Collections care never ceases, especially during a pandemic!

On 17 March 2020, the Chinese Museum temporarily closed its doors to the public to help ensure the safety of our staff and visitors and to help flatten the curve in Victoria. With restrictions easing, we have re-opened our doors and started welcoming back visitors on weekends from the 27th of June.

Many of our staff continued working during this period of temporary closure. For example, our Curatorial team carried on with looking after over 8,000 objects that are in our collections. They ensured that appropriate environmental conditions, such as temperature, relative humidity, and UV levels, were maintained while the building was closed. Although we have a pest management plan in place, long periods of closure increase the risk of insects and rodents finding their way into the building in search of shelter or food.

Additional rodent traps and baits were installed throughout the building. Objects on exhibit in galleries and stored in our collections rooms were also regularly inspected for insect activities. As much as possible, we avoid using chemicals, such as insecticides, as these may also harm objects. One of the simplest and safest methods that museums use to kill insects is by using a freezer. Insects are killed when objects are placed in a freezer for at least seven days at -20 °C or lower.

We use soft brushes to remove dust from textiles, such as from this circa 1800 green silk skirt with ornate gold embroidery of four-clawed Chinese dragons and phoenixes (pictured below). This skirt belonged to the family of Kwong Sue Duk (1853-1929) who arrived Australia in 1875 and was a successful herbalist.

 After inspecting objects, they are returned inside archival storage materials and replaced in the collections room. For example, this circa 1850 Cantonese-English phrasebook (below), is put inside an acid-free polyethylene envelope.

Taking excellent care of the objects in our collections, no matter what our circumstances may be at the time, is one way of fulfilling our mission to preserve and present Chinese culture and Australian history in order to recognise and celebrate the identity of Chinese Australians.

Images: 1. The Museum of Chinese Australian History, located in Melbourne’s Chinatown precinct 2. A member of the Museum’s Curatorial team, performing collections preservation work during the temporary closure period. 3. Removing dust from a circa 1800 green silk skirt with ornate gold embroidery of four-clawed Chinese dragons and phoenixes. This skirt belonged to the family of Kwong Sue Duk (1853-1929) who arrived Australia in 1875 and was a successful herbalist. He lived and worked in Cooktown (Queensland), Darwin (Northern Territory), Carins (Queensland), Townsville (Queensland) and finally Melbourne (Victoria). 4. A circa 1850 Cantonese-English phrasebook is put inside an acid-free polyethylene envelope. Phrasebooks such as these were produced especially for Chinese miners during the Australian Gold Rush period (1850s to circa 1900) or the Californian Gold Rush (early 1848 to mid-1850s). Most of the Chinese Miners came from the Guangdong Province and spoke Cantonese. Many of them used phrasebooks, which contained common words and sentences that Chinese gold miners could use to speak to other English-speaking people. The phrasebooks also helped miners read and write the English alphabet and pronounce their Chinese names in English. These phrasebooks included pages on travel, relationships, “troubles in the streets” and “words suitable for use in court.”