State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: AATH-08 Survey of condition of collections outside of Australia’s Antarctic Territory

Data

Current Australian museum holdings of Mawsonia
Location Plants Rocks/minerals Birds/eggs Mammals Fish Marine invertebrates and crustaceans Insects Objects
Australian Museum x 1975/35 703 29 x 856/203 52 9
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Sydney (now the Powerhosue Museum) x 79 4 1 x x x 19
Australian Antarctic Division x 3 2 x x x x 14
Mawson Antarctic Collection x 3 1/1 4 x x x 344
South Australian Museum x 100+ 237 38 88 x 290+ 97+
Newcastle Regional Museum x x x x x x x 5#
State Library of NSW x x x x x x x 5
Queensland Museum ? 1 x x 19 x x x
Western Australia Museum x x x x 32 x x x
Esperance Municipal Museum x x x x x x x x
Museum Victoria x x 166 10 x 17 x 1
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery x x x x x x x 10
National Archives of Australia x x x x x x x 3
National Museum of Australia, Canberra x x x x x x x 2
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney 16 x x x x x x x
Tate Museum, University of Adelaide x 37 trays/19 trays x x x x x 11+

Where two numbers are listed, the first refers to specimens from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911-14, the second to the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expeditions of 1929-30 and 1930-31.
# excludes the nine items belonging to the Australian Museum and five belonging to the South Australian Museum

Source: Wheeler, B and Young, L 2000, Antarctica in museums: the Mawson collections in Australia.

What the data mean

Collections of material associated with Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic cultural heritage are housed in a number of museums and other institutions in Australia and New Zealand.

No comprehensive data was available on what items make up each of these collections and their condition, with the exception of collections related to Douglas Mawson. Collections are generally not at risk, though there are some concerns that relate to specific collections, especially those in private hands. These concerns are outlined in the commentary on Antarctica's heritage.

The data on items related to Mawson shows that items are spread across various museums and institutions and include natural ‘objects’ such as rocks, animals and plants and human-made objects.

Data Limitations

No comprehensive assessment has been made of what collections are held outside of Australia’s Antarctic Territory, nor assessments of their condition.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Australian Antarctic Territory — Cultural heritage aspects - Condition of heritage sites and collections 

This indicator examines and provides evidence for the overall condition of heritage collections outside Australia’s Antarctic Territory.

Other indicators for this issue:

Key

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