Student Conservators at Melbourne (SC@M) is the association for students studying at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (GCCMC) at The University of Melbourne.
It’s the end of the year for the Cultural Materials Conservation program, which means that our students are busily finishing up their assignments, presenting their thesis or planning for the summer ahead.
As with out last update, the there have been multiple trips up to the RSL LifeCare War Museum in Narrabeen, NSW. Besides the normal duties normally associated with these trips, our students have initiated a new program to upload the current museum’s database onto Omeka, which the eventual hope of making the database pubic and allowing worldwide access to the museum’s collection. In addition, the program gives the retirees at the museum the opportunity to accession objects and record their own testimonies of their service. These ideas were presented to the retirees that make up the museum committee, who were very excited and are looking forward to see its implementation. In addition, some of our students are using the summer break to pursue internship opportunities. First year students Bella Spiteri and Maria Halkias are currently completing a two-week internship with International Conservation Services in Sydney, where they are working on a mould remediation project for a client. They are thoroughly enjoying the hands-on experience they are gaining within the private sector of conservation. Lastly, our second year students, after a long year working away at their minor theses, finally had a chance to present their results. This was followed by an end of the year party at the Union Club Hotel, which helped us relax and catch up (thanks to a generous bar tab) after a tough but enjoyable year.
We at SC@M are excited (and relieved) that the end of the year is here and are looking forward to the upcoming year ahead full of new events and experiences!