Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific
Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation
The following are a list of Completed Research Projects and Consultancies. Please click on the links for more detailed information.
Analysing Testimonies of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
Making Room for the Past: Determining Significance in Archaeological
Collections from Historic Sites
The Australian Literature Gateway
Cultural Heritage Site Significance, Management and Interpretation
in China and Australia: a Comparative Analysis in a Cross-Cultural Framework.
UNESCO An Agency of Cultural Globalisation? Universal Cultural
Heritage Values and Local Cultural Identity in the Asia-Pacific Region
All that Glitters: Australian Gold and Silver from the Vizard Foundation
Community and Governance; Urban Activism in Melbourne in the 1960s and beyond
Creating an Australian Democracy
Culture in Development in Vietnam.
Culture of Care: A Preliminary Review of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Historical Collection
Cultural Citizenship: Case Studies from the Chinese Diaspora
Hue, Vietnam's Last Imperial Capital
Intangible Heritage: UNESCO Principles and Australian Heritage
Management and Policy
Key Needs of Collecting Institutions
Local Heritage, Local Memory
Nomination of Waverley Park to the Victorian Heritage Register
Melbourne Metropolitan Strategy Heritage Paper
Popular Culture and Sacredness
Safe Passage: A Feasibility Study of the Airways Museum and Airservices Australia Historical Collection
Settler Colony Texts for Children
The Disappearing "Asian" City: Protecting Asia's Urban Heritage
in a Globalising World
The National Museum of Australia: Aspirations, Aims and Outcomes, 1975-2001
Places of Pain and Shame: A Cross-Cultural Heritage Study of
Imprisonment
Sites
The Post-Colonial Sacred
The Role of Public Culture in the Construction of Contemporary Australian literature
Tourism & Shared Heritage of the Pacific War
Tradition and Change in Lao Housing
Vietnamese Dwellings
Desk-top Study of Web Based Heritage Related Educational Resource
Analysing Testimonies of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
A project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant
2003 - 2005.
Industry partner:
Jewish
Holocaust Centre, Inc
Research team:
Dr
M. Langfield
Ms
P. Maclean
Dr P.D. Monteath
Ms A. Klein
This project utilises Australia's largest collection of Holocaust video testimonies,
held in Melbourne's Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC), to examine how socio-cultural
factors shaped the widely different experiences of Nazi persecution among Holocaust
Jewish migrants to Australia, and how video mediates these experiences. Significant
conceptual advances will be made in the study of memory, Holocaust and immigration
history, class and identity debates, gender analysis, oral and video history
and the theory of testimony. A team of experienced CIs will analyse a broad sample
of videos, while the APAI will concentrate on studying a single episode. The
JHC will act as industry partner.
More information:
mlang@deakin.edu.au
Making Room for the Past: Determining Significance
in Archaeological Collections from Historic Sites.
A research project funded by an Australian
Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant 2003 - 2005. The project is
on-going in 2006.
Industry partners: Department
of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Heritage Victoria.
Chief Investigator:
Prof William Logan (previously Dr Anita Smith)
Co-investigators:
Jonathan Sweet
Dr L. McKenzie (Heritage Victoria)
Susan Balderstone (Heritage Victoria)
(previously Margaret Birtley)
PhD Candidate
Ms Ilka Schacht
More information is available here
for "Making Room for the Past: Determining Significance in Archaeological
Collections from Historic Sites."
The Australian Literature Gateway
A research project funded by an Australian
Research Council (ARC) Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities Grant.
Partners: The University of New South Wales, The University of Queensland, Monash
University, The University of Sydney, The Flinders University of South Australia,
The University of Western Australia, Deakin University, University of Canberra,
The National Library of Australia.
Researcher:
Dr Wenche Ommundsen
The primary goal of AustLit: the Australian Literature Gateway is to facilitate
and encourage research in, and teaching of, the nation’s creative and critical
literature. AustLit’s innovative world class resource discovery service
utilises best practice techniques in information management and knowledge sharing.
More information:
Cultural Heritage Site Significance, Management and Interpretation in China
and Australia: a Comparative Analysis in a Cross-Cultural Framework.
Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant with the Australian Heritage
Commission and Sullivan Blazejowski & Assoc. 2002 - 2005 and is also on-going
into 2006.
Research team:
Prof
William Logan
Mr
Jonathan Sweet
Adj. Prof. S. Sullivan (Sullivan Blazejowski Assoc.)
Ms K. Altenburg (Australian
Heritage Commission))
Funded by a Linkage Grant ($119,000) from the Australian
Research Council(ARC)
Project period: 2002-05.
The Nara Document 1994 asserts that East Asians see 'cultural heritage' differently from Westerners and that conservation practice should reflect the culture in which it takes place. Given Australia's growing tourism links with China, and China's growing importance in the Asia-Pacific, it is timely to reflect on the Chinese understanding of cultural heritage. Conversely China's relatively new cultural heritage industry can learn from Australian practice. This project aims at better mutual understanding by researching key issues of site significance, management and interpretation. The research will fill a gap in the literature and provide a model for further cross-cultural heritage analysis. Please read a progress report below:
The research team visited Chengde in May and Port Arthur in December, 2002. These two sites were selected as the first pair for a comparative study. Chengde is the imperial summer resort for Chinese Emperors of the Qing Dynasty and its building began in 1703. Its Royal Garden and Outlying Temples are World Heritage sites. Port Arthur was opened in 1830 as a timber station and in 1833 it became a prison settlement for male convicts. Although the two sites represent different history and cultures, they are comparable in various aspects, as both are significant to the national identity and as high-profile heritage sites, face high pressure of tourism.
The research team conducted visitor surveys and focus groups and staff/manager interviews at both sites. The objective for the surveys and interviews is to investigate the differences in cultural heritage management issues between Australia and China, particularly in terms of site interpretation and visitor management. The team worked cooperatively with site managers and staff to develop survey questions. In Chengde we had 84% survey return and in Port Arthur we have had 64% up to now. Also in Chengde the research team was invited to participate in the discussions on the tourist management guidelines, while in Port Arthur the team met a delegation from China – representatives from the World Heritage Listed ‘Mogao Grottoes’ site - and enjoyed a discussion with them about cultural heritage issues at Mogao and Port Arthur.
Chengde city, China
Port Arthur, Tasmania
UNESCO An Agency of Cultural Globalisation?
Universal Cultural Heritage Values and Local Cultural Identity in the Asia-Pacific
Region.
A project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2002
- 2005 and is on-going into 2006.
Research team:
Prof. W. Logan
Dr. M. Askew
Dr.
M. Langfield
Mr.
J. Sweet
Dr. A. Smith
Dr.
C. Long
This four-year project is funded by the Australian Research Council. It will
be the first critical, multi-disciplinary study of the major global and globalising
organisation, UNESCO, along with its associated bodies, ICOMOS, ICOM and ICCROM.
It is particularly timely given not only the growing resistance to globalisation manifested in Davos, Seattle, Melbourne, Genoa and elsewhere.
The project brings together a strong team of scholars with relevant skills and experience, three based at Deakin University (Prof William Logan, Dr Michele Langfield, Mr Jonathan Sweet) and one at Victoria University (Dr Marc Askew), as well as two Australian Postdoctoral Fellows, Dr Anita Smith and Dr Colin Long.
The research project is investigating those activities of UNESCO that tend
to impose a common stamp on cultures across the world and the various forms
in which local 'resistance' to those activities is occurring. The research
includes UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and those bodies that UNESCO established
and/or supports to deal with specialised aspects of cultural heritage - ICOMOS,
ICOM and ICCROM. Together, these organisations play a powerful role on the
global scene, laying down international standards for professional practice
in the cultural heritage field as well as influencing thinking in those fields
in less direct ways. 'Resistance' in the periphery takes many forms. It may
be seen in:
The preparation of national or regional positions on cultural heritage conservation
practice (eg. Australia's Burra Charter 1979, Nara Document 1994, China Principles
2002) as more culturally appropriate that the Venice Charter;
The project includes the broad range of elements - tangible and intangible, movable and immovable - that are nowadays considered to be part of cultural heritage and are mostly covered by the charters of UNESCO and its associated organisations. The following heritage sub-fields are covered:
The interplay of international organisations and local players in each of the sub-fields and the local resistance will be investigated by use of studies selected to represent Asia and the Pacific. The project concentrates on Australia, Fiji and New Caledonia in the Pacific, Korea in East Asia, Laos and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka in South Asia. The project builds on the teams' established links with Asian and Pacific Island cultural heritage scholars and professionals in order to ensure a strong local perspective on issues and facilitate the transfer of cultural heritage knowledge within the Region.
Prof. Logan is focusing on the heritage education and training component and, together with Dr Marc Askew, will also investigate policy formation at the headquarters of the four global organisations. The latter research activity seeks to analyse the way in which policy directions evolve at the centre, especially where policy changes are a response to messages of resistance coming from the periphery. How are policy changes initiated? How are key ideas from the periphery taken up and why? Are critical moments of change to be found in documents or conference proceedings? Who are the key individuals who have been responsible for generating central policies and concepts? With whom in the periphery do the key central officers talk? What part, if any, did the leaders of nation states play? How is a balance maintained between the advocacy of universal values and the desire of local areas to keep their cultural distinctiveness?
In the 1980s some UNESCO officers became aware of the anxiety felt by regional, national and local communities to maintain their own ways of dealing with cultural heritage issues. Following a recommendation of the World Conference on Cultural Policies in Mexico City in 1982, the World Decade for Cultural Development (1988-97) adopted 'cultural diversity' as a key theme (Tohmé 1992; Lacoste 1994). UNESCO's 'Culture of Peace' program also aims to create 'a world in which the rich diversity of cultures is cause for appreciation and cooperation' (UNESCO 1997; Niec 1998). These new statements exacerbate the intellectual tension within UNESCO itself, where senior officers, including the former UNESCO Director-General, Federico Mayor (UNESCO - An Ideal in Action: The Continuing Relevance of a Visionary Text, 1997), recognise that advocacy of universal principles represents the organisation's primary raison d'être.
The project will lead to the publication of a book, refereed journal articles
and conference papers, and help fill a surprising gap in the now vast literature
on globalisation.
More information.
All that Glitters: Australian Gold and Silver from the Vizard Foundation
Vizard Foundation Collection of Australian Colonial Gold and Silver. Geelong Art GalleryProject completed
2001
Researcher: Mr Jonathan Sweet
Research and principal catalogue essay for the exhibition, 'All that Glitters: Australian Gold
and Silver from the Vizard Foundation' organised by the Geelong Art Gallery.
Geelong Art Gallery: 12 December 2001 - 3 March 2002
Hamilton Art Gallery: 31 July 2002 - 4 October 2002
Fully illustrated catalogue available from Geelong Art Gallery http://www.geelonggallery.org.au/
More information: jsweet@deakin.edu.au
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J. H. Steiner Adelaide Hunt Club Cup Vizard Foundation Photo: Graham Baring |
Australians at War
Contract awarded by the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage 2004.
The project involves researching places of heritage significance relevant to
the theme 'Australians at War' and developing a methodology to assist the new
Australian Heritage Council to identify and assess places for inclusion on a
National List of outstanding sites.
Community and Governance; Urban Activism in Melbourne
in the 1960s and beyond.
This project is also funded by the Australian
Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant 2003 - 2004.
Research team:
Prof
W. Logan
Prof.
R. Howe
Prof. G. Davison
Dr D. Nichols
As Melbourne’s central and inner city economies have transformed over the last three decades conflicts over urban redevelopment have impacted on governance, urban policy and communities. This project studies those attracted to Melbourne’s working class and/or inner city suburbs and communities in the 1960s and examines the 1965-75 period’s significance in managing urban development in the 21st century.
The second, and final, year of this project (2004) has seen a number of important publications and presentations, including a CHCAP public seminar ‘Save Collins Street' - 'Save our Suburbs' ; Urban Activism and Heritage in Melbourne’, in August.
Archival research and 10 interviews, in addition to 2003’s initial 25, were completed in 2004. Associate Professor Howe, Professor Logan, and Dr. Nichols travelled to Barcelona in mid-2004 to attend the 11th International Planning History Conference where Prof. Howe and Dr. Nichols delivered a paper: ‘A New Relationship between Planning and Democracy? Urban Activism in Melbourne 1965-1975’. Dr. Nichols also spent a week in Britain researching globalisation and ‘social mix’.
The urban activists team has continued to progress towards the production of a co-authored book, for which a number of chapters had been drafted by the end of 2004.
Dr. Nichols has prepared a chapter on two inner Melbourne filmmakers for a
forthcoming book on Melbourne’s suburbs, to be published in 2005; his
article on urban activist newspapers has been accepted for a forthcoming issue
(#4) of History Australia. He has also prepared two papers accepted for forthcoming
conferences: one on the films of Melbourne’s urban activists for the ‘Two
Fires’ conference, Braidwood, March 2005; the other on the (unsuccessful)
battle launched by the Emerald Hill Association to save Lanark Terrace, South
Melbourne in the early 1970s, for the Australian History Association ‘Inclusive
Histories’ conference, Sydney, July 2005.
Cultural Citizenship: Case Studies from the Chinese Diaspora.
A project funded by a Deakin University Central Research Grant .
Researcher:
Dr.
W. Ommundsen.
Creating an Australian Democracy
Research project undertaken for the Australian Heritage Commission
Project team:
Prof. Geoff Stokes, Prof. William Logan, Adj. Prof. Susan Balderstone,
Dr. Colin Long & Ms Karen Gillen.
This research essay will point to the different levels of Australian democracy
and their historical evolution in tension with struggles for citizenship
since
colonial times. Institutionally, the democracy created in Australia
is a liberal democracy in which major political struggles have been
fought over the inclusion and exclusion of certain groups from citizenship
and full participation in the electoral system. As in other countries,
the creation and consolidation of civil and legal rights were also important,
especially given the predominant common law tradition. The extension
of citizens' rights into social and economic areas in the 1890s and
early 1900s also contributed to the creation of a 'social democracy'
in which key social policies such as old age and widows pensions were
implemented, and innovative institutions such as courts of arbitration
and conciliation, were created. The rationale for these reforms were
that citizens could not properly fulfil their political obligations
unless their basic social and economic needs were also fulfilled. Much
Australian labour history represents an attempt to defend and extend
the rights of workers at the local and national level. This distinct
combination of the 'liberal' and the 'social' comprises what has become
known as 'Australian democracy
Culture of Care: A Preliminary Review of the RACS Historical Collection
A consultancy commissioned by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Researcher: Mr. Jonathan Sweet
Completed: 2001
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons' historical collection contains some grisly material that is probably of international significance. The Sidcup Collection, for instance, documents the emergence of the science of plastic surgery. It includes a suite of paintings by artist Daryl Lindsay from WWI and an accompanying set of plaster casts illustrating the success of facial reconstructions. The bowels of the Spring Street building also contain an array of surgical instruments used for every conceivable operation since the 1800s.
As part of the strategic planning for a partial redevelopment of the
prominent heritage listed site, Jonathan Sweet was engaged to prioritise
collection management needs. The report, Culture of Care: A Preliminary
Review of the RACS Historical Collection, made a number of visionary
and practical recommendations for the safekeeping, documentation, and
future interpretation of movable cultural heritage, which includes medical
history material, rare books, antique furnishings, and portrait paintings.
More information: jsweet@deakin.edu.au
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Hue, Vietnam's Last Imperial Capital
Research team: Prof. William Logan and Dr Colin Long
Preparation of a book manuscript - due for completion June 2002
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
Key Needs of Collecting Institutions in the Heritage Sector
A consultancy conducted for the Cultural Ministers' Council.
Project team: Margaret Birtley, Jonathan Sweet, Chris Brophy, Rodney Carr & Rob
Haysom
Completed 2001
A Deakin research team that included CHCAP members Margaret Birtley, Jonathan Sweet and
Rob Haysom completed a study into the key needs of the collections held
in Australia's museums, galleries, libraries, archives and related heritage
organisations.
Announced on 19 September 2001 by the Federal Minister
for the Arts, Peter McGauran, and initiated by the Cultural Ministers
Council, the study was the first of its kind in ten years. It was required
to identify what Australian collecting institutions regard as the critical
issues of concern in management, conservation, communication, access
to and exhibition of their heritage collections. The study placed a
special focus on the needs of regional institutions.
The results of the study are being used to inform decisions made by
Commonwealth, State and Territory administrations about future support
mechanisms for the Australian heritage sector.
Deakin University engaged Ms Chris Brophy as the Lead Consultant for
the project. The research team collected data for the study between
11 October and 9 November 2001, using a combination of individual questionnaires
and industry meetings (focus groups and roundtable meetings) with heritage
collections practitioners, collecting institutions, industry organisations
and government bodies in fourteen locations around Australia. Written
input was also invited from the Australian heritage collections sector.
At the end of that four week period:
The study was project-managed by Graeme Brookes, Manager of Commercial
Projects for the Faculty of Arts. Administrative assistance was provided
by Robert Budd from the same Faculty.
The final report, A Study into the Key Needs of Collecting Institutions
in the Heritage Sector, was submitted at the end of December 2001
and can now be accessed on the Internet at http://sector.amol.org.au/publications_archive/national_policies/key_needs
More information: Jonathan.sweet@deakin.edu.au
Intangible Heritage: UNESCO Principles and Australian Heritage Management
and Policy A project funded by a Deakin University Central Research
Grant 2002.
Research team:
Dr. V. Marotta
Dr. A. Smith.
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
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More information: Joost-cote@deakin.edu.au
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Nomination of Waverley Park to the Victorian Heritage Register
A consultancy commissioned by the City of Greater Dandenong
Consultants: Roy Hay, Dr. Marnie Haig-Muir.
Completed: 2001
This project involved research and consultancy for the City of Dandenong toward the successful nomination of Waverley Park to the Victorian Heritage Register.
Melbourne Metropolitan Strategy Heritage Paper
Preparation of Melbourne Metropolitan Strategy Heritage Paper, Victorian Department of Infrastructure.
Report: Protecting Heritage in a Changing Melbourne. Integrating Heritage into the Melbourne Strategy (June 2001)
Project team: Prof William Logan, Dr. Colin Long & Context Pty Ltd
More information:
http://www.melbourne2030.vic.gov.au/
Places of Pain and Shame: A Cross-Cultural Heritage
Study of Imprisonment Sites.
A project funded by a Deakin University Central Research Grant.
Researcher:
Prof.
W. Logan.
Research Assistant:
Keir Reeve.
More information is available here on Places of Pain
and Shame: A Cross-Cultural Heritage Study of Imprisonment Sites
Popular Culture and Sacredness
Researcher: Lyn McCredden
More information: lynmcr@deakin.edu.au
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Safe Passage: A Feasibility Study of the Airways Museum and Airservices Australia
Historical Collection
Consultancy commissioned by Airservices Australia
Consultants: Mr Jonathan Sweet & Ms Margaret Birtley
Completed: 2001
In June 2000 Airservices Australia engaged Deakin University to undertake a feasibility study
into the future management of the Airservices Australia Historical Collection
(ASAHC), currently housed on the Essendon Airport estate in Melbourne.
The ASAHC is held in the basement of building 44 at this site and is
known as the Airways Museum. This building also accommodates the Victorian
branch of the Civil Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) and the Collection
includes a significant array of technical equipment and items associated
with the history of aviation in Australia.
Museum professionals Ms Jo Wills and Ms Ruth Maclean were employed
as research assistants on the project which produced a report covering
all areas of collection development and museum management and will act
as blueprint for the future.
More information: jsweet@deakin.edu.au
Settler Colony Texts for Children
Indigeneity and Citizenship: A Comparative Study of Settler Colony Texts for Children
Clare Bradford
More information: clarex@deakin.edu.au
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Disappearing City: Protecting Asia's Urban Heritage in a Globalising World
Project Team Prof William Logan, Adj. Prof. Susan Balderstone, Dr. Joost Coté,
Dr. Joe Hajdu, Adj Prof. Roz Hansen, Assoc. Prof. Renate Howe, Dr. Colin
Long and Qian Fengqi.
A 13 case-study project growing out of an Australian Research Council (ARC)
Large Grant, involving 20 researchers, leading to the publication of a book
Logan, W. S. (ed.), The Disappearing 'Asian' City: Protecting Asia's Urban Heritage in a Globalizing World, Oxford University Press, Hong Kong 2002
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
The Role of Public Culture in the Construction of Contemporary
Australian literature
A research project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery
Project grant 2003 - 2005.
Research team:
Dr
W. Ommundsen
Prof.
M. Meehan
Dr
D. McCooey
Literature is not simply a body of texts; it is a cultural technology, affected
by changing patterns of production and consumption. Witness the 'cult of celebrity',
the phenomenal recent growth of literary festivals, literary internet sites,
reading groups, changing patterns of literary marketing, education, employment
and leisure. Academic scholarship, largely text-based, fails to engage with
these public and popular phenomena. Our project develops methods for describing
and evaluating how these practices construct literary value and cultural identity,
in ways that will bring academic literary analysis into a more informed, more
creative engagement with public and popular culture in Australia.
Tourism & Shared Heritage of the Pacific War
Project Team: Prof. Joan Beaumont & Dr. Anita Smith.
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
Vietnamese Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience and Change.
Project team: Prof William Logan, Adj. Prof. Susan Balderstone
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
Desk-top Study of Web based Heritage Related
Educational Resources
February 2005
Project team: Ms Vilia Dukas, Prof. William Logan, Ms Mary Reid.
More information: chcap@deakin.edu.au
Desk-top Study of web based Heritage Related Educational Resources
Vientiane's Urbanism as Cultural Heritage:
The Making of the Lao Capital's Townscape and Evaluation of its Significance
Funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Large Grant (1999-2001)
Research team: Prof. William Logan and Dr Marc Askew (Victoria University)
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