General News
12 July, 2023
City’s treasure trove
A UNIQUE collaboration between Cairns Museum and James Cook University (JCU) has brought an exhibition – 50 Treasures Revisited – exploring the people, places, and rich history of the Far North at Cairns Museum.
Until October 28, visitors and residents can visit 50 Treasures Revisited at Cairns Museum, a selection of 17 treasures from the JCU exhibition 50 Treasures – Celebrating 50 Years that was presented by JCU Library Special Collections at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville in 2020.
The curated selection includes a combination of physical and digital artefacts, like original manuscripts, artworks, historical sketches, photo albums and objects that tell the diversity of stories life in the tropical Far North.
Cairns Museum curator Dr Daniela Vávrová said visitors would be challenged to explore the meaning of the treasures and their significance.
“It is a great opportunity to see such rare items that are typically stored in archives from the JCU Special Collection. We are proud to host these treasures which possess particular significance to Far North Queensland,” Dr Vávrová said. JCU Townsville curator and special collections manager Bronwyn McBurnie said the selection of treasures was catered to an FNQ audience.
“Cairns Museum approached us and said they wanted to bring the treasures to the Far North,” Ms McBurnie said. “These pieces were chosen because they were relevant to Far North Queensland, which is the wet tropics, opposed to the dry tropics which is Townsville and so there are several creatives, Val Russell, Betty Hinton, Laurie Bragg, who live in the Far North and whose life has been spent in relation to the Far North.
“There’s a lot of diversity in this selection. There are objects, manuscripts, handwritten material, beautiful artwork, botanical illustrations, there’s Indigenous work and there’s also digital content so you can listen to the lecture that Eddie Mabo gave to JCU education students in 1982, and hopefully you will go home and listen to the 50-minute talk.”
One remarkable item is an Orator’s Stool from Tegoi, in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, collected in 1972 by local collector Laurie Bragge who spent over 40 years as a Kiap (Australian patrol officer) in Papua New Guinea.
For more information, visit
www.cairnsmuseum.org.au
