Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts

The mission of the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts is to ensure that Henry Allport’s bequest is highly valued and enjoyed by its beneficiaries, the people of Tasmania, and is recognised for its major contribution to Australia’s heritage.

The values and principles which support that mission are:

providing maximum access to the collection within the limits of preservation and security considerations
maintaining the highest standards in collection development and service
encouraging participation of the Tasmanian community in the development and preservation of the collection.

The general direction of work in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts for the past two years has been in accordance with the Business Plan 2003-05. This plan takes into account several higher level plans including Tasmania Together, the Department of Education’s Learning Together and the State Library of Tasmania’s own business plan.

The management committee endorsed a new business plan for 2006-08 at its meeting in March 2006.

Business plan

The goals of the 2003-05 business plan were:

Access to collection items
Public awareness and appreciation of the collection within Tasmania and more widely
Conservation and preservation of the collection for future generations
Endowment funds and other resources for developing and maintaining the collection

Goal 1 - Access to collection items

There were 6,978 visitors in 2005-06, compared with 8,683 in 2004-05 (a decline of 19.6%). This was, nevertheless, the third highest attendance recorded in the past ten years. The decline from the previous two years can be attributed to:

two very successful exhibitions (Feather and Flower in 2003-04 and Different Readings in 2004-05)
the long period required to restore the exhibition areas in July 2005 (following Different Readings) and to install What about the workers
the general decline in visitor numbers to Hobart in 2005-06.

Staff responded to 542 enquiries (297 reference and 245 directional) from members of the public, tourists, academics and other researchers-an increase of 6.5% on the previous year. Researchers used 169 collection items-books, manuscripts and pamphlets.

There were 378 requests for copies of collection items, supplied via photographic prints, email or on CD-ROMs. Also 292 items from the collections were reproduced in books, reports, theses, brochures, signs, exhibitions, television and film documentaries and on websites.

Goal 2 - Public awareness and appreciation of the collection within Tasmania and more widely

Exhibitions and displays

Three major exhibitions were presented through the year.

What about the workers (25 July to 4 November 2005) drew on the resources of the State Library’s Heritage Collections and other collections, including the Archives Office of Tasmania, to highlight workplaces, working people and working conditions in nineteenth-century Tasmania.

Transplanted to Tasmania: Botanical Art & Attitude (30 November 2005 to 21 April 2006) brought together botanical science and botanical illustration. The exhibition was opened by Gintaras Kantvilas, the Manager and Head of the Tasmanian Herbarium.

Drawing the Line: Tasmania on the map (18 May 2006) is an exhibition of maps from the Heritage Collections, presented as part of the Australia on the Map 1606-2006 celebrations. The exhibition was opened by Professor Pat Quilty.

There were two smaller displays during the year; a celebration of the 250th birthday of the French naturalist Jacques-Julien Houtou de La Billardiere (1755-1834); and a Christmas display in the Allport foyer room.

The exhibition program (and in particular Drawing the Line) has placed considerable pressure on both curatorial and conservation staff. The development and installation of exhibitions occupies considerable staff time; and the proportion of exhibitable items which have been displayed and must now rest before they can be exhibited again is increasing (a problem mitigated by the use of the map collections for Drawing the Line). Staff will continue to develop exhibitions which draw more widely on all of the State Library’s Heritage Collections, though the Allport collections will remain the principal focus of the exhibition program. Staff will also continue to investigate the possibilities of hosting travelling or externally curated exhibitions.

Promotion, publicity and public programs

The ABC has continued to make use of the Allport collections (especially for the Collectors program, which screened two segments including Allport items) and to provide opportunities for publicity and promotion (in particular, through regular interviews with staff and community service announcements on metropolitan radio stations). Other media events included an interview with the Art Curator on 7RPH radio and the filming by ABC Asia-Pacific Television of a segment on the Drawing the Line exhibition.

Two series of Saturday talks were presented in the Allport library. The first, in January 2006, was associated with the Transplanted to Tasmania exhibition. Kris Schaffer spoke on “What’s in a name: Plant profiles and people’s portraits”; Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick on “Botanical detective stories - the role of botanical art in the rescue of rare or threatened species”; and Peter Timms on “Sticking with the roses: why suburban gardeners resisted native plants”.

The second series, in May-June 2006, was related to the National Treasures from Australia’s Great Libraries exhibition. The exhibition curator, Margaret Dent, spoke about “Treasures on tour: the making of the exhibition National Treasures from Australia’s Great Libraries”; Professor Henry Reynolds on “The Black War and Governor’s Arthur’s Treaty”; and Tony Marshall about why “An exhibition is like an iceberg-a great deal goes on beneath the surface”. A fourth talk, to be presented by the author Richard Flanagan, was scheduled for July 2006.

On 2 December the Tasmanian Historical Research Association held a function in the Allport Gallery at which Emeritus Professor Richard Davis launched the Association’s publication Letters of an Irish patriot: William Paul Dowling in Tasmania. The printing of the book was funded by a bequest from the estate of the late Geoffrey Stilwell, who was for many years the Curator of the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts.

Staff provided talks, guided tours and other services to a wide range of special-interest groups including Mission Australia, the Derwent Valley Probus Club, the Friends of the Botanical Gardens, VET Students, the Australian Garden History Society, University of Tasmania history students, Migrant Education, the Women’s Health Centre, Bruny Island Respite, members of the Tasmanian Library Advisory Board, U3A Clarence, Vaucluse Retirement Home, several local school groups, librarians attending the CODA (Customers of Dynix in Australasia) Conference, and the CASL (Council of Australian State Libraries) Stack Management Working Group.

Substantial improvements have been made to the Allport library to make it more suitable for events. A retractable screen has been installed in the ceiling and new equipment includes a lectern, a sound system and internet access.

New State Library of Tasmania merchandise launched in 2005 included a set of four greetings cards depicting botanical prints by Ferdinand Bauer, taken from the Allport copy of his Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae (London, 1813).

Loans

Heritage Collections staff have had a considerable involvement in the Council of Australian State Libraries’ travelling exhibition National Treasures from Australia’s Great Libraries. The exhibition opened in Canberra in December 2005 and will, by December 2007, have been displayed in every capital city. It went on show in Hobart at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for eight weeks, beginning on 26 May. The State Library has contributed fifteen items to the touring component, of which five are from the Allport collections:

Still Life, Flowers in a blue jug by WB Gould. c1840. (Oil on canvas)
Sketchbook of Fishes in Macquarie Harbour by WB Gould. c1832. (Bound volume of watercolours)
E-migration or a flight of Fair Game by A Ducote. 1832. (Hand-coloured lithograph)
Conduct Sheet for Female Convict Mary Roughan. 1851. (Printed form completed by hand)
Conditional Pardon for Convict John Givan. 1854. (Printed form completed by hand)

In addition, one volume of John Gould’s The birds of Australia from the Allport collection was added to the Hobart showing of the exhibition.

Three works by the convict artist Joseph Lycett were loaned for a major exhibition mounted jointly by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales. It will be shown at the Museum of Sydney, the Newcastle Regional Gallery, the National Library of Australia and possibly the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Two works were loaned to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for inclusion in the exhibition Hell Bent for the South Pole (a temporary adjunct to the permanent exhibition Islands to Ice) which opened in March 2006.

Goal 3 - Conservation and preservation of the collection for future generations

The management committee continued to support the conservation and maintenance of the collection by funding:

restoration of the oil painting Tamar River, Launceston by Frederick Strange
treatments to eleven ceramic pieces.

A major undertaking by the staff was to wash all of the 111 items in the Allport glass collection, the first time this has been done in at least twenty years.

One of the major acquisitions this year was a cedar bookcase which is believed to have once been the property of Curzon Allport (and which matches a bookcase already in the collection). The TMAG Heritage Furniture Restoration Unit has repaired two of its doors to make it suitable for book storage.

New shelves and racks have been installed to improve the storage of decorative arts pieces (especially ceramics) and of empty picture frames.

Furniture Database

For many years information about the Allport furniture collection (and other decorative arts collections) has been held in several disparate and unconnected card files and registers. With project funding from the State Library a database has now been developed which brings together all of this information as well as images of each piece. The database, which has now been completed, will be of lasting usefulness and value to staff members and, through them, to members of the public.

Goal 4 - Endowment funds and other resources for developing and maintaining the collection

Acquisitions of note included:

Books:

A sketch of the life and labours of Sir William Jackson Hooker (with portrait) by Joseph Dalton Hooker. (London, published by Oxford University Press, 1902.) [Purchase]
Voyage de découvertes de l’Astrobale, exécuté…pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, et 1829.. Observations nautiques, météorologiques, hydrographiques et de physique by Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville. (Paris, Ministère de la Marine, 1833.) [Purchased at the second auction sale of the collection of Mr Rodney Davidson]

Maps:

[Polus Antarcticus]: Terra Australia Incognita (Amsterdam, published by De Wit after Janson. c1680.) [Purchase]
Asia pars Australis insulae indicae cum suis naturae dotibus by Heinrich Scherer. (Munich, 1702-1710.) [Purchase]

Fine arts:

La Perouse [portrait] by Bovinet. Paris, Menard, c1820 [Purchase]
Tasman’s insel an der Kuste von Tasmanien. Unknown artist and lithographer. 19th century lithograph. [Purchase]
Tasmanian Devil in a hen-house. Unknown artist. B&W print. [Purchase]
A scene in the Tasmanian bush (Kangaroos, Emu, and “Tiger Wolves”.) Unknown artist and printer. c1880. B&W print. [Purchase]
[Thylacine]. Contents page from Lloyds Royal Natural History. Unknown artist and printer. B&W print. [Purchase]
The Friend’s School by Joseph Christian Goodhart. Etching, c1927. [Purchase]
Entrance to the house of Marco Polo, Venice by C F L Allport. Watercolour c1929. [Purchase]
Phascolomys lasiorhinus [Hairy-nosed wombat] by H C Richter, Joseph Wolf and John Gould. Lithograph 1863. [Purchase]
The road to the jetty-Arcadia by C F L Allport. Watercolour, 1933. [Purchase]
[Portrait of a boy]. Unknown artist. Watercolour, 1830s [Purchase]
[Portrait of a girl with red hair]. Unknown artist. Watercolour, 1830s. [Purchase]

Decorative arts and objects:

Colonial Huon Pine picture frame with gilt slip. [Purchase]
Posset cup of salt-glazed stoneware. [Donation]
Saucer, blue rim, Wesleyan Sunday School Torquay Tasmania. [Donation]
Bookcase, cedar, c1835-40. (Believed to have once been the property of Curzon Allport) [Purchase]

Staff

The management committee is grateful to all of the staff of the State Library whose work contributes to the development of the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts.

The committee is concerned that, in the next few years, several of these staff members may elect to retire. It has therefore requested that measures be taken to capture their knowledge of the collections through oral history and other means. Oral history interviews with these staff were scheduled for 2005-06 but, because of the death of one of the partners in the firm undertaking the interviewing, they have been deferred to 2006-07.

Management committee

The management committee met three times, on 13 July and 9 November 2005 and on 15 March 2006.

Mrs Catherine Ackland’s term as a committee member expired in July 2005. To fill the vacancy the trustees of the estate of Henry Allport nominated Ms Amanda Wojtowicz, the director of the University of Tasmania’s Public Relations and University Extension Unit. The Committee comprises:

Mr John Upcher (chairperson) (nominated by the trustees of the estate of Henry Allport)
Ms Amanda Wojtowicz (nominated by the trustees of the estate of Henry Allport)
Dr AV Brown, a member of the board of trustees of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (nominated by the board of trustees)
Mr Keith Adkins (appointed by the Minister for Education)
Ms Siobhan Gaskell, Director (Library and Information Services) (nominated by the secretary of the Department of Education).

John Upcher
Chairperson