Conservation in Australia, Past Present and Future: Preprints from the AICCM National Conference, 19 – 21 October 2011 Canberra pp. 1
Abstract
International Conservation Services (ICS) is celebrating 25 years in business in 2011. As the largest private conservation entity in Australia, it has conserved 40,000 items, employed in that time over 100 conservators, and worked on objects as small as an ornamental button and as large as Sydney’s Capitol theater auditorium, in places as geographically diverse as Hanoi and Antarctica. As a result ICS has a unique perspective on the private conservation scene and the broader cultural heritage sector in Australia. Using ICS’s experiences as a background, this paper will particularly explore the interfaces that have been established over those 25 years with allied professionals, working in interdisciplinary teams. It will focus in how conservation needs to be constantly viewed in the context of wider decision-making on the care and interpretation of cultural material.