Wild: Amazing Animals in a Changing World is a permanent exhibit at the Melbourne Museum, showcasing biodiversity and environmental change through the display of more than 750 taxidermied animals from Museum Victoria’s natural sciences collection. Installed in 2009, the award winning gallery presents numerous preservation challenges due to the large number of significant mounted specimens on open display, and its complex tiered design which limits access for regular cleaning, assessment and removal of specimens. In recent years, increased incidents of physical and pest related damage necessitated a comprehensive in-situ condition survey to obtain current and accurate data. As part of the assessment GoPro HD Hero4 Action Video Cameras were utilised to film and image capture specimens. The compact camera equipment can be mounted onto a variety of extensions, which allowed for previously inaccessible specimens and parts to be filmed and thoroughly assessed using a live feed on an iPad. This presentation will discuss the effectiveness of the GoPro camera as an assessment tool including what worked, what didn’t and how it might help conservation care for objects on display.

Biography

Sarah Babister is an Objects Conservator in the Collection, Access and Exhibitions team at Museum Victoria. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Arts (Cultural Materials Conservation) in 2009 specialising in Objects. She came to Museum Victoria in 2010 after previously working as a genealogist and as a Conservation Assistant in the Projects Laboratory at ArtLab where she worked on outdoor sculptures, monuments and buildings. Sarah has had a long term interest in exhibitions and indigenous collections.

Danielle Measday is the Conservator of Natural Sciences for Museum Victoria, in Melbourne Australia. Danielle’s love of museum conservation began the first time she saw an X-Ray of a painting. She trained as an objects conservator at the University of Melbourne’s Masters of Cultural Material Conservation program, and then stepped sideways into the sciences and never looked back. She works closely with collection managers, curators and researchers across the zoology, palaeontology and geosciences fields to find solutions to facilitate access to the collections, and preserve them for the future.

Conference:
2015 AICCM National Conference; Illuminating the New
Paper author:
Sarah Babister and Danielle Measday
Year:
2015