ACAHUCH's annual symposium is supported by The Jock Simmie Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage Research Fund. Through this generosity we are able to further knowledge and accessibility to architectural history, conservation and heritage.

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KEEPING HOUSE: conserving, managing and interpreting house museums

The 2024 annual ACAUCH symposium focuses on the fascinating world of house museums. As a type, house museums are many and varied but all typically continue to renegotiate their status as a hybrid genre of public / private institutions. Invited expert speakers drawn from academia, the museum and heritage sectors will tease out the significant contemporary issues and opportunities facing house museums today.

Through the one-day symposium program, themed panels of presenters will explore innovative ways of interpreting and displaying the history, memories and stories that house museums harbour; challenges in sustaining, conserving and updating of material fabric, collections, house interiors and gardens; the maintenance of viable support, management and ownership; and unique house museums in the context of south-east Asia.

As always, the ACAHUCH annual symposium provides an opportunity to hear from national and international speakers about current case studies and examples, and to participate in rich discussions. The day will conclude with a book launch and informal refreshments. The symposium can also be followed remotely with an online registration.

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Session One: Succession: navigating challenges in space and time

Corbett Lyon, Lyons
The Lyon Housemuseum – Securing the Museum’s Future

Derek Gillman, former director of Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation: a Gallery and a House
Inga Fraser, Cambridge University
Photography as Authenticator and Interloper at Kettle’s Yard
Georgina Walker, University of Melbourne
A museum is a bit like a home: The de Menil House, River Oaks Houston

Session Two: Interpreting house museums: telling and showing

Hannah Lewi, University of Melbourne
Interpreting gendered labour in heritage house kitchens
Georgina Downey, University of Adelaide
Tales from a historic house museum guide
Scott Hill, Museums of History NSW
Elizabeth Farm: the challenge of maintaining a ‘no barriers’ house museum

Josephine Briginshaw, Robin Boyd Foundation
Boyd & Japan: activating house and archive
Anna Wong and Virginia Rigney, ACT Galleries, Museums and Heritage
Lanyon Homestead: Exploring multiple histories through contemporary art

Andrew Murray, University of Melbourne
Centring the Residents: How to tell the story of the Isokon Building

Session Three: Conservation challenges: material fabric, gardens and interiors

Suzanne Bravery, University of Sydney
Keeping Her House: Margaret Olley and the Transported Interior
Sheridan Burke, Heritage Consultant, Former Chair Eryldene Trust
Building Resilience to Climate Change at Eryldene
Louise Voll Box, Johnston Collection Melbourne
Curatorial and Collection Management Narratives at The Johnston Collection: Sustenance, Preservation, and Growth
Sam Westbrooke & Louise Honman, National Trust Victoria
At Home with the Wallers

Session Four: House museums in the south-east Asian context

Khoo Salma Nasution, Miles Lewis Fellow 2024
Penang House Museum
Roger Beeston and Phillipa Hall, RBA Architects and Heritage Consultants
Three Indian House Museums

Book Launch: Architectural Encounters in Asia Pacific Built Traces of Intercolonial Trade, Industry and Labour, 1800s-1950s (Bloomsbury, 2024), an anthology edited by Amanda Achmadi, Paul Walker and Soon-Tzu Speechley,

Registration Link here

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Zoom link will be sent via email.

The event will be recorded and a link will be posted to the ACAHUCH website and the Melbourne School of Design Youtube under the ACAHUCH playlist in the weeks after the event.

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CONTACT

The symposium team is Hannah Lewi and Theo Blankley.

Enquiries | ACAHUCH Coordinator : theo.blankley@unimelb.edu.au

Banner Image: Interior of Curtin Family House, National Trust WA (Image Supplied: Hannah Lewi)

ACAHUCH - Symposium 2024 - Keeping House

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