International Workshops
As well as our regular in-house workshops, Preservation Australia is often asked to deliver customised workshops throughout Australia and SE Asia. Over the years we have had some delightful experiences working with the heritage community in other countries – and some less delightful experiences explaining the contents of our workshop tubs to airport security!
Some examples are…
ASEAN – Developing An Emergency Response and Recovery Team for Records
Kuala Lumpur, 2010
This was a complex week working with archivists from the National Archives from the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries. As a group, they wanted to develop an emergency response and recovery network that could be activated to assist a country experiencing a disaster. This was an ASEAN initiative following the 2004 tsunami, which recognised that some countries are in a better position to respond to a disaster than others.
This ASEAN Emergency Response and Recovery network was an ambitious goal, as some of the participants had never developed a Disaster Preparedness Plan for their collections, while a few of the others had at least started on their Plan. None of the participants had a fully developed Disaster Preparedness Plan with Response and Recovery actions. Therefore, the workshop had to cater to these varying levels of experience and understanding, and bring it all together on the final day with an outline of a Response and Recovery Network.
The first four days focused on the theory of Disaster Preparedness with lectures followed by break-out sessions to really work on the day’s topic. The final day was one of great hilarity as we all got wet and muddy in a simulated ‘wet’ disaster so we could practice salvage techniques.
The week was most graciously hosted by the National Archives of Malaysia – and all participants went home with a lot of homework to do!
National Heritage Board and the Heritage Conservation Centre
Training for museum staff in disaster response and recovery
Singapore, 2016
The National Heritage Board oversees most of the main museums in Singapore, while the Heritage Conservation Centre houses the conservation staff that service these museums. This project involved a week of workshops working with a variety of staff, including the conservators, from many of these museums. The training covered the principles of disaster response and recovery followed by a scenario or two in simulated response and salvage procedures. While most of the conservators were familiar with response and salvage procedures many of the curators and registrars of the museums were not. The museums did not have specific response plans for their buildings or collections, and many of the staff were unfamiliar with the basic Disaster Preparedness Plan that the Heritage Conservation Centre had developed. The training in the early part of week highlighted some very useful information for the Centre, particularly regarding the practicalities of their plan and how it might work with the museums spread throughout the city and surrounds of Singapore. The practical response scenario on the final day went very well and it was wonderful to watch conservators develop innovative approaches to salvaging a range of material.
Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Chennai, India, 2015
This workshop was at the Babuji Memorial Ashram of the Mission, where they are diligent and focused on the preservation of the archives of the Mission. Tegan spent a fascinating few days in Chennai assessing their archives and presenting two workshops – paper conservation and photographic conservation – to the members of the ashram responsible for the care of the archives. One of Tegan’s vivid memories of this time involves hurtling around Chennai in an auto rickshaw (tuk tuk) looking for a substitute for Reemay – a material we use in paper conservation. She also enjoyed the inventiveness of the ashram members as they developed tools such as spatulas out of material found at the ashram.
