Wednesday, part I
Dec. 1st, 2013 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithToday's plan is simple. Go to the National Museum, then go across the lake to see what I feel looking at over there. Oh, and catch up with Jo.
To get to the museum I could, of course, catch the Centenary bus and do the loop, and get there just after 9.30. However, my phone claimed it was just 1.4 km drive from where I was staying, which is what? A 20 minute easy walk, and the last part of which would be along the edge of the lake. So I could a leave a bit earlier and get there just after it opened.
I should include a map of Canberra for those not familiar with the city. Basically, it two circles, on either side of the lake. The bus terminuses, shops and YHA where I was staying are to the top and top-right of the northern circle (e.g. Canberra Central). The southern circle, with Capital Hill, is where Parliament House is, and between that and the lake is where most of things I plan to visit are, also lots of parks and gardens. So the "centre" of the city, that in any sensible place has been built and developed over decades, is all open space and public buildings. Also, it's very new. Canberra itself is celebrating it's centenary this year, but most of the buildings are from more recent times. The lake itself was constructed in the 1960s and I think most of the construction (of significant buildings and suburbs both) in city is from after that. So whereas in a town of any size, you have layers of building, development, demolition, replacement, redevelopment over time, in Canberra it's much of a single layer. On my first visit here, about ten years, I decided it had been dropped by aliens.
Anyway, let's go and have a look around :)
Because I'm not a car, I didn't need to go around the circle but could cut across the middle. It's all park (and car park) area. This looking back the way I've just come.
On the other side, that's the bridge across the lake and Capital Hill. In the centre of the city, of course.
A building on the way, just because it's interesting.
I don't know what this bull outside Rydges is about, although I guess it's this one.
'
Another building! For the same reason.
At the lake now, and over the back, from left to right, National Library, Parliament House, National Museum. In the foreground, a swan.
See!
A lot of swans along here. They wake up as I walk past, and looked expectantly at me. I guess people feed them.
Here is where I realise that wearing sneakers without socks was a bad idea. And just because I got away with it yesterday (which was mostly sitting down) doesn't mean I can get away with it if I'm doing a lot of walking. Of course, there is a reason I have a pocket full of band-aids. So I stop and stuck them on all over the back of ankles. (Generally in summer, I cut the sticky bits off band-aids and stick them on places where shoes rub as a matter of course, but I haven't got into summer yet.)
OK what are these little ducks? The grey and brown ones.
Around the lake further. There's the carillon in the middle now. I didn't notice that at the time.
On the path into the museum. We used to have muscovies and from time to time, if you were walking down the yard, they'd get in front of you and hurry along in the same direction, getting upset because THEY WERE BEING CHASED. I'll note that his behaviour is obviously not confined to domestic ducks.
Entrance!
I walk into this big space with a counter and gift shop and things over there and things over there, and have no idea where to go. So I go over and talk to a helpful lady at the counter who give me a floorplan and a brouchure of highlights, and explains the various bits and says the entrance to the exhibitions is under the plane.
The entrance to the exhibitions is under the plane.
Circa is a cinema that, according to the helpful lady at the counter, shows the history of Australia from the beginnings of time to the present, and it rotates. I wasn't going to bother but as I walked past, the guy said a new show was about to start right now. So I went in. The seats were full of school kids! Except for the front row, so I sat there. The film was actually a series of images and sounds that flash up on the screen showing significant events and objects, overlapping and replacing each other like a huge audio-visual collage. Some of the overlapping created interesting emphases and incongruities that were gone before you could think about them. Was rather cool actually. Also, rotating.
This first part is the Eternity gallery, which groups personal stories with photos & artefacts under various emotions, Hope and Joy are two of those shown. The first one, where I came in, was IIRC, Despair. There was a story of a woman who'd lost her husband in a war and light went out of her life. The next story was a young guy who'd been kidnapped and abused, and I think, died young. I didn't really feel inclined to read much more. At the other were clowns. I'm someone thought this gallery was a good idea.
The Old New Land gallery is about the land, animals, pests, environment, agriculture,
bushfires and other interactions between the people and the land. I'm not going to show particular items or displays, except to give an overview or where they are part of the story, even though some of them are things I'd like to explore further, otherwise there will be far too many photos. I'll do that later, in separate posts.
Many of the items on display were familiar, but they way they were presented brought up new ideas. Much to think through.
The next gallery is over three levels.
The helpful lady at the counter said Journeys is the only one in chronological order starting with a gun from the Endeavour through to a gold medal from the London Olympics.
Just a quick photo of the Endeavour's gun, because there was a group there with a guide. A bit odd hearing back a story I've told, about how the ship went aground on a reef and they had to throw the guns overboard. Although his version was longer, because the gun was the point of the stop, whereas on the ship, there are other things to cover at that stop.
There is a lot of glass up here. (And that's the remains of an iron cauldron recovered from a site "used by trepand fisherman from Makassar".) I like the contrast of the solidness of the iron against the light and glass.
I think my brain is getting a bit tired with new things by now because I didn't even look at the convict love tokens, other than to take this photo of a penny in various stages of being made into a token.
I did spend some time frowning at a shearing display. They don't like do a particularly good job of matching captions to objects sometimes. I also looked muchly at the Staffordshire figures display that had a couple of very interesting figures, but they can have their own post. Also some other things that I might get to later.
Although I will share this. The accompanying information panel says:
Muriel McPhee's trousseau
Between 1916 and 1918, Muriel McPhee sewed, embroidered and crocheted over 100 items of table linen, nightwear and underwear, some of which are display in this exhibit. She was creating her trousseau--the clothes and drapery she would need in married life. But McPhee never wed and, after she died, her family found her trousseau, unused and stored in calico bags hidden around her house.
It seems that in about 1916, 18-year-old McPhee became engaged. It was the First Wold War and while McPhee stayed and worked on Arulbin, her family farm near Grafton in New South Wales, her fiancé went off to fight in Europe, like 60,000 other young Australians, he never returned home.
The next gallery is Landmarks. The objects are arranged by location. On the main level, there were four cases that I saw. This is the first one, Sydney.
Then Hobart, which goes around a corner so it's a bit hard to photograph.
The other end of the Hobart case, which gives an idea of the contents.
Melbourne.
Adelaide.
This gallery continues on the lower level, but I stay on this level instead.
And head into the First Australians gallery. This is a big area, the helpful lady at the counter said, so make sure you keep energy for it. Energy, I had, except in my feet. Enthusiasm, not so much. And room for more idea? Definitely not. There are some seats there though.
Little thing, big display.
The caption says:
Ground ochre
This piece of ochre has been ground to produce pigment for painting. This technique is among the earliest known evidence for art-making in the world.
Piece of ground ochre (haematite)
in use 53,000-59,000 years ago from Nauwalabila I, basal levels Kakadu Nation Park, Northern Territory.
This was a large display.
We're here
Tasmanian Aboriginal communities
Throughout history, Tasmanian Aboriginal people have been described as both friendly and fierce. During the nineteenth, warriors fought with spears and weapons, and today activists fight using political campaigns and legal action.
They fight for land rights to continue their connections with the environment, for the right to gather food sources such as abalone, and the right to practice and renew cultural traditions.
Cultural renewal
I relearnt how to make drums. I found a reference to drums in a journal. He [the author] talks about coming up the Tamar River -- around the Melaleuca scrub he saw women dancing and playing drums -- their skin cloaks rolled up in a cylinder.
Taraba (Vernon Graham), 2003
The next bit was about Ernabella, a home? If there was an actual explanation of what it was about, I missed it, which was quite possible. I was missing a lot by now.
From sand to paper
Children at Ernabella have always drawn in the sand. Usually they draw abstract patterns with three fingers to create images of lines within lines. They do this during certain games or to accompany stories told by children or adults. When first asked by a teacher to draw on paper, the children modified their technique by drawing concentric patterns using different colours.
And there's more below.
Message sticks for Native title
I think if I was to visit here again, I'd just do one gallery at a time. After all, that is how I usually visit large museums. Looking at bits that interest me, rather than the whole thing.
I found a door to outside!
I think I missed something with this. The description of it is "The Garden of Australian Dream is a remarkable garden made up of maps and symbols, where every step you take equates to 100 kilometres across the continent". Maybe I was walking around in circles. Lots of painted concrete with words on it.
And this lake/ocean with "eylands" and a dead tree.
Although this looked very appealing.
Also little parroty birds, that I don't know what they are.
Back inside, and this is something to do with Torres Strait Islanders.
The helpful lady at the counter said the museum was designed to be like a jigsaw, with bits all over the place. Somewhat of a maze really. Earlier I had met a couple trying to find their way out of this gallery, and I pointed them at the way in. Now it was my turn.
Eventually I found my out and into the lower level of the Landmarks gallery.
But mostly I didn't find myself interested in what it had. Not even a giant shovel bucket.
Although this perked me up a little. I'd spent a few hours on the Internets one day trying to find a useful photo of a mail coach from this era.
When I just took one photo of this, and didn't bother looking at the individual items, I knew it was time to leave :)
Although the size of this lift interested me :)
The exit from the exhibitions is under the plane. There's the gift shop to the left. It was a gift shop too. A lot of gift-type stuff (e.g. hand cream, personal items) that had no apparent link to the museum. A selection of post cards. Nothing really interesting. Although I did pick up some of the postcards (including one of the coach), some the hand cream (for me) and a magnetic note pad with Anzac biscuit recipe (for mother).
This works better looking down from outside.
And now I head off to find the free bus, to catch it back to the city and from there, get the next bus on to the next place.
So that's a good place to stop.
To get to the museum I could, of course, catch the Centenary bus and do the loop, and get there just after 9.30. However, my phone claimed it was just 1.4 km drive from where I was staying, which is what? A 20 minute easy walk, and the last part of which would be along the edge of the lake. So I could a leave a bit earlier and get there just after it opened.
I should include a map of Canberra for those not familiar with the city. Basically, it two circles, on either side of the lake. The bus terminuses, shops and YHA where I was staying are to the top and top-right of the northern circle (e.g. Canberra Central). The southern circle, with Capital Hill, is where Parliament House is, and between that and the lake is where most of things I plan to visit are, also lots of parks and gardens. So the "centre" of the city, that in any sensible place has been built and developed over decades, is all open space and public buildings. Also, it's very new. Canberra itself is celebrating it's centenary this year, but most of the buildings are from more recent times. The lake itself was constructed in the 1960s and I think most of the construction (of significant buildings and suburbs both) in city is from after that. So whereas in a town of any size, you have layers of building, development, demolition, replacement, redevelopment over time, in Canberra it's much of a single layer. On my first visit here, about ten years, I decided it had been dropped by aliens.
Anyway, let's go and have a look around :)
Because I'm not a car, I didn't need to go around the circle but could cut across the middle. It's all park (and car park) area. This looking back the way I've just come.
On the other side, that's the bridge across the lake and Capital Hill. In the centre of the city, of course.
A building on the way, just because it's interesting.
I don't know what this bull outside Rydges is about, although I guess it's this one.
'Another building! For the same reason.
At the lake now, and over the back, from left to right, National Library, Parliament House, National Museum. In the foreground, a swan.
See!
A lot of swans along here. They wake up as I walk past, and looked expectantly at me. I guess people feed them.
Here is where I realise that wearing sneakers without socks was a bad idea. And just because I got away with it yesterday (which was mostly sitting down) doesn't mean I can get away with it if I'm doing a lot of walking. Of course, there is a reason I have a pocket full of band-aids. So I stop and stuck them on all over the back of ankles. (Generally in summer, I cut the sticky bits off band-aids and stick them on places where shoes rub as a matter of course, but I haven't got into summer yet.)
OK what are these little ducks? The grey and brown ones.
Around the lake further. There's the carillon in the middle now. I didn't notice that at the time.
On the path into the museum. We used to have muscovies and from time to time, if you were walking down the yard, they'd get in front of you and hurry along in the same direction, getting upset because THEY WERE BEING CHASED. I'll note that his behaviour is obviously not confined to domestic ducks.
Entrance!
I walk into this big space with a counter and gift shop and things over there and things over there, and have no idea where to go. So I go over and talk to a helpful lady at the counter who give me a floorplan and a brouchure of highlights, and explains the various bits and says the entrance to the exhibitions is under the plane.
The entrance to the exhibitions is under the plane.
Circa is a cinema that, according to the helpful lady at the counter, shows the history of Australia from the beginnings of time to the present, and it rotates. I wasn't going to bother but as I walked past, the guy said a new show was about to start right now. So I went in. The seats were full of school kids! Except for the front row, so I sat there. The film was actually a series of images and sounds that flash up on the screen showing significant events and objects, overlapping and replacing each other like a huge audio-visual collage. Some of the overlapping created interesting emphases and incongruities that were gone before you could think about them. Was rather cool actually. Also, rotating.
This first part is the Eternity gallery, which groups personal stories with photos & artefacts under various emotions, Hope and Joy are two of those shown. The first one, where I came in, was IIRC, Despair. There was a story of a woman who'd lost her husband in a war and light went out of her life. The next story was a young guy who'd been kidnapped and abused, and I think, died young. I didn't really feel inclined to read much more. At the other were clowns. I'm someone thought this gallery was a good idea.
The Old New Land gallery is about the land, animals, pests, environment, agriculture,
bushfires and other interactions between the people and the land. I'm not going to show particular items or displays, except to give an overview or where they are part of the story, even though some of them are things I'd like to explore further, otherwise there will be far too many photos. I'll do that later, in separate posts.
Many of the items on display were familiar, but they way they were presented brought up new ideas. Much to think through.
The next gallery is over three levels.
The helpful lady at the counter said Journeys is the only one in chronological order starting with a gun from the Endeavour through to a gold medal from the London Olympics.
Just a quick photo of the Endeavour's gun, because there was a group there with a guide. A bit odd hearing back a story I've told, about how the ship went aground on a reef and they had to throw the guns overboard. Although his version was longer, because the gun was the point of the stop, whereas on the ship, there are other things to cover at that stop.
There is a lot of glass up here. (And that's the remains of an iron cauldron recovered from a site "used by trepand fisherman from Makassar".) I like the contrast of the solidness of the iron against the light and glass.
I think my brain is getting a bit tired with new things by now because I didn't even look at the convict love tokens, other than to take this photo of a penny in various stages of being made into a token.
I did spend some time frowning at a shearing display. They don't like do a particularly good job of matching captions to objects sometimes. I also looked muchly at the Staffordshire figures display that had a couple of very interesting figures, but they can have their own post. Also some other things that I might get to later.
Although I will share this. The accompanying information panel says:
Muriel McPhee's trousseau
Between 1916 and 1918, Muriel McPhee sewed, embroidered and crocheted over 100 items of table linen, nightwear and underwear, some of which are display in this exhibit. She was creating her trousseau--the clothes and drapery she would need in married life. But McPhee never wed and, after she died, her family found her trousseau, unused and stored in calico bags hidden around her house.
It seems that in about 1916, 18-year-old McPhee became engaged. It was the First Wold War and while McPhee stayed and worked on Arulbin, her family farm near Grafton in New South Wales, her fiancé went off to fight in Europe, like 60,000 other young Australians, he never returned home.
The next gallery is Landmarks. The objects are arranged by location. On the main level, there were four cases that I saw. This is the first one, Sydney.
Then Hobart, which goes around a corner so it's a bit hard to photograph.
The other end of the Hobart case, which gives an idea of the contents.
Melbourne.
Adelaide.
This gallery continues on the lower level, but I stay on this level instead.
And head into the First Australians gallery. This is a big area, the helpful lady at the counter said, so make sure you keep energy for it. Energy, I had, except in my feet. Enthusiasm, not so much. And room for more idea? Definitely not. There are some seats there though.
Little thing, big display.
The caption says:
Ground ochre
This piece of ochre has been ground to produce pigment for painting. This technique is among the earliest known evidence for art-making in the world.
Piece of ground ochre (haematite)
in use 53,000-59,000 years ago from Nauwalabila I, basal levels Kakadu Nation Park, Northern Territory.
This was a large display.
We're here
Tasmanian Aboriginal communities
Throughout history, Tasmanian Aboriginal people have been described as both friendly and fierce. During the nineteenth, warriors fought with spears and weapons, and today activists fight using political campaigns and legal action.
They fight for land rights to continue their connections with the environment, for the right to gather food sources such as abalone, and the right to practice and renew cultural traditions.
Cultural renewal
I relearnt how to make drums. I found a reference to drums in a journal. He [the author] talks about coming up the Tamar River -- around the Melaleuca scrub he saw women dancing and playing drums -- their skin cloaks rolled up in a cylinder.
Taraba (Vernon Graham), 2003
The next bit was about Ernabella, a home? If there was an actual explanation of what it was about, I missed it, which was quite possible. I was missing a lot by now.
From sand to paper
Children at Ernabella have always drawn in the sand. Usually they draw abstract patterns with three fingers to create images of lines within lines. They do this during certain games or to accompany stories told by children or adults. When first asked by a teacher to draw on paper, the children modified their technique by drawing concentric patterns using different colours.
And there's more below.
Message sticks for Native title
I think if I was to visit here again, I'd just do one gallery at a time. After all, that is how I usually visit large museums. Looking at bits that interest me, rather than the whole thing.
I found a door to outside!
I think I missed something with this. The description of it is "The Garden of Australian Dream is a remarkable garden made up of maps and symbols, where every step you take equates to 100 kilometres across the continent". Maybe I was walking around in circles. Lots of painted concrete with words on it.
And this lake/ocean with "eylands" and a dead tree.
Although this looked very appealing.
Also little parroty birds, that I don't know what they are.
Back inside, and this is something to do with Torres Strait Islanders.
The helpful lady at the counter said the museum was designed to be like a jigsaw, with bits all over the place. Somewhat of a maze really. Earlier I had met a couple trying to find their way out of this gallery, and I pointed them at the way in. Now it was my turn.
Eventually I found my out and into the lower level of the Landmarks gallery.
But mostly I didn't find myself interested in what it had. Not even a giant shovel bucket.
Although this perked me up a little. I'd spent a few hours on the Internets one day trying to find a useful photo of a mail coach from this era.
When I just took one photo of this, and didn't bother looking at the individual items, I knew it was time to leave :)
Although the size of this lift interested me :)
The exit from the exhibitions is under the plane. There's the gift shop to the left. It was a gift shop too. A lot of gift-type stuff (e.g. hand cream, personal items) that had no apparent link to the museum. A selection of post cards. Nothing really interesting. Although I did pick up some of the postcards (including one of the coach), some the hand cream (for me) and a magnetic note pad with Anzac biscuit recipe (for mother).
This works better looking down from outside.
And now I head off to find the free bus, to catch it back to the city and from there, get the next bus on to the next place.
So that's a good place to stop.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-11 06:32 pm (UTC)