Presented by Megg Kelham
This paper looks at three ways personal accounts of the past have been incorporated into regional museum exhibitions in central Australia as a means of authenticating new historical research, enhancing object meaning, making emotional connections with the past and encouraging new audiences to visit museums. In the process the paper explores reasons why history is best learnt from the horse’s mouth.
Please note that this is the written version of a conference paper which focussed on the actual presentation of the talking photo albums described below. Variations of this paper have been presented at “Museums in a Changing Climate” the Museums Australia National Conference, Canberra May 2007; “Initiatives, Ideas, Interaction, Sharing our Story” the Australian Society of Archivists Annual Conference August 2007, Alice Springs and “Old Stories, New Ways” the Oral History Association of Australia’s National Conference in Brisbane, 2007.