here,” Ms George said. “If it wasn’t for the pre-colonisation Aboriginal/orca relationship, the post-colonial relationship would not have happened. It was passed on.”
Ms George would like the input of South East Arts, Eden LALC, Twofold Aboriginal Corporation and Uncle BJ into the selection of the Aboriginal artist.
“It is their story, so they should be involved in who tells it,” she said.
Ms George hopes that the artwork, which will fill a very large space on a freestanding wall in the Davidson Gallery, can be installed before Christmas.
The MMAPSS grant for the artwork is $7000 plus GST.
MIHS will receive $2464 towards the conservation of its collection of more than 30 signal flags from the SS Empire Gladstone.
When the six-year-old cargo ship ran aground it did not sink immediately, and a Merimbula publican, Ben Buckland, and his brother Neil got the salvage rights.
The flags were used for semaphore ship to shore communication.
“The flags have been in a shed since 1950 and I don’t think the salt was ever even removed,” Ms George said. “MIHS has quite a good collection of artefacts from the Empire Gladstone, but these flags are in particularly fragile condition so need conservation intervention otherwise they won’t last another 75 years.”
The flags were used for semaphore ship to shore communication. Each flag had a different meaning.
As well as cleaning, the flags need to be mounted on unbleached calico or similar material to provide support and take pressure off the fabric. When the conservation work is complete, they will be stored on special, quite pricey rolls and boxes with tissue paper.
As well as the grant, the Australian National Maritime Museum will provide in-kind support through their conservation staff coming to Merimbula to provide guidance and training to volunteers to undertake the work.
“It is very aware of the fact that many regional and rural museums don’t have access to skilled staff, and it is really keen to pass on those skills instead of coming in, doing the work and not leaving anything behind,” Ms George said.
She expects that work to be done within the next 12 months.
It is another successful year for maritime heritage grants for the shire’s museums. Ms George said they apply for the grants almost every year. Grants in 2020 and 2021 went towards some of the conservation work on the skeleton of Old Tom the killer whale, EKWM’s showpiece skeleton.
