Full text of DOI:10.1111/1468-0033.00270

From campus to city: university
museums in Australia
Sue-Anne Wallace
Two worlds are now essential to the
security and growth of university
When the first report of the Australian to identify the conundrum facing university
University Museums Review Committee museums and collections that seek to
was published in 1996, under the title widen their audiences, and even to take
Cinderella Collections: University Museums the bold step off campus, exposing both
and Collections in Australia, forty-four art, museum and collection to the challenge of
fine art and sculpture collections were anchoring them intellectually and finan-
identified among the 256 museums and cially to the university campus, while
collections. Some of these collections sur- simultaneously allowing the museum to
museums in Australia: the campus and
the city. Sue-Anne Wallace explains how
this relationship took shape and what it
might augur for the future. She was
recently course director of the Museum
Leadership Programme at the Melbourne
Business School, University of Melbourne, vived with no full-time staff allocated to exploit its city interface and corporate
and until July 1999 director of Museum
Education and Curatorial Programmes
their management, while the largest at the potential.
time, the Museum of Art at the University of
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Melbourne, had nearly fourteen staff and Established in 1989 as
a
non-profit
acting director of the museum since late
1998. She has been president of
10,000 objects. Yet this extensive study company by the University of Sydney,
undertaken for the Vice Chancellor's with the support of the New South Wales
Committee of Australian Universities did (NSW) Government, by 1996 the MCA
not include one of Australia's most public was markedly different from other
university collections, that of the Museum university museums, its antecedents in a
of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney, teaching department of the university
with more than forty full-time staff, a seemingly obscured by its prominent
collection numbering 8,000 objects and harbourside site in the heart of the city.
three floors of exhibition galleries (approx- Its founding lay in a bequest to the
imately 2,500 m2). This lacuna was University of Sydney by an expatriate
addressed in the second review, Trans- Australian graduate, John Wardell Power.
forming Cinderella Collections: The Man- His bequest, described in his will of 1939
agement and Conservation of Australian and made known to the university some
University Museums, Collections and twenty-two years later upon the death of
Herbaria (1998). Yet, the omission appears his widow, stated:
Museums Australia since 1996, and sits
on a number of boards and committees
associated with universities and the
cultural sector, including the Australian
Indigenous Cultural Network and the
Constitutional Centenary Foundation, in
which role she has been working to have
cultural issues considered in the
Australian debate on the constitution
and the republic.
William, Josephine and others, oil by the
Australian artist William Robinson,
1984, at the Queensland University of
Technology Art Museum.
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ISSN 1350-0775, Museum International (UNESCO, Paris), No. 207 (Vol. 52, No. 3, 2000)
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Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF (UK) and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 (USA)

From campus to city: university museums in Australia
I give and bequeath the remainder
of my [shares] . . . to the University
of Sydney New South Wales to be
used by them for the foundation of
a Faculty of Fine Arts in such Uni-
versity or the further endowment of
such Faculty if existing . . . to make
available to the people of Australia
the latest ideas and theories in the
plastic arts by means of lectures and
teaching and by the purchase of the
most recent contemporary art of the
world and by the creation of
schools, lecture halls museums and
other places for the purpose of such
lectures and teaching and of suit-
ably housing the works purchased
so as to bring the people of
Australia in more direct touch with
the latest art developments in other
countries.
Professor Virginia Spate, appointed as
the director of the Power Institute in
1979. In 1983, co-curators Leon Paroissien
and Bernice Murphy were appointed to
the museum, known as the Power Gallery,
on the understanding that they would give
priority to finding a more public space for
it, as implied in Power's will. However,
without the commitment of a far-sighted
government in the state of New South
Wales, it would not have proved possible
to establish the museum on such
prominent site.
a
In 1984, the NSW Government (a Labour
government under Neville Wran) publicly
declared its intent to provide a building at
Sydney's Circular Quay for an art gallery
of the Power Institute. Five more years
were to pass before the government, then
a Liberal one under Nick Greiner, formally
assigned in 1989 the building formerly
A graduate in medicine of the University occupied by the Maritime Services Board
of Sydney in 1904 but an artist throughout headquarters to the University of Sydney.
his life, Power died in the Channel Islands With such a site in hand, renovations
in 1943. The Second World War had not proceeded apace to convert the office
reached its end and his generous building to one capable of exhibiting
benefaction to his Alma Mater remained major large works of contemporary art
unknown until the year following the and able to provide spaces for the sort of
death of Mrs Edith Power. From 1962 pedagogical activities prescribed in
until 1965, the terms of the will and its Power's will.
value were the subject of many legal
debates. However, in 1965, there was On 11 November 1991, the Museum of
sufficient agreement on the intent of John Contemporary Art opened to the public.
Wardell Power, for the Power Institute of An occasion feÃted by government,
Contemporary Art to be established and, university and the museum fraternity alike,
in 1967, for the appointment of its first the opening was seen as the successful
professor, the Australian art historian culmination of nearly thirty years of effort
Bernard Smith. As to the museum, and lobbying on the part of the university
however, while the first acquisitions for and the arts profession. Yet, Power's
its collection began in 1967, it remained a bequest, in spite of its magnanimity, was
temporary gallery in the university from the start pulled in two directions that
grounds until 1988, able to show only have over time become antagonistic rather
part of the collection at any time.
than symbiotic.
The consolidation of the collections and The Power Bequest was the impetus to
their exhibition became a priority for found both the Power Institute of Con-
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Sue-Anne Wallace
temporary Art and the Power Gallery, focused on the arts rather than the field
now known as the Power Institute: Centre of medicine in which he trained. Among
for Art and Visual Culture and the these are 329 paintings, representing the
Museum of Contemporary Art respec- achievements of his oeuvre, one that
tively. While the former remains housed awaits scholarly pursuit and publication.
on the campus of the University of
A
collection of 217 works from
Sydney, the Museum of Contemporary Ramingining in Northern Arnhem Land
Art is located some ten km south at (Northern Territory) was purchased for
Circular Quay. The site that made it the collection in 1984/85. These are
possible for the MCA to develop a high principally bark paintings and woven
public profile also distanced the museum objects. The remaining objects of the
from the university. Such distance became Power Collection, more than 2,000 pieces,
financial, as well as physical, as the Power are works purchased by the curators of
Bequest funds gradually drained away the collection, Gordon Thomson (1967),
from the museum. This placed increasing Elwyn Lynn, both artist and curator (1968±
dependence upon the museum's capacity 83) and Leon Paroissien and Bernice
to raise 90 per cent of its operating Murphy (1984±89). Professor Bernard
expenses per annum. Again the museum Smith undertook a limited role in acquir-
prospered due to its site, which enabled ing works in 1968. The concentration of
the museum to connect with the corporate the responsibility for acquisitions in the
sector of the city and attract substantial hands of just five individuals over the
sponsorship. This included the support of period of more than twenty years has
Southcorp Wines, one of the most given a coherence to the Power Collection
significant corporate sponsorships of any and an international focus, broken only
Australian art museum, resulting in a following the appointment of Paroissien
three-year programme, the Seppelts and Murphy, who began to purchase
Contemporary Art Awards. However, it contemporary works by Australian artists
was a challenging financial environment and to actively seek indigenous art for the
and at times professionally fraught.
collection.
From May 1989 until 1998, the MCA
Collection was built by Leon Paroissien
(retired as director in 1997) and Bernice
Coherence and international focus
The collections of the Museum of Con- Murphy (chief curator to 1997, director
temporary Art reflect the environment of 1997, resigned 1998), author of Museum
its foundation: the Power Collection of of Contemporary Art: Vision and Context,
works acquired before the company was Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney,
formed in 1989, and the MCA Collection, 1993. Acquisitions included two further
acquired after 18 May 1989. By 1998, there collections of indigenous works, the
were approximately 8,000 objects in the Arnotts Collection (273 bark paintings,
collections of the MCA, 3,500 assigned to including a number by the renowned
the Power Collection, and 4,500 to the artist Yirawala, given to the museum by
MCA Collection.
Arnotts' Biscuit Company Ltd) and the
Maningrida Collection, consisting of 560
The Power Collection includes the pieces including sculpture, woven objects
bequest in 1961 of more than 1,100 works and some bark paintings, held in trust for
by John Wardell Power, whose life the people of Maningrida in Arnhem
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From campus to city: university museums in Australia
Land. This joint responsibility for the
collection, assumed by the artists and the
museum, was
a unique arrangement
entered into by the MCA in 1990, ensuring
that a cultural relationship was set up with
the Maningrida people, and that both
parties contributed to the relationship
based on trust and mutually agreed and
shared cultural interests. One of
Australia's pre-eminent collections of con-
temporary art, the Smorgon Collection,
the gift of Melbourne collectors and
patrons Loti and Victor Smorgon, was
acquired in 1995. This collection of 149
paintings by contemporary Australian
artists fleshed out the collection of
Australian works that Paroissien and
Murphy were building. A second private
collection with an international focus, the
Kaldor Collection of 143 paintings,
sculptures and works on paper, is on
long-term loan to the museum. John
Kaldor assumed the role of chairman of
the company in 1998.
Georg Baselitz, Jean Tinguely, Helen The Museum of Contemporary Art,
Frankenthanler and Gilbert and George.
Sydney.
A unique aspect of the MCA Collection is
the Contemporary Art Archive, an archive
of some 2,000 pieces by Australian artists,
acquired from 1990 by gift and purchase,
Marketing difference
relating to the intellectual and conceptual In positioning a cultural institution in the
processes that artists engage with in the public mind and marketing to both broad
creation of their work. This collection is and niche audiences, identifying the
especially relevant for research and, museum, its foundation, its collections
therefore, a most appropriate initiative and its history are key elements. One of
for a university art museum.
the founding parents of the MCA, the
University of Sydney, is Australia's oldest
More than 1,000 other works, both university, created in 1850, arguably a key
Australian and international, make up benefit to a new institution endeavouring
the MCA Collection. Taken as a whole, to secure its reputation and achieve
the collections of the MCA have significant recognition. Further, at the time of its
holdings of multiple art works, light opening, the MCA was the only public art
works, and works by major artists in- museum to be associated with
a
cluding Australians Mike Parr, Juan university; equally, the University of
Davila, Imants Tillers, Peter Tyndall, Sydney was the only university to have
Yirawala; and numerous works by major established a museum in the public arena.
international artists including Rebecca This is not to say that other universities
Horn, Colin McCahon, Robert Longo, did not have links with museums; the
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Sue-Anne Wallace
Australia (the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
at the University of Western Australia and
the John Curtin Art Gallery at Curtin
University); three in Melbourne, Victoria
(the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the
University of Melbourne; the Monash
University Art Gallery and the RMIT
Gallery at Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology); one in Canberra, in the
Australian Capital Territory (the Drill Hall
Gallery, Australian National University);
and two in Adelaide, South Australia (the
Art Museum of the University of South
Australia and the Art Museum of Flinders
University of South Australia). Of these,
only one, the Art Museum of Flinders
University, established a city venue in
1997 to complement its campus location.
This small second site (90 m long) allows
the Flinders University Art Museum to
take travelling exhibitions, enhancing its
audience potential, while also exploiting
the opportunity to showcase its university
collections twice annually. For all that,
clearly the Museum of Contemporary Art
remains a maverick institution among
university art museums.
The second of the MCA's so-called
parents, the Government of New South
Wales, provided the MCA with a site
steeped in the history of the European
invasion and subsequent settlement of the
The Queensland University of Technology difference with the MCA was the scale of indigenous lands of Australia. The har-
Art Museum, the newest art museum in
Australia.
its foundation and its location off the bour land identified by the coastal people
university campus. In its 1996 edition, of the region, the Eora, now occupied by
Cinderella Collections listed forty-four art the Museum of Contemporary Art, was the
collections.
place where the Union Jack was raised on
26 January 1788, and where the British
In Australian universities many of the ownership of the Aboriginal lands now
collections are for internal rather than called Australia was proclaimed. While the
external benefit, being distributed in the MCA has built significant collections of
buildings of their universities more for indigenous art since the mid-1980s, at the
visual pleasure than academic pursuit. time of its opening, though acknowledged
Among other university art museums that in its exhibition programmes, indigenous
do attract public, more than academic, visual culture did not figure highly in its
audiences, are two in Perth, Western marketing strategies.
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From campus to city: university museums in Australia
The MCA positioned itself on Sydney's, on the museum. A new director, Elizabeth
and indeed Australia's, cultural stage as Ann Macgregor, from Birmingham (United
the national museum of contemporary art Kingdom), was appointed and took up her
and focused on achieving
a match position in September 1999. Talks con-
between the latest in contemporary art tinue between the New South Wales
and ideas and an adventurous art-going Government and the University of Sydney
public. Audience surveys in 1996 showed as to the financial commitment each is
that MCA visitors were `younger, wealthy prepared to make to secure the future of
professionals living in affluent suburbs', the MCA. The government has provided a
who viewed the MCA as being A$750,000 one-off bail-out to enable the
`sophisticated, outgoing, cool, cheeky, museum to continue to trade in 1999.
attractive and energetic'.
While the MCA's future may hang in the
balance and public debate as to its role has
Dissociating, in name, the Museum of hardly abated since the end of 1998, there
Contemporary Art from the Power Bequest is strong community support for
a
had implications that struck at the core of museum of contemporary art in Sydney.
the institution's foundation, perhaps Whether it will remain linked to the
allowing the university to believe it had University of Sydney is to be determined.
lessening responsibilities to support the
museum it founded, and indeed that in its In 1988, one of Australia's newest uni-
city location the museum had the capacity versity art museum buildings, the Ian
to create its own funding base through Potter Museum of Art, opened at the
patronage and sponsorship. Circum- University of Melbourne, housing the
stances seem to suggest otherwise. When university's art collections that were
the MCA made public its financial acquired since its establishment in 1853.
statements for the year ending December The newly created museum is known as
1998, it posted a deficit for the third the Potter, a name that links it irrevocably
consecutive year. In spite of an active year with the Ian Potter Foundation, a major
artistically, presenting thirteen inter- founding patron of the museum and other
national and Australian exhibitions, per- university projects. It sits on the edge of
formances, lectures and events, the the campus, fronting one of Melbourne's
increased reliance on sponsorship, busiest streets, Swanston Street, anchoring
coupled with a tougher financial climate the support of the two worlds essential to
and more competitive environment in the its security and growth, the campus and
cultural sector, placed intolerable strains the city.
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