These artefacts, plus the historic demountables in which some of them are still warehoused, form part of a unique collection of objects that tell one of the great stories of education – a story to be proud of.
“These unique objects tell the stories of our regional and national educational journey and it is our intention to support the Museum of Education in conserving, developing and promoting an accessible collection to support education, research, outreach and tourism,” UNE Vice-Chancellor and CEO, Professor Brigid Heywood said.
“Since its inception in 1953, UNE has been a major driver of knowledge creation, education and innovation in the region. Supporting the Museum, which is of a similar age, is an important component of our plans to position the New England North West as a premier learning region destination.”
Other educational offerings of the learning region include the UNE Tamworth proposal, the Hinton Collection at NERAM, the Anaiwan Language Research Project and the UNE Boilerhouse Discovery project.
“We can develop a powerful New England experience by combining these various assets for the benefit of the region,” Prof. Heywood said.
Chair of the Board of Trustees, Alan Hardaker, welcomed the opportunity to discuss collaboration with the University and other interested parties
“The meeting discussed the need to collectively see the importance of the buildings and their original contents to educational research, and the historical and heritage significance,” Mr Hardaker said.
The next step is to form a partnership-based working group to support the Museum building refurbishment work as well as catalogue all artefacts, objects and archives to formally create a New England Education Collection.
“The need to address sustainability, and opportunities to create new high-value jobs in archiving, preservation and conservation, are part of the future landscape for this project discussed in the meeting,” Professor Heywood said
“UNE is also very interested in the development of digital archive capabilities so that all the materials and ultimately the New England Education Collection can be shared more widely and valued as a resource by a much larger audience globally and locally.”
Founded in 1954, the Museum of Education is located opposite the Old Teacher’s College and is built around a unique collection of historic school houses, which include a 1883 “beehive” school from Pallamallawa near Moree, the Dumaresq school from the 1880s and a 1948 portable classroom from Armidale High. Each schoolhouse is furnished with authentic school furniture, books, teaching aids and photographs.
