This public lecture is now available as MP3 (please listen to the file below in three parts).
Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things – Marcus Tullius Cicero
UNESCO (2003) and ICOMOS (2004) note the urgent need to preserve intangible and tangible cultural heritage resources in the face of the accelerated pace of cultural and economic globalization and the improbability that museums can cope with housing collections that reflect their nation’s ethnic diversity. This paper argues that the digital rescue and preservation of immigrants’ memories and other ephemera not only adds to the national story, but in research terms will contribute new evidence to the museological, museographical and the geopolitical dimension of immigration in museums and libraries. Also by integrating and preserving migrant cultural heritage for posterity and viewing it as an active and ongoing contribution to the evolving narrative of Australian identity and nationhood, we achieve a “right” of social citizenship to share in the heritage of the country (Marshall 1994). We also increase migrants’ sense of belonging and identity in Australia and ensure that ‘lasting loyalties flow from a deep feeling of accepting and being accepted (Kunz 1988).
Professor Nonja Peters is Director of History Of Migration Experiences Centre (HOME), Curtin University, WA. Her research interests include the migration experience, immigrant entrepreneurship, the digital preservation of immigrants’ cultural heritage and Dutch connections with Australia since 1606. She is currently involved in academic, bi-lateral and community based collaborations in these fields.
This seminar is part of the ‘Dutch-Australian Cultural Heritage Week’. On Thursday 1 November a symposium on Dutch-Australian Cultural Heritage will be held at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra. For more info, see the Website of the Netherlands Embassy in Canberra.
To view the flyer for this event please see: Acknowledging the Past, Sustaining the Present and Future: Preserving Immigrant Cultural Heritage.
