Funding secured for new gallery

A new gallery focusing on the Indigenous connection to sea country is set to become a reality after Portland Maritime Museum was awarded a Commonwealth grant.

Glenelg Shire Council has secured funding of $14,990 through the Australian National Maritime Museum under the Maritime Museums of Australia Project Scheme (MMAPSS), which will be used to develop a First Nations gallery.

The gallery will be co-curated with Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owner Aboriginal Corporation and the content will be informed by the newly-released Gunditj Mara Nyamat Mirring (Sea Country Plan).

This project will see the development and installation of Gunditjmara and First Nations interpretation and story telling within the museum.

It will be delivered through a partnership between Council and GMTOAC, who will provide cultural advice as well as leading and steering the development of content for the space.

The new gallery will form an important entry way into the museum incorporating a commissioned mural by a local Gunditjmara artist putting Gunditjmara connection to sea country front and centre of the museum.

The National Maritime Museum has also committed to providing in-kind support through a subject matter specialists.

Staff from the Museum’s Curatorial, Conservation, Education and Exhibition Teams will support the project during the development phase.

Council is the only recipient of 26 in the grants round to receive both funding and in-kind support.

Work on the design phase of the project is due to start in August.

The MMAPSS program also offers museum staff the opportunity to attend an onsite museology course.

Council’s Collections Management Coordinator has been accepted onto this course and will take part in a week-long program at the Maritime Museum that will support the care and management of Glenelg Shire Council’s Cultural Collection.

MMAPSS is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and the Australian National Maritime Museum.

MMAPSS provides grants of up to $15,000, as well as museological training opportunities valued at up to $3,000 and in-kind support from Australian National Maritime Museum experts.

MMAPSS offers funding to museums and other not-for-profit organisations to help preserve or display objects of national and historical maritime significance.

It also supports staff or volunteers, including from remote or regional organisations across Australia, to spend time learning specific skills and making valuable connections.