Communities formed around ethnicity andreligion are diverse and no tips on protocol willbe relevant for all situations. The mostimportant thing is to ask what protocol appliesin the community with whom you want towork. Many people with whom you liaise maybe biculturally or, indeed, multiculturallycompetent and will be able to advise you of thedifferences in expected norms of behaviour.The following are intended only to providesome insights into issues that could be relevantand are not intended to be prescriptive for allsituations.

There is no way anyone can say that they knowthe cultural protocol absolutely. You can be fromthe community yourself and even then theremay still be some things that you don’t knowbecause they are not practised in your family orenvironment. So don’t assume anything. Alwaysbe prepared to make mistakes and take advice.Be prepared to pass it on. — Jana Vytrhlik, 1997

Respect the person and the cultureThe most important principle to guide yourconsultation is to respect the person and theculture. It is insulting to value aspects ofanother culture such as artworks but not tovalue the contribution of the people whoseheritage has shaped the artworks. LucretiaSuciu summed up this lack of respect in therelationship between, say, an art gallery curatorand an artist from an ethnic community as ‘I want your eggs but not you’.19

Community consultation meansinvolvement in the processProtocol requires that people are consulted in away that allows them to make a realcontribution. This means beginning theconsultation process early enough so that

people can help to shape the project and can beinvolved in its development, rather than beingforced to contribute within a framework that ispredetermined, fixed and, quite possibly,inappropriate for the community.

Communication tips20

• Contact the relevant official organisationsuch as the Ethnic Communities Council orethnic or religious organisation to find outappropriate people to consult. (See‘Resources’ in part 2.)There are a lot of clubs and associations. If youknow someone from a particular group who isrespected and that person believes in what youare doing and is willing to help you, then I thinkthrough that person you can probably get a lotdone. You have to be aware that there are somany different groups and through the leadersof these groups I think you could probablymake it work. You can invite some of the leadersof these groups in and explain what you aretrying to do and see whichever way they canhelp. That would probably be a good way. —Lorena Sun Butcher, 1997

• Make sure you meet with as many people aspossible and try to ensure that you are notmeeting with people from only one faction.

• Look, listen and learn. Do not go into acommunity with an attitude that you knowall that needs to be known. Everycommunity is unique in regards to customsand protocols. It is desirable to take thenecessary time to find out about the localcustoms and protocols. Until then try to besensitive as to what activities might beunacceptable.

• Don’t be too afraid. If you have establisheda relationship and built up trust and youmake a mistake, somebody will tell you.Communities are not homogeneous; therewill be degrees of protocol and variationswithin a community. Often the people youmeet first are the most liberal, outgoing and

4. Multicultural ways

Protocol tips

bicultural people so are less likely to beoffended by errors.

• Be prepared to spend some time sharingpersonal information such as where youlive, how long you have been in this area,where you grew up, what school you wentto, where your family comes from.

• Make an effort with the pronunciation ofpeople’s names. Never refuse to attemptsomeone’s name and never stop trying toimprove your pronunciation if there is aproblem. It is very offensive for someone tosay ‘I won’t even try to say your name — itis too difficult’.

• Go to community events so people get toknow you.

• Use the opportunities provided by othercultural diversity projects to meet thepeople involved and talk to them aboutyour possible future projects.

• Consider the benefits for the peopleinvolved in the project, including paymentand reciprocal obligations. Explaining yourenthusiasm for the project is not necessarilythe best approach. Not everybody will makedecisions about getting involved on thebasis of an interesting idea, something thatmight be fun to do or that will have benefitsfor other people.

• Be prepared to take no for an answer. Thecommunity may not be as excited aboutyour project as you are.

• Be aware that gender roles may differ. Theremay be distinct public and private genderroles in the community and there may be aneed to organise women-only groups withthe consultation being conducted by afemale museum representative.

• Show respect for elders. Do not concentrateon younger people where older people arepresent, even though the younger peoplemay be more proficient in English.

• Take the lead from the group. In manycultures it is not appropriate to come downto business immediately — social aspectstake precedence in order to feelcomfortable. Also, you may give offence ifyou decline an offer of hospitality.

• Be aware that some people may not provideinput directly but will do so through anintermediary who is respected within thecommunity group.

• Be aware that leaders of some communitygroups may not be in positions of formal

authority but may wield significantinfluence within these communities.Spiritual and religious leaders may be keyintermediaries.

• Think about these issues beforehand. Beingaware is one thing, but you need to thinkthrough how you might manage culturalsensitivities around gender, age orcommunication styles. Consider whatstrategies might be possible.

• Be sensitive about overseas qualifications.Many people are bitterly disappointed iftheir overseas qualifications are notrecognised in Australia. Look deeper.Acknowledge their achievements. Do notjudge people on their English or theiroccupation in Australia.

• Consider that, in some cultures, modes ofexpression may be indirect and that theattitude to silence may be different.Listening for what is not being said mightbe as important as what is said. Forexample, some Asian cultures will avoidgiving negative or confrontationalmessages. People may say ‘yes’, withoutimplying agreement but meaning, rather,that they are listening. Arabic language mayalso not be direct and specific but insteadmay appear to some others as beingexaggerated.

• Remember that communities will not behomogeneous and will have many politicaland religious differences within themdepending on such factors as era ofmigration, reasons for migration, first orsecond generation and so on. Suchdifferences may be most obvious aroundthe use of particular flags, maps ofcountries and association with officialrepresentatives from the country of origin.For example, refugees from totalitarianregimes will be most reluctant to enterofficial consular offices from that regime. Asimple example is that within theVietnamese community in Australia, therewill be people who have allegiances to thenorth and others to the south, and so on.

• Whereas many Australians are casual intheir form of address, such as using firstnames almost exclusively, somecommunities have more formal protocol. Itmay be important to acknowledge status byusing a title such as Doctor, even after youhave spent considerable time with theperson.

Taking the Time44

• Approach the selection of the best place forthe interview/meeting with care. Ask theirpreference for the best place for aninterview or meeting to take place andprovide choices for the people you wish tointerview or consult such as telephone, yourplace, a public place, their place. If you wantthem to come to meet you somewhere, youmay need to arrange transport. It is not agood idea to assume that their place will bethe best place for the interview as somepeople may feel that this invades theirprivacy. Ask which option they wouldprefer.

• Ask how people feel about use of a taperecorder or note-taking. Never assume.Lorena Sun Butcher, for example, hadfound previously that the use of a cassetterecorder or of note-taking during theinterview was distracting to Chineseinterviewees. During interviews bytelephone she took extensive notes butduring face-to-face interviews she tookmostly mental notes and wrote up theinterviews immediately afterwards.

• If you are using the interview to build uporal history information or to create labeltext or exhibition themes or storyline, it isessential to send draft copies backwards andforwards until both parties are satisfied.

Using interpreters21

Where consultations involve individuals whodo not use English proficiently, it is essential toarrange for interpreters or bilingual consultantsin the relevant community languages.Interpreters can be located from theDepartment of Immigration and EthnicAffairs’ Translating and Interpreting Service(call 131450 anywhere in Australia). Use of aqualified interpreter will result in moreaccurate information than relying on a willingbilingual community member.

Interpreters need to be paid for their servicesand their cost must be built in to the cost ofconsulting.

English speakers who are being interpretedneed to speak clearly and withoutcolloquialisms. The speaker needs to pauseoften so that the interpreter can take over, andto check whether the interpreter is able to keepup or wishes to provide feedback from thegroup.

Consulting in remote areaslacking ethnic communityorganisations 22

Where there are no ethnic communityorganisations, you might contact peoplethrough local services and establish amulticultural advisory group. Points of contactmight include the local council, libraries,schools, child care facilities, places of worship,hospitals, pharmacies, post offices, a local shopand so on.

Cultural differences 23

There are significant cultural differences inbody language, personal space, use of languageand other customs:

• Eye contact: In many cultures, avoidance ofeye contact can be interpreted as shiftinessor insecurity, but in other cultures, such assome Asian cultures, eye contact is avoidedas a sign of respect.

• Personal space: Personal space variesgreatly. Take your cue from others.

• Smiling: The smile has many different uses.Some European cultures tend to smile less.Vietnamese and some other Asian cultureswill smile to cover sadness, anger, worry,not only for themselves but to save face forthe other person also.

• Body contact: For many Asian cultures(such as Vietnamese and Thai) and forpeople who practise the Buddhist religion,the head, being the most sacred part of thebody, should not be touched. In somecultures, it is acceptable for people of thesame sex to have physical contact, forexample to walk along arm in arm. Whenmeeting friends, it is acceptable in somecultures to kiss or hug. Touching with thefeet is offensive in certain cultures as thefoot is the lowest part of the body.

• Yes/no: The answering of ‘yes’ or’ no’ can bevery difficult in many Asian cultures. Askopen-ended rather than yes/no questionssuch as ‘do you understand?’, and insteadparaphrase what you believe to have beensaid and wait for addition or correction.Avoid double-barrel or negative questions.

• Forms of address: Usage of names and titleswill often be guided by relationship. Somelanguages have terms for familiar or formaladdress.

45Multicultural ways

• Please, thank you, sorry: These tend to beused more in Anglo cultures than in othercultures.

• Religion: Religion can govern behaviourpatterns and attitudes. Respect for religiousleaders, objects and practices is essential.Holy days and fast-days vary with thereligion and you should learn about these.It will save embarrassment if you can find

out about religious practices in advance.For example, a woman should never offer toshake hands with an Orthodox Rabbi sinceit is taboo for a Rabbi to shake hands with awoman who is menstruating.

• Appointments: For some cultures, thekeeping of appointments does not carry theimportance that it does in other cultures.

Taking the Time46

Representation• Museums will seek to balance their

collections and displays with the inclusionof perspectives appropriate to theirculturally diverse communities.

• Museums will ensure appropriaterepresentation of their culturally diversecommunities on governing and advisorybodies such as boards, councils andcommittees.

• Museums will aim to reflect thecomposition of the client/communitypopulation in each organisation’s staffingprofile and in the staffing, both paid andvoluntary, of the institution.

Consultation• Museums will consult in an appropriate and

ongoing manner with their constituentcommunities in regard to the collection,management, conservation andcommunication of their cultural heritagematerial.

Intellectual property• Museums will develop proper professional

recognition of communities’ culturalownership of and intellectual propertyrights for their cultural heritage.

Contemporary culture• Museums will approach these community

cultures as vital, living, diverse andchanging. Collections and public programswill include the contemporary experience.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islandercultures will not be represented only by lifeprior to European settlement but willinclude representation of experiences post-European settlement and of theircontinuing contemporary culture. Displaysof particular ethnic communities will notstop at arrival in the district but will includeexperiences post-settlement and examplesof their continuing contemporary culture.

Accessibility, participation and use• Museums will encourage accessibility,

participation and use by strategies ofrepresentation and inclusion and byfostering positive relationships betweenstaff members (paid and voluntary) andclients including peoples from allbackgrounds.

Excellence and equity• Museums and galleries need to be aware of

the cultural biases in the concept ofexcellence which guides many decisionsabout funding and about what art is seen inwhat galleries and how it is exhibited andinterpreted. It is important that this becounterbalanced by the inclusion of people

Policy guidelines for museums and culturally diverse communities

from diverse cultures on funding bodies,and on advisory and assessment panels. It istime for concepts of excellence to bereviewed and broadened to acknowledgethe breadth and diversity of culture. On apractical note, the criteria of funding bodies

in the art and culture area may need to bereviewed and revised to make them moreculturally inclusive and appropriate. Peoplefrom culturally diverse backgrounds mayneed advisers to work with them tocomplete grant applications.

47Multicultural ways

Case studies: Museums and multiculturalcommunities

Case study 11

Migration Museum

Interview with Viv Szekeres, Director of Migration Museum, South Australia

The Migration Museum is a social historymuseum which tells the story of immigrationto and settlement in South Australia from1836 to the present. Permanent and changingexhibitions also feature the cultural traditionsof South Australia’s multicultural society. Acommunity access gallery called The Forumis for communities to mount their owndisplays and to encourage their activeparticipation in the museum’s programs. —AMOL National Directory

What advice would you give to a smallmuseum somewhere in regional Australiathat is thinking about how to make themuseum more involved with and inclusiveof the culturally diverse communities inthe local area?Find out about your local area, what is in itand who is in it. But remember, culturaldiversity is not only ethnicity. Ethnicity isonly one of many significant factors toconsider. You also need to understand theregion in terms of other factors like class, sexand age. In a big city you might approachthe Ethnic Affairs Commission but you alsowould be looking for good child carecentres, local schools and libraries. When wewere starting out, we already had goodcontacts in the tertiary area so we used thoseand went through the EducationDepartment to the primary and secondaryschools. We also used our contacts withcommunity and political organisations likethe Working Women’s Centre.

What kind of advice would you give on theprotocols they should follow? Different things work for different people atdifferent times. Over the 10 years, differentprojects have required different ways ofworking with people from diversebackgrounds. For example for the temporaryexhibition, Il Cammino Continua — TheContinuing Journey, The Story of SouthAustralian Italians, from February 1990 toJanuary 1991, the museum went first topeople at the top of the hierarchy, to theprominent figures in the community, theconsuls, the politicians, and the business-men. These people were approached fortheir support and for suggestions about whoelse the museum should talk to. Then whenthat list of people were approached theywere asked who else the museum should talkto and who had been left out. So we talkedto about eighty people before we chose a fewkey places where the Italian community hadsettled. Then we contacted people throughthe local library, town hall and schools tofind out who to talk to. We wrote to them,phoned them and arranged to visit them and to interview them. We copied theirphotographs and borrowed their artefactsfor the exhibition.

With the Reasons to Remember — Plaques ona Wall project the request came from thecommunity, from the Baltic communityorganisation. They wanted to put up aplaque that acknowledged why they left their

Taking the Time48

homeland. So we mounted a project andcontacted other groups and ended up withseven additional plaques.

It depends whom you are working with. Youare not working with communities but withindividuals who are perhaps also thepresident or secretary of their communityorganisations. We try for a balance ofpeople, for a cross-section that isrepresentative of the community in the area.For example, with the Italian project, if wehad more of the highly educated northernerswe would go around the clubs to find morepeople who had come from the south from apeasant background. If we had more peoplefrom conservative political backgrounds, wewould look for some people with a left-wingperspective.

We might work in a variety of ways withthese community representatives, forexample on projects such as a temporaryexhibition, or a community-generateddisplay in the Forum or on a festival or on aloan of some of their material to themuseum for a period of time. Systems andprocedures are important, for example loanagreement forms and a constant monitoringof air-conditioning, humidity controls andlight levels; in fact, all aspects ofconservation which protect and preservecultural material.

It is about building up trust. It takes onlyone mistake to destroy all of that. There isnothing to replace the face-to-face legwork.You can only build up the trust over time.

What kind of models would you suggestthey consider for how their museum andthe representatives of particularcommunities could work together?In the Forum, projects are generated,developed and launched by the community.The only museum control is the spacelimitation and the policy aim of the museumto foster greater harmony andunderstanding between people. Themuseum has power of veto over the space.Issues are negotiated, however. For example,one community had far too much text intheir display and we wanted them to cutsome. But they argued that the particularcommunity would read it, so it went in.

Sometimes, projects in the museum’s

temporary gallery are also generated by acommunity request. At the moment, themuseum has made time in its program torespond to a request from a Greek women’sgroup. The last 3 weeks have been spent withthe community, recording and writing downtheir stories. The text has been going backand forth and we have agreed on the themes.The museum’s curator works with thegroup, and mounts the display and themuseum will pay any costs from its budget.

What kind of timeline is there from whenyou first starting thinking about doingsuch a project?For the temporary exhibition area of 170square metres, it takes 2 years from idea toopening and that’s tight. Six museum staffwould work on this exhibition team for the 2years although they would not be workingfull time just on the one project. Even thesmaller displays take several months.

What do you think is the value of theseprojects?There is no doubt that if you work withpeople on these museum projects, you willget them and other members of thecommunity into the museum and you willget their political support.

And the museum also needs them becausewe get their stories only by getting theirinvolvement. We need to get them involvedwith the museum to get primary sourcematerial on migration. For example, anumber of Greek women around a kitchentable can help to fill a gap in the researchabout migration experiences.

What complexities or ‘minefields’ might beencountered on these community projects?For local museums, one of the challenges isthat their movers and shakers are the well-known people of the community. The storiestold in local museums are very often thestories connected with these same people.Does their support come at a price? Willthey continue to support the museum if itsstories become more inclusive of the widercommunity?

Many meetings between staff of theMigration Museum and communityrepresentatives are about ‘finding a mutuallyacceptable version of the past’. As I said in a

49Multicultural ways

paper to Museums Australia Conference inFremantle in 1994:

The version which will be finally presented tothe public will be reached by negotiation andpersuasion…why?…The most obviousanswer can be found in one of the statedaims of museum policy which is to fostergreater harmony and understanding betweenpeople. If the museum becomes a forumwhere communities are able to freely accuseone another of past atrocities, then anescalation of tensions and divisions is a moreprobable outcome than any increase inunderstanding or harmony.

Consider this dilemma. A minority groupwith strong views about what should beincluded in an entry in the Database of SouthAustralian Immigration and SettlementHistory…The entry extends beyondinformation about themselves…The fiverepresentatives wish us to removedescriptions about religious practices whichhave been brought from their country andmaintained in South Australia…We pointout that the reason why the majority ofimmigrants came from their country wasbecause they had become a religiousminority…So why are they so adamant aboutwhat seems on the surface to be

unreasonable? After further discussion…itwas becoming increasingly clear that thisgroup did not continue to practise theirreligion to the same degree…as was expectedin their own country.

For those of us living in Australia it is almostimpossible to imagine a situation where whatyou do or say publicly might haverepercussions or even end in reprisals andpunishment upon your family left behind inyour country of origin. But there are manycountries where any deviation from acceptednorms carries a heavier punishment thanmere disapproval or ostracism. Manyimmigrants share this experience….So nowwe are dealing not just with the expression ofdifferent points of view in a fairly abstractway, but in decisions which could haverepercussions well outside of the museumand its programs. What may have started out as a discussion about historical inter-pretation…is now an unspoken ethicaldilemma.

The challenge is now to find a way to presentinformation which has some integrity andmeaning, reflects the South Australianexperience of these people, whilst at the sametime protects their rights to privacy.

Case study 12

Public programs, Powerhouse Museum

Interview with Jana Vytrhlik, Manager of Education and Visitor Services, Powerhouse Museum

Can you describe one of the visitorprograms you were involved with in yourwork as a multicultural education officer?When the South Pacific Stories exhibition washere in which various communities told oftheir experience of migration, we wanted tofeature some of these communities in ourprograms for visitors.

Through some friends and Ann Stephen,curator of social history, I was approachedby several young people from the Samoancommunity. They liked the exhibition andthey were interested in presenting theirculture. They had all migrated to Australia asyoung children, they were between 20 and 29and they approached me with great

enthusiasm about how we could representthe community. I knew about their beautifulcostumes and dances and food so I wasasking questions along the same lines, butone of them suggested a demonstration oftraditional Samoan tattooing.

I was very surprised at first but we talkedand talked about the event and how theycould transform the environment of themuseum for the ritual. The women wouldsing songs to ease the pain and there wouldbe three people involved in the actualtattooing — the master tattooer and twohelpers who wipe off the blood and stretchthe skin of the arm. So no wonder I wasworried about what the audience would say

Taking the Time50

and how it would look and how we couldactually do something so intimate on a stagefor 500–600 people to see. He went back tohis community and discussed a number oftimes with them — back to me, back tothem.

In the end it happened one free Saturday [onone Saturday every month, admission to themuseum is free] which is usually a well-attended day. Members of the communitydecorated the stage the night before withTapa cloth, textiles, flowers and treebranches. It was not tacky or kitchy in theenvironment of the high style and designand sophistication of the museum. Theirfeeling for their culture made it look right.Nobody else but them could do it — we didnot need to give them any advice. I think wewould just have been interfering insomething which had to be done by them.

The performers were very happy and veryproud being able to be at the Powerhouse.On the actual day, we counted about 800people. We had produced a bilingual flier inSamoan and English that had beendistributed. There was an advertisement inthe mainstream newspaper so the target wasnot only the Samoan community who, ofcourse, came via the main organisersbecause they told each other. There werebikies and yuppies — people who did haveor who wanted to have their own tattoos.

The whole stage, 5 × 7 metres, was all thetime surrounded by people. Children whosereaction I had been worried about werefascinated by it. The music played and Leodid a commentary. He even interviewed oneof the three young Samoan men who wasbeing tattooed. He asked how it felt and hewas talking about his spiritual feeling,because to have that tattoo done on his leftarm is actually making him a warrior. It is away of initiation. One arm took 40 minutesto one hour. After the tattoo was finished

Launch of the Global Cultural Diversity Conference atthe Powerhouse Museum, April 1995 (Photograph byPenelope Clay)

51Multicultural ways

this huge, young, muscly man dressed justhalf way stood up feeling as a warrior andthen the song came and the guitar playedand they were dancing an unplannedunrehearsed dance just as his expression ofthe moment. It was absolute magic.

What value do you think such projects withculturally diverse communities have had? The community felt proud and privileged towork with us to present their culture at thePowerhouse. And the community came inhordes as well as the mainstreamcommunity. They are still talking about it 3years afterwards. Many of the young Samoanmen live in Bondi and I see them and theyare asking me when they can do somethingelse.

They also discovered the Powerhouse forthemselves. For many it was the first timeever they had been to the museum or, infact, to any museum.

The community often talk about theimportance of cultural maintenance. For

example, at the Jewish Arts Festival, ShalomSydney, there was a woman from the Jewishcommunity who told me that it was the firsttime she could show her children any of thetraditions and crafts presented at themuseum.

Sometimes it was more about culturaldevelopment or reconciliation. For example,Crossing Territories, a Palestinian and Jewishwomen artists’ forum, brought togethermembers of the Jewish and Palestiniancommunities of Sydney for the first time towork together on the one project. We didthis project while we had the Palestinianwomen’s costume exhibition in theCommunity Focus area. The exhibitionbrought up issues of settlement in Palestine,so we contacted both communities to talkabout how to engage them both.

About 80 people came, half Jewish and halfPalestinian, to listen to the women artists.There was no way to avoid the peace process— this was back in 1995 when it was stillnew and hopeful. There were people crying

Traditional Samoan armtattooing at the PowerhouseMuseum, November 1994(Photograph by AndrewFrollows)

Taking the Time52

and weeping from both communities — justsaying we are all people, we have to talktogether. Again it was a magic moment thatpeople still talk about and still remember. Bypure absurd coincidence the night after thismeeting Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.Monday when I came to work my phonedidn’t stop ringing from members of bothcommunities.

For the mainstream community the benefitis not only increased understanding ofparticular cultural practices of a range ofcommunities but also the opportunity tomeet people from these communities and tointeract with them perhaps for the first time.

What advice would you give to someone ina small regional museum who is thinkingof working on a cultural diversity projectwith a local community? My advice is be prepared to put in a lot ofextra time and effort, be clear and firm inyour objectives but accommodate their ideasand know your audience.

There is no single rule to follow — eachcommunity needs an individual approach.And remember, because someone feels thathe or she is a representative of thecommunity doesn’t mean the communitythinks so.

The time you spend talking with people is anissue. You can’t rush it because it is time thatbuilds trust. The time is also likely to be afterhours because the community is notavailable during working hours — it has tobe weekend or after hours.

Another thing I would like to point out isthat with programs with ethnic communitieslike this you can not repeat them. They’resomething you can do just once, especiallythings that involve spirituality andtraditions.

It is good from the outset to make sure theyunderstand that it might be just oneprogram at a particular time that connectswith the museum’s schedule. Very often weallure the community to do something forus because it fits with the program ofexhibitions but we sometimes create anexpectation that we need them all the time.It is very hard to say, ‘sorry the exhibition isover, we are doing another community now’.It needs sensitivity and understanding

from their point of view that we suddenlydon’t need them as much as we desperatelywanted them before. So I still don’t have the answer for that because there are 150 communities around and we can’t haveeveryone all the time. It has to somehow fitto the overall museum program.

What kind of advice would you give on theprotocols they should follow?Politeness and respect always — these gowithout saying. Once you have protocol it isalmost like a checklist, like a system, you areboxing or limiting yourself. In the 10 years Iplayed by ear I didn’t have to learn thecultural protocol — just like I didn’t have tolearn Czech. I had to learn English because itwas something new to me. I think comingfrom a different culture myself andexperiencing the clash and confusion andfusion and infusion of my old culture withmy new culture — that gives me the bestequipment to deal with other communitieswithout learning cultural protocols.

For me it was very easy. As soon as I startedto talk with my accent, the first questionsusually were ‘where are you from?’ and wecompared our experiences and from then,there was common ground. They felt verymuch more comfortable and the trustdeveloped. Someone who is not a migrantthemselves has to be prepared to understandhow it feels to be a migrant.

Some advice though…Well, it is veryoffensive if people still cannot pronounce ordo not try to pronounce your name. Istopped saying my full name on the phonebut I am back to it now. Another thing is notto judge people by their English or theiroccupation in Australia. Just because theyare a cleaner here does not mean that theywere not highly qualified professionals intheir own country.

Always keep an eye on what is happening inthe country of origin because thecommunity will be affected by it even if theydo not admit it. Be aware that if somethinghappens in the country of origin, theprogram may not be able to go ahead. Forexample, at the time of Tiananmen Square,we had a big celebration for the Chinesecommunity planned but this was stoppedbecause it was felt in the community that it

53Multicultural ways

was absolutely inappropriate to becelebrating that week.

Before 1989 many people from easternEurope couldn’t deal with the officialrepresentatives of the community. Nobodycould ever force me or other people from mycommunity across the building foyer to goto the Czech embassy, no way, the sameprobably for Hungarian or Polish people.

How about examples of cultural protocolsthat you learned as you went along?An Orthodox Rabbi came to meet me todiscuss one of the programs for ShalomSydney. As usual, security called me to say hehad arrived and when I went to greet him,I went to shake his hand and he did, but hedidn’t say anything. Then we were in the cafedrinking tea and coffee, discussing details ofthe program and suddenly he said, ‘well,Jana I would like to tell you something aboutour tradition’. And me being Jewish myself,

I felt what can he actually tell me that I don’tknow. But yes, as a woman you don’t shakehands with an Orthodox Rabbi. I asked him,‘Why didn’t you tell me straight away when Iextended my hand?’ And he said, ‘Because Idid not want to embarrass you’, which wasvery honest of him. I felt not so embarrassedas the conversation was very easy andrelaxed. He had spent some time in Russiaand so I spoke with him in Russian and hehad lived in central Europe so we had verymuch in common so I was not so muchembarrassed as absolutely surprised. Thatmade me realise that there is no way anyonecan say that they know the cultural protocolabsolutely. You can be from the communityyourself and even then there may still besome things that you don’t know becausethey are not practised in your family orenvironment. So don’t assume anything —always be prepared to make mistakes andtake advice. Be prepared to pass it on.

Case study 13

Cross-cultural studies, Queensland Museum

Interview with Judith Wassell, Curator, Cross-Cultural Studies, Queensland Museum

The Cross-Cultural Studies section wasestablished at the Queensland Museum in1994. It aims to promote cross-culturalunderstanding by preserving, documentingand interpreting the cultural diversity ofQueensland. It recognises that ourmulticultural nature has been understated inmost accounts of our history, and ourcollections have underrepresented materialculture relating to immigrant groups fromnon-English-speaking backgrounds. —Cultural Heritage Workshop Presentation, 1996

Approaches to working with communitiesTo work with communities you need avariety of strategies so that people fromcommunities can choose the approach thatbest suits them.

Community projectsFor example, the Stanthorpe Italian

community have said they want to workwith me on a project basis. At the momentwe are working on the documentation oftheir annual pig slaughter and sausageproduction.

I made contact with the Italian communityin Stanthorpe when there was aphotographic exhibition at the StanthorpeArt Gallery. I took that opportunity to ringup their Dante Alighieri Society and ask tobe shown around their exhibition. Then Ihad a meeting with the Society’srepresentatives. They brought theirpresident, secretary, treasurer, local priestand a couple of other community members.They asked me what I was doing at themuseum and I told them about some of theprojects including the proposed publicationand exhibition on food and cultural identity.They said, ‘Well, actually, every year since we

Taking the Time54

have been in Stanthorpe we have beenslaughtering a pig and making sausages andwe are concerned that over the next fewyears it will disappear and we would like itdocumented.’ That was perfect and that waswhat we did. I haven’t finished yet. I need togo back and do some oral histories but Ihave done a full ethnographicdocumentation with photographs and notesof the whole process. I have provided themwith their copies of the documentation sothat they have got it for their Society records.

Cultural agreements[An example of a cultural agreement isprovided in the Supplementary ReferenceMaterial, see Cultural Agreement QueenslandMuseum]

The Jewish community, on the other hand,have said they would like to sign a CulturalAgreement and have an ongoing relationshipwhereby they are helping the QueenslandMuseum build a documented collection. Theagreement we have signed is based on amodel provided by Anna Malgorzewicz,Director of the Immigration Museum,Victoria.

It is a joint collecting agreement between theQueensland Jewish Board of Deputies andthe Queensland Museum. The QueenslandJewish Board of Deputies realise that theirstrength in Queensland is not as great as inSydney and Melbourne where they canafford to build their own museums. But theywould like to see their material in a museumand their cultural activity and history inQueensland recorded. They know that wecan’t have a permanent exhibition but thatthe material will go into the collections andwill be exhibited when possible and will beaccessible on request. We signed theagreement in October 1996. The collectionwill be known as the Queensland Jewish

Saturday, 15 July 1995, at Angelo and Mary’s farm,Stanthorpe — 4.30 p.m. Camello and Natalieremoving gut and internal organs of the pig(Photograph by Bruce Cowell, Queensland Museum)

Sunday, 16 July 1995, at Angelo and Mary’s farm,Stanthorpe — 12.15 p.m. Camello, Frank andJosephine pushing mince into skins, typing andpunching sausages to release air (Photograph byBruce Cowell, Queensland Museum)

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Board of Deputies Collection and will alwaysbe housed at the Queensland Museum. It ispart of the state collections.

Representatives from the Board and I meetregularly to talk about our progress. Theyare my contact for the wider community.They are assisting with research and theacquisition of collection items. I am workingwith researchers to develop a documentwhich looks at the major themes inQueensland Jewish history. From there weare identifying the items we need torepresent those themes. Some items will bedonated but others will need to bepurchased.

Working on individuals’ stories

With a Story to Tell… is an exhibition seriesthat presents recent acquisitions as storiesabout immigrant personal experience. Thefirst stage presented four stories, each told bythe donor. I didn’t always go actively lookingfor people. Some of them came to themuseum with a donation. What I did wasnot just accept the donation but talk to themabout their experiences here and look at thestory behind the objects. Then I would do aninterview and collect some archival andcontemporary photographs. For example,the story of early Chinese family andworking life in Brisbane came about whenwe were offered a Chinese wedding gown.I went to see the owner and she told meabout a grindstone that she had donated tothe museum in 1976 and we started chattingand meeting regularly. To do the oral historyinterview with her was quite difficult. But Iused to just pop out there and have a cup ofcoffee with her about once a month, have achat and talk about things and just graduallyget her confidence and trust.

I would like to emphasise the importance ofthe collection of documents, photographs,and oral history to supplement objects. Weneed to show objects in relation to people’sexperience. To do that you need to spend thetime to get to know the people. For example,for the traditional games project, I wastrying to understand Italian women’sexperience of our society and their life inQueensland through the sport of bocce.Those women were among the first in theworld to start playing bocce which wastraditionally a man’s game. I thought that

this was a very interesting insight into theirsocial processes in Australia — to beinvolved in a game that they all felt theywould not be playing if they were in Italy.These are women who, at the time of ourproject, were in their sixties to eighties andmy approach was as a participant observer.

Participant observation

I played bocce with the group and got toknow them really well. You don’t always havethe luxury of spending that time but I putaside Wednesday mornings to do that for 4months. Over a period of 18 months, I alsospent time in my lunch break and on myweekends with them and that was really anexcellent experience in terms of getting toknow the extended families and friendshipnetworks very well. I wasn’t only looking tobuild collections there but I did use thatexperience for With a Story to Tell…I didn’tneed to spend that length of time to presentwhat I presented in the exhibition, but Ineeded it for a much longer term researchproject. These people were just delightedwith the exhibition. They really felt soimportant and so thrilled with therecognition of their times in Australia. Theyfelt that their contribution had come to thefore by being in the museum. You read lotsabout people being empowered by beingable to be involved like that, but you don’treally realise until you get this type offeedback what it really means to them,especially when they have had negativeexperiences in the past.

With the French community it waspetanque. I put together an exhibition casefor them as well and I did that quite quickly.Over a month we gathered some materialsand some objects but we had been liaisinglonger than that. My first contact with themhad been a year before, there had been acouple of letters between us, a couple ofchats on the telephone and then I playedpetanque with them and we tookphotographs. We played twice and talkedsome more and did a couple of shortrecorded interviews. The contact waseffective in that there was a display and theygave public demonstrations. They enjoyedthe contact and the promotion of their sportand it led to a well-documented collection.

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When you can spend more time it reallydoes pay off. I think that there is no pointjust getting objects into the museum. A setof bowls and some photos are meaninglesswithout going and joining the players, evenif it is only a couple of games, and talkingand spending quite a bit of time doing that.You learn much more with that little extraeffort.

A thematic approachA thematic approach enables you to includemany communities in an exhibition withoutnecessarily allocating a separate space foreach one. It just seems to me that topics likesport and food and music are ones peopleidentify with very readily. It is proving to betrue that if you can get people involved withtopics like this that they are enthusiasticabout, then historical themes and socialissues can also be discussed. So for the sportproject I have looked at the French andItalian communities. I have also done asurvey of a number of different communitygroups in order to describe what games theyplay. I have got a reasonable response to thatand now will follow up to look at race,ethnic and gender relations. It is not justabout sport as an activity but also itsinfluence on our lives.

There is a similar rationale for the food andcultural identity project. I am currentlyusing an ethnographic case study approach

Motorised grinding stone (Photograph by BruceCowell, Queensland Museum)

Mrs B., grinding lentils (Photograph by Bruce Cowell,Queensland Museum)

[Excerpt from Oral History with Dr B.]

Q: How often do you use the grindstone?

Dr B: Generally, three to four times a week we use that, and because it is a very staple part of…that’s the lentil, is a very important protein substitute in our food because we don’t use meat and meat products. And also it is naturally fermented so it has a lot ofVitamin D and other substances that are good.

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to Indian life in Queensland. I have collecteda grindstone, brought from India, andcooking tools; photographed the processesinvolved in preparing one family’s meals;carried out an oral history that details thisfamily’s immigration history, theirsettlement experiences, their lifestyleincluding work, religious and secularcelebrations and material culture such as theimportance of their garden as a source ofplants required for food and prayer, such asthe drumstick tree and the chumpunkika, atype of magnolia flower for worship.

Advice on protocol issues Time to build and maintain relationshipsPeople can find it quite daunting to go overtheir life story with a stranger. You need timeto develop and maintain these contacts. Themanagement of a museum has to be able toprovide the resources to maintain those sortsof contacts. You won’t always have animmediate outcome to show in a collectionor an exhibition which can be very difficultin a climate that is focused on outcomes youcan count.

Cultural differences I am working with an Indian couple on thefood and cultural identity project. We aredocumenting their food preparationmethods. I know it is appropriate always togo through the husband but I can’t say howthis has been made obvious to me. It is justvery clear. Also I always call him Doctor andhe always calls me Judith. I have always beena person who is on first-name terms withpeople but I can see somehow that usingthat title shows a respect that is needed. It isvery friendly and quite informal. We sitaround with a coffee and they give me foodand there is lots of joking but still that title isvery important.

Clarify the museum’s role

If you are going to be talking about what themuseum can provide when working with anoutside group you really need to clarify eachrole very clearly. You should go to theircommittee meeting and present itpersonally. It is very important to be specificabout what the museum is capable of doingwithin its mission and its resources at thispoint in time and making sure that this isunderstood. People may need to see howexhibitions look, to learn how staff work todevelop them in exhibition teams and whattheir roles are.

Dealing with breaches in cultural protocol

I have had experiences of people telling youof an error when it has occurred and ofpeople not informing me. If you sense, forexample through body language, that therehas been a breach in cultural protocol, youmight say something then and there. Myfeeling is to be as up-front as possible, aspolite and tactful as possible but not to shyaway from saying, ‘I think I could have donethe wrong thing here’ or ‘can you explain theright thing to do in this situation’. I think Ihave also experienced the situation where Iam pretty sure the way I have handled it hasnot been right and I’ve asked but I have notgot that honest answer back because theydon’t want to upset me or hurt my feelings.

I know when I was working with the Italianwomen regularly, I felt quite confidentbecause I knew if I did the wrong thing Iwould be very quickly told. We had built upa very trusting relationship and they knew Iwas genuine in wanting to do the rightthing, so they were quite happy to tell me,‘you shouldn’t do that’ or ‘you should dosuch and such’. I think that’s a verycomfortable position to be in.

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Case study 14

Yiu Ming temple, a joint project of the Powerhouse Museum and the Yiu Ming Society

Interview with Pat Townley, Head of Conservation, and Ann Stephen, Curator of SocialHistory, Powerhouse Museum

The first approachIn 1994 the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney,Henry Tsang, contacted Claire Roberts,Curator of Asian Decorative Arts. He isassociated with the Yiu Ming Society and hefelt there was very precious material in thetemple and the community neededassistance. Because it was a community-based inquiry, Ann Stephen, Curator ofSocial History, became involved. WhenClaire and Ann went out it clearly lookedlike a broadly based project involvingconservation as well as curatorial.

How the project developedWe felt we should start trying to get to knowwhat the community wanted of us. We werenot sure that they knew what we could offerthem and we didn’t want to go rushing indoing things without them being very clearabout the services we could offer and thelimits to those services.

Eventually we ended up doing somethingthat was quite new and different — aconservation survey of the building that hadthe contents included in that survey. Thatseemed to meet the need of the community.They were very concerned about managingthe building and they were thinking ofmaking some changes and needed to feelthey were doing the right thing.

We developed a joint project that resulted inthis conservation report which wassubmitted in December 1996. In September1997 there was an exhibition and a bookwhich drew on the oral histories conductedwith the community elders.

In December 1996 there was a catastrophicfire in the temple and discussions continuebetween the museum and the society aboutways to deal with this crisis.

How the project was fundedIt should probably be said that thePowerhouse Museum is a state-fundedinstitution. However, because the Yiu Ming

temple project was not initially on themuseum’s program, we sought funding froma whole lot of different sources.

National Library of AustraliaFirst of all we went to the National Libraryof Australia because we knew they had an oralhistory project and we convinced them thatthis bilingual project could be interesting. Sothe NLA provided funding for the elders’oral histories which were conducted inCantonese and simultaneously translated.

New South Wales Heritage CouncilThe New South Wales Heritage Council,Department of Planning, provided aHeritage Assistance Program grant after ajoint submission from the museum and thesociety. It didn’t really fall within theguidelines but I think, because of the natureof the work, they were influenced to fund it.This enabled us to employ a heritagearchitect, J. Amanda Jean, who did a surveyof the precinct and the building.

University of Canberra ConservationInternship Program The University of Canberra ConservationInternship Program, supported by theNational Conservation Program of theHeritage Collections Committee, funded theemployment of Angus Tse, a Cantonese-speaking conservation trainee who was ableto translate all of the inscriptions on thetemple and who became the communityliaison person for the project. It was the firstround of these and they were looking forculturally diverse training opportunities sowe were really very lucky because it justmanaged to be synergistic.

Yiu Ming Society and the PowerhouseMuseumBoth organisations funded the project. TheYiu Ming Society put in $5,000 and thePowerhouse Museum $10,000. This was inaddition to the time devoted by members ofthe society, especially the office bearers,Harry Choy, president, Wally Ha, Albert Soo

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and Chong Choy, and the time devoted bymembers of the Powerhouse staff includingthe project coordinators, Ann Stephen andPat Townley, the fieldwork coordinator,Suzanne Chee, working with Angus Tse andGoais Dudek. For everyone involved it was alabour of love with much unpaid work.Access to resources like a print media andphotography section, a colour photocopierand even a cherry picker to takephotographs of the temple’s roof tiles ofcourse helped too.

Outcomes

On a number of levels the project is quiteinnovative:

• The elders’ oral history is the firstcommunity history for the NationalLibrary of Australia done in Cantonese.It was simultaneously translated and wehave deposited the tapes with the NLA aswell as transcripts in Cantonese andEnglish. So it is a rich body of materialfor other people to use. While theexhibition and the book will featureextracts from these interviews, there’smuch much more in the tapes.

• The conservation survey takes anintegrated approach to an historic site.This allows the temple building and itsobjects to be interpreted as a whole.

• The project was a joint program for thePowerhouse Museum and the Yiu MingSociety. The request for funding to thestate government was a joint submissionand the conservation report is a jointproduct which tries to communicate thestrength of the relationship between thetwo groups.

• The project was bilingual. Conservatorsused Cantonese in their day-to-daycontact with society members. Angus Tsetranslated inscriptions on the bannersand carvings which describe the historyof the temple and its relationship to thecommunity.

• The conservation report is bilingual. Thereport attempts to be as accessible aspossible for the community. Not only isit bilingual, but also it synthesises a lot ofinformation in a simple way. It is quitegraphic and visual. It presents goodaccurate floor plans, detailed drawings of

objects with key diagrams that identifythe objects, and colour photographsplaced beside the detailed drawings.

• The conservation trainee, Angus Tse,who added so significantly to the wholeproject is now permanently employed bythe museum in the Education section.

• The project provided a very importantopportunity for museum staff who aresecond-generation Chinese Australian torelate to their own background, andbecame an inspiration to explore theiridentity and develop their ownknowledge of the language and theculture.

• The next stage of the project [involved] asmall Community Focus exhibition inSeptember 1997 and a modest bookabout the temple, its objects and oralhistories of the community elders.

Insights into the process

Importance of community languageFrom the outset we felt that language wasabsolutely crucial. We needed Cantoneselanguage as the basis for our understanding,for the community to understand us and forus to bring out an understanding of theirhistory to the broader community throughprojects such as exhibitions and books.

Two of the three outside funding sourceswere to employ people with very goodCantonese skills. Although some of themuseum staff are Cantonese speakers, theydidn’t have the required level of literacy. Forexample, they may speak but not read andmuch of the temple decorations are, in fact,characters.

Importance of community liaisonThe selection of Angus Tse as theconservation trainee was just right. He hasadded significantly to the whole project. Hisknowledge of Cantonese, his knowledge ofhistory, his own migration experience andhis community strengths have made all thedifference to this project. He became themain point of contact between the museumand the Society. He was working on thetemple as a conservator trainee but he wasable to be the liaison person for the project.Whenever there was an issue that we weren’tclear about or the temple elders were not

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Extract from Yiu Ming Temple Precinct, Alexandria, Sydney: A Conservation Report on its Architecture and Objects, ajoint project of the Powerhouse Museum and the Yiu Ming Society, 1996, p. 52

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clear about, Angus would be able to explorethat in the most diplomatic fashion.

Building and maintaining trustIt is very difficult when you have put a lot ofeffort into building a relationship like thisand something like the fire happens whichsort of sends the relationship off the rails.We had to be supportive but it is verydifficult to balance the expectations of thecommunity with what we can actually do. Ifind it very tricky because I personally feelquite responsible for the relationship and thetrust that has been developed.

The most important outcome for them isthat they have a temple open for the nextChinese New Year. We feel obligated to assistin returning the temple to use. But there is ahuge amount of work and their expectationis that we are the experts and we can do it.We have to give them a realistic assessmentof what we can do. And we cannot tell themwhat to do, we can only give advice. There isa big difference between a museum and anoperating temple, and fire recovery is a verycomplicated area. As owners they mustdecide what to do.

Cultural protocolsThe classic one is the question of when youmove the various deities. For instance, thefire happened in December and we wantedto get on with the job of taking out some ofthe damaged material. But nothing could bedone until the end of the official period ofobserving Chinese New Year. All the wayalong the timing of the movement of objectslike deities was a crucial issue. But you haveto balance that, while they are believers, onthe other hand they are very pragmatic. Sothey will say this one doesn’t matter, so wewill move that, but this one nothing can bedone until after the appropriate time.

I still do not feel on top of the issues. Thepragmatism is overriding but unpredictable,so you can’t be sure. It is lucky becauseconservators don’t tend to just move thingsbut, interestingly, Harry would really only

ever tell Angus or Suzanne what could bemoved and when it could be moved. Whenthe conservation staff came back from thefirst visit, they said we have had a long chatand there are all these birds going in to thetemple but the temple has to be open. So wewere fairly aware at the outset that therewere going to be culturally specific issuesthat we had no idea of.

Decision making There was quite a diversity of opinion andthere could be a lot of reference to otherpeople before a final decision was reached.That is very important because we workedwith the Society and while that often meantthree main elders, the president would oftensay to us, ‘I can’t make that decision until wehave had another full committee meeting’.He felt constrained by the sense of bringingit back, getting the support as much to keepeverybody else well informed about theproject, which is something I really respect.It is a notion that you don’t run the showyourself and you are responsible to others.

Importance of eatingMuch to our pleasure, we have had to havemany yumchas. Much of the major businesshas happened over lunch. The protocol ofeating is crucial. You might go out for amorning visit and meet the committee. Itwould be regarded as very rude to rush offwithout joining them for lunch.

All of the major issues have been resolvedover lunch with the nine or ten people whoreally have to make the decisions. It seems tohappen very quickly because they have allhad a couple of hours to think it throughand then the issues are raised and answered,‘yes, yes, yes, no this one’.

Once or twice when we have thought we willit do it the museum way, it hasn’t worked aswell. You don’t bring them into the museumand have a museum meeting. That is veryunproductive because they aren’t in thesituation in which they feel they can make adecision.

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Case study 15

Migrants from the mountains: the costume art of the Hmong people of South East Asia and Australia

Interview with curator Maria Wronska-Friend, James Cook University

How did the idea for this exhibition come about?An opening of a new James Cook Universitycampus in Cairns provided a stimulus forthis project, as a significant group of Hmong(approximately 500 persons) live in andaround the Cairns and Innisfail area. Theuniversity’s Centre for East and South EastAsian Studies seeks to contribute toenhanced community awareness andunderstanding of the societies of East andSouth East Asia. It aims to interact with thecommunity here and is interested inpromoting the culture of local Asian groups.The exhibition is the first major activityundertaken by the Centre as a contributionto this goal.

The Centre wanted to acknowledge thepresence of this local Asian group who wererelatively new migrants to the area and torepresent this cultural diversity in the CairnsRegional Gallery at the time that the newcampus was to open…so initially it wasplanned as a local event, presenting theculture of the latest migrant group in Cairns.Later the idea grew. The exhibition receiveda grant from Visions of Australia and ArtsQueensland which enabled it to tour to themajor centres of Hmong population inAustralia.

It is hoped that, by allowing the residents ofNorth Queensland and other regionalpopulations to appreciate the culturalachievements of one of the local minoritygroups, the exhibition will further promotecommunity awareness as well as cross-cultural understanding. It will also assist theHmong community to conserve animportant element of their culture andenhance their pride as part of a multiculturalAustralia.

Would you like to comment further onwhat you see as the value of the exhibition?For the Hmong it was the first time theirculture had been presented in Australia sothat was very important for them and for

their ethnic pride. But also it introducedthem to museums and galleries, they had noconcept of what a museum was, had noword for them and had never visited a placelike that before. So I introduced them to theCairns Gallery so they could understandwhat I was proposing for their art. And, forexample, at the Powerhouse Museum whenthe exhibition was there, the Hmong peoplewho were involved in setting up theexhibition there came back with their kidswho loved all the hands-on and thecomputers, while the women were veryinterested to see embroidery and textiles inother parts of the museum.

For Australians in general it was importantsince very few knew of the Hmong. They justassumed they were Vietnamese or Chineseand yet there are seven million Hmong inthe world. It was also important to explaintheir social history and their reasons formigration and to see the changes to theircommunity exemplified in their textiles.

For other textile artists and embroiderers itwas inspirational opportunity to see thework of the Hmong.

For schools, it would have been good to have an educational kit accompanying theexhibition but there was no time to prepare it.

Having decided that you wanted to do aproject with the Hmong community in thelocal area, how did you go about makingcontacts in the community and consultingwith them? Although we did know some peoplepersonally, we started the official way andapproached the president of the HmongAssociation for North Queensland. Therewas a meeting in the Migrant ResourceCentre in Cairns with the president andother members of the association. We askedfor their cooperation and support and theygave us advice about what we should do andnot do in the content of the exhibition andthe accompanying program. They also

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recommended Mr Ly Lao from Innisfail asthe official Hmong consultant for thisproject.

Then we sent an official letter from theuniversity to the president asking for astatement of support. This was in line withthe policy of University Ethics Committee.

Mr Ly Lao was paid as the consultant. Heorganised loans of materials such ascostumes and archival photographs thatpeople had brought with them when theyescaped and got permission from people forthem to be used in the exhibition. Hetranslated the exhibition text and advised onits appropriateness. He added a personalstory of his own escape from Laos andpresented this as a tableau with photographshe had collected from the communityshowing life in the refugee camps.

In each major city, the Hmong have theirown organisation and I would contact thepresident and they would organise ameeting. The community was involved inlots of ways, loaning their material, tellingtheir stories, coming to the venue to dressthe mannequins, doing the food, doing

demonstrations and performances at theopening, presenting demonstrations of theirwork during the life of the exhibition.

Were there examples of cultural protocolsthat you remember affecting this project?

Yes, one thing was that the schedule of theexhibition had to be organised around theloan of costumes because the costumes hadto be returned to be worn for the HmongNew Year celebrations. And one silvernecklace was loaned for the exhibition anddisplayed at the Cairns Gallery but then thedaughter got married and it was given to thehusband’s family so it had to be withdrawnfrom the rest of the travelling exhibitionschedule.

There were also some other problemsresulting from different cultural values givenby Hmong to the objects which were to beincluded in the display. One of them, forexample, a large embroidered clothrepresenting atrocities of the war in Laosand a dramatic escape to Thailand, was aparticularly interesting and powerfuldocument. The work on it had started in a

Hmong and Australian embroiderers during textile workshop accompanying the exhibition in Perc Tucker Gallery,Townsville, 1996 (Photograph by Ms Megan Croese)

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refugee camp and had never beencompleted. The embroidery covered only apart of it: the rest of the cloth was filled withpencil-drawn figures of men and villagescenes. The work was interrupted when itscreator and owner, a middle-aged woman,migrated to Australia. The incomplete clothprovided splendid visual evidence of thetransition to a new stage in a person’s lifeand Hmong history in general. But in spiteof several requests, I was not givenpermission to display the cloth. It wasincomplete and as such was felt to be notsuitable for a display.

Hmong women present their costumes at theopening of the exhibition in Perc Tucker Gallery,Townsville, 1996 (Photograph by Ms Megan Croese)

Case study 16

Community Access Gallery, Australian Museum

Interview with Linda Raymond, manager of the Community Access Gallery

Awakenings: Australia–Pacific Spirits was ahuge project we developed in conjunctionwith the Pacific Wave Festival 1996. It tookshape as community groups were invitedinto the museum to view the collection,make selections of material for display andwrite their own labels. Also parallel with thatwas an oral history program where aprofessional oral historian came in andspoke with a representative of each of thecommunities and talked about the objectsand their relationship to their culture bothhere and in their country of origin. We alsoasked to borrow some material from theirown personal collections for display forwhich they also wrote the labels. Tendifferent community groups were involved

through a very active coordinator in south-western Sydney.

Description of the processIt took about 6 months from the time I got alist of names of people who might beinterested. So I contacted one person whowas immediately very enthusiastic andinvited me to come to the communitycentre, meet people and to talk about theproject. I presented a proposal to themeeting where she had invited a fewrepresentatives from each group and askedthem to go away and think about it. Inaddition to asking them to think about theidea, we also invited their suggestions aswell, and were quite prepared for them to

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propose something completely different.Everybody came back and said ‘yes, we wantto be involved’.

We then set up a series of meetings to comeinto the museum and look at the collection.There was consultation within the museumas well as outside to ensure each division,including Anthropology and Conservation,had input into structuring the program.

That was a very time-consuming process. Wehad to reschedule a number of times. On thebasis of the advice from Anthropology, wetried to limit the number of people comingin to look at the collection and make adecision about what would be used in theprogram. Of course, that was totally ignoredand, for example, we had 25 elders from onegroup in on one day whom we had to divide

into groups to take through. There were verydistinct factions within one group inparticular and the young woman who wasliaising with them had tried to timetable itso that they didn’t come in on the same day,but that fell apart and they ended up on thesame day, and the result of that was that noone would decide what was going to beincluded.

We had informed everybody about theprocess including the role of Conservation

Samoan community member Veronica Faleva’ai in theAustralian Museum’s anthropology stores showing aSamoan fan selected by the community for display(Photograph by Stuart Humphrey)

Young members of the Tongan community withmuseum staff at the opening event of Awakenings:Australia–Pacific Spirits (Photograph by StuartHumphrey)

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staff in selecting objects. People knew that ifthey selected objects that were too fragile fordisplay or that needed too muchconservation work to enable display thenthey might have to chose another object.

The community also had input into thesuitable display of objects. For example in aMaori showcase, one feather cloak had to behigher than another because it belonged tosomeone more important. We respectedthese requests and no one felt any difficultyin telling us about it.

There was negotiation, too, over thespokespeople for the oral histories. Often thepeople who had come to look at the objectswould say we don’t think we are the rightpeople to do this and so the communityperson would speak to their elder and then Iwould speak to them and talk about whatwas being done and we would get the nameof the person to approach for the oralhistories.

What advice would you give to museumswanting to undertake these kinds ofprojects?Getting started requires an understanding ofwho is in your area, the demographic profileof your community, and why they are there.You need to start talking, to introduceyourself. The only way these projects canever work is to establish personalrelationships. It helps to start off withsomething quite concrete as well. Be verygenerous with your listening time. Listen forthe leads, the cues that they are giving aboutwhat they might want to do.

Be flexible about what the program is goingto be. It may not always be an exhibition. Itmay be more interesting to start off with oneevening’s performances or a daytime specialevent. Try to institute a program of eventslike this over a period of time which willraise the profile of the institution among thepeople in the community as a place that isfriendly.

Don’t have preconceived ideas about whoyou are going to be dealing with — every-body has multiple affiliations.

Don’t assume you know everything (or any-thing!) about a culture.

Remain flexible about the way the projectwill go.

Don’t expect that the community shouldalways come to you. You have to go out andmeet them on their own ground and be theirguest and not always demand that themuseum be the boss cocky.

When you are working with a communityyou must meet with everybody, you musttalk with everybody, you must make sureinformation is getting through. It is a verytime-consuming process but that is one ofthe key issues for these projects.

However, you can work with a particularfaction as long as you make clear the limitedparameters of the project and try to get apicture of where they sit within acommunity.

But don’t be afraid to say when you don’thave the resources to accommodatesomething as long as you have been througha suitably lengthy process where you havelistened to what was put to you and you haveconsulted sufficiently so that everyoneknows what the parameters are. Be very clearand open about the process. If you haveconcerns, air them.

Be very realistic about what the program canachieve in terms of time and resources.Don’t try to cover every aspect of thecommunity’s life and, in particular, don’t tryto deal with highly complex politicalsituations if your program is short term andshort of resources. Make sure thecommunity understands this.

Realise that museum workers speak a certainlanguage and have a certain understandingabout the way things will be done. They haveto communicate it to the people they areworking with, since most people have noidea about how an exhibition takes shape —they don’t have any idea of the stages thatyou take to get there. All along you have toexplain what is happening at the museumand get the museum people to meet thecommunity people.

Try to encourage the community to have anopening event as part of the process thatthey organise, including the catering and theperformances and, for example, their localmayor to speak. Allow for the specialcommunity ceremonies such as ritualcleansing ceremonies and a welcome addressfrom the local Aboriginal community.

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Acknowledge everyone who worked on theexhibition in a big list up in the exhibitionspace.

Every community exhibition throws upproblems that you never expected or thatyou thought you’d covered. You always haveto be prepared for this to happen. Beprepared for things to go wrong and allowyourself the time for this to happen.

Use of terminology including place namesand maps can be very sensitive. One way isto put up a statement that says: ‘This is acommunity access space. Communities usethis space to speak for themselves. Werespect their right to do that.’

Where to go to for advice can be difficult.Locating people who have a brief to adviseon issues is not always easy. It is not alwaysevident that the person you are speaking tospeaks from a position of disinterestedobjectivity. You might find someone throughthe Ethnic Communities Council or theEthnic Affairs Commission or academicswho speak for that community, or you mayfind the best way is speaking to as manypeople as you can to try to get a well-rounded picture and not a one-sided one.But even so, you can never be sure that thereis not going to be some problem that willarise.

Who is an Aboriginal person?An Aboriginal person is of Aboriginal descent,has identified as an Aboriginal person andmust be accepted as an Aboriginal person bythe community in which they live.

What is the best language to use to talk aboutAboriginality? I know that abbreviations likeATSI are offensive and that expressions like‘full blood’ or ‘half caste’ should never beused. But should I use family names or namesof language groups or generic terms likeMurri (Qld, NW NSW), Nyoongah (WA),Koori (NSW), Goori (North Coast NSW),Koorie (Vic), Yolngu (Arnhem Land), Anangu(Central Australia), Palawa (Tas), Nunga (SA)?Check with your local community for preferrednames. See ‘6.8: Appropriate Terminology forIndigenous History and Cultures in Museums’(reprinted in Supplementary ReferenceMaterial) for more information on this issue.

I don’t want to be politically correct. I like myown culture.To be successful working with people fromother cultures, it is important to respect others’right to think, feel, act and communicate intheir culture’s way. You do not have to changeyour own culture. You do not even have to likeeverything about another culture. But it isessential to accept that other cultures are validfor their members. It means stepping outsidewhat you feel is normal, natural andappropriate and understanding that otherpeople might have a different view about whatis normal and a different interpretation of yourbehaviour.

We are all Australians here now…there are noculturally diverse communities here.This statement mistakenly assumes that peoplefrom backgrounds different from the speakerare only ‘proper’ Australians if their differencesdisappear. Quite possibly the speaker grew upin a period when assimilation rather thanmulticulturalism was the accepted policy goal.It is important to remember that just becauseother cultural groupings are not visible to you

does not mean they do not exist. Just becauseyou do not know any descendants of thetraditional owners of the area and you do notsee them featured in the mainstream mediadoes not mean they are not there.

We don’t want all the fuss…if we keep theseobjects in the back room no one will becriticised and no one can take them off us.Some people are afraid of what will happen ifthey start talking to Aboriginal people aboutwhat they have in their museum. Perhaps theyfear a scandal or fear that the original collectors(or their descendants) who gave the objects tothe museum will be subject to criticism andwill withdraw their support from the museum.The reality is, however, that the longerAboriginal people are denied knowledge of andaccess to what is in the museum’s collection,the more bitterness there will be in the longrun. There is a perfect opportunity to act nowto build relationships and to encourage jointprojects before museums are bitterlyconfronted with the issues of inclusion andownership of cultural heritage. If trust is builtup between groups, there is less likely to be ademand to return all the objects. At this stage,despite the resentment of the role museumshave played in the past, there is still, beneaththe initial anger or hurt or demand making, anoverwhelming desire to be included in an area’shistory and to have opportunities to learnabout their own heritage. The very worst thingyou can do is to keep the door shut and try tohide from the past.24

What can I do about the collection ofAboriginal material that is here in themuseum?First up, it is good to find out where thematerial comes from — a boomerang is notjust a boomerang, it might not be from thelocal area but it could be from centralAustralia. It is probably not appropriate to usearchival photographs as if they are generic.25

You do need to find out where the photographwas taken and who the people are in thephotograph. Those people or their descendants

5. Concerns and questions

should be given the opportunity to decidewhether it is appropriate for the photograph tobe used and, if so, how it should be used. Forwritten and archival material, the Institute ofAboriginal Studies in Canberra (AIATSIS) haspolicy guidelines which are available. Largestate museums will give you guidance. Therewill need to be a period of negotiation anddiscussion.

How should I involve the local community?Talk to someone at a national or state museumor a cultural organisation that has contacts inyour area, maybe a National Parks and Wildliferanger. Get a feel for the sorts of people youmight approach.

They are not going to want it all back, are they? They may. It is going to be a case-by-casesituation but I also expect that if you build upthe trust then people will say, ‘We want it ondisplay. Why isn’t it on display? We want to beable to come in and see it.’ Aboriginal peoplemay not want the objects back but they willwant access to information.26 Providing qualityphotographs of material in the collection mayalso be a solution.

People do not return my calls/get back tome/come to meetings.Often the people you are attempting to consultwith will be important people in theircommunity and will be extremely busy withconcerns in their community. They may be thefirst point of contact for anybody who wants todeal in any way with people of thatcommunity. They may be responsible for awhole range of survival issues that mayovershadow your concerns. Remember, too,that elders do not get paid for their communitywork.

It is important to be aware of the issues thatwill be occupying many elders you want toreach. At this time it could be, for example,reconciliation business, land business as aresult of Mabo and Wik, the stolen generationreport, not to mention the political climate andcutbacks in government funding to theircommunity programs.

You have to allow plenty of time and can neverassume that other people will share the samepassion for your project as you do. Rememberthat community business must come first.27

People do not seem to know about their ownhistory.There are many reasons for this and they allgenerate powerful emotions and often deep-seated frustrations and resentments. You willneed to understand that your frustration aboutapparent lack of information is nothing to theemotion the other person may feel in theirsearch for identity.

For example, Aboriginal people may haveenormous difficulty finding out about theirculture because of past policies which tookAboriginal people away from their land,removed them from their families and forcedthem to adopt another culture. It is quitepossible that you may be resented if you havethe time to research Aboriginal issues when theperson you are talking to may be havingenormous difficulty uncovering informationabout their own ancestors.

Also children and grandchildren of immigrantparents may have found it necessary to divorcethemselves from the culture of their ancestorsin order to be accepted by their peers, theirteachers, their neighbours and so on. Later onthe resulting loss of language and knowledgemay be deeply regretted and may generate allsorts of emotions — regret, guilt, anger,sorrow.28

What should I know about Mabo and Wik?See The Meaning of Wik — a User-friendlyGuide, by James Woodford, Sydney MorningHerald, Saturday, 3 May 1997, from Daily Newson the Net:

http://www.smh.com.au/daily/search for a concise introduction to the issues writtenbefore Howard’s 10-point plan becamelegislation. As Woodford explains, in 1992 theMabo case destroyed the concept that Australiawas terra nullius (empty land) before theEuropeans arrived and ruled that the MurrayIslanders held native title over their land inspite of the arrival of Europeans. According toAssociate Professor of Law Bryan Horrigan,Native Title is traditional Aboriginal right ofaccess, use or occupation of land includinghunting, gathering, fishing, living, ceremonybased on traditional laws and customs. In 1996the Wik High Court held that in some casessome native title rights can survive the grant ofa pastoral lease.

69Multicultural ways

1. Margaret McLaren and Kitty O. Locker 1995,Business and Administrative Communication, 1stAustralasian ed., Sydney: Irwin, p. 264.

2. Kylie Winkworth, interview 1997.

3. Ibid.

4. Comment from Karen Coote, AustralianMuseum, 1997.

5. These protocol tips are drawn from thefollowing: Colleen Wall 1994, ‘Protocols: arethey important?’ in Cultural Linkages, Papersfrom the 1994 RGAQ Conference; interviewwith Shayne Rawson, 1997; J. Harkins 1994,Bridging Two Worlds: Aboriginal English andCross-Cultural Understanding, St Lucia:University of Queensland Press; D. Eades 1992,Aboriginal English and the Law, Brisbane:Queensland Law Society; S. Forest and J.Sherwood 1988, Working with Aborigines inRemote Areas, Perth: Edith Cowan University;Department of Resources Development,undated, Working with Aboriginal Communities,Perth: DRD; Phil Gordon, interview 1997;comments from Karen Coote, 1997; C. Wall andG. Bann, undated handout, ‘Protocol for ArtistsWorking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderCommunities’; L. Bostock 1996, ‘Images on theLandscape: Protocols and guidelines whenentering Indigenous communites’, in Media andIndigenous Australians Project 1997, PilotCurriculum Materials — Developing CoreCurriculum Materials for Australian JournalismEducation 13; Patricia O’Connor, interview1997; Michael Aird, interviews 1997 and 1998.

6. Colleen Wall 1994, ‘Protocols: are theyimportant?’ in Cultural Linkages, Papers fromthe 1994 RGAQ Conference, p. 3.

7. This section draws on the following: KylieWinkworth, interview 1997; Shayne Rawson,interview 1997; Phil Gordon, interview 1997;Eades 1992 op. cit., pp. 42, 96, 97; discussionswith Kylie Winkworth, Patricia O’Connor andDepartment of Resources Development(undated); Colleen Wall and Gretanna Bann(undated); comments from Karen Coote, 1997;Harkins 1994 op. cit., p. 158.

8. This section draws on the following: V. Johnson1996, Copyrites: Aboriginal Art in the Age ofReproductive Technologies, Touring ExhibitionCatalogue, National Indigenous Arts AdvocacyAssociation and Macquarie University, p. 56;10/10 workshop program conducted by RGAQin 1997.

9. 10/10 workshop program conducted by RGAQin 1997.

10. This section draws on the following: 10/10workshop program conducted by RGAQ in1997; Kylie Winkworth, interview 1997;P. Anderson and D. Saunders (eds) 1992, MoralRights Protection in a Copyright System, Institutefor Cultural Policy Studies, Griffith University,p. 131.

11. This section draws on the following: C. Hawkins1995, ‘Stopping the Rip-offs’, Alternative LawJournal/Aboriginal Law Bulletin, vol. 20, no.1/vol. 3, no. 72, p. 9; Australian ReconciliationConvention 1997, ‘Issues for a People’sMovement’, pp. 34–35.

12. This section draws on the following: DOCA1997, Copyright Guidelines for Museums andGalleries in a Digital Environment, p. 9; RGAQ1992, Copyright — a Guide for RegionalGalleries, Brisbane, pp. 6–11; Colleen Wall 1994op. cit., p. 4; V. Johnson 1996, op. cit., p. 56;D. Kerwin, personal communication.

13. ‘Ethics for the studying of other peoples, theirart, culture, story and the correct process forhandling and displaying objects: The proposalfrom the Indigenous Curatorial Workshop, 5August 1996, that a code of ethics should bedesigned with input from representatives of allstakeholders and disseminated nationally viacommunity cultural awareness programs is fullysupported. It was noted that scientists, doctors,and psychologists are required to observe a strictcode of practice — the group strongly urgedthat a similar code of ethics be developed for arthistorians and anthropologists.’ — from a reportby Margo Neale and Debra Bennet McLean on theIndigenous Curatorial Workshop, 5 August 1996,in HRC Bulletin, no. 83, December 1996.

The policy guidelines in the section are drawnfrom the following: Previous Possessions, NewObligations; Museum Methods 6.8; Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander Protocols forLibraries, Archives and Information Services;Cultural Heritage Research Code of Ethics forFAIRA Aboriginal Corporation.

14. This section draws on Previous Possessions, NewObligations.

15. This section draws on the following: PreviousPossessions, New Obligations; HRC Bulletin, no.83, December 1996.

16. This section draws on the following: PreviousPossessions, New Obligations; Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries,Archives and Information Services; CulturalHeritage Research Code of Ethics for FAIRAAboriginal Corporation.

Endnotes

17. This section is from Previous Possessions, NewObligations.

18. This section is from Previous Possessions, NewObligations.

19. Interview with Lucretia Suciu, 1997, initiator ofmany projects with ethnic communities inLogan City.

20. This section draws on the following: discussionswith Kylie Winkworth, 1997; Jana Vytrhlik,interview 1997; discussions with Kez vanOudheusden, 1997; discussions with JudithWassell (then Bartlett), 1997; discussions withLorena Sun Butcher, 1997; OMA 1994,Consulting the Multicultural Way, Canberra:AGPS, pp. 38–41; William Gudykunst and KimYoung Yun 1984, Communicating with Strangers:An Approach to Intercultural Communication,New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 142–43.

21. This section draws on OMA 1994 op. cit.,pp. 43–44.

22. Ibid., p. 51.

23. This section draws on Ethnic CommunitiesCouncil of Queensland 1994, The Art of FairPlay: Cross-cultural Communication andAwareness for the Arts Resource Manual,Brisbane, p. 22.

24. This scenario draws on a fax from FionaDuncan, discussion with Deborah Tranter.

25. Ann Stephen, social history curator, PowerhouseMuseum, discussing how attitudes to usingarchival photographs have changed in the last 10years.

26. This scenario of questions and answers isprovided by interview with Phil Gordon,Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Australian Museum.

27. This scenario draws on discussion with KylieWinkworth, New South Wales museumconsultant.

28. This scenario draws on discussion with KylieWinkworth and comments from Matilda House,Michael Aird, Debra Bennet McLean, Lel Black.

71Multicultural ways