Art. Culture. Issue 22 Antiquities. March 2019 Natural history. Mystery and generosity A word from the Director, David Ellis

Our varied collections disclose will be able to be enjoyed in the duck figurine from Jericho, contrasts innumerable stories – of origins, lives, opening displays of the Chau Chak with bold scientific designs that reveal motivations and associations. Adding Wing Museum. We will be detailing microscopic worlds and the complex to this is the generosity of donors and this bequest in more detail in a future and multiple uses of Vanuatuan their gifts. On page 30 of this issue of Muse, and of course, at opening. string figures. Muse, we list our supporters whose donations of gifts, resources or time Recently placed under the strategic I hope you enjoy this issue’s mix make such an important contribution guidance of University Museums, of mystery and generosity. to these evolving revelations. public sculpture on campus is increasingly valued and planned David Ellis This month’s stories begin with the as an important element of the Director, Museums and current state of the building program campus experience. In this issue, we Cultural Engagement of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, itself feature the newest public artworks the outcome of incredible generosity. on campus: a suite of works by We are already benefitting from the Dale Harding – a descendant of burgeoning profile of the museum the Bidjara, Garingal and Ghungalu through the continued generosity peoples – that invigorate Eastern of object donations, thanks to the Avenue and tie the new Life, Earth expectation of increased visitation, and Environmental Sciences (LEES) relevance, and exposure for once building to its location. private, and now public, collections. Also in this issue, we share surprise Among the many names in the list discoveries and solutions to mysteries of donors is Mr Neville H Grace. An uncovered as we prepare and astute and passionate collector of research our collections for the Australian impressionist paintings, opening of the new museum in mid- his generous bequest of 63 paintings 2020. The discovery of a fragmentary

Sydney University Museums Education and Public Programs Muse edited by Luke Parker. Comprising the Macleay Museum, To book a school excursion, an adult education Nicholson Museum and University Art Gallery tour or a University heritage tour This edition contains names and images of people +61 2 9351 8746 who have died. We acknowledge that, for some The Macleay Museum and the University Art [email protected] people and communities, these may cause distress Gallery are now closed as we prepare for the and sadness. Where possible, cultural permission opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Macleay Museum to publish has been sought. Enquiries: The Nicholson Museum remains open: +61 2 9036 5253 Produced by Marketing and Communications, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm and [email protected] the University of Sydney, January 2019. 19/7931 the first Saturday of every month, 12 to 4pm ISSN 1449‑0420 ABN 15 211 513 464 Closed on public holidays. Nicholson Museum CRICOS 00026A In the southern entrance to the Quadrangle General admission is free. +61 2 9351 2812 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) +61 2 9351 7305 (fax) is a globally recognised certification Become a fan on Facebook [email protected] overseeing all fibre sourcing standards. and follow us on Twitter. This provides guarantees for the sydney.edu.au/museums University Art Gallery consumer that products are made Enquiries of woodchips from well‑managed forests and other controlled sources Sydney University Museums Administration +61 2 9351 6883 with strict environmental, economical +61 2 9351 2274 [email protected] and social standards. +61 2 9351 2881 (fax) [email protected] In this issue

22 The duck's tale Broken, buried, boxed, then rediscovered, a 4000-year-old ceramic duck vessel from Jericho is now back in one piece.

24 A tale of two microscopes Mr Grubb's Sector Microscope and Steindorff & Co’s Microbe Hunter each tell a story of risk and experimentation.

2 News 13 Pictures from the magic box A child's lantern set reflects the 3 Our new museum is taking shape magic of a Victorian childhood. Progress is being made below ground and behind the scenes. 15 Bridging the divide A three-part sculpture by artist 4 Office works Dale Harding connects the 150 artworks, artefacts and University's campus to the culture specimens are bringing colour to of the land's traditional owners. 26 Lan n’dis ni aou the new Administration Building. [Writing with string] 18 From digger to collector The ancient and powerful 6 What once was lost ... A treasure trove of Egyptian tradition of string figures lives A chance encounter at a public artefacts were acquired during on in Vanuatu. reception led to the discovery of the First World War by an the Lost Nicholson Sculptures. enterprising ANZAC. 30 Donor honour roll for 2018 We say thank you to the donors 8 Nip and tuck 21 Why split a pair of earrings? who are making an enormous In the world of conservation, skin Divided according to excavation difference to our achievements. preservation is a fine art. Luckily, customs of the time, two gold we have Sasha Stollman. earrings are finally reconnected. 31 Making history See what our guests and staff 11 Preserving time have been up to. A luminal kinetic sculpture in our art collection will be a unique 32 Find your muse challenge to maintain. Upcoming events and programs.

Cover (detail) and above: Ethel Carrick Fox, Morning in Kaiuoran c.1920–21, Above: Steindorff & Co's Microbe oil on canvas, donated by the Estate of Neville H Grace 2018, University Hunter, Macleay Museum, SC1994.15 Art Collection, UA2018.48

1 News

Left: Emanuel A great and graceful gift Phillips Fox, On In mid-2018, we were invited by a French Beach c.1909, donated Neville Grace to view his remarkable by the estate of Neville H collection of paintings. Several days Grace, University later, we were shocked to hear he Art Collection, UA2018.60 had died. It later transpired that Below: Dr Jude Mr Grace had left his extraordinary Philp, artist art collection of 63 paintings to Florence Gucheng and Anita Herle, the University. Among his favourite at Erub Arts Studio, painters were the Australian October 2018 expatriate couple, Ethel Carrick and Below left: E Phillips Fox, who are represented Dr Wendy Reade by 27 paintings spanning subjects from North Africa, France, Venice, by Arthur Streeton of the Grand Canal core of one of the opening exhibitions and Sydney. Mr Grace also enjoyed in Venice, and a 1923 French beach in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum. coastal landscapes; his treasures scene by Roy De Maistre. In a later include an unusual maritime scene by Muse, we will take a more detailed Dr Ann Stephen, Senior Curator, the Tasmanian WB Gould, a late work look at his gift, which will form the University Art Collection

A trip to the Torres Strait meetings at Mer and Mabuiag in I was recently fortunate to return advance of a Sydney University to the Torres Strait, a place familiar Press publication of the 1888 and to some readers as the site of 1898 field journals of the zoologist- William John Macleay’s 1875 Chevert ethnographer AC Haddon. expedition research. Our final stop was at Erub (Darnley) At the administrative centre of the Island, where we were guests of Erub Strait, Thursday Island, I visited the Arts (www.erubarts.com.au), a small dynamic Gab Titui Cultural Centre centre with international attention (www.gabtitui.gov.au). It featured an after its successful installations in exhibition, Butal ina ngapa buy, about Monaco, Geneva, Sydney and most opportunity to talk with Elders about the Islanders' pearl-lugger history and recently in Brisbane. This lush and the new museum and their heritage the environmental considerations of bountiful volcanic island, encircled currently in our care. climate change. With my co-editor, with stone fish-traps, hosted Macleay Cambridge University’s Anita Herle, and his expedition party for two Dr Jude Philp, Senior Curator, we travelled on to consultative weeks in 1875, and it was a welcome Macleay Museum

Farewell Dr Wendy Reade Dr Reade is an archaeologist and We have been fortunate in benefitting conservator with a BA (Hons) and from the expertise of Dr Wendy PhD in archaeological science, and Reade, most notably in the recent a member of teams in the Middle conservation of two fresco-painted East, Egypt, Greece, the Balkans and pavement panels from Amarna Myanmar. She is President of the Near in ancient Egypt (c.1350 BC). For Eastern Archaeology Foundation her efforts, she won the inaugural and Honorary Associate in the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Department of Archaeology. She is Society Mid-Career Scholarship in leaving us to be Conservation Project 2017, from the Australian Institute Manager at International Conservation for the Conservation of Cultural Services. We wish her all the best. Material. Her association with the University spans 40 years; 20 of Dr Paul Donnelly, Associate Director, those professionally. Content, Chau Chak Wing Museum

2 so that it was not affected by recent Our new museum severe weather events, and it remains on schedule for opening in mid-2020. An important milestone was reached is taking shape in December 2018 with the pouring of the base slab. In early 2019, some of _ the floor levels were completed.

While the preparation of the objects, Paul Donnelly gives an update on how the exhibitions and programs has been Chau Chak Wing Museum is progressing. in development for a number of years, we have entered an exciting phase with the appointment of four contracted exhibition-design firms. Construction on the Chau Chak Wing University Art Gallery. In the process, The 14 opening exhibitions have been Museum is rapidly making an impact it will gain a heightened profile, split among the companies who will on the University skyline – albeit in thereby becoming ideally poised to work with the curators in designing the form of its crane, since most showcase some of Australia's most the internal fit-out, including audio- activity is currently taking place below significant artistic, scientific and visual and interactive components. ground, up to 16 metres deep on the archaeological collections. western side opposite the Great Hall. It is at this pivotal stage that the Construction works began in June exciting opportunities provided by Hundreds of students, staff and after the official ‘breaking ground’ the larger gallery spaces in the new visitors passing the hoardings that ceremony. Presided over by the Vice- building become clear, and we can encompass the site are teased by Chancellor and Principal, Dr Michael begin to envisage the importance of colourful images from the museum’s Spence, guests at the ceremony additional spaces maximising access collections that hint this will be a included the museum’s major to collections that include the three building different to any other on benefactor, Dr Chau. Aunty Donna Object Studios, Schools Education campus. Designed by Johnson Pilton Ingram gave the welcome to Gadigal Room and Auditorium. No doubt the Walker (JPW) and under construction country and a smoking ceremony café will also feature in some robust by FDC Construction NSW, the was performed by Les Daniels. intellectual discussions! Chau Chak Wing Museum will bring together the University’s Macleay Progress on the 7600-square-metre Dr Paul Donnelly is Associate Director, and Nicholson Museums and the building was sufficiently advanced Content, Chau Chak Wing Museum

3 Office works _

Vivienne Webb draws attention to the Sydney University Museums collections featured in the University’s new Administration Building.

The new Administration Building (F23), historical activities of the University. Two-dimensional works shown on located on the corner of Eastern The material is broad and eclectic, the walls range from paintings to new Avenue and City Road, opened in reflecting the University’s range of media art and natural history. On the August 2018. It houses approximately activities including research, teaching publicly accessible ground floor is 500 staff across five floors and was and administration from the 1850s the major three-screen video work designed by Grimshaw Architects to the present. Elements are drawn Heat, by Indigenous artist Christian and built by Lendlease. On display in from across the diverse collections Thompson. On the upper level is high-profile locations throughout the including art, anthropology, natural an array of Lepidoptera (butterflies building are 150 items from Sydney history, archaeology, scientific and moths). University Museums collections. instruments and geology, while the selection process involved curatorial The paintings are predominantly The display serves to connect and collection management staff located on walls addressing the large the building, its occupants and its from across the museum. sky-lit central atrium that provides visitors to the contemporary and internal circulation via stairs and

4 Opposite: Christian Thompson Heat, 2010, a three- screen video work on the ground floor

Right: selection of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) from the Macleay collections on Level 5

Below left: J.W. Power paintings on Level 4

Below right: paintings by Indigenous artists on Level 5

glass lifts. The arrangement of these beam splitter of the Sydney University Acknowledged strengths of the artworks is broadly chronological Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) that collections are well represented. from Levels 2 to 5. Thematic groupings was in use until 2016, or the Bronze These include Australian landscape on each floor focus variously on Age storage jars situated above the paintings, Greek vases, ceramics 20th century regional landscapes; Australian 1970s studio pottery. from ongoing archaeological digs in modernist works; a group of paintings Pella, Jordan and Cyprus, as well as by artist and benefactor J.W. Power, Unusual historical and cultural historic specimens and instruments and a suite of artworks by Aboriginal perspectives abound, with Roman of scientific inquiry and teaching artists from the Western Desert. Empire glass sitting in proximity used at the University. Objects from to laboratory glass flasks, while a China, India and Indonesia reflect the Three large cabinets housing object marble portrait bust of a colonial relatively recent focus on Asian art in displays front onto the central British gentleman stands adjacent the collections. Lesser-known aspects space. Their contents were selected to millstones and axes from across also appear, including ceramics from according to material, with one Aboriginal Australia. A lump of pre-Colombian Mexico, French and case of ceramics, another of metal granite, from TE Edgeworth David’s Swedish art glass, 19th century English items, and a third of glass, bone and expedition to the Antarctic, is flanked Arts and Crafts Movement ceramics, stone objects. This criterion elicits by a sandstone relief of a dancing medieval items and Italian majolica. a lateral look across the range of the apsara from Uttar Pradesh. A 17th University collections. century helmet from the period of the Overall, the generous benefaction English Civil Wars is side-by-side with by individuals, including the Macleay While the overall arrangement a platform balance and weights. family, Sir Charles Nicholson, of three-dimensional material is Surrounding the museums’ items J.W. Power, Friends of the Nicholson conceptually coherent through are shelves containing a series of Museum, Margaret Olley and Justice materiality, and visually linked by University calendars that date from Roddy Meagher among others, is symmetry, each of the 35 shelves the 1860s to the present, as well as appropriately celebrated. contains a self-contained theme and a selection of PhD theses on loan explanatory label. This layout provides from Fisher Library that profile a Curator Vivienne Webb coordinated some dramatic juxtapositions, such fascinating range of research topics the selection of objects for the as an 1850s telescope adjacent to the across various disciplines over time. Administration Building.

5 What once was lost … –

Missing for nearly 120 years, the Lost Nicholson Sculptures were believed to have been destroyed in a fire.Jamie Fraser tells the story of how they were recently found.

In 2016, Roman ceramicist Rosemary Jefferies The sculptures are a dozen Classical marble The brick grotto at Porter's Civic attended a public reception in the grounds of statues, busts and reliefs that were acquired House, Southend- Porter’s Civic House at Southend-on-Sea, about by Sir George Macleay around Smyrna in on-Sea an hour east of London. This handsome seaside Turkey in the 1870s, when he was travelling estate was once the property of Sir Charles the Mediterranean on his steam yacht. While Nicholson (the younger), son of Sir Charles living in India, Macleay loaned the sculptures to Nicholson (the elder) after whom the Nicholson the South Kensington Museum, forerunner of Museum is named. In the mid-1930s, the younger the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), where Nicholson left the estate and its contents to the Classicist Adolf Michaelis included them in his Southend-on-Sea borough council. Indeed, it catalogue Ancient Marbles in Great Britain was at the mayor's invitation that local resident (Cambridge, 1882). Rosemary Jefferies attended the garden party, along with her son Bernard Arscott, a councillor Macleay later gifted the sculptures to his friend serving the town. Sir Charles Nicholson (the elder), who kept them at his Hertfordshire home ‘The Grange’, You can imagine Rosemary's surprise when and who invited Charles Waldstein to publish she noticed a large Roman sarcophagus in a their descriptions and photographs in the brick grotto in the back garden. The grotto is Journal of Hellenic Studies in 1886. But there open to the elements on one long side, and the trail runs cold. Tragically, the sculptures a layer of grime covers everything within. As were lost when The Grange burned down Rosemary’s eyes adjusted to the shadows, she in 1899, the lone survivor being the famous realised the sarcophagus was not alone: several statue of Hermes that was placed outside near marble busts and reliefs had been built into the duck pond. Sir Charles Nicholson (the brick niches around the walls of the grotto, younger) eventually moved Hermes to his own or fastened to iron hooks. Councillors long- estate at Southend-on-Sea. When tidying his passed may have assumed these to be 19th affairs in 1934, he and his brothers gifted the century replicas. In actual fact, Rosemary had statue to the Nicholson Museum in honour of discovered the Lost Nicholson Sculptures. their father.

6 Rosemary Jefferies had not heard this story From left: delicate carving survives: a garland sarcophagus Ganymede with when she entered the brick grotto. However, eagle; grave with decorative Medusa heads; sculptural when Bernard Arscott searched ‘Nicholson’ and relief with reliefs depicting an athlete and servant (pais), inscription ‘sculptures’, he discovered a webpage dedicated ΧΑΙΡΕ ΣΑΝΔΙΟΚΛΕ; Ganymede and his eagle, a man with a lioness; relief with a man to the Lost Nicholson Sculptures, created by and a lioness. a bust of Herakles; a double-headed herm. Professor Peter Stewart, Director of the Classical Images by Hans Although in desperate need of conservation, Rupprecht Goette Art Research Centre at Oxford. the marbles are in surprisingly robust condition. Indeed, they are a testament to Fortunately, the Nicholson Museum was on Macleay’s fine eye for Classical sculpture Professor Stewart’s mind, as he had recently when (most likely) perusing the dealer received a catalogue of 16th and 17th century shops in Smyrna, which served as the 19th engravings of a Hermes statue in Rome that century hub for the antiquities trade in the Friend of the Nicholson Museum Lynette Jensen east Mediterranean. had donated to Sydney University Museums in honour of Michael Turner. Professor Stewart After I returned from the UK, I received an emailed Lynette; Lynette emailed me; and so, email from Professor Hans Rupprecht Goette one sunny morning in April 2018, I found myself of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in on a train from London to Southend-on-Sea, Berlin. Professor Goette is examining all the accompanied by my friend (and Friend of the Classical sculptures in the Nicholson Museum Nicholson Museum) Kate Maclean who was to include in a catalogue, which promises to be helping research the Nicholson Hermes for one of the most significant publications on the the Connections exhibition. Nicholson collection in recent years.

Councillor Arscott met us at the wrought “By the way,” Professor Goette asked at the iron gates of Porter’s house. A young man in bottom of his email, “do you know what ever a dark pinstriped suit, Bernard Arscott had happened to the Lost Nicholson Sculptures?” read theology at Cambridge and was quietly My keyboard sang as I typed this story, and thrilled about the intellectual connections he so, last year, Professor Goette also visited had brought about. We walked down the drive the sculptures at Porter’s Civic House. With and into a large back garden in full bloom, the kind permission of the Southend-on-Sea surrounded by high walls. With mounting Borough Council, he hopes to publish the Lost excitement we entered the brick grotto and Sculptures as an addendum to his catalogue of found ourselves staring at the sculptures. sculptures in the Nicholson Museum: a fitting tribute to Nicholson’s collection once split We were astonished by what we saw. Unlike the on opposite sides of the globe but connected Nicholson Hermes, the marbles did not escape once again. What once was lost is now found. the fire. They are rough and blackened, with heat-caused fractures and splits not evident Dr Jamie Fraser is Senior Curator, in the 1886 photographs. Nevertheless, the Nicholson Museum

7 Nip and tuck –

There are few specialist conservators of natural history internationally, but there are millions of museum specimens that are in need of care. Dr Jude Philp describes how natural specimens from our collection were recently restored by expert, Sasha Stollman.

8 as well as the multitude of materials used by 19th century taxidermists: sawdust, cotton wool, paint, varnish, thread, pins, iron struts, wooden blocks, preservation chemicals and glass.

Mostly, when I picture a conservator at work, I think of a person bent over patiently inspecting something with specialist magnifier glasses and a small instrument in hand. But, in reality there’s also talking over problems, investigating the literature, and detailed report writing, such as this description of a dusky shark, Carcharhinus obscurus, taken from Port Jackson in the 1870s:

Taxidermy dusky shark skin over steel armature (not x-rayed). Two steel mount pins attached internally to armature protrude through underside incision. Mouth stitched partially shut through centre of upper and lower lips; upper teeth exposed; mouth interior coated with a putty. Vegetable fibre stitching secures incision running along underside from tip of nose to start of tail and up [right] side of tail. Specimen stuffed with a coarse sawdust, red ochre in colour. Some portions of gap along underside seam have been filled with an ochre coloured putty during original preparation or later as skin dried and seam opened. Good eye on [left] side is painted on. Presence of pesticides not tested.

Sasha’s description charts some of the taxidermist’s work, such as stitching and stuffing, and the decisions made to show aspects of the specimen, such as teeth. Macleay’s taxidermist Edward Spalding could not have foreseen the kind of skin shrinkage and movement caused by Top: Calcharhinus Some conservation treatments for cultural obscurus, dusky changing humidity over the next 140 years: one objects made of skin (a pair of leather shoes or shark, Macleay mako shark has become more akin to a goofy Museu m (NHF.1409) the velum page of a book), can be applied to the animated version of itself than the intended conservation of specimens, but there are some Middle: Isurus representation of the animal ‘in life’. Dr Tony oxyrinchus, mako quite strange things about taxidermy which shark, Macleay Gill, Curator, Natural History, has suggested the Museu m (NHF.1669) require specialised methods to preserve the shrinkage causing the fins to bend may have skin on animal specimens. Bottom: Pteropus been because the substrate is fin cartilage, tonganus, Pacific fruit bat, which over time has dried and shrunk at a Macleay Museum In 2018, we had the good fortune to again work (NHM.226) different rate to the skin. This, in conjunction with conservator Sasha Stollman, who had been with poor storage, ‘animated’ the shark. here a few years earlier with the ‘history of taxidermy’ project, funded through Sir Michael Countering this damage involved some plastic, Hintze. Along with mammals needing her pegs, vaporised water, great care, skill and time. expertise, Sasha spent a lot of time with large fish, After initial cleaning and checks for splits in in particular sharks. In her treatments, she had to the skin, Sasha slowly humidified the affected take into account the thin layer of stretched and area (enclosing the section within a bag), gently painted skin and the brittle and vulnerable fins, weighted sections with clamps, and then waited.

9 Skin shrinkage also caused stitches in the dusky shark specimen to move apart, allowing sawdust to leak out.

When needed, additional strength was provided Sasha Stollman But, on which side of the translucent in the final by Japanese paper backing, held in place with stages of membrane of skin between each ‘finger’ of realigning the ethyl cellulose. Thanks to these methods, the kingfish fins the bat wing should the repairs be made? fins are now straighter, and the tails and gills and the membrane Investigation was needed to understand how of a bat wing are less precarious. this bat – which has no stand or wire – was originally displayed. The position of the wings Skin shrinkage also caused stitches in the dusky and legs would allow for the specific taxonomic shark specimen to move apart, allowing sawdust details of its sex, colouring and anatomy to leak out. Japanese paper could have been to be apparent. Some tiny holes in the skin used here, but as our initial project had shown, indicate possible exhibition pinning spots to fix taxidermy details are vital to historical research the bat to the back of a case; the position of on the collections. So, when closing up gaps the eyes also suggests this. between the stitches, Sasha used transparent ‘gold-beaters skin’ (made of intestine) so the Once the decision was made, the top surface stitching can still be seen through the repair. of the wing was chosen for the reversible Thus some shark specimens now have calf repairs. This treatment took more than two intestine membrane on top of their own skin, weeks of humidifying and gentle straightening, held in place with a transparent adhesive. followed by more localised humidification and realignment. Lastly, the final alignment Nothing in the collection demonstrates better and reversible sticking of specially ‘bat-wing’ the conservator’s patience in transforming a tinted paper could be applied. damaged specimen than the work on the Tongan fruit bat, Pteropus tonganus, which had many It is incredibly exciting to see these historic splits caused by age and handling. Aside from specimens cleaned up and straightened out, specialist mammal problems (ears are ready for their next public appearance in the particularly vulnerable and often require future Chau Chak Wing Museum. reshaping), the process was similar to the shark treatments: gentle surface cleaning, humidifying Dr Jude Philp is Senior Curator, Macleay to ‘relax’ specific areas, and split repair. Museum. With thanks to Sasha Stollman.

10 Preserving time – In July 2018, Sydney University Museums acquired a second luminal kinetic sculpture by Frank Hinder, Time-Tension (1990) which joins the Dawson Memorial (1968) in the University Art Collection. Chris Jones explains why keeping it preserved won’t be a Frank Hinder, Time-Tension, 1990, mixed media with electric motor, straightforward task. donated by Enid Hawkins in memory of Frank Hinder through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2018, University Art Collection, UA2018.9.1

In November 2018, Jacqueline Jordan Time-Tension physically represents moving parts built from Meccano and started an internship with Sydney Hinder’s exploration of the other found materials, and the use of University Museums as part of her philosophical notion of temporality both reflected and transmitted light. studies at the Grimwade Centre and dynamic symmetry, through However, Time-Tension is one of the for Cultural Material Culture. Her the use of overlaid, reflected few works with an entirely transparent intern project was to prepare an and transmitted coloured light, viewing window. The others in the assessment of Time-Tension, to representations of clocks, circular series are viewed through light- document the physical condition formations, and the interplay between dispersing ribbed plastic, to create and make recommendations for different elements during operation. a more elusive experience. The the ongoing maintenance of the These ideas are made explicit transparent window provides visual sculpture. Her assessment also through the poem and instructional access to the objects and materials considered the significance of the documents that form part of contained within. work to determine the ideal condition the sculpture. for display, and the importance or Time-Tension is constructed from a otherwise of the various parts and Like other luminal kinetic works by large range of materials, the kinds of material with consideration to the Hinder, Time-Tension is contained things you might find in a well-stocked artist’s intentions. in a timber housing, incorporating shed: a solid timber box with plywood

11 panelling painted matte black, Time-Tension also adds movement of the object to ensure appropriate a Perspex viewing window, aluminium and heat to the equation. Plastics are conservation for research and angle strips, plastic diffuser sheeting, more susceptible to heat than wood display. The composition and electrical tape, polarising film, or metal, and movement comes with function of the original material mirrors, coloured theatrical lighting the possibility of mechanical failure. is such that deterioration is filter ‘gels’, six-pack can rings, a Baby inevitable. The maintenance and Ben luminous clock, ping pong balls, Part of Jacqueline’s investigation functionality will likely require the magnets and a couple of included contacting Jeff Howard reconstruction, restoration or 240-volt motors. who had undertaken maintenance replication of the original materials. and restoration of the sculpture Such a range of materials can in 2016. The central motor was no Using a decision-making matrix, provide a challenge for long-term longer operating; the original rigid Jacqueline has analysed the preservation. Some materials, such as acrylic gasket between the central various treatment options against aluminium, steel and wood are stable motor and the spindle mechanism criteria such as material longevity, under usual museum storage and had degraded and crumbled, likely appearance, artist intent, and cost. display conditions. Others, especially due to mechanical and temperature Her report is an invaluable starting the plastics, are more problematic. stress. Much of the adhesive tape point for discussions between our Acrylics such as Perspex become had yellowed and failed. The neutral conservation and curatorial staff yellow and cloudy over time due to density filter was creased and about the future management of photo-oxidation. The six-pack rings damaged, and the central clock- this wonderful sculpture. made of low-density polyethylene face had detached. Howard’s work will become brittle. Electrical tape, restored the kinetic functionality Chris Jones is Assistant made from polyvinyl chloride, may and appearance of the work. Collections Manager, leech plasticisers onto the surface Sydney University Museums. that create a sticky trap for airborne When considering how to preserve The article was written with particulates and pollutants. As Time-Tension, function had to be input from conservation intern a luminal kinetic sculpture, balanced with the historical integrity Jacqueline Jordan.

Time-Tension (details)

12 A children’s toy magic lantern – Jan Brazier transports us into times past with the discovery of a magic lantern set.

Stored in a small cardboard box, a children’s toy magic lantern set takes us back to playtimes past. A miniature tin projector with its chimney top and lens tube lies ready to be assembled. Twelve thin, rectangular lantern slides (6 x 1.5 inches) are held in slots in the box, with coloured images of comic scenes and characters, pictures of animals and children at play ready to be projected. The top of a small Above: Toy magic lantern with slide wick lamp is also in the box (but may not be the Maker: George Carette & Co, Nuremberg, Germany, 1895–1915 donated by Pamela Hayes 1987, Macleay Museum, SC1987.12.1 original light source). Top: detail of the box lid, Macleay Museum, SC1987.12.3

13 The slide sequence showing the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, from Primus Magic Lantern slides, series VI, published by W Butcher & Sons, London, c.1900, Macleay Museum, SC1987.12.6.3

Directions for using the lantern are 19th century. George Carette, the These slides would originally have inside the box lid in three languages: son of a Parisian photographer, come with readings. Junior lecture German, French and English. The established a mechanical toy business subjects include comical tales such as user is instructed to place the magic in Nuremberg in 1886. He also sold the Sweep and Whitewasher; nursery lantern about one to two yards from magic lanterns and slides; German- stories such as Old Mother Hubbard a white wall or sheet. To get a clear made children’s toy lanterns were and Jack and the Beanstalk; portraits picture, the oil lamp needed ‘a pretty sold around the world. Carette’s of the royal family; and heroic tales large flame’. The slides were to be ‘slid business was closed in 1917 during of Life in our Navy and Our Lifeboat upside down into the lantern’, then the First World War when all German men. These slides fit the Carette the show could begin. metal manufacturers were ordered to toy lantern. concentrate on armaments. He then Magic lanterns were optical devices returned to France. Three mechanical slides complete that originated in the 17th century. the set. A moving image is created When a light is projected through Early magic lantern slides were when two images slide over each a painted transparent glass slide, hand-coloured, but with the other or a lever is turned. One shows placed in front of a condenser lens, development of mass production fire trucks arriving at a fire, another a the image becomes enlarged when printing techniques, the images butcher chopping, while the third is projected onto a screen or wall. Magic on the slides were printed then a chromotrope slide, with its moving lantern performances became hugely transferred to the glass. This was geometrical kaleidoscope pattern. popular, both for entertainment and known as decalcomania transfers or instruction. In Victorian times, with chromolitho slides. Thousands were The lid of the box shows a picture of a the rise of the middle class, magic produced, with main subjects being family watching a magic lantern show lanterns were also used for private popular children’s fairytales, comic at home. Nine children, the mother, entertainment in the home, and some tales and stories. father, and family dog are all seated to toy versions of magic lanterns were watch the projection. A girl operates made for children. Sitting with the boxed magic lantern the projector with a boy pointing out set are three boxes of Primus features. The toy magic lantern was This children’s magic lantern is Junior Lecturer Lantern Slides. Thin part of many a Victorian childhood, marked ‘G C & Co N’, indicating the rectangular boxes hold lantern slides bringing visuals to storytelling, a manufacturer as George Carette produced by W Butcher & Sons of precursor of the cinema age. & Co, Nuremberg, Germany. London, who supplied magic lantern Nuremberg was the leading projectors and slides, advertising Jan Brazier is Curator, History, manufacturer of tin toys in the under the Primus trademark by 1895. Macleay Museum

14 Dale Harding, SPINE 2 2018, Gosford quarry sandstone, hematite, off-form concrete plinth, University Art Collection, UA2018.25.2. The commission on Eastern Avenue will soon have native grasses planted.

Bridging the divide –

In 2018, the University commissioned artist Dale Harding to create a major new artwork spanning three sites along the City Road entrance – at the entry of the new Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences (LEES) Building, and either side of Eastern Avenue outside the Madsen and Carslaw buildings. Harding is a descendant of the Bidjara, Garingal and the Ghungalu peoples of Central Queensland. Ann Stephen spoke with the artist as he was working onsite in August.

15 “I worked the plaster using my hands and a spoon. The renderers who I was working with were amused; it’s the opposite to what they do with their trowels, smoothing the wall.”

How have your ideas developed since you began the commission? Public art has not come up before as applicable for me. But this commission has been like a residency, which really supported me; so far, it’s been three weeks. It suits the way I work to be present in the discussions, and I can see the benefits in the work, shifting and refining ideas where necessary. For instance, looking at the LEES Building, I could see the architecture was very sensitive to the site and very elegant, so you can’t just impose your work on it. The dialogue about landscaping has been important, understanding the way the University’s space is used and interacted with – these are really important considerations.

Eastern Avenue is a complex and very busy area. Artist Dale Harding, during installation in late 2018, worked with stonemasons and How does your work deal with these elements? plasterers across three sites A key thing is the flow of the line of sight from the entrance off City Road and up and down Eastern Avenue. The form of the avenue offers compression and release. Entering place really beautifully, with the two sandstone blocks from City Road, the slight elevation rising to the north sitting side-by-side with no hierarchy. There are also lines allows the work to reveal itself as you move through of sight almost due east to the corner of the LEES Building the space. The approach mirrors for me how the Great wall painting. Dividing Range has those planes before the kick-ups of the cliffs. How does the ready-made petrified tree fit within LEES Building? So you are bringing a sense of your own country from The Moreton Bay figs lining City Road are very sensitive the Carnarvon Gorge into the urban university. and important to the shared thinking about the whole I’m certainly not looking to impose my family’s culture site and surroundings of the LEES Building that houses here, but the work is definitely an acknowledgement of the Environmental Sciences. The petrified tree, being formerly Great Dividing Range. You could walk north up the Great botanical, is a material signifier and can be read and Divide all the way from Victoria to the Carnarvon Gorge understood through scientific or historic knowledge. There and beyond to Grandad Bidjara country, and a bit further are other lines of enquiry and meanings from cultural, up to Townsville. The sandstone of my country leads all spiritual and philosophical understandings embedded in the way to Sydney via the Great Dividing Range and many the relation between the living trees and the petrified log. of the university buildings here have been built from that The parts of the ancient tree trunk are laid out on a white sandstone. My works will make a connection between the plinth made of the same material as the space-age lab University's campus on Gadigal territory and the culture facing it. that my ancestors have passed on. How have Indigenous cultural issues informed Why did you place the sandstone blocks on the diagonal your wall painting? concrete plinth outside the Madsen Building? I begin with a line of inheritance in rock art, but there’s The choice of rectilinear sandstone blocks is in part been a shift in the work. What’s occurred over the a response to minimalist art. This morning I was able to intensities of this year is that the wall paintings have become stand on the site with an iPad and align the site for the mine. I now see two parts of my life, there’s the cultural plinth along the north/south axis. It has all locked into responsibility and there’s my contemporary art practice.

16 Dale Harding, SPINE 3, 2018, concrete, concrete oxide, hematite, University Art Collection, UA2018.25.3. The wall painting looks back to both the artist's ancestors’ rock painting and to modernists like Mark Rothko and Robert Hunter.

As an offering to the University campus, which is he has been using for years. I was also looking a lot at multicultural, I’m going for a universal approach to the wall this 1950s painting by Mark Rothko, in terms of building painting. It’s not bound to the rock art of my ancestors, to up the surface, accumulating the colour. I worked the cultural or community connections but more aligned to plaster using my hands and a spoon. The renderers who contemporary practice as I’ve brought different histories I was working with were amused; it’s the opposite to what and new materials into my work. It’s not separate from they do with their trowels, smoothing the wall. cultural practice, but it’s culturally safe, in a new way. I can really stand by the work as contemporary art. I mostly used a brush for the colour, I deliberately chose to use more or less opacity when I was mixing the paint, For instance, the interior wall painting at the Lees Building putting a little bit on then accumulating and building up entrance is a departure from my previous use of locally the layers. I also used a roller. I saw the recent Robert sourced ochres. Instead, I’m using lapus lazuli as the Hunter show [at the National Gallery of Victoria, 2018] blue pigment; vivianite, which is bluey-green; hematite, and remembered the contribution of the roller on his a blood-red oxide; and a pure lemon ochre from Italy, wall painting at Josh Milani’s gallery. At that time, I was which is a commercial pigment. The paintings are literally a punk undergraduate art student, and Josh asked me illustrations of my breath; I use a little atomiser to blow to assist Robert. It was brief, but I remember a lot from the pigment onto the wall. I appropriated the atomiser that experience, so thought why not use a roller here. from Sidney Nolan. Nolan had been to see the rock art The roller is used in patches across the Eastern Avenue at Carnarvon Gorge in 1948. He rode in on horseback wall. I was also looking at other monumentally scaled and then went onto the Royal Ballet in London and works, like Sally Gabori’s painting and Gemma Smith’s appropriated rock art techniques using an atomiser spray ceiling, both commissioned at the Queensland Law with negative stencils to blow paint onto the costumes. Courts. I’m looking a lot at modernism, not in the field of appropriation or reverentially, but just working with it, What other artists have informed your work on just doing it. Eastern Avenue? I learnt from Robert Andrew and the way he uses oxides. Dr Ann Stephen is Senior Curator, University These are commercially produced concrete oxides, ones Art Collection

17 From digger to collector –

A recent donation to the Nicholson Museum is a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian artefacts. Candace Richards introduces the John Basil St Vincent Welch collection.

Two Australian soldiers on camels with Egyptian guides in front of pyramid and sphinx, 1914–16, donated by Sava Pinney 2014, Macleay Museum, HP2014.1.402

18 Flat-backed faience amulets The pictures of the Australian Infantry depicting the four sons of Horus: Imsety, Duamutef, Qebehsenuef and Force and ANZACs camped below Hapi, Third Intermediate Period to the great pyramids of Egypt or Roman Period (1070 BC – AD 364), Nicholson Museum, NM2017.117–120 posing with the Sphinx are some of the most iconic images of Australian troops during the First World War. hospitality of Cairo and Alexandria. The sands of Egypt were the training While most soldiers returned with grounds, medical camps and war- souvenirs of photographs and a front embarkation point since the handful of ornaments from the first convoy of troops arrived in markets, St Vincent Welch, in addition December 1914. to war memorabilia, had collected some 185 ancient Egyptian artefacts, The soldiers’ experience of the sand, including a cartonnage coffin the heat and rapid training program fragment (NM2017.263), many amulets, were reported through family letters scarab beetles, bronze figurines and and regularly published in local coins, a vial of sand (NM2017.236), and papers (one example: “It’s as hot as even a mummified ‘cat’ (NM2017.262). blazes here,” according to Driver Hugh Heffer, Heliopolis, Egypt, 22 The St Vincent Welch collection May 1915), as well as being recorded is remarkable in both the range of in-depth by Australia’s official war material collected and its scale; no correspondent Charles Bean. single Australian soldier is known to have collected as many artefacts Throughout the 226 notebooks during their service. The majority of amassed by Bean during his time items in the collection are genuine embedded with the Australian troops, antiquities, dating from the New he “noticed that Australian soldiers Kingdom through to the Greco- were devoted collectors of battlefield Roman period. However, there are souvenirs” (Australian War Memorial at least three curious Sphinx-headed website: www.awm.gov.au). Of these scarabs that are certainly fakes collectors, Dr John Basil St Vincent (NM2017.234). Such curios were for Welch, of the 1st Field Ambulance sale everywhere throughout the (Egypt-Gallipoli), was one of the marketplaces of Cairo and Luxor. In most devoted. Bean’s 1915 booklet, What to know in Egypt: A guide for Australasian St Vincent Welch, a master’s graduate soldiers, he advises the unwitting from the University of Sydney Medical soldier that the “little antiquities School, landed in Egypt with the offered for sale in the streets may first convoy of Australian troops. be genuine but are almost always He was one of the ANZACs who a modern sham”, and informs his landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, audience that genuine relics are able taking shrapnel to the left hand and to be purchased from the museum wounded a second time in September sale room. by a bullet to the chest. He recovered in Egypt, returning to the front in It is possible that some of the November only to be evacuated with collection, such as the Roman coins, jaundice not long after. In 1916, he was the bronze lizard mummy container promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and (NM2017.220), and the faience amulets commanded the 13th Australian Field of the four sons of Horus, which Ambulance in France, receiving the would have originally been sewn Distinguished Service Order in 1917. onto the bandages of a mummy for protection (NM2017.117-120), were During St Vincent Welch’s time in purchased through the museum. Egypt, he, like many of his fellow However, items may also have been officers and medicos, was able to collected via the services of the take leave and enjoy the sites and Luxor-based Dragoman Mustapha

19 Abd-El Sadik, whose business card was kept among the antiquities, or from shops like the B&N Tawa Antiquities store in Alexandria, whose small sales box was also retained by St Vincent Welch. Vial of sand from the “great desert outside Luxor, between the Further research, including CT Nile and the tombs of the kings,” collected scanning of the mummified ‘cat’ as by John Basil St Vincent Welch 1914–16, part of the ongoing Nicholson Museum Nicholson Museum, Animal Mummy Research Project, N M 2 0 1 7.2 3 6 and the x-ray fluorescence analysis of faience amulets, part of Michelle Whitford’s (Macquarie University) PhD research project, will assist in determining the ancient provenance and authenticity of items throughout the collection.

St Vincent Welch returned to Sydney, and his wife Mildred in January of 1918, following further illness. He immediately reimmersed himself into his medical practice and set about Cartonnage coffin fundraising for the Royal North Shore fragment depicting a hawk facing the Hospital by conducting lectures God Toth, possibly across Sydney, illustrated with the Third Intermediate Pe rio d (1070–713 many hundreds of lantern slides he B C), N i c h o l s o n had accumulated during the war, as M u s e u m , N M 2 0 1 7.2 6 3 well as his memorabilia and possibly the Egyptian artefacts. Sadly, St Vincent Welch died suddenly in 1919 from continued complications of pneumonia related to his service. His son, born shortly after, was named John Basil St Vincent Welch Mummified animal after his father, and followed in his shaped with the father’s footsteps, graduating from head of a cat, unknown date, the University of Sydney School of Nicholson Museum, Medicine, serving as a doctor during N M 2 0 1 7.2 6 2 the Second World War, and collecting war memorabilia. Bronze lizard mummy container, Late Period (712–332 BC), Nicholson Museum, NM2017.220

The entire collection of Egyptian artefacts and the box created for their display at home by the St Vincent Welch family were donated by Mrs ML (Molly) St Vincent Welch in memory of Lieutenant Colonel JB St Vincent Welch DSO (1881–1919) and Dr JB St Vincent Welch (1919–72) in 2017.

Candace Richards is Assistant Curator, Nicholson Museum

20 Why split a pair of earrings? –

Arabella Cooper explains how a pair of earrings were reunited via new research into the Nicholson collections.

The 1933 excavations directed by of an excellent example of Canaanite inevitably resulted in the connection William Matthew Flinders Petrie at craftsmanship was made: a pair between the matching pair of the Middle Bronze Age site of Tell of exquisite crescent-shaped gold artefacts being forgotten over the el-Ajjul, located in the modern-day earrings with clustered granules. 60 subsequent years. Gaza Strip, produced some of the most impressive small finds of pottery Following the excavations at Recent research for the current and high-quality jewellery to be Tell el-Ajjul, the rule of division Connections exhibition rediscovered discovered in the region. was applied to all finds discovered the link. Although the pair remain during the season. The division was separated by over 14,000 km, they are One of these discoveries was a non- determined by a representative now once again connected, as initially homogeneous hoard of gold, silver from the Palestinian Antiquities intended when they were made. and bronze jewellery, which, more Authority (under British Mandate) than 3500 years before, had been and by William Matthew Flinders The Connections exhibition deposited inside a pottery jar and Petrie. Two groups of artefacts will be on display until 2020 in hidden within the mudbrick walls of were created: one group to be the Nicholson Museum a house. It was one of five gold hoards taken by the Palestine Antiquities that Petrie recovered from the site. Authority and sent to Jerusalem, Arabella Cooper is a museum and the other returned with Petrie studies intern and Nicholson It was believed that each hoard was to London. Museum volunteer hidden as divine offerings or as a form of safekeeping and security, as caches This equitable division split the pair ready to be melted down and recast of earrings, which over time resulted Top left: Gold earring in the by the owners who may have been in the Rockefeller Archaeological Nicholson Museum, NM50.376 metal dealers or local Ajjul craftsmen. Museum in Jerusalem obtaining one Top right: Matching gold earring from Hoard 1313 at Tell el-Ajjul, half of the pair and the Nicholson now in the Rockefeller Museum, It was within this jar, among other Museum acquiring the other from Jerusalem. 1935-3882. Photo by Yael Yolovich, courtesy of the pieces of jewellery, that the discovery London in 1950. This separation Israel Antiquities Authority.

21 The duck’s tale: a gem from Jericho –

Unearthing the duck

Dr Jamie Fraser, Senior Curator, In the early 1950s, British archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon commenced Nicholson Museum, starts the tale. excavations around the tell (Arabic: small hill or mound) at the site of Jericho. In 1954, her trenches came down upon the destroyed When Nicholson Friend Dr Peta Seaton and I Canaanite palace, uncovering astonishing were working through the boxes and trays of in‑situ finds including the duck-shaped Jericho materials in the Nicholson Museum vessel alongside six storage jars. storeroom in early 2018, we opened one of many old brown cardboard boxes and were puzzled to The duck is a remarkable find: Kenyon find a collection of ceramic sherds including a discovered only two such vessels at ceramic duck’s head and tail. The box contained Jericho, and scant few other bird-shaped more than a hundred small sherds of a finely vessels have been discovered anywhere shaped and burnished duck-shaped vessel. The else. Kenyon sent one duck vessel to the neck and handle of the vessel rose from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the other duck’s back, and the beak served as the spout. to the Nicholson Museum, because the Two circular eyes and detailed head and tail University of Sydney had part-sponsored feathers were incised in the ceramic. In place the dig. of feet, the figure was originally supported on a little ring base, now missing. However, the quantity and quality of Jericho finds sent to Sydney belies more This curious vessel had been made during the than Kenyon simply acquitting reciprocal Canaanite Middle Bronze Age (c.2000–1550 BCE) duties to the project sponsors. Rather, her and was used in an elite building – probably a decision to send rare objects to Sydney, palace – at Jericho in the West Bank. After the Sherds after such as the duck-shaped vessel, or indeed building was destroyed by fire, the duck-shaped partial the famous plastered Neolithic Jericho skull, reconstruction vessel lay broken among the burned debris for Photo: Wendy reflects her close collegial relationship with Reade the next 3500 years. Professor James Stewart, then curator at the Nicholson Museum. It also suggests the goodwill generated by Stewart’s student Basil Hennessy, who worked as part of Kenyon’s team and with whom she was particularly impressed.

Perhaps Kenyon also felt altruistic to a young colonial university that had only started teaching archaeology a few years before, in 1947. It is also possible, given the recent horrors of the Second World War, that Kenyon deliberately dispersed the materials to museums across the world to best protect them should Europe plunge itself yet again into a devastating war.

22 Conserving the duck Dr Wendy Reade, a conservator at Sydney University Museums (until December 2018), takes up the tale.

The curious duck vessel had been smashed into more than 100 pieces. At some time, someone had started to adhere the fragments into several larger sections, but Zoomorphic duck vessel, Canaanite, the job was never finished. The little duck vessel Middle Bronze Age (c.2000–1550 BCE), acquired through the British School was long ago packed away in a brown cardboard of Archaeology in Jerusalem 1954, Nicholson Museum, NM54.56.18 box in the Nicholson’s storeroom in Sydney, and forgotten.

My two excited colleagues had called me to One trick I’ve learnt over the years as a the storeroom to see their new and as-yet conservator is that a little heat from a hairdryer unrevealed discovery. When I entered, they can soften the adhesive of a poorly-set join and asked me in all seriousness my opinion of a tiny it can be manipulated into place without having and unexpectedly nondescript bowl. A little to dissolve the join and start again. But this puzzled, I looked at their meagre offering, only works if the world’s favourite conservation and was forming a diplomatic response when adhesive, Paraloid B72, has been used. Other they couldn’t contain their glee any longer. formerly popular adhesives do not soften when Abandoning the tease, they produced the real heated in this way and so have to be completely prize in triumph. We laid out the little pieces of dissolved. Unfortunately, the adhesive that this treasure, six hands deftly holding as many had been used was not B72, so complete pieces of the puzzle together as possible. It was deconstruction of the fragile joins was the nearly complete! only option.

The box of fragments was delivered to the The hairdryer certainly came in handy as I conservation lab where I laid out all the pieces methodically rebuilt the duck, piece-by-piece, on a clean white bench top, thinking the job from head-to-tail and around the burnished of reconstruction of the already-prepared body. The ceramic had fired unevenly, leaving it larger sections would make my job easier. But mottled buff to orange to black – helpful when nothing’s ever as easy as you think. The mended doing a 3D jigsaw. And there was the thrilling sections of the thin fine ceramic were not well potter’s finger mark, wiped around the junction joined, so they didn’t fit together properly. One of neck and vessel, a spellbinding connection to of the fiddly things about mending delicate an individual across millennia past. three-dimensional objects is that even the slightest misalignment of one join becomes The Jericho duck vessel is now fully restored exaggerated as pieces are added, magnifying and is on public display in the Middle East the problem. I had to take it all apart. Gallery at the Nicholson Museum.

23 A tale of two microscopes –

While researching optical instruments for the Chau Chak Wing Museum, two microscopes caught Kelsey McMorrow’s attention. She explains why.

Manufactured roughly 100 years apart, Mr Grubb’s Sector Microscope (c.1855) and Steindorff & Co’s Microbe Hunter (c.1954) are very different microscopes. However, each tells a tale of risk and experimentation.

Thomas Grubb was an Irish optician renowned for his work on large telescopes, including the Great Melbourne Telescope of 1868. The Sector Microscope was Grubb’s foray into microscope design and was an attempt to improve microscopical technology. Described by Grubb himself in the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society in December 1880, the Sector Microscope is remarkably robust, built with a thick, combined mahogany and brass body designed to improve the ‘steadiness’ of the instrument. It includes one of the earliest examples of a swinging substage and incorporates an unusual fine focus lever which, when shifted left or right, moves the stage mount up or down. While these features are novel, it is the addition of a mechanism for oblique illumination where Grubb truly experimented.

Oblique illumination is a technique where light is projected at the specimen from a sideways angle. By creating a higher contrast than direct light, it makes features in transparent

24 Left: Mr Grubb's Sector Microscope, Macleay Museum, SC1989.48

Right: Steindorff & Co's Microbe Hunter, Macleay Museu m, SC1994.15

and semi-transparent specimens In contrast with Grubb’s device, seems the name was borrowed from more visible. By including a prism Steindorff & Co’s Microbe Hunter the 1926 classic Microbe Hunters movable along a sector (or arc) was experimental in terms of design by Paul de Kruif which dramatised extending from beneath the stage, and marketing strategy rather than the lives and work of scientists who Grubb’s Sector Microscope enables technology. In the 1950s, Steindorff studied the microscopic world. It is oblique illumination above and & Co was recovering from the plausible that this was a marketing below the stage. Using the sector’s destruction of its factory during strategy by Steindorff to capitalise on graduated scale, scientists can also the Second World War and, with a the novel’s popularity to boost sales record the angle of the prism and modest staff, the company was vying in the post-war economy. thus recreate results. for recognition against manufacturing powerhouses like Zeiss. Despite this, Unfortunately, like Grubb’s invention, Before the invention of Grubb’s Steindorff took a risk, establishing the Microbe Hunter experiment Sector Microscope, microscopists a subsidiary company in the USA to doesn’t seem to have paid off. While had to purchase additional distribute their microscopes. The Steindorff ultimately sold a large accessories that required frequent Microbe Hunter quickly became number of microscopes and was able tinkering to achieve the right Steindorff’s bid for attention. to crack the United States market, lighting. Replicating the results was this success was the result of its more difficult, and a slight bump meant The Microbe Hunter was fashioned classically-styled products, not the adjusting the set-up all over again. to be a microscope with all the key risk-taking Microbe Hunter. By adding a graduated sector to the features of contemporary instruments microscope, Grubb solved these but with an aesthetic design that There is still much to learn about issues and enabled scientists to tweak radically diverged from the standard. these microscopes, but their stories lighting without needing to look away The unique design features an unusual continue to fascinate, as each design from the specimen. double-arm stand fabricated from is now sought after by collectors. Both one continuous piece of metal. As microscopes will be on display in the Grubb was one of the earliest intended, it is a visually appealing Chau Chak Wing Museum. instrument makers to experiment piece, with its curved and flowing with adding mechanisms for oblique lines reminiscent of the mid-century With thanks to Martin Mach and illumination to microscopes. modern movement. Manuel del Cerro for their extensive Unfortunately, his invention didn’t research on the Microbe Hunter take off and only four or five Sector If such a design was not enough published in their online article Microscopes are known to be in to attract a potential buyer, its “Between Glamour and Glory: the existence today. Nevertheless, he unusual name would. Compared to Steindorff ‘Microbe Hunter’”. was a pioneer of this technology as instruments with bland names like ‘No. similar mechanisms were developed 43’ or ‘Student Microscope’, ‘Microbe Kelsey McMorrow is Curatorial by others later in the century. Hunter’ is especially dramatic. It Assistant, Macleay Museum

25 Lan n’dis ni aou* [Writing with string] – Kirk Huffman introduces the ancient String figure traditions in Vanuatu are vast and varied, as befits this ancient and widespread tradition of string figures and their Melanesian tradition. The basic language terms associations in Vanuatu. for them also differ greatly; from the Nivhaal language of southwest Tanna, where the figures are called k’emal, to the north Pentecost island Raga language, where they are called rugu, each linguistic region has its own name for string figures, and even more names for individual movements and figures.

* The title of this article, in the language from southeast Ambrym, was kindly suggested by David Hopa, Economic Development Manager in the MSG Secretariat and the son of Vanuatu’s respected former Minister of Agriculture, the late Pastor Jack Tungon Hopa (died 2015). Although the literal translation is “Using the strings”, in this context he said it can also be extended to “Writing with string(s)”.

26 1 3 1. John Kalki, son of Siliau, with 'si l e wan' no 'kewan' showing nemelük [wild kava]. Lawa village, South West Bay, Malakula. November 1985. Photo courtesy Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

2. Two-person string figure interplay by children from the family of the late famous sculptor Chief Willy Taso. Wuro village, Craig Cove, west Ambrym. A few kilometres 4 away along the northern coast, the general term for string figures is tu ne rawo’h: a variant of this term would be used in the Craig Cove area. March 1981. Photo courtesy 2 Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

3. Selin Lingai of Yakel, southwest Tanna, the great-granddaughter of the famous late Chief Kowia, shows k'e m al of yang'en'teh, a string figure for the Cardinal honeyeater Myzomela cardinalis or 'redhed' in Bislama. October 2016.

4. JJ Nakou of Yaonanen and Yakel, southwest Tanna, shows k’e m al named tana mene neyae, [earth and sky]. September 2016.

Left: Olfala Donald Mael String figures have a multitude of uses and Malakula there exists a rare form where Torok of Liro, Paama, shows the aitis of eisasa levels of connection and meaning. The four persons, joined together in song and onen meiao [nest of the m eia o]. Meiao is the rare string itself is generally 50 cm or more in movement, create particular figures. Adults and culturally significant length, tied to form a circle, and made from also use them as a memory aid, sometimes Megapodius layardi. Called 'Namalao' in the national pandanus or particular vines. From this as an integral story/song guide or addition language Bislama, this basic starting point, multiple interwoven to a story. Some of them, particularly bush turkey burrows its nest in warm earth and patterns can be formed through the certain risqué ones, can even have ‘moving rotten wood. July 2016. complex manipulation of string and fingers. parts’. Further complexities can lead into At the most basic level, these figures are more sacred levels of this multifunctional playthings, such as those kāku produced fine art, representations linked to bark- by Big Nambas children on Malakula, made cloth designs and political commentary with the plentiful split pandanus available (as on Erromango), body tattoos (as on from their mothers’ weaving of valuable Maewo), mat designs (as on Ambae) and nahei mats. These basic kāku figures sacred stones and roads to the World of portray houses, animals, plants, and other the Dead (as on Malakula). daily things. On Futuna, children were taught string figures during the five to 10- They can also be a way of ‘talking’ when day funerary mourning ceremonies that actual talking is forbidden or dangerous. In brought families together. The Futunese 19th century Erromango, a situation arose phrase “Hey, do you want someone to die?” when a band of sandalwood traders from is sometimes said when a child is too busy Australia were one day pressuring some with h'ta [making string figures]. Erromangans to give them yams, in short supply at the time. The chief quickly made Figures can also be made to accompany the tawo’h (figure) for yam upside-down, a children’s story, song, or a ‘teaching’. so that the women would know to answer Such figures are usually done by one ‘no’. An extra tawo’h (twist) could have person, sometimes two, but in Southwest indicated “give them just rubbish yams”.

27 At the most basic level, these figures are playthings ... Adults also use them as a memory aid, sometimes as an integral story/song guide or addition to a story.

Left: Chief Uminduru Jerry Making these intricate figures from a Early last year, Bruce Kuautonga, from Taki of U(m)ponilongi, young age is thought to be good physical Futuna, lamented the fact that many young south Erromango, shows the final tawo’h of the and mental exercise for the fingers, people didn’t even know their language lengthy string figure story hands, wrists and mind. As the respected name for string figures. “People of our age about the introduction of Christianity to Erromango. elderly teacher Donald Mael Torok of [mid-30s]”, he said “are possibly the lucky The upside-down pyramid represents an upturned Liro, Paama, said (in his language), in ones. We were brought up properly, so we nevsem tower, the major July 2016: “Aitis kilea vaeisenuk ale kilea learnt and still know a lot of our traditional symbol of traditional social structure. The vaesakem hem pame la la ka rendemien names. Those who have been brought up shape inside the nevsem, the nep, is “the teaching onom vom.” [“String figures can teach in the age of mobile phones often hardly area of kastom”, which you, can make your hands and fingers learn anything. They just hang on to their has been denigrated and turned upside down light, and can teach your thinking to phones and don’t listen to anyone who by Christianity and work good and long.”] knows anything.” (Translated from Bislama.) ‘education’. March 2013 Above: Selin making the k’e m al of kamsui, d ra g o nfl y, But because string figures are sometimes String figures are an important part of nicknamed ‘helikopta’ in wrongly considered as just children’s Vanuatu’s complex cultural mix. This short, Bislama. October 2016. games, they can be among the first things incomplete article is written to try and help All photographs in this to go in the wake of ‘development’. Like raise awareness of the importance of these story by Kirk Huffman. the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’, wonderful intangible traditions. when these figures begin to disappear, one knows that serious cultural loss is Kirk Huffman is Honorary Curator, beginning. The rapid expansion of mobile National Museum, Vanuatu Cultural phones in Vanuatu since 2008 has created Centre, Port Vila; Honorary Associate, a ‘heads down’ generation, obsessed Sydney University Museums, and a with this useful but addictive technology Member, Scientific Committee, Museum which is not driven by kastom and of Tahiti and the Islands, Puna’auia, Tahiti, cultural knowledge. French Polynesia.

28 String figure traditions in Vanuatu Vanua Lava This article is dedicated to the Gaua spirits of the following recently- deceased Ni-Vanuatu (the date they died is shown in brackets):

Maewo –– Chief Jacob Kapere of Imaki, SE Espiritu Ambae Santo Tanna (1.6.17) –– Father Luke Dini of Ra, Mota Lava Pentecost South (9.6.17) Ambrym –– Veta Tenkon (VKS Young Peoples Malakula Pacific Paama Project cameraman, tragically Epi Ocean killed near Cairns 23.6.17) –– Kaindum Sarakamel Batikli of Vanuatu Mün, SW Malakula (15.7.17) Efate –– Mweleun [abbreviated here to respect kinship prohibition] nambymb Kapat of Lenda(m) boë/Melken, south-central Malakula (1.1.18) Erromango –– Tou Donald of Liro, Paama (January 2018) Tanna Futuna –– M’lin tarap Kalman Hapsai of Brenwei/Ondowalo, NW Malakula (18.1.18) Aneityum –– Joel Malessy of Wala, NE Malakula. Film maker (22.12.18) New –– Mungau Daïn, Yakel, SW Tanna. Caledonia Actor (5.1.19) –– Lisiel Rantes of SW Bay, Malakula. VKS Fieldworker (7.1.19) 50 km Thanks to: Eric Natuoivi and Where Language String figure name Bruce Kuautonga (Futuna); JJ Nakou, Lingai and daughter Selin Futuna Fesao Futuna Bure (H’ta bure to make one) (southwest Tanna); Chief Uminduru Southwest Tanna Nivhaal K’emal Jerry Taki (Erromango); Donald Mael Torok and Donald Pelam Erromango Sié Tawo’h (Paama); David Hopa and James Hanghang Tainmal (Ambrym); Paama Selusien tenout Voum Aitis Godwin Ligo (Pentecost); Renata Southeast Ambrym South East Ambrym Lan n’dis ni aou (the action) Netaf and father James Gwero (Ambae); Kamanlyklawan, Longdal North Ambrym Féan Tu ne rawo’h Nobel Masingyao, Chief Alben Tomman, southwest Malakula Nahai language Nilik’seu/Nilik t’su Reuben, Kaitip Kami, John Kalki, Ambong Thompson, Marcellin South West Bay, Malakula Ninde language Si lewan ka(n)go Abong, Dickensen Dick, Gregoire Big Nambas, northwest V’ënen Taut language Kāku Nimbtik (Malakula). Thanks also to Malakula Maribel Morales Rosales who did the photo scans. North Pentecost Raga language Rugu

West Ambae West Ambae Hihi(m)bia (if being done by Further reading: Huffman, K, ‘Suh one person, Lai lai hihi(m)bia tuh netan ‘monbwei: we write on if being done by more than one) the ground: sand-drawings and North West Santo Nokuku T’suguta their associations in northern (Nogugu area) Vanuatu’, in Bonnemaison, J. et al, Arts of Vanuatu, Bathurst & Honolulu, 1996, pp. 247–53.

29 Sydney University Museums

Donor honour We extend a huge thank you to all our donors and volunteers who have, roll for 2018 through their generous support, made a significant difference to what – we have been able to achieve.

Principal benefactors Amy Hing Collection gifts Kyra Kim Over $1,000,000 History Teachers Association Estate of Mr Neville H Grace Patricia Koffel Dr Chau Chak Wing of NSW Todd Barlin Bindiya Kumar The Ian Potter Foundation Donald Horning Professor Alexander Mary Kumvaj Geoff LeMarseny Cambitoglou AO Rebecca Kuper Key benefactors Peter Letts Dr Valerie Havyatt Shana Lee $100,000 - $999,999 Amrit MacIntyre Ms Enid Hawkins Nicole Lee Julia Drew Professor Warwick Majcher Chips Mackinolty Mure Lilje Nelson Meers Foundation Jan O’Reilly Stephen Marshall Shirley Lomas Penelope Seidler, AM Douglas Paisley Mrs Marie-Claire Price Shenghao Ma Anne Rogerson Alan and Jancis Rees Finlay Mackenzie Principal supporters Emmanuel Sklavounos PSM John K Thomson Lilith Malcolm ($5000 – $19,999) Eileen Slarke Bea Marks Dr Valerie Havyatt Dr Jim Specht Volunteers Courtney Marsh The Hon. David Levine AO, RFD, QC Ann Sutherland Andries Armes-Venter Bethany Martin-Brown Andrew Symington Rachelle Ayoub Caitlin McCormack Supporters Annalise Thomas Alison Babbage Eleanor Megna ($1000 – $4999) Dianne Truss Brian Beergah Natalie Mendes Roderick Best PSM Dr Elizabeth Willstead Sarah Blencowe Katerina Mesterovic Adam Carr Deanne Whittleston Tawny Bomley Eleanor Munro Emeritus Professor John Kylie Winkworth Madeleine Bower Helen Myers Chalmers AC Arthur Witten Elizabeth Cameron Rachel Nadas Dr Paul Donnelly Dr Andrew Wright Tess Cashmore Ayaka Nguyen David Ellis Susan Wrigley Al-aabid Chowdhury Emily Paine Gloria Gallaher Anonymous Claire Chu Sherie Paterson Dorothy Hoddinott AO Elizabeth Chucher Stella Quast The Hon John Murray Contributors Claire Compton Sasha Radan Beau Sutherland (under $100) Arabella Cooper John Rankin Harry Tamvakeras Carl Andrew; Chris Baghos; Maddie Cox Bhumi Resi Patricia Biggers; Richard Bird; Alicja Dabrowska Joyce Arosame Robertson Contributors Danny Blackman; Ellen Byrne; Sharon Dowley Frances Robson ($100 – $999) Mary Chad; Elizabeth Clarke; Julia Drew Jeffrey Samuels Helen-Lea Alexopoulos Evelyn Cook; Anne Cruickshank; Hannah Duckhs Rehan Scharenguivel Wendy Atkins Marcel Dimo; Lesley Gent; Jane Jessica Dudley Lauren Scott Lucy Bantermalis Harris; Graham Hoskin; Patricia Matthew Fisher Jacinta Simons Ian Barnett Howard; Astrid Lodens; Emma Charlotte Ford Nicola Simpson Graeme Bartram Muzzatti; Tayla Newland; Jennifer Nastaran Forouzesh Alex Slucky Dr Amanda Bell AM Rapson; Barry Reynolds; Judith Mandy Gaston Alexander Staats Margaret Bickle AO Roberts; Ann Sutherland; Nicholas Sebastian Gerber Hood Jasmine Stewart Maree Browne Tong; Barbra Wagner; Beau Gabrielle Gonzalez Jade Symons Lydia Bushell Winter; Mary Anne Yeldham and Alex Grindrod Sarocha Thanee Judith Campbell numerous donors who wish to Geraldine Higginson Julie Thompson-Moltzen Peter Campbell remain anonymous. Amy Hing Fayette Veermer Joseph Casamento Marina Hunt Nathalie Vermeer Stephanie Chinneck Sponsors and grants Madeline Huxley Claire Vincent Susan Clarke Academy Travel; Australian Lynette Hyman Charlotte Wilkinson-Bibicos Peter Clarke Research Council (ARC) Discovery India Jackson Yang Wu Trevor Danos AM Project Grants: Excavating Allanah Jarman Darrienne Wyndham Roger Doenau MacGregor (DP150103518) Roslyn Jehne Yuqian Xiu Paul Dressler (2015-18) and Bauhaus Katherine Johns Jess Zheng Chris Flynn Australia (DP160103820); ARC Jacqueline Jordan Theodora Zourkas James Freston Linkage: Merchants & Museums Sarah Judd Dr Christine Furedy (LP160101761) (2018–20) Irene Katakis Susan Gabriel Mardi Kennedy Professor Terry Gagen Greg Kenny

30 Making history 2.

Yolngu community visit In November 2018, the University hosted a group of Yolngu visitors undertaking 1. Joe Dhamanydji and Raymond Bulambula, artists consultation on an exhibition that will form and representatives part of the opening displays in the new Chau of Milingimbi Art & Culture, in the Museums Chak Wing Museum. Gululu dhuwala Djalkiri: storerooms. Dhamanydji holds a painting featuring welcome to the foundations will showcase the a Niwuda – guku (native University’s extensive Yolngu art and cultural honey bee) design by his aygurrgurr Gupapuyŋu heritage collections. clansman, Joe Djembungu.

2. Yalpi Yunupingu and Wanyubi Marika direct curator Matt Poll in 1. 3. the placement of works for the exhibition. The curators Rebecca Conway and Matt Poll see Yolngu philosophies as the driver for the design of the exhibition and are working closely with three art centres of Yirrkala, Milingimbi and Raminging.

3. Moira Saunders, Associate Director Development, David Ellis, Director, Museums and Cultural Engagement, Djon Mundine OAM, an independent curator, and 4. artist and arts worker, Tolbert Dharramanba, from Bula’bula Arts, Ramingining at an Alumni and Development morning tea.

4. Beat Knoblauch, Wanyubi Marika and Yalpi Yunupingu discuss Yolngu art and the work of the Yirrkala- based, Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre.

All photos by David James.

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Whether you want to view an exhibition or attend a talk, we have plenty on offer.

For more information and to view the latest timetable, visit sydney.edu.au/museums and click on ‘What’s on’. Unless otherwise stated, all events take place at the Nicholson Museum.

Free Nicholson Museum tours Regular free tours of the March April Nicholson Museum take place 3.30–4.30pm each – – Saturday 2 March, 2–3pm* Wednesday 3 April, 6pm Monday afternoon. Sardinia and Corsica in Seeing stars with SUSI the post-classical era Associate Professor John O’Byrne, Robert Veel, Academy Travel Sydney Institute for Astronomy Following his lecture on prehistoric and Roman Sardinia in 2018, Saturday 6 April, 2–3pm* Robert Veel surveys these two Travellers to Greece Mediterranean islands from the Dark Helen Nicholson Ages to the dawn of the modern era. Cost: free Cost: free Travellers in Time series Travellers in Time series Saturday 6 April, 3–4pm Wednesday 13 March, 6 for 6.30pm Curator’s Tour of the Walter Beasley, James Stewart Greek collections & the Nicholson Museum Candace Richards, Nicholson Museum, Dr Christopher Davey, Australian leads us on an exploration of the Institute of Archaeology Greek objects of the collection. Cost: $40, $30 for Friends of the Cost: free Nicholson Museum, $10 for students Monday 8 April, 3.30–4.30pm Monday 25 March, 11am–12 noon Greek language tour of the Free Indigenous heritage tour Greek and Cypriot collections Join Koori guide Jimmy Smith as Anthoulla Vassiliades leads a tour of he leads us across the campus, the Nicholson Museum in Greek for exploring the remarkable Indigenous the Sydney Greek Festival. history of the location and Cost: free stories of the University’s historic relationship with community. Wednesday 10 April, 11am–12pm Bookings: Free modernist art walking tour [email protected] Join us for a free walking tour of modernist public art on campus Wednesday 27 March, 6pm with your guide Alan Spackman. G-force and Sydney’s Bookings: secret wartime research [email protected] Dr Peter Hobbins, Department of History, the University of Sydney Cost: free

32 Current May exhibitions – – Wednesday 10 April, 6 for 6.30pm Wednesday 1 May, 12–1pm Classics in the 21st Century: Artist Talk: Dale Harding Nicholson Museum A Panel Discussion Join Dale Harding as he talks about –– Connections Staff from the University of Sydney’s the new public artwork SPINE Department of Classics and Ancient located on Eastern Avenue. –– The sky and the sea: ancient History discuss the importance of Cost: free Cypriot art classics in the modern world: from –– Lego Pompeii publishing sensations to combating Saturday 4 May, 2–3pm* –– Death Magic the rise of the alt-right. The Colonisation of Vanuatu –– Memento: remembering Cost: $40, $30 for Friends of the Dr James Flexner, Department of Roman lives Nicholson Museum, $10 for students Archaeology, the University of Sydney Travellers in Time series –– Tombs Tells and Temples: Tuesday 16 April, 10am–12pm excavating the Near East Myths become alive: Wednesday 8 May, 6 for 6.30pm –– Actors, Athletes and Academics: A children’s workshop Iceland/Sagaland life in ancient Greece A free children’s workshop with Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason –– The Art of Storytelling arts and craft and reading with Cost: $40, $30 for Friends of the children’s author Stella Sorotou Nicholson Museum, $10 for students Unless noted, all Nicholson Museum (Sydney Greek Festival). exhibitions are ongoing. Cost: free June Thursday 18 April, 10am–4pm School Holiday Activity Day: – Ancient Greek myths Saturday 1 June, 2–3pm* A fun children’s activity day where Travelling Imperial Russia we explore ancient Greek mythology with N.N. Miklouho-Maclay and meet the gods and goddess of Dr Elena Govor Mt Olympus. Travellers in Time series Cost: free Wednesday 19 June, 6 for 6.30pm Monday 29 April, 3.30–4.30pm The Triumph Metamorphosed: Curator’s Tour of the the transformation of a Cypriot collections Roman Spectacle Dr Craig Barker leads us on an Dr Dugald McLellan, Department of Italian Studies, the University exploration of ancient objects Follow us on Twitter at of Sydney from Cyprus in the collection. twitter.com/sydneyunimuseum Cost: $40, $30 for Friends of the Cost: free or find us on Facebook Nicholson Museum, $10 for students by searching for ‘Sydney University Museums’.

All details are correct at the time of publication, however, events may change due to circumstances Right: Paddy Lipawana, Gurdurrku beyond our control. Please (Brolga), c.1984, ochre and visit our website for synthetic polymer on wood, J.W. up‑to‑date information: Power collection, the University sydney.edu.au/museums of Sydney, managed by the Museum of Contemporary Art, PW1984.111 If you wish to contact the Macleay Museum, the Above: Capacitive galvanometer, Nicholson Museum or the c.1950s, transferred from University Art Gallery, the School of Electrical and please see inside front Information Engineering, the * The 2019 Travellers in Time cover for our details. University of Sydney, 2018, free Saturday lecture series is Macleay Museum, SC2018.41 sponsored by Academy Travel.

33 Connections

Connections explores how certain objects in the collections are intimately connected to objects held by museums overseas. By examining these links, we learn more about the objects themselves and the circumstances that caused them to rest eventually on opposite sides of the globe.

Current exhibition

Nicholson Museum Calcite canopic jar, for General Ptah-ir-dis, Late Period c.712– Late for General Ptah-ir-dis, canopic jar, Calcite Nicholson Donated Charles Nicholson by Sir 1860, Egypt. BC, 332 NMR.37 Museum,